THE PSYCHOLOGY OF QUISLINGS
SHORTSHORTLY after Herr Hitler had thrown out his hint LY a secret weapon against which there was no defence the Allies came to the conclusion that he was referring to the magnetic mine. Since then it has occurred to them that his real and far more effective secret weapon was that of the parachute troops, against which at a late hour we are devising means of defence behind the line. But there is yet another weapon, a grimmer and more terribly effective one, operative only when it is secret, working underground where it is least expected, and exposed only when it is too late—the secret, unexplained weapon of treachery. Treachery is one of the " surprises " of this war. Long prepared, opportunely exploited, it worked havoc in Norway and Holland, and we do not yet know how big a part it may have played elsewhere. This is something we had not expected. The trump card has been played with diabolical timeliness.
That Hitler had valued resources in the form of a Fifth Column was, of course, well known to us. There has long been apprehension about the network of Nazi spies in Norway, Sweden, the Low Countries and all the Balkan States. It was well known that every German Legation was a centre of intrigue, and that the armies of German commercial travellers and robust tourists who travelled in neutral countries were up to no good and were a constant danger to those who harboured them. That was why Rumania, Yugoslavia and Turkey a month or two ago acted vigorously in checking the invasion of this host of potential enemies. But these people were at least Germans. Even in the last war the danger from people of German origin or known German sympathies was fully appreciated, and in 1914 there were big spy-hunts to rout them out and put them under observation. That every German is at least a potential spy or saboteur is obvious, and there is nothing new in the danger from that source. In like manner from the first it was realised that the presence of so many refugees in Allied countries, of whom at least a few might be real enemies, constituted a big danger which had to be dealt with.
If that were all, we should at least know where we are. But it is not all. The invasion of Norway revealed the distressing fact that there was an enemy within more dangerous than the German who was recognisable and suspect—men of Norwegian blood and nationality who were in league with the enemy, who were informing him and waiting to help him, and in the critical moment betrayed the keys of the fortress into his hands. There was Quisling. There were hundreds of Quislings. They were in positions of trust. They gave faked orders by telephone. They helped the Nazis into Oslo and Trondheim and the other ports which fell so easily into their hands. Treachery was the secret weapon against which, as it turned out, Norway had no defence.
If this had happened to Norway alone one might have supposed that the position in that country was exceptional. But it was not so. The same enemy from within did his virulent work in Holland in spite of the many precautions that had been taken by the Dutch Government. Again. there were men of Dutch blood and nationality whc escorted Nazi parachutists to planned rendezvous and helped them to capture aerodromes and other key position which, through criminal carelessness, were undefended. Holland, too, had its traitors, its Quislings. Of other countries we cannot speak with so great a weight of evi- dence, but there are grim reasons for the conviction that treachery has not been confined to those two countries. and that it has played its sinister part in Belgium and France, and for ought we know may be a peril even te ourselves.
If we ask how it has been possible for much of Europe to be infected with so horrible a malady it is not easy to give an answer. Nothing of this kind or at least on this scale has occurred in modern history. The case of the religious wars of the seventeenth century is not com- parable, since they were not between nations but reli- gionists. We must go back to the time of the ancient Greeks for famous examples which are really comparable. as when in 431 B.C. men of Plataea admitted Theban raiders within the walls of their city. This much at least is self-evident, that this organisation of treachery on so vast a scale is no hurried improvisation, but must for years have been subtly and assiduously prepared with amazing thoroughness. But when we ask what inducement can have been offered to win over so many persons in responsible positions in so many countries the mystery becomes deeper. There are doubtless people of peculiarly low moral stan- dards who may be bribed with money or with offers of advancement, who may be seduced by appeals to their pockets or their ambitions. But no such explanation is enough to account for perfidy on this scale. Such induce- ments cannot account for the fact that thousands of people were capable of joining in plots to destroy their own country, risking death and lasting ignominy if discovered.
One is forced to the conclusion that the Nazis have used more insidious means for the manufacture of traitors, and that it is into their minds that they have instilled their poison. Doubtless they have studied in the school of the Communists, whose propaganda for twenty years has done its work in some sections of society throughout the world. The very hatred which Communism succeeded in inspiring in another section of society prepared the soil for the counter-propaganda of Nazism. Moreover both of these propaganda, which were working not only against each other but against the settled order of the State, were helped by an utterly different propaganda which in its purpose was humane and beneficent, that of the people who wished to discredit nationalism and patriotism in the interest of internationalism and world peace, but in so doing weakened the sense of loyalty to compatriots. A sentimental internationalist converted into a fanatical Communist or Nazi was the raw material of a traitor.
For years the spectre of the ideological war has haunted Europe, and the event has proved that there was reality behind its shadowy appearances. One must give the Nazis credit for even more subtlety and psychological acumen than they had been thought capable of in exploiting the mental condition of Europe, and studying the kinds of men who could be injected with their virus. For them this sort e mental bacteriology, the science of preparing cultures o: poisonous spiritual germs, has been pursued with total, tarian thoroughness. They have created in every countr their doped traitors, to be used once and thrown away, th victims of a mental and moral disease which has sappe, the strength of vigorous nations and yielded them to th, enemy. Treachery is a symptom and product of tha: malady of the mind against which the Allies are at war.
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