CZECH REFUGEES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 283, 30 November 1938, Page 14

CZECH REFUGEES.

FIRST IN LONDON. ESCAPING NAZI BARBARISWI. THEY FEAR TO TAI«K. (Special. —By Air Mail.) LONDON", November 5. The first shipload of refugees, one woman and 33 men from Czechoslovakia who seek new homes in the Dominions and colonies reached London this week. The hand luggage thev carried suitcases, canvas kit-bags, cardboard ca<?<* —was all they had left in the world. All came from Sudeten Germany. As their plight was the most serious, the authorities evacuated them first. ' If any of the men had fallen into the hands of Hitler, it would have meant death by the axe or at the be*t. yearr in a Nazi concentration camp. That i; why they were afraid to talk. The mother-tongue of ali of tlieni n German. Some of them speak a litth Czech. Two or three speak a few words of English. Among them are professors and writers Others are farm labourers and artisans Some have left their homes, in th< hands of the German Army of Occupa tion. Some have lost cars. Some stil do not know where their wives or chil dren are. One man said in reply to questions: "I only wish I could talk to you. If «'< were the last refugees from our pool country, instead of the first, I woulc talk to you willißgly. But to-day ] dare not."