ARRESTED NAZIS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1945, Page 5

ARRESTED NAZIS

HIMMLER HANDED OVER ’ ■GOERING ON COVENTRY LONDON, May 13. Himmler was reported to be in British hands by an American broadcaster from Paris. He said Himmler was understood to have been held under house arrest by Admiral Doenitz to the Flensburg area, and Admiral Doenitz was believed to have turned him over to the British forces in that area. No information on this point is yet forthcoming in London. General Sepp Dietrich, “the butcher of Kharkov,” was captured by the United States 7th Army, according to the British United Press correspondent. General Dietrich claimed to have left the Nazi Party seven years ago “for a military career.” Persons taken into custody by the 7th Army included Dr. Dammers, chief of the Reich Chancellery. “The German people have behaved like idiots,” said the former Crown Prince Wilhelm, who is now under French custody at Lindau, when interviewed by Reuter’s correspondent. He added: “This war has been madness. I always tbld papa before 1914 that we ought to have an understanding with France.” The Crown Prince said he believed Hitler was dead, “but I always expected he would die on the battlefield mounted on a white horse.’ He added that Hitler understood neither the French nor British mentality. I told him he was making a mistake, said the Crown Prince. “I especially warned him about persecuting Catholics and Jews, but Hitler really hated the Jews. The word Jew acted on him like a red rag on a bull, lhe Crown Prince described Goebbels as a simple demagogue, but he maintained Mussolini was a very brilliant man. The Crown Prince was pained at being taken prisoner. “Fancy to have men with tommy-guns at my aoor, he said. , , . r “Yes, I ordered the bombing ofCoventry,” said Goering at a Press conference. He added that the ordei to bomb Canterbury came from “higher up.” Perspiring and uneasy before a group of war correspondents, Goering defended the saturation raid on Coventry as legitimate because of the concentration of aircraft and other war industries there. He said that the order to bomb Canterbury came “as revenge for the British bombing of a German cathedral city,” but he said he did not remember which city Goering spoke bitterly about Hitler for refusing to take his advice on military questions. “When Hitler decided to attack Russia, I. myself referred him to the passage in Mem Kampf in which he said that war on two fronts would be dangerous. Goering said the concentration camps were solely Hitlers concern and operated under his direct oideis. The United States 7th Army has taken into custody over 150 high German Ministerial Personnel including the economic minister Walthei Funk, and about 138 Japanese diplomatic personnel, including the Ambassadoi to Germany.

HIMMLER NOT ARRESTED.

(Rec. 1. I- ) LONDON) May 13 . After SHAEF’s denial of Himmler’s arrest, the Associated Press correspondent explained the report that Himmler was in Allied custody came from an officer just back from the front. , , Reuter’s Paris correspondent says that the Associated Press report caused concern among SHAEI‘ officials who took the unusual step of summoning all correspondents by klaxon, which is normally reserved for important military news. There was delay after the correspondents gathered, because one American Press representative was not present. He arrived after a special summons by telephone. TREATMENT OF GOERING WASHINGTON. May 11. The House applauded when Representative Flood (Democrat, Pennsylvania) demanded the immediate drumhead court-martial of Goering as a war criminal. He.said: Goering is still pompous, strutting and arrogant. This overstuffed buffoon and charlatan demanded and was granted the privilege of a bath and a change into one of his grotesque musical comedy uniforms before he condescended to have his picture taken by his captors. Instead of being wined and dined as a privileged character he should have been shot on sight like any other mad dog.” The “Washington Post, says: All this may be in line with military etiquette, but it will leave a stench in the nostrils of most Americans. It is an insult to our honoured dead and their families. It would not be a ban idea lor General Eisenhower to supplement his anti-fraternisation order issued to the troops with an order to high American officers to be a gooa deal less deferential to Nazi crimi’ A radio commentator, Frank Kingdon said: “The United States Army s treatment of Goering is the most dangerous signal for the future since Munich.”

TRACKING NAZI ASSETS

(Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 13. Financial authorities from the British Military Government m Germany are already tracking down the fortunes of Nazi leaders and officials which are hidden at home ond abroad, stated Reuter’s correspondent with the British 2nd Army. .Much of the five years’ pillage is coming io light. Eight giant packing cases full of jewellery and other valuables, worth hundreds- of thousands, possibly millions, have been found hidden in cellars in the 2nd Army area. This is mostly the property ot Dutch and Jewish families. Colonel Peter Stampe, a formei banker, now Financial Chief ot the British Military Government, stated that a blocking control had already been established with a view to the total eradication of all Nazi assets m finance and real estate in Germany or abroad. Foreign exchange property controls are also operating under which the authorities hoped to uncover the devious undei ground means whereby the Germans transferred assets abroad.

VICHY MILITIA ARRESTED.

LONDON, May 12

“Two hundred Vichy militiamen, including Darnand’s lieutenant (Kimpling) were arrested with Darnard (head of the militia),” says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Pans correspondent. “They are the remnants of 300 French Fascists _ who fought against General de Tassigny’s liberating troops all the way from Marseilles. They are allegedly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Frenchmen.” Fernand de Brinon, former Vichy, Ambassador to the Germans in Paris was arrested with his wife and secretaries- in the zone of the French Ist Army. He was one of Laval’s closest collaborators and was president of the French Legion. M. Leon Blum, former Frehch Leftist Prime Minister, has arrived in Paris, reports Reuter’s correspondent.

RUMANIAN EX-PREMIER.

LONDON, May 12

Radescu, a former Rumanian Prime Minister, who was given re-

fuge in the building of the British political delegation at Bucharest after the overthrow of his Government last March, has, it is understood, left the building this week, sufficient assurances regarding his safety having been obtained from the Rumanian Government.

WORK FOR PRISONERS

(Rec. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON. May 13. The French Minister of Industrial Production, Robert La Coste, stated that 30.000 German S.S. troops will be emoloyed in French coal mines in the near future. The first stage in the reconstruction of the Donbas mines in Russia’s largest coal-producing area, is completed, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. Pits which were flooded by the Germans were yielding 40 percent of the pre-war output, which was a quarter of a million tons daily.