This column first appeared in the Victoria Daily Times on Aug. 16, 1941.
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Having met German women at international gatherings, women lawyers, doctors, journalists and members of parliament, I wonder how it could happen that women of Germany have all been silenced by the Nazi tyrants.
Germany, before Hitler, had 34 women in the Reichstag, and more than 100 in the state assemblies, and many more in municipal positions. The handicaps had been removed in education, legal status and matters relating to employment. The German women compared favourably with the other women of Europe prior to Hitler.
But all at once, the scene was changed. Hitler disapproved of women in any public capacity.
鈥淲omen in public life,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s the beginning of weakness鈥� 鈥� and out they went. They lost their jobs overnight. Only teachers in the primary rooms were left. Women鈥檚 societies were ordered to disband. Women were forbidden to attend conventions in other countries.
Only one organization remained 鈥� the women workers, 鈥淔rauenwerk鈥� they are called, and their platform is simple. They must perform humble service for the nation, renouncing pleasure, luxury or any show of independence. Hitler鈥檚 desire for women is to have as many children as they can, in or out of matrimony, and to perform the hard work of the nation, and above all 鈥� to keep silent.
There are now 26 compulsory labour services for women. They have taken over the heaviest manual labour to release men for the army; when they are paid wages, it is never more that half those paid to men.
An American woman who was in Germany said she talked to a German woman about this, and the reply she got was this: 鈥淏etter run with the wind than against it.鈥�
Which has a familiar sound, and brings back a certain book called The Wave of the Future, in which the author changed the figure a bit, but the advice was the same.
However, we are not taking it. There is a wave of the future, but it is a wave of independence, a wave of courage and gallantry and not a wave of surrender.
A friend in Glasgow sometimes sends me a Glasgow paper, pitifully small in size, but not dimmed in spirit. There I read of the way the people of that city, even the children, endured their bombings.
A little boy, last spring, on a cold raw morning, carried his five-year-old sister out of the ruins of their shattered home. He was hurt, too, and his teeth chattered, but this is what he said: 鈥淚鈥檓 no feared. It鈥檚 the cold that makes me shiver!鈥�
I cannot believe all the German women are the dumb, driven cattle they appear to be. The leaders might be in prison or dead, but there remains a fragment, a core of courage, surely.
A speaker yesterday told about the air-raid shelters in Germany, contrasting their atmosphere of despondence and gloom with the helpfulness displayed in the British shelters. He said there was so much quarrelling in the German shelters that the order of silence had been issued.
I am glad to hear the people have spunk enough to fight. The same speaker said the average German does not believe any of Hitler鈥檚 talk of their being a superior race. But they were quite prepared to take the loot from the conquered countries. Indeed, so long as butter and bacon came from Denmark, silk stockings and beautiful dress material came from France, they were ready to receive them, use them and be glad of these trophies of conquest.
However, let us remember Germany is a vast country and we know little of the inner mind of the people. It is now a country of spies, of deception, fear and gloom. The people have no heart for this war 鈥� how could they? It has brought them cold houses, bare cupboards, shabby clothes, long casualty lists and now air raids.
They have, in addition to all this, a bad conscience and they fear defeat. They also know they are the most hated people in the world, and that eats into them, for Germans like to be praised. All the glitter and glory has gone from this war for them, and some bitter truths are being revealed.
Let us remember that men and women have gone to concentration camps rather than join in the maniac鈥檚 dance. A Jewish woman expelled from Germany told me that there were as many non-Jews in the concentration camps as Jews 鈥� people who would not persecute their neighbours or spy on them; people who hold to the truth when it would have been easy to recant. Let us think of them with admiration and pray that they may have peace in their souls, strength to endure, and a speedy deliverance from their bondage.
All around us are signs of victory. There is a new note of confidence in the voices that come over the air. We hear of the troubles the Gestapo is having in the robbed countries; even Quisling in Norway, guarded by traitors like himself, is having attacks of conscience that cause him to cry out in his sleep.
The whole forces of nature are fighting for us. Rain in Russia, cold nights, mosquitoes. The German radio has to make excuses for the slowness of their army鈥檚 progress. We are growing stronger as they grow weaker. History comforts us as we recall the fate of tyrants.
We are thrilled to think of the cosmopolitan character of our allies. The brave people 鈥� the honourable, honest people in the conquered countries are our friends. We have the patriots, Germany has the scum, the plotters, the traitors, the Quislings, the Lavals and Darlans, who for personal safety, profit and power have sold out their country.
Surely out of this great union of brave people, who love liberty, we shall be able to evolve a new order. But to do that we must have a living, working faith, a faith so full of fire, it will spread. Defeat of the Nazis is the first step. But after that comes the real struggle.
Cruelty and deception, greed and tyranny will not be slain by weapons of steel. After the last war, we used to talk about a 鈥渕oral substitute for war鈥� 鈥� something that would have all the glint and glory of an army with banners.
But we did not find it, and the post-war world went wild over pleasure and money, lawlessness and big business, and yet was hungry at heart and frustrated in mind, as man will ever be until he finds God.
This time we must not fail. There surely will be 鈥渨orlds to mend鈥� when the last peace is made. How will we be as the world-menders? Are we training for it? Is anyone being trained for it? Are we thinking about it, or is there still only the thought of vengeance in our minds?
We have to give the people of Europe a plan, a program, a purpose corresponding to the vision Christ imparted to His disciples as they walked on the road to Emmasus and of which they said afterward to each other: 鈥淒id not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us!鈥� Not only did they talk about it, but they became changed men from that hour 鈥� fearless, happy, conquering men with hands of healing and words of power.
We better look up that rousing old hymn which has a place in all the hymn books. We will find a challenge in every line.
鈥淭he Son of God goes forth to war!鈥�
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Some of McClung鈥檚 columns from the 1930s and 1940s have been collected in a book, The Valiant Nellie McClung: Selected Writings by sa国际传媒鈥檚 Most Famous Suffragist, by Barbara Smith.
