GERMAN "UNDERGROUND"

Evening Star, Issue 25070, 11 January 1944, Page 3

GERMAN "UNDERGROUND"

WORKS LIKE GESTAPO TO OUTWIT NAZIS The " Underground" anti-Nazi movement in Germany, as described by, one of its very active members, has been fashioned after the Gestapo itself—tne better to outwit Adolf Hitler's secret police. Operating mainly in Austria and Batavia, there are five principal groups— Monarchists, Pacinstic, Anarchistic, Communistic, and Social Democratic. Fundamentally, they work together toward a single aim—to overthrow the Nazi regime and end the war. WORKER TELLS STORY. A young German anti-Nazi worker tells this work of how the groups operate: — "After the approach by contact men who .were acquainted with my past, 1 started in June, 1942, as a messenger for the Monarchists group, without; knowing the leader or any of his close associates. As the contacts. grew, .11155 assignments also became more important, and finally, with a few others, 1 was chosen as the nucleus; of; a;new. l group. Contact between various underground groups was maintained by intermediaries. : Written records regarding membership; functions and activities or the organisations do not exist. "A larger group is more dangerous because of the chances-of detection bythe Gestapo. Therefore," they average between 200 and 300 members. In-my experience, one unit had grown to more than 500 persons. It became too unwieldy and too hard to control. "As a result, three ringleaders wera discovered by the Gestapo and executed. " New units, therefore, are being formed with overflow. In order to join, four members must guarantee an applicant. Any single man in the organisa-' tion never knows more than two or three others. A Gestapo clean up, therefore, would bo very limited in scope, and wouldn't break up the illegal work. " Each member has only a numbbr as identification. That number changes from month to month. The more im : portant his functions, the higher is his number. It is a simple arrangement, but it defeats the Gestapo because whenever they trap a member, he is seldom in a position to disclose the leaders. " Police officials, postal officials, salesmen, workers, and men of all professions and all classes are flocking to the ' underground ' movement. We finance ourselves by volunteering money for running expenses. "In a manner which cannot be re- ■ 1 vealed we obtained lists of field-post : numbers and other data" (each soldier has-a number for postal address), disabling us to specialise in our propai ganda, depending upon the plaec tha soldier is stationed and the conditions under which he is fighting. WORK QUIETLY. " The city in which our headquarters is located is regarded as extra-territorial —that is, we engage in no _' underground ' action there because it might bring the Gestapo down on the brains of the'organisation. We-try.to carry on our work as noiselessly as possible, working with primitive and simple methods, especially by letter. " Using address books, we start at one point which appears the most fertile field, say, Graz, then fan out,from there systematically from vil-' lage to village and town to town, sending letters to everyone. We use all kinds and shapes of envelopes in order not to attract too much attention. " The messengers travel from place to place posting a few letters here and a few there. Thus, they arrive at different times from different places. At least three agents are constantly engagedin making the rounds. ■ In one I month we sent 30,000 letters. .

"The Gestapo obviously know§ how we distribute, but hasn't been able to_ track us down." ' Christian Science Monitor.'