GERMAN ELECTIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 November 1933, Page 5

GERMAN ELECTIONS

THE PRESIDENT’S BROADCAST

“WILL FOR PEACE”

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.]

BERLIN, November 11. President Hindenburg, in his broadcast speech before the elections, said: “For the first time after years of disruption, Germany stand's before the world' united in a will for peace, and demanding honour and equality and respect. It is lies and slander when foreigners attribute warlike intentions to us. Those who, like me, have survived the war, regard the maintenance of peace as a most serious duty to Germany, and the world. We have left the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations so as to demonstrate that the differentiation between the victors and’ vanquished must cease. Germans must tomorrow loudly and positively announce that Germany must never again be treated as a second-class nation, and must acknowledge with me and Chancellor Hitler, the principles of equality and peace with honour.”

RUSH TO VOTE.

(Received November 13, 11 a.m.)

BERLIN, November 12.

“Do you German man and you German woman approve the policy of your Government? Are you ready to recognise it, as an expression of your own views, and will you solemnly to pledge yourself to it?” This was the actual form of the referendum on which Germany to-day, was asked to approve of the attitude towards disarmament and the departure from the League.

Voters on another paper were asked to choose the new Reichstag which was a mere formality. The absence of a competitive element, however, did not affect the intensity of the Government’s propaganda. Every town and village was beflagged. Long queues were outside the taverns, employed as polling booths, while elaborate arrangements were made for the votes of Germans living abroad. Although the poll was open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., at least fifty per cent of the electorate had voted by 11 a.m. To counteract any disinclination to vote, Nazi volunteers went from house to house, inquiring whether the electors had done their duty. Special facilities were given invalids and cripples, many of whom were wheeled to the voting stations. President Hindenburg, after voting early, was given a great reception as he drove to church. The electors were given no opportunity to forget to vote. Squads of Nazi youths and girls traversed the streets of Berlin on lorries and cycles, carrying megaphones, and shouting exhortations to vote. Thousands wore emblems signifying that they had already voted. Apart from this propaganda, the atmosphere was quiet, contrasting with tenseness and excitement at former elections.

The ex-Kaiser did not avail himself of the opportunity to vote, but other royalties voted in Potsdam. The election questions were transcribed in Braille, enabling the blind to vote.

Train-loads of Germans from Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Switzerland, and Holland voted, some from Britain taking advantage of the Government’s free ticket to the nearest frontier States. Danzig Germans chartered a special steamer, and voted outside Polish territorial waters. Similar arrangements were made in Italy. The occupants of the Frankfurt concentration camp were allowed to vote. It is, perhaps, not surprising that seventy-nine out of eighty-eight thereof recorded “yes.”

OVERWHELMING AFFIRMATIVE.

(Recd. November 13, 1 p.m.) BERLIN, November 12.

The Nazis polled 14,866,950, representing 92.8 per cent of the votes counted till 10.30 p.m. The invalid’ vote totalled 1,150,550, representing 7.27 per cent.

A total of 15,245,350, representing 94.1 per cent, replied “Yes” to the plebiscite; 708,000 replied “No,” and 251,950 votes were invalid. The early returns shows that the polling exceeded the most optimistic expectations. In several instances there was a 100 per cent, poll in rural centres, with an almost 100 per cent. “Yes” vote, even in centres which were formerly Socialist and Communist strongholds. Hitherto 85 per cent, was the highest poll recorded in Germany. In the Bavarian Palatinate, where the Nazis at the last election secured only 47 per cent...of the votes cast, 99 per cent, voted in favour of the Government’s policy. All but 673 of 77,871 entitled to vote in the Palatinate, went to the polls. The electoral system, which provides that one member shall be returned for every 60,000 votes, prevents a voter expressing preference for a particular candidate. Hugenberg (Nationalist leader) and Dr. Albert Hackelsberger (Centre Catholic Party) are almost the only non-Nazi candidates. No women are on the lists.

PROFESSORS’ CLAIMS

(Received November 13, 8 a.m.)

BERLIN, November 12

A number of doctors and professors, meeting at Leipzig University, to-day, will appeal to their colleagues throughout the world for better understanding of Germany, declaring that they placed themselves in the front rank as leaders and fighters on behalf of Germany’s honour, justice and for world peace, hoping that intelligent circles will not fail to recognise that Nazi Germany, as embodied by Hitler, must be accorded attention and consideration. .

AUSTRIAN PRECAUTIONS.

DEATH PENALTY RE-INTRODUCED

VIENNA, November 11.

The Austrian Government have decreed the re-introduction of the death penalty through court martial for murder, arson and for serious disturbances. The decree, however, does not mean universal martial law, but the step is necessary, due to Parliament beingnow not sittting. The decree adds that there is to be no public celebration of the anniversary of the Austrian Republic, which

date is one coinciding with the German elections, on Sunday, thus necess * tating greater powers to deal with a possible contingency. A hangman has been appointed and gallows have been erected in the courtyard of the chief prison, where the last hanging, in the year 1908, was carried out. It is announced that the first victims of the new decree will be those who have murdered Eduard King, a member of the Austrian Heimwehr who was shot at midnight, if they are discovered. King was patrolling with an associate, named Klagian, when bombs were thrown at the house of the Burgomaster. King interrogated the occupants of a motor car, who killed him, and wounded Glagian, and then decamped into Germany. Several arrestees were made in the Lochau neighbourhood. The Austrians have closed the Bavarian frontier, announcing that any Germans proceeding homeward tomorrow, must prove that they are voters. MASS-MURDER STORY. (Received November 13, 9.30 a.m.) WARSAW, November 12. Au amazing story of mass murders of foreigners by the German Nazi patriotic terrorist organisation, known as Delapi, appears in the “Cracow Courier.”

The Polish political police are said to possess a list of 248 Frenchmen, 198 Poles, 46 Germans, and many Czechoslovakians, who were murdered at the instigation of the Delapi. Beautiful women were employed to persuade the victims to desert from the army, go to Germany, and be put in touch with the German espionage organisation. If they refused to act as spies, they were murdered. The bodies were burned, or dissolved in chemicals.