MONKS EVICTED BY NAZIS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22906, 30 December 1939, Page 5

MONKS EVICTED BY NAZIS

BRUTAL TREATMENT BY GESTAPO tr BOM OTTB OWS COBHISPOSXPEST.) LONDON, November 20. - A shocking story of Nazi brutality, but a typical example of it, comes from Rotterdam. At the end of last week members of the Gestapo invaded a Franciscan monastery at Gronau, a short distance from the Dutch frontier, and announced its dissolution. The monks were tojd that they must leave the monastery at once. They asked whether they could take anything to eat with them, but were refused, although the police were seen to fill their bags from the monastery’s store of food. An aged friar, who was telling his beads in the garden, was seized by the beard, addressed as “Schweinhund,” and asked what he was doing. , „ , The rector’s request to be allowed to remove the Sacred Host was met with a flat refusal until he told the police he would do so even if it cost him his life. Somewhat taken aback, they then consented, and, smoking cigarettes. accompanied him to the chapel. Here a request for a suitable ciborium was refused, and the Host was finally wrapped in a piece of paper which one of the officers took from his pocket and threw at the rector’s feet. All the time the police maintained a steady flow of jeers and abuse. . The monastery had close con- fl nexion with Brazil, from where it 1 is administered. It is understood 1 that a protest from Brazilian official quarters in Germany has resulted in permission for the monks to return, but only on condition that part of the monastery is used as a barracks. f