ANGLO-GERMAN FRICTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 May 1933, Page 7

ANGLO-GERMAN FRICTION

DELEGATES’ VISIT TO LONDON Ml — -'■* “UNFRIENDLY" INTERVIEW & [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, May 11. It is now clear that Sir John Simon dealt with Doctor Rosenberg (the Envoy of Chancellor Hitler) as frankly as did Mr Norman Davis. He told Dr. Rosenberg plainly that the Nazis’ Persecution of the Jews ‘ had aroused strong feeling here, and had-produced a. nationwide reaction. Doctor Rosenberg expressed regret at this, and he assured Sir John that the situation in Germany was becoming normal; but he also insisted firmly that Germany would brook no interference in her internal affairs. He said that any uch interference would only aggravate the extremist elements. The talk is described in influential political circles as polite but unfriendly. SIR J. SIMON’S CANDOUR. RUGBY, May 10. Sir John Simon, • questioned in regard to Doctor Rosenberg’s visit, said: “The German Embassy requested that this gentleman should be received at the Foreign Office. The Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs saw him on Monday, and I had a conversation wifh him yesterday. He gave me some information as to recent events in the internal policy of Germany, and I explained to him, with equal frankness, the prevailing sentiment in this country on the subject.”

DISCUSSION IN COMMONS. [official wireless.] RUGBY, May 11. Replying in the Commons to a number of questions with reference to the arrival in England of two prominent members of the German Nazi Movement, Dr. Rosenberg and Herr Thort, Sir J. Gilmour (Home Secretary) said he understood that Rosenberg proposed to stay a few days only. Thort, who was a foreign newspaper correspondent, had been residing in England since 1930. They had not been asked to give any undertaking to refrain from propaganda during their stay. Asked why different treatment was accorded them from that accorded to other propagandists, Sir J. ’ Gilmour said he did not think there was any difference in treatment. Each individual case was considered on its merits. Later, Mr G. Lansbury (Labour) asked leave to move the adjournment of the House to discuss the admission to Britain of certain German Fascist propagandists and the failure of the Home Secretary to obtain from them undertakings not to engage in propaganda. The Home Secretary intervened to remark that in view of the fact the German Ambassador had interested himself in the circumstances of the visit, he saw no reason to make special arrangements. The Speaker of the House, having ruled that Mr Lansbury’s motion did not come within the Standing Orders, the latter gave notice that he would, if time permitted, raise the question on the motion for adjournment. CENOTAPH WREATH THROWN INTO THAMES LONDON, May 11. Some unknown person, arriving at the Cenotaph early in the morning, slashed and destroyed Doctor Rosenberg’s wreath, and then drove rapidly away. ‘ Later there was another similar incident. A member of the British Legion, a prospective Labour Party candidate, drove up and removed the wreath as “a deliberate protest against the desecration of the Cenotaph by Hitler’s hireling also against the present barbarism in Germany.” Dr. Rosenberg says the wreath he placed on the Cenotaph was in honour of fallen Britons. “I am painfully surprised at the sad incident. The British public will readily understand how I feel.” BOW STREET CONVICTION. (Received May 12, 11 a.m.) LONDON, May 11. Captain J. Sears, charged at Bow Street with stealing Rosenberg’s wreath was discharged, under the. Offenders’ Probation Act, and fined forty shillings for wilful damage to the wreath which was thrown into the Thames, but later recovered. The space on the Cenotaph occupied by Rosenberg’s wreath was filled this evening by a chaplet inscribed “placed here in sincerity by a Briton resenting the insult to the glonous The “Star” asks whether Hitler realised that the wreath jointly honoured the Jews who died for. England, whose names occupy forty-nine pages of the British Jewry Book of Honour

“NATIONAL PROTEST.” RUGBY, May 11. An ex-officer, Captain Sears who removed the wreath was fined 40/- for wilful damage to the wreath. Defendant said his action was a “deliberate national protest,” since Hitler’s Government was fostering a feeling “for which many of our fellows lost their lives in fighting.” The Magistrate said he w T as not concerned with defendant’s private opinions, and his action was ill-mannered and improper announced. HUN-GERMAN BURNINGS [TIMES CABLES.] BERLIN, May 11. The biggest bonfire of books since the Middle Ages was lighted in the Opera. Square at midnight. University students and Nazis committed twenty thousand Marxist, Pacifist, Jewish and other “Un-German” books to the flames. The bonfire was not official. It followed a procession and was accompanied by a speech by Herr Dr Goebels. Twenty thousand books by famous writers were consigned to the huge bonfire. Special venom was displayed during the burning of Remarque’s book, “All Quiet on the Western Front” and also Feuchtwanger’s “Jew Suss.” A vast essembly witnessed the proceedings tionally. The demonstration was practically’ confined to the Nazis. At Frankfort also, thousands of

books were steeped in paraffin and burnt. There have been similar book burnings in other German cities, including the burning of fifteen thousand books in Munich, preceded by a. patriotic demonstration. . Herr Schemm, the Bavarian Minister of Education, in a speech, said that the Nazi Revolution would fit Germany more than ever to lead the world. ANOTHER “SUICIDE” (Rec. May 12, 1 p.m.) BERLIN, May 11. The body of the Socialist Reichstag Deputy Biedermann, was found on the railway line at Recklingshausen. The police say it was a case of suicide. UNEMPLOYMENT DECREASE. BERLIN, May 11. Unemployed in Germany at, . totalled five millions _ thre e h ”?four thousand. This was a decrease of fou hundred thousand on the previous year.