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THE CHINA MAIL, OCTOBER 31, 1939
Britain's Reply To German Propaganda
FULL HORRORS OF NAZI
CONCENTRATION CAMPS SHOWN IN OFFICIAL PAPERS
London, To-day.
Those reporting sick are inspected by the commandant, who treats those riding whip.
THE HORRORS OF GERMAN concentration camps whom he decides to be fit with
are described in a White Paper dealing with the ill-treatment of Jews and opponents of the Nazi regime.
The White Paper explains: "Before the war and ever since its outbreak the German Government has almost daily put out propaganda accusing Britain of atrocities in South Africa forty years ago.
REVELLING IN TORTURE
could only be fit or be deal
his
The sick in labour gangs are help- ed on with kicks. Latterly no Jews have been accepted as being sick. They with another punishment which consisted in hanging hours by his arms which are violent- a prisoner for 10 or 12
ly bent backwards.
HIMMLER "PURGING" NAZI GAOLS
Paris, To-day.
The Parla newspaper "Paris Boir" reports that a Commis- slon has been set up in Germany under Herr Himmler, ohlaf of the Secret Pollos, to carry out # purge of Nazi prisons.
Since October 12, the news- paper reports, over 1,000 prison- ers have been shot.
The purpose of this is to get rid of suspected persons; to im- press the survivors; and to make room for further arrests.--Rou- tar.
The guards seem to revel in tor- tures. During the journey to Wei-"Ah, he's not quite dead." mar prisoners were often brutally
maltreated.Reuter.
the
of
PRIEST INJURED The documents making
up barbarities outside the concentration
One is from the British
In view of this shameless propaganda which is whol- ly devoid of any foundation, His Majesty's Gov- ernment think that it is opportune to publish White Paper also give accounts some of the reports they have received of treat- | camps. ment accorded in Germany itself to German na-General in Vienna and concerns the tionals.
where
In 1933, members of opposition par-ing into concentration camp and that ties were arrested wholesale and con- means you are coming into hell. fined to concentration camps
Any attempt at opposing the au- they were subjected to the most bar-thority of the guards and you will be barous treatment.
shot out of hand.
Flogging and torture were the order of the day and it is common know- ledge in Germany that the National- ist Socialist Party was taking terrible vengeance on those who had the tem- erity to oppose it."
We have only two kinds of punish- ment in this camp
the lash and the death penalty."
INSUFFICIENT FOOD
During this period, the
Working hours at Buchenwald are violence and brutality of the Nazis did
16 daily, including Sundays. During not spare foreigners. The attitude then
working hours it is forbidden to adopted by the German Government drink even in the hottest weather. was that they regretted, and would The food is quite insufficient namely, put an end to, excesses against for-weak coffee at dawn, half a litre of soup at mid-day and a bread allow- ance of 250 grammes a day.
un-
eigners, but regarded them as avoidable in the first ardour of re- volutionary fervour. This plea can- not be advanced to excuse events 5 years after the advent to power of the National Socialist Party.
It is evident from the published documents that neither the consolida-
tion of the regime nor the passage of time have, in any way, mitigated its savagery.
The White
Paper
says that there were 344 cases of arrests or attacks
Czecho-Slovak citi. zens reported during this period.
on
WANTON ASSAULTS
British subjects, including a member of the staff of the British Embassy, were wantonly assaulted in the streets by uniformed members of the Black Guards on duty.
The White Paper emphasises that the documents published now were not written for publication adding: “The German Government complains of the maltreatment of German minorities in foreign countries, and of the "Mace- donian conditions' reigning there.
"It will be seen from the pu- blished
papers that, under the present regime, conditiona in Gar- many itself and the treatment of Germans are reminiscent not of Macedonia but the darkest ages in the history of man."
.
HITLER AND NIEMOLLER
During a conversation with Hitler, the British Ambassador gathered the impression that Hitler was dissatisfied with the result of the Niemoller trial. Hitler declared that Niemoller was a traitor and his sympathisers would And themselves in concentration camps.
Horrific descriptions are given from former prisoners of pon- ditions in the Buchenwalde oon. centration camp near Weimar, Camp Superintendent Ruedi told a batch of fresh prisoners: "Some of you have been in gaol, what you tasted there is nothing to what you are going to get here. You are com-
The work consisted of moving heavy stones often far beyond the strength of a normal well-fed man.
Consul-
anti-Roman Catholic demonstrations the sacking of the of October last year. They included Cardinal Arch- bishop Innitzer's palace by groups of the S.A.
