REPRISALS HINT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 304, 23 December 1943, Page 5

REPRISALS HINT

FOR KHARKOV TRIAL Benes Supports Punishing Of War Criminals N.Z. Press Association—Copyright (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 22. An official German statement on the Kharkov trial quoted by the German news agency says: "Since Roosevelt and Churchill are associated with these trials, German military courts will soon deal with British and American prisoners who are guilty of a serious breach of international law although they have not yet been brought to trial."

Interviewed by Reuters Moscow correspondent, Dr. E. Benes, President of Czechoslovakia, said: "Everybody here is convinced it is necessary to punish men guilty in this war and" guilty of committing unspeakable crimes against the populations of the occupied territories. "The arrangements which will be made after the war for the reconstruction of Europe must be such that aggression by Germany cannot be repeated. As part of the union of free, independent Slav nations, and as a bulwark against German aggression in the east, we desire collaboration with Poland—a strong democratic Poland—playing her role and helping to form an insuperable barrier against renewed German Imperialist ambitions."