The German Spy - System There_seems no ,reason to , doubt the authenticity
of the collection of Nazi documents discovered in Barcelona, from which copious extracts have been published in this country by the News Chronicle and Manchester Guardian. They reveal, not interference in Spain's internal affairs, but the existence in that country of an elaborate espionage system, with a kind of local secret police, under which the activities of every German in Spain, from the Ambas- sador downwards, were kept under constant scrutiny and made the subject of frequent report to directors of espionage in Hamburg or Berlin ; Dr. Goebbcls' Ministry of Propaganda was involved, and diplomatic couriers were made use of for the despatch of reports to Germany.- Nor did the matter stop at reports. Germans not suffi- ciently Nazi, or not sufficiently Aryan, were on occasion forced or inveigled on board German vessels and shipped back to Germany, presumably to a concentration camp. The importance of the revelations is that they bring to light not merely what has been happening in Spain, but what is no doubt happening in a score of other countries, this country included. There is no more damning charac-. teristic of the Totalitarian State than its reliance on a ruthless system of espionage and denunciation. • * * * *
