English Translation

2. Report: The mood among the almost exclusively Katholic population is very depressed, even fearful. No enthusiasm for the war or for "Berlin". Most people speak of air raids. The terror of the SS is hardly to endure. Particular attention is paid to the priests, the monastery schools and Catholic schools. For a long time, the church has had an increased influx, and in fact Catholics are the pool of dissatisfaction. Rumors about arrests of priests do not want to stop. Especially in the rural community there is a constant state of alarm. All the rumors. They go up, down land and they do not stop. The authorities are wreaking a desperate fight against it. All the authorities are instructed to proceed immediately to any rumor maker. The rumor maker is a gladly used means of grievance and nerve warfare. Basically, everyone should only believe what he has seen or what he is known by official announcements. But the population does the opposite. It believes all rumors, but not the official statements. The pubs are quiet, like the whole public life at all. Only the Nazis carry the big word. The burden of uncertainty, the discouragement are characteristic of the people's minds. One hates everything that is Nazi, for religious reasons alone. In spite of all the terror, the pastors are quite brave. In the people, those persecuted by the Gestapo are revered as martyrs. 4) The attitude of the Militær and the industry A neutral businessman, who was in close business relations with Germany and had six weeks after the outbreak of the war opportunity to travel through Germany, during which he was able to speak with many old business friends, summarizes his impressions about the attitude of leading circles in Germany to the war as follows: It would be a mistake to believe that the decisive industrial circles and the leading military against the war unleashed by Hitler's invasion of Poland, but above all against the German-Russian pact. First of all, it should be pointed out that the German-Polish Pact has always been unpopular and that the confrontation with Poland has always had to be regarded as inevitable.