HITLER’S “STORM-TROOPS”

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 April 1932, Page 7

HITLER’S “STORM-TROOPS”

DISSOLUTION ORDERED.

[BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.]

(Received April 14, Noon.) BERLIN, April 13.

A sensation was caused by the issue of a decree signed by Hindenburg, Bruening and Groener, ordering the dissolution of Hitler’s storm troops, numbering 400,000, on the ground that it is an illegal organisation menacing State authority The decision was taken at a conference of Ministers of the Interior of the Federal States, presided over by Bruening, in consequence of the Storm Troops’ repeated violations of the decree forbidding the wearing of party uniforms, also the acts of terrorism against political opponents, and preparation of acts of high treason, as revealed by documents recently confiscated through Germany. Hitler disavows responsibility for the consequences of the disbandment, but the authorities are confident that the decree can be executed without strife. It is regarded as a heavy blow to Hitler.

Swift action followed the decree. The police closed thirty Nazi barracks at Berlin, seized all the military material, and are now dealing similarly with two hundred barracks throughout Germany.

The Government declares that the Nazi detachments constituted a private army organised in military formation to the smallest detail. Though lacking heavy weapons, the forces are capable of performing acts of violence, bringing pressure to bear on the populationThe Nazi proclamation states that the mere existence of such organisations, forming a State within a State is a source of continual unrest, liable to create conditions similar to civil war.

The decree threatens to imprison any person attempting to carry on the banned organisations. The police at Hamburg found the Nazi headquarters filled with tear gas, and were forced to break windows before ■- entering. . \ The police blocked all roads leading to Brown House, the Nazi central headquarters at Munich. Strong detachments raided the building. The decree was not enforced in Brunswick, whose Nazi Government alone opposed the suppression.

Nazis complain that the police exceeded their powers when they searched political offices as well as barracks and seized election material.