BRITISH IN GERMANY

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 59, 7 September 1945, Page 7

BRITISH IN GERMANY

INDUSTRIALISTS ARRESTED (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 10.30 a.m. BERLIN, September 6. The British Control Commission, which is carrying out sweeping deNazification of the Ruhr industries, has arrested 40 leading German industrialists, including Hugo Stinnes, one of the nation's biggest financial magnates. All of those arrested were members of the Rhine and Westphalian coal syndicate, which before the surrender controlled most of the coal, steel, and other industries in the Ruhr. Mass arrests began after dark yesterday and continued throughout the night, and more are expected. The arrests were carried out under the provisions of the Potsdam proclamation, under which persons hostile to Allied purposes might be removed from positions of responsibility and from important private undertakings. An official of the Commission said that the industrialists at first were helpful, but the Commission learned subsequently that they were holding secret meetings regarding the operation of the coal industry at which- ideas were expressed which could hardly be carried out to the Allies' advantage. RAID ON MONASTERY. Security police in Prague raided a monastery at Tepla, near Marienbad, and arrested the abbot, Peter Moehler, and 14 other monks. The authorities allege that the monastery was a centre of Nazi activity for many years. Police are reported to have found radio transmitters and munitions. Josef Pfitzner, the German Deputy Lord Mayor of Prague from 1939 until 1945, has been sentenced to death by public hanging. He is the first war criminal to be tried by the People's Court. The accused pleaded not guilty to charges of high treason, and claimed that he had only carried out the orders of Frank, the Nazi administrator. The German authorities in Saxony have ordered the immediate seizure, without compensation, of all farms and estates of more than 250 acres, which will be divided into 12-acre holdings for workers and refugees evicted from Poland. This is the first definite step towards splitting up Junker estates. Berlin radio said that the provincial administration of Saxony has decided to expropriate the property of war criminals, Nazi leaders, and active members of the Nazi Party. From a pool, confiscated land property will be redistributed as small farms to landless peasants.