One priest was thrown out of a window and his legs were broken.
the
POLICE ACQUIESCENCE Describing the demonstration, Consul General recorded that the Cardinal's Palace was entered, the windows smashed, religious pictures destroyed, valuable chalices and three episcopal rings stolen, and robes and even the personal wardrobe of the
Cardinal thrown into the courtyard
and set on fire.
strain the attackers was manhandled A priest, who endeavoured to re- and an attempt made to throw him out of the window. He was badly cut about the hands and the arms by broken glass. A similar attack was made upon the residence of the Dean and a priest there was actually legs broken. thrown out of the window and both
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When the ex-prisoner making the report next saw the man, his breast and face were a mass of blood and his eyes were swollen and purple.
He had also gone mad.
BRUTALISED YOUTH
The S.S. men running the are mostly youths from
camps 17 to 20 years of age, specially trained for the purpose. So brutalised were they that one wondered how this was brought about.
in
The slightest sign of weakness in a prisoner brought all their most horrible sadistle thoughts to work. It was common for them to kick a man in the face as he lay on the ground.
Frankfort-on-Main, reporting to the
The British Consul-General
he was persuaded that if the German British Charge d'Affaires said
Government depended on suffrage,
dignation, if not put up against be swept away by a storm of in- those in power and responsible would
wall and shot.
AMBASSADOR'S LETTER
that
The eleven documents which com- Floggings were very frequent small offenses such as drinking water for
prise the White Paper begin with a despatch, during working hours.
March 3, 1938, recording The usual
The police, telephoned for
the judgment in the trial of Pastor punishment is 25 strokes given alter- nately by two guards.
times from the Palace arrived three-Niemoller, followed four days later quarters of an hour after the This often produced unconscious-call, when the leader of
first by a telegram in which Sir Nevile ness, but the Jews were told that the blew a whistle and
the
Henderson described the uneasy at- mob Fuehrer himself
the
mosphere in Berlin after attackers, had given
the trial, orders forming column, marched that Jews
when every kind of rumour was cir- off might receive up to 60 molested and Lashes.
undetained by the
culating, such as that General von police.
Fritsch had been shot and that mass arrests had been made. Although unable to confirm the rumours, Sir Nevile Henderson reported that Hitler was in a highly nervous and excit- able state.
INHUMAN TORTURE
Prisoners were often picked out at random and flogged. The men's feet were strapped to two footplates and they were then strapped over a hori- zontal bar with their heads secured between two horizontal bars.
Some died between the poles, the survivors were kicked back into the sheds.
was
Some prisoners went mad and were chained up with sacking round their heads to strife their shouts. Overcrowding
indescribable. For example 2,500 prisoners were forced into a shed measuring 200 feet by 80.
Deaths in the Buchenwald camp occurred daily. Relatives were often first informed of them by the Intim- ation that they could have, the ashes by payment of three marks.
MERCILESS TREATMENT
re-
No Jewish prisoner was ever leased until he could produce evidence that he would be able to leave Ger- | many.
Wires charged with thousands of volts of electricity prevented escape and every sentry was ordered to use his rife without warning if any pri- soner moved in hir direction.
Jewish prisoners were told that every bullet cost 12 pfennings, which was just what a Jew was worth,
"Prisonera rise at dawn and coffee is distributed in the square where the gallows and the flogging block stand.
"ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE”.
un-
In the first four weeks one prisoner was at Dachau 80 Jews died and an- other 30 died in the fifth week. Most of them were "shot while attempting to escape," but in no single case were these men shot in a genuine attempt to escape.
r
Sir Neville's reports include a letter in which she appeals to England, "a he received from a German mother, country which is still the strongest What happened was that the camp
in Europe." If, she says, in the heart was surrounded by a wire fence which of Europe a race is growing up which is not only indifferent to Christian- the prisoners were forbidden to ap- proach. The S.S. guards would soma..ity but has a hatred of it, the future times amuse themselves by calling will be fraught with disaster not only prisoners to the fence.
to Germany but to all Europe. Reuter.
New prisoners would often obey. As soon as they got near the fence, machine-guns would open fire an. them.:
In another report concerning the prison-camp at Dachau, the British Consul General in Munich reportedl there were daily beatings, even with steel birches.”
DRIVEN MAD
in the concentration camp received a In another case, a middle-aged man
letter from his worried wife. An educated man and sensitive, he was. unable to maintain the degree self-control required. He gave to a moan. Seveda
of
way.
GERMAN SHORTAGE OF PETROL
London, To-day. An order issued by the German Ministry of Transport instructs the conversion to gaseous fuels for all commercial vehicles still allowed to operate. Reuter.
SHORTAGE OF FISH IN GERMANY
For this, he was tied to a tree and left there for: 14 hours. He became unconscious and two guards. who
London, To-day. The likelihood of a shortage of fish him to the ground, Jumped on him fact that the normal North Bea catch passed decided he was dead, threw in Germany may be measured by the and stamped on him with their boots. in 300,000 tons per annum against the
He moved, and they remarked, Baltic's 80,000 tons. --- Reutery
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