HUN BRUTALITY

Evening Star, Issue 24004, 1 October 1941, Page 7

HUN BRUTALITY

MERCILESS PERSECUTION OF SLOVENES

EFFORT TO EXTERMINATE NATION YOUNG GIRLS DRAGGED FROM HOMES Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, September 30. (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) - The persecution and agony of the subjected peoples of Europe, where Hitlers executioners are doing their utmost to exterminate all individuals and even nations whom they cannot Germanise, are revealed in ghastlier detail in the latest messages reaching London. Thousands of arrests are being made in Czecho-Slovakia where the break up of the puppet Government and the com-' plete dismemberment of the protectorate are foreseen. But for &keer brutalisation nothing beats the unrelenting and merciless persecution of the Slovene population of Yugoslavia. Dr Krek,-Deputy-Premier, disclosed the terrible plight of the Slovenes—a nation of 1,500,000, which is a part of the Yugoslav kingdom. Hitler, knowing he could pot Germanise the Slovenes, decided to exterminate them, Gauleiters decreed all . churches closed and the Gestapo, arrested the clergy. Aged priests were forced to stand in supplication before pictures of Hitler, while the Gestapo spat in their faces and beat them with their fists. The Gestapo organised shooting exercises, “for fun.” Priests had. to face a wall while members of the Gestapo kept shooting over their heads. All religious ceremonies are forbidden, including. baptisms and weddings. Intellectuals have been robbed of their belongings and sent to concentration camps, and their women and children, packed into cattle trucks and transported to Serbia.' ' The Germans arranged for the deportation of 283,000 Slovenes, and by the end of July had sent away 60,000 people.’They were allowed to take only their clothes and under £l.

The Gestapo travelled from village to village selecting men and boys for forced labour in Germany and also girls aged 15 to 25, who will be sent to Germany “ for free military use.” Aged people and children are sent south. There is no food on the trains and nothing for them at their destinations. The scenes when the Gestapo made their “ collecting ” expeditions were appalling. The wailing of the victims at the railway stations was heart-break-ing, and tlie brutality of the partings, especially of young girls, from their homes beyond description. They were dragged away like cattle without a chance of saying farewell to their families.. ... Hitler has ’also:, destroyed the economic structure of Slovenia; dissolving 1,600 co-operative savings and credjt organisations and ‘confiscating their property. The Germans have forbidden, under pain of death, publication of books, periodicals, and newspapers. All the books are taken from the publics libraries and publicly burned. All Slovene notices and street signs have been obliterated by the Germans, who even defaced the Slovenes’ inscriptions on tombstones and destroyed publia monuments.Thus is Hitler murdering a highly civilised nation in the midst of Europe in the twentieth century, BATTLE OF CRETE 11 BERMANS SHOT EVERYBODY ” EDMONTON, Sept. 30. Seaman Frank Savage, a member of the crew of a British battleship during the evacuation of Crete, told the Canadian Press that many wounded Australians were unavoidably left behind in a Crete' hospital. “ Germans who arrived in the - town shot everybody. I xnow, because four of our men dressed as Greek peasants returned in an attempt to find an Australian brigadier. They reached the hospital and found everybody dead. -

DOMINIONS AND FAR EAST DIPLOMATIC READJUSTMENTS SINGAPORE, September 30. The possibility of far-reaching readjustments in British dominion diplomatic arrangements in the Far East are visualised here. This view is based on a number of factors, including the wide scope of the talks conducted by the British Minister, Mr A. Buff Cooper, and the fact tha the Australian Minister to Japan (Sir John Latham) will call at Singapore bn' his journey back to Australia, together with the appointment of a Netherlands Consul-General in Australia (Mr T. Elink Sohuurman)! as first Netherlands Minister to Australia. The Japanese News Agency here, when announcing Sir John Latham’s departure from Yokohama and his intention to call at Singapore, described the visit as “ significant.” It also referred to the presence here of British envoys to China and Thailand. Authoritative circles in Singapore, however, deny that" there is any special significance associated with Sir John Latham’s proposed visit. A GERMAN CLAIM BRITISH DESTROYER SUNK LONDON, September 30. The German news agency claims that bombers directly hit and sank a British destroyer on the east coast. REPORTED ARREST BARDH VOS NEURATH LONDON, September 30. The Moscow radio says a message from Berne gave an unconfirmed report that Baron von Neurath has been arrested.