GERMAN PLOT

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 73, 26 March 1923, Page 5

GERMAN PLOT

TO OVERTHROW REPUBLIC.

NETWORK OF INTRIGUE

THE GERMAN MUSSOLINL (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.; BERLIN, March 26. Germany has been saved in the nick ( of time from overthrow of the Republic ['and the establishment of a national die- , tatorship. Police investigations show a .j network of intrigue issuing from the [! National Freedom party, which intended ,jto overthrow the Imperial Government .land the Prussian Government. During | the trouble certain Socialist Ministers , i were to have fallen victims to outrages. A Hitler, the Bavarian "Fascist leader, , was to have been commander-in-chief of | the movement. Many bodies posing as (gymnastic clubs are in reality military . i bodies associated with this revolutionary • movement. The police thus far have ar- . rested 26 conspirators, including Major ■ Schroeder, the paid organiser of the j National Freedom party, but they have not arrested three deputies who represent the party in the Reichstag. When the news of the discovery of the plot reached Berlin these deputies went to the President and said that they threw themselves upon his mercy, and would spend the night in the Reichstag building, where under the Constitution they were immune from arrest. Impounded documents incriminate Ludendorff as the chief figure in the | background, also a number of regular I army officers. i Tlie President has announced that the j Government intends to suppress anyi thing in the nature of military organ- . isations, whether or r~-i they are supported by any parties. The power of the State' is so stable that the Govern- ; ment is confident that it can deal effeci tivelv with treasonable movements. The three refugees were assured by I the President that they were immune. ■ ! from arrest, and left the Reichstae late I iii the evening.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.)

REACTION IN BAVARIA.

PREPARING A COUP.

(Received 10.30 a.m.! BERLIN, March 25. It is rumoured that a reactionary coup d'etat in Bavaria is imminent. The Prussian Government has instructed all provincial Governors to keep the police in readiness for immediate action. — (Reuter.)

MUSSOLINI OF GERMANY. You have never heard of Hitler — Adolt Hitler? (says Mr. Leonard Spray in the "London Daily Chronicle"). Very likely. Six months ago you had never heard of Mussolini. But now Mussolini is Premier of Italy, and sits in conference with .statesmen whose European reputation was assured long before his name was known even to his own countrymen. Well, a few months ago you woubi have asked in vain, "Who is Hitler?" Ask to-day, and anyone in Bavaria will tell you, "He's the German Mussolini!" True, Bavaria is not Germany. But it is the new Prussia of Germany. It is that already in spirit, and it seeks to become that in deeds. In this new Prussia, reactionary and militarist, Hitler is taking the leadership.

Of his earlier life as little is known, or at least recorded, as of that of others who have made history out of the material of their own personalities. They tell you he is an Austrian by birth, of proletarian origin, aud a house decorator by trade. That is all, except that he served as a private in the German army.

STARTLING RED POSTERS. About a year ago there appeared on the walls of Munich startling red posters. In violent language they denounced pacifists, profiteers and Jews, and demanded a cessation of all attempts by Germany to fulfil the Versailles Treaty. A lew weeks later it was discovered that a "Labour party" had attached itself to this strangest of all "Labour" programmes. The orthodox Socialists just shrugged their shoulders and talked about paid mercenaries in the service of reaction.

Then came signs that the new party must be taken more seriously. There appeared in the streets of Munich young men wearing armlets of red, white and black—the colours of the old empire— and "adorned" with a "Hakenkreuz"— the device known to us as the Swastika, and in Germany the symbol of antiSemiticism. These young men were the "Hitler Guard."

This new party was now formally in being—the "National Socialists" it called itself, and Hitler was its acknowledged leader. It held meetings. Those who attended were difficult to classify. A certain proportion of artisans and a very certain proportion of ex-officers, professional men, shopkeepers, minor Government officials, and the "bourgeois" like. Hitler dashed in a motor-car from one to another of these meetings. In language that recalled the original posters he talked about the Versailles "Treaty of Shame," sneered at the "heroes" of the Revolution and the "statesmen" of the Republic, castigated Jews and profiteers. His activities extended all over Bavaria.

A SOCIALIST DEFEAT. The "Socialists." as distinct from the "National Socialists," appealed in vain to the Bavarian Government to break up this organisation as a danger to the i maintenance of the Republic. Then they . decided on a trial of strength. They summoned five simultaneous assemblies , . in Munich, announcing as the oratorical i theme "The National Socialists as the i Gwedigjrers of Germany." "Mussolini Hitler's" counter-stroke was bold, swift and devastating. For the same date and hour he announced not five, but ten simultaneous meetings! The orthodox Socialists barely filled their five halls. At least 50,000 "gravediegers" answered Hitler's summons. At all ten meetings he appeared and delivered a five-minute speech. His fol- ■ lowers passed a resolution against everyj thing and everybody, from the Versailles Treaty to the Berlin politicians, from "Internationalism" to the Jews. The affirmative programme of this great new host? Well, that is the secret of its leader. So keep your eye on Hitler.