CZECHS “UNDER REIGN OF TERROR”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22584, 12 March 1948, Page 5

CZECHS “UNDER REIGN OF TERROR”

“WORLD SITUATION VERY, VERY SERIOUS”

MR. MARSHALL’S GRAVE SUMMING UP (N.Z.P.A. —Copyright.) (10 a.m.) WASHINGTON, March 11. Czechoslovakia was “under a reign of terror,’’ and the world situation was “very, very serious,” said the Secretary of State, Mr. George Marshall, at a press conference yesterday.

Mr. Marshall frequently went “off the record” in his talk with correspondents, but took the unusual step of allowing himself to be quoted verbatim on one point after a reporter had suggested that great fears had been aroused over the Czechoslovak crisis and over the possibility of the Communists winning the Italian elections on April 18.

Mr. Marshall said: “I think you correctly describe the situation. There is also a considerable passion of view by a great many people in this country (the United States). The situation is very, very serious. It is regrettable that passions are aroused to the degree they are. It is tragic to have things happen like those in Czechoslovakia, particularly regarding some of the officials there, as in the affair today of M. Masaryk. It all indicates very plainly what is going on. It is a reign of terror in Czechoslovakia, not an ordinary one due to process of government by the people.” Outspoken Czech Praised

Mr. Marshall aid he had not ct received any ormal report rom the U.S. Ymbassador in ’rague regarding he nature of M. lasaryk's death, lis only comment in M. Jan Papaek’s proposal to ■lace the Czech osition before the iccurity Council was that it was refreshing to hear omeone saying 'reely what he thought. The New York Times, in an edi■orial on M. Masaryk’s death, says: • Like a flash of lightning piercing the night, the death of M. Masaryk has

shattered the last sorry pretence thrown around the Russo-Communist conquest of Czechoslovakia and illuminates the prodigious catastrophe now taking place behind the iron curtain. What the mass tragedy of millions, because of its very vastness, was unable to convey to the human mind lias been made comprehensible in the poignant tragedy of a single individual who stands for millions of his fellow victims. The stunning shock of the event is bound to have repercussions, the ultimate effects of which are still incalculable. The Prague correspondent of the Paris paper, .Le Martin, said that four days before he committed suicide M. Masaryk told him that the Communist Government “was a knife at the throats of himself and Dr. Benes. You know as well as I that my country is no longer free. Agency reports announce the resignations of the Czech Minister to Turkey, M Krakowsky and the First Secretary to’ the Czech Legation to the Holy See, Prince Schwarzenberg. who was a wartime underground leader. Death not Mentioned

The Czech Premier, M. Gottwald spoke in Parliament for nearly an hour, describing the new Communist programme without mentioning M. Masaryk, whose empty seat was two places away from his. Later, M. Gottwald, in a letter to M. Masaryk’s sister, Alice, said that her brother created a new foreign policy guaranteeing the free and tranquil course of the peoples' development. It is generally assumed that the Communist, M. Vladimir Clementis, the deputy Foreign Minister, will succeed M. Masaryk, whose death had repercussions throughout Europe. The French President, M. Auriol-, sent Dr. Benes a message lamenting the loss of a “noble personality and an illustrious name.”

Mr. Attlee and Mr. Ernest Bevin sent to M. Masaryk’s sisters Miss Alice Masaryk in Prague and Mrs. Olga Revillied in the United States, messages expressing deep distress at “the which has overtaken your brother.” Dr. Adolf Prochapka, the former Czechoslovakian Minister of Health, who fled after the Communist coup, reached the Amei’ican zone of Germany with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. World wide Sympathy

The United Nations’ SecretaryGeneral, M. Trygve Lie, speaking at a press conference at Lake Success, expressed deep grief at M. Masaryk’s death. * . In a cable of sympathy to the President, Dr. Benes, he said: “The whole democratic world was indebted to M. Masaryk’s fine courage and deep intelligence." The Norwegian Liberal newspaper Dagbladet said that M. Masaryk felt it his duty to show the world where he stood. „ , , The Swedish Labour Party s paper, Afton Tidningen, stated that M. Masaryky’s death has confronted the Gottwald. Government with its most difficult problem. The Austrian Socialist paper, Arbeiter Zeitung, declared that M. Marasyk s suicide would contribute to the enlightenment of the world. . The Danish Parliament stood, in silence while the Foreign Minister, M. Rasmussen, paid a tribute.