Fear, hatred, nationalism and the like are not rational states but emotions which for a long time will continue to govern human behaviour and which will be fed by the chaos and misery in Europe. We have learnt (at what a cost!) that the platitudes of Geneva were the urgent truth, and that the brotherhood of man, the unity of nations, and the indivisibility of peace are facts which we can no longer ignore. We have ourselves felt the terrible power of destruction which man has acquired through science uncontrolled by wisdom. We have seen what can happen to a great nation which surrenders to its leaders the freedom of thought and speech and conscience. We have learnt, or should have learn, how dangerous is the spirit of nationalism when harnessed to the fact of power. We may not know the answer to the troubles of mankind but at least we know some of the causes. (Is not Himmler himself reported to have said that Germany was now a vast lunatic asylum?) But this will not do. It is tempting to-day to explain away the events of the past ten years in some such terms. Why might not whole communities and public bodies be seized with fits of insanity as well as individuals! Nothing but this principle, that they are liable to insanity, can account for the major part of those transactions of which we read to history. On one such occasion he stopped short and exclaimed to his companion We have won the right to hope.īishop Butler of the Analogy would walk for hours in his garden at Bristol on the darkest nights pondering the narrow line which divides the rational from the insane. But at least we have stopped the onrush of evil. It is rather the knowledge that children are playing on swings in the camp at Belsen and that all over Europe the slave workers of Germany, the prisoners, and the persecuted are trudging homewards, weary, broken, but free. It is not only that never again need women in London – or Berlin – start at the sound of the telephone because they fear the siren. It is not only that for the first time for five and a half long years Europe no longer hears the sound of guns, and our ships can sail Western waters without fear of mine or submarine. Yet when all is said it remains a moment of immense deliverance. Even at this moment we dare not forget that war still rages over a quarter of the globe, that British, Americans, and Chinese are being wounded or killed every hour of the day, and that many of the men who have won this victory in Europe will have again to screw their courage to the sticking-point and risk their lives in the Far East. If peace be indivisible, this is not peace. The sirens did not sound, however, and the crowd was puzzled, not knowing whether to believe the news. Paris bewildered Shortly before six o’clock the newspapers began to come out announcing Donitz had capitulated. Sweden: King’s hope King Gustav of Sweden expressed “warmest congratulations to Denmark and Norway now that our Nordic neighbours have one again become free and independent nations.” A second-floor restaurant in Stockholm last night hung six magnums of champagne out of the windows on ropes for passers-by to help themselves.ĭublin: “battle” of flags About 3pm passers-by in the centre of the city were surprised to see students of Trinity College hoisting the Union Jack and the Red Flag over the main entrance to the university. Berne: two alerts In Switzerland, Allied flags were unfurled and crowds jammed the streets of Geneva to celebrate VE Day, but at Berne, where two air raids sounded yesterday, demonstrations were withheld until the official announcement is made.īrussels: high spirits At first people were quietly jubilant, but along the sunlit boulevards, where hundred of British and American soldiers mixed joyously with the crowd, spirits rose to a high pitch. Sirens, which had last were heard as a warning of the approach of Allied ‘planes, also sounded for ten minutes. Rome: bells rang The great bells of St Peter’s and those of a hundred other Rome churches rang out in jubilation soon after the news that the European war had ended reached the city. Scenes of rejoicing at the United Nations’ victory over Germany were last night reported from many countries.
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