SENTENCED TO DEATH

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 33, 2 November 1934, Page 11

SENTENCED TO DEATH

Alleged Spies in Germany OTHERS SENT TO PRISON Berlin, October 31. The Ministry of Justice announces that a number of alleged spies in ths service of foreign Towers have been secretly sentenced to death and others to 15 years’ hard labour. The Ministry adds that the sentences were pronounced under the new law under which every German betraying the Fatherland forfeits his head. Only such merciless procedure against traitors corresponds with the Nazi conception of justice and wholesome feeling in Germany. The announcements of the death sentences passed upon spies were tucked away without comment in the corners of newspapers, though in any other country they would have been the sensation of the week.

The Nazis’ “People’s Court” is com- ) parable to a revolutionary tribunal and cannot be appealed from. The names of the condemned are only known to their judges, but one case seems to be that of Frau von Berg, wife of the director of the well-known German electrical firm of A. D. Sosnowski and Co. She was accused of selling the secret of a new type of aeroplane engine to a foreign Power. Two girl employees in the Reichswehr Ministry, Frauleins von Matzner and Engelbrecht, both members of good families, were also found guilty of high treason, but it is not known if they have been executed. The mother of one of the girls unwittingly gave her daughter away because she was anxious regarding the girl’s extravagance. She went to the Ministry and inquired what salary was paid her. Detectives followed the girl and found her meeting Frau von Berg and Herr Sosnowski. It Is understood that Sosnowski has been exchanged for a German officer caught spying in a foreign capital. Frau von Berg’s fate has not been announced, though it is reported in society circles that two girl Clerks were summarily shot. This remains unconfirmed.