PEOPLE PAY TRIBUTE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20603, 3 November 1941, Page 5

PEOPLE PAY TRIBUTE

VICTIMS OF NAZIS

PERIOD OF SILENCE (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Nov. 3, 9 a.m.) LONDON. Nov. 1. A handful of Londoners gathered amid the ruins of All Hallows by the Tower to participate in the five minutes of silence which was observed throughout France yesterday in tribute to the French hostages slain by the Germans at Nantes and Bordeaux. In Cairo thousands of Free French sympathisers observed the silence. Soldiers of the Free French base camp lined up for the silence. Elsewhere sympathisers, including Italians, stood at attention. Civilians in Beirut and officials who met at the High Commissioner’s office observed the silence.

The Ministry of the Interior at Vichy announced that five scattered incidents occurred in occupied France during the period of silence instigated by General de Gaulle. Vichy claims that nothing was reported from the unoccupied zones. Strikers at Saint Nicholas de Pont, which is a mining town near Nancy, cut off the electric power from the main pit for a short time. A school mistress at Epinal led a classroom demonstration. One hundred people assembled at the war memorial at Le Havre, but were dispersed without trouble by the police.

Work Interrupted

Work was interrupted for several minutes at factories in Nonbeliard and also the important steel town of Longwy, in Lorraine. No disturbance occurred, but many workers stood idle during the demonstration. Vichy officials claim that General de Gaulle's appeal failed, says the Associated Press of Great Britain. The suspension of the execution of hostages removed the main purpose of the strike. The Germans slightly reduced the hours of curfew at Bordeaux. The Neueste Nachrichten in a leading article says: “If the French are not yet ready to recognise German clemency to conquered France, the Vichy Governmental system is responsible. Marshal Petain uses severe language concerning Communists, but it is clear that Marshal Petain’s decisions do not go beyond the bounds of a niggardly home policy, inspired mainly by his own reactionary spirit, which profits from defeat by taking revenge on his former personal enemies, M. Daladier, M. Reynaud and M. Gamelin.”

The Prague radio announced that four Czechs, including an ex-captain of the Czech Army, were executed for “high treason and sabotage.”