The Encirclement Myth The comprehensive repudiation made by the Prime
Minister in the House of Commons on Wednesday of any idea of the " encirclement " of Germany may be of some service in so far as it is brought to the notice of the German people through the B.B.C.'s news in German. But, in fact, encirclement is merely a propaganda counter used sedulously, and to some purpose, by the Nazi Government. It is part of a much older stock-in-trade. The cry of Eintweisung was as vociferous before the War as it is now, and had as little basis. A book of some value was indeed written at that time by a German professor on The Myth of Encircle- ment. Myth it is and was, but there is evidence that it is being worked by Dr. Goebbels to some effect. The German people no doubt understand encirclement the better for the examples of it Herr Hitler has given them. He encircled Czecho-Slovakia in order to destroy it. He is encircling Poland in order to intimidate and perhaps dismember her. He has partially encircled Hungary to dominate her. And the end may not be yet. A formal undertaking by Great Britain, such as the Prime Minister said he would be ready to give, to guarantee Germany's present frontiers should have a certain value. But the crux of the matter is that in Herr Hitler's eyes anyone who demurs to Germany's aggressive expansion is an " encircler."
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