ESCAPE FROM JUSTICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1946, Page 7

ESCAPE FROM JUSTICE

COMMENT ON THE GOERING CASE EFFECT ON GERMAN PEOPLE LONDON,. October 17. In German eyes, the manner of Goering’s death is bound to take something away from the Nuremberg judgment, in making a legend of the man whose end was in keeping with his arrogant but by no means uncourageous deportment during the trial, says the Nuremberg correspondent of The Times. It will be remarked that Nazi Germany’s four " most /powerful men, Hitler. Himmler. Goebbels, and now Goering; have escaped Allied justice. They have already passed into oblivion, says the correspondent, but there are many Germans, even if they now profess to disavow their former leaders who will think of Goering with pride. May Prove Rallying Point. He adds that Nuremberg, with its united appeal from the scaffold to purely nationalist sentiments, could yet be a rallying point. Goering may not become a martyr, but he is something approaching a hero in Germany to-day, says the Daily Mail’s correspondent, Brian Connell, cabling from Hamburg. The human memory is short and recollections of the Nazi terror are beginning to dim. Another scapegoat has started to assume growing proportions in the German mind, namely, the Allied occupying authorities. A typical comment, Conenll says, was: “Hermann pulled a fast one on them, after all.” He adds that irrespective of whether they were Nazi or not, the hungry, frustrated Germans had found someone who had taken one last glorious rise out of the Allies, and they were revelling in this. “Mocking Laughter.”

Reactions among Hamburg’s hardbitten Communists varied from thigh-slappings to a grudging recognition of Goering’s courage and astuteness, but more sober-minded people are saying it was partly the Allies’ fault. “If he had been condemned to death by shooting as becomes a soldier,'! do not think he would have done it.” said a former Nazi officer. A good deal of mocking laughter was discernible to-day among the population of Nuremberg, the correspondent says. He adds that it is being consistently asked why official news of the execution of the remaining 10 Nazi leaders was deliberately made a matter of privilege for the American press. This was by no means the first time since the occupation that unnecessary secrecy and suppression put the American press in a position to “corner” news of world interest. The question was being asked how far such occurrences were coincidental.

HOW ERRONEOUS REPORT AROSE LONDON, October 16. A delay in the official announcement of Goering’s suicide, combined with a misleading report from the American-controlled news service in Germany, gave the world press and news coverage a headache, says Reuter’s correspondent in Nuremberg. According to the official announcement, Goering committed suicide about 10.45 p.m. yesterday, but the news was not officially announced until 5.20 a.m., nearly seven hours later. t The American News S'ervice, in the meantime, stated, at 2.45 a.m.: “The 11 Nuremberg executipns have been carried out.” Correspondents outside the prison were responsible for this erroneous dispatch, based on a statement from a prison official that the bangings had begun, and the fact that they could see something of the proceedings from a house outside the prison. It was not until the British morning newspapers finished printing editions carrying the erroneous report that Goering, with the others, had been 'hanged, that the surprise announcement of the suicide was released.

RUSSIAN REPORTS OF HANGINGS LONDON, Oct. 16. A Moscow correspondent reports that the newspaper Izvestia this morning published a paragraph stating that the American Information Service had announced the hanging of the Nazis, also Goering’s suicide, but did not carry Russian eye-witness stories of the hangings. Reuter’s correspondent in Nuremberg states that the Russian correspondents who witnessed the hangings had not fulfilled by noon the previous agreement to submit their reports to other members of the world press. The Russians refuse to disclose why they will not do this.

MORE TRIALS EXPECTED SHORTLY NUREMBERG, October 16. The United States Assistant-Secre-tary of State for War (Mr. Howard Petersen) predicted that now that the major war criminals had been executed, the trials of Nazi industrialists, politicians, S.S. chiefs, and others would begin some time next month. He added that details were expected in the near future.