RELEASE FROM CAMPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22586, 15 March 1948, Page 5

RELEASE FROM CAMPS

7000 NAZI BOSSES ACTION IN BRITISH ZONE SeveS thousand Nazi bosses in the British zone in Germany are being released from internment camps where they have been shut up since the war. Each is being given, at Britain’s expense, battle-dress, army boots and sometimes a greatcoat, and rail fare to a town or village where he was a big shot during the Hitler regime. They include political bosses, members of the General Staff, generals, admirals, diplomats, members of the Gestapo, civil servants and industrialists.

They had been held because the Allied Control Council feared that they might, if at liberty, constitute a threat to world security, plfifting for another Hitler Reich and a fresh war, but, says the Daily Express correspondent, Selton Delmer, the British no longer think so.

Discussing whether the release of the Nazis, who will also be freed from camps in Britain, Egypt and elsewhere, will be dangerous, Delmer says that so far no protests have come from the Czechs and Poles because of the secrecy with which Britain is acting. When they are aware of the release protests will come, with the Communists denouncing British policy. Delmer adds: “I do not think that there is any danger in the release of these Nazis, not because I believe that they have become innocents overnight, or because I am impressed by the training in house-painting and bricklaying which the generals and staff officers have undergone in preparation for their new life. “I am aware that members of the Special Guards have a secret organisation with escape routes and funds abroad. I believe that the political situation is too nebulous for them to formulate a clear plan. They do not know whether they want to drive out the British and Americans or the Russians or whether a war between East and West would be useful to them. ‘‘More important still is that Germany will be incapable of waging war for many years. Nevertheless, we should not cut down British, Intelligence, simultaneously releasing the Nazis.”