TENSION GROWING HOURLY IN DENMARK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 237, 7 October 1942, Page 3

TENSION GROWING HOURLY IN DENMARK

GERMAN PRESSURE

People Warned Not To

Group In Streets

United Press Association—Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 6

Tension in Copenhagen is growing hourly. The guards around the palace have been quadrupled. The Danish Parliament met to-day and the Prime Minister, Dr. Buhl, appealed to the Danish people to act with common sense and to preserve orderly and quiet conditions in what he called "these critical times for our country."

According to the Berlin radio, Dr. Buhl declared that Denmark's nonbelligerency would be maintained and added that Denmark wants to co-operate with Germany's new order in Europe. Denmark's interests, said the radio, require the Danes to act in a spirit of collaboration and prudence. and that settled conditions should prevail.

The Danish chief of police, Einer Mellerup, has warned the people of Copenhagen not to gather in the streets or hamper the police in arresting rioters. More forceful methods will be used if this warning is ignored.

The Berlin radio said: "Reports of tension in Denmark are treated with the utmost reserve in German political circles, but things in Denmark are not going as might have been expected from the correct attitude displayed by German quarters. The exemplary conduct of all Germans in Denmark could give no grounds for complaint. Evidently certain Danish circles have misunderstood this attitude. The fact that Danes who have risked their lives as volunteers to fight against Bolshevism have been treated on their return with disdain and even jeers has given a very bad impression." Gestapo Rule Threatened Although Reuter reports state that a last-minute compromise between Germany and Denmark has momentarily saved Denmark from occupation on the Norwegian model, dispatches from Stockholm say that diplomatic relations between the two countries are more tense than they have been since Denmark was overrun.

The German Minister to Copenhagen, Renthe-Fink, has returned to Berlin, following which King Christian has recalled the Danish Minister to Berlin, Mohr, "for consultations."

German circles say Renthe-Fink's return to Germany was the outcome of King Christian's action in replying to Hitler's fulsome congratulations on his 72nd birthday on September 2G with a curt "Thanks. Christian X." It is reported, however, that. King Christian wrote a letter to Hitler amplifying his telegram of thanks. Hitler's Sinister Move The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says the Germans actually have a far more sinister reason for picking a quarrel with Denmark. Hitler intends to produce a European charter proclaiming

"voluntary" alliance of all members of the Axis and their satellites against Russia and her Allies. Hitler has already demanded that King Christian should sign the charter. The demand was backed by a threat that the Gestapo otherwise would take over Denmark and govern it on the same lines as Norway and other occupied countries.

The Daily Express correspondent in Stockholm says i-t is believed that Hitler intends to put Denmark under the rule of Fritz Clausen, Danish Nazi leader.

Armed members of the Danish Nazi Free Corps have unexpectedly been sent back from the Russian front and are swaggering in the streets and cafes of Copenhagen seeking opportunities for shootings. Two shootings have occurred, 28 persons being killed or wounded.

General Ludke, Commander of the German troops in Denmark, who is said to have opposed interference in Danish domestic affairs, has been replaced by General Heydeberck, who has been given wider powers and orders to co-operate fully with the chief of the Gestapo in Denmark, Kanstein.