"Peace, but Equality!''

In the blissful German wine country no spot is more romantically gemutlich than Coblenz, where the smooth Moselle slips into the turgid Rhine and the wines of both rivers are at their best, plentiful and cheap. To this perfect setting for a mid-summer picnic, the Ministry of Propaganda brought last week half a million happy Teutons among whom strutted as guests of honor 150,000 Saarlander, nearly a quarter of the population of the Saar.

Coblenz is some 60 miles from the smoke-blackened, ore-rich Saar Valley ruled by President Geoffrey Knox of the League of Nations Governing Commission (TIME, Aug. 27). Next January Saar-lander will vote in a three-way plebiscite: to 1) rejoin Germany, 2) remain under League rule or 3) join France. As the 150,000 Saar Bummlers rode off to Coblenz last week 60,000 other Saarlander mass-met at Sulzbach in the Saar. "Don't vote to rejoin Germany " they were told by Socialist, Catholic and Communist orators. "Hitler means war, misery and terror!"

Adolf Hitler at Coblenz appeared as the Peace Leader. Bliss was his mood. Sailing up the Rhine with Minister of Propaganda & Public Enlightenment Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Host Hitler landed amid transports of devotion from his 500,000 guests. Since Coblenz was too small to hold them, they massed on green fields beneath the crags of Ehrenbreitstein, a fortress surveying the Rhine, and the Moselle. Saar bosoms swelled with pride as high German Government officials took seats below a platform reserved for prominent Saarlander and My Leader. So terrific was the crush that Herr Hitler made his way on foot for the last mile, shaking hands, slapping backs and kissing babies.

"Silence!" roared loud speakers, but in vain. The crowd kept thundering cheer on cheer while Herr Hitler received ten athletes said by Dr. Goebbels to be "the last relay of 150.000 German runners who have raced all week from every part of the Fatherland with scrolls affirming that the Saar is German!"

Amid vast relief, Herr Hitler made short work of pretending to read the scrolls. A Saar spokesman keynoted that the years since the Saar was placed under League rule have been a "pilgrimage of pain." Then the Realmleader launched into his speech:

"Germany has been tortured and made unhappy! What pains us most is the injustice and unfairness of others!" With the fervor of a Messiah, he affirmed that a great injustice will be righted by voting the Saar to Germany, thus "laying the groundwork for lasting peace" with France.

This reference to France was calmly received, but thunderous cheers greeted the Peace Orator's nearest approach to belligerence. "Our foreign policy remains constant: for maintenance of Peace, but only with the guarantee of Equality! . . . One thing is certain, we shall never capitulate!"

Jews, Communists and non-Nazis who have escaped from Germany to the Saar, the Realmleader flayed as Judases. "But remember that despite Judas Iscariot, Christianity was victorious! . . . Everybody knows we are battling against Godlessness and a decay of morals. . . . We may be sure that God's blessing will rest upon our work! ... I hope and expect that our next great Saar demonstration will take place on the German soil of the Saar itself and that I will ride in triumph into your land to speak to you as your own Leader!"

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