REICHSTAG FIRE TRIAL

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 28 September 1933, Page 9

REICHSTAG FIRE TRIAL

PRISONER’S CELL VISITED

NO SIGN OF ILL HEALTH. VAGUE REPLIES IN COURT. CONFESSIONS TO' BE READ. (United Prew Association —By Electric Telcgrapn Copyright.) LONDON, Sept. 26. The “Daily Express” Leipzig correspondent obtained special permission to visit the cell of Van der Lubbe, one of the men charged at the Reichstag fire trial. “In court he holds his hands as though chained, but I saw him exercising in the yard, where lie strode along swinging his arms like any healthy man,” says the correspondent. “Later I saw a doctor strip him. His skin was white and firm and there were no signs of disease. “His cell was comfortable and roomy. The table was littered with illustrated magazines, but he prefers to sit listless and silent with bent head. He seems to have sworn himself to an obstructive semi-silence. My impression grows that Van der Lubbe is a sort of Caliban, sullen and brutish, with streaks of idealism glimmering through the dark recesses of a primitive, tortured mind.” When the trial resumed to-day Van der Lubbe was bent double across the witness stand. Ghastly pale, he answered questions about three incendiary attempts in Berlin buildings on the day of the Reichstag fire. He admitted* throwing burning firelighters in the windows of the welfare office at the city hall, but the fires were extinguished. Later .in the evening lie climbed the scaffolding of the Imperial Palace and unsuccessfully tried to fire the building. Asked why he had made the attempts he replied: “It was my own idea.” M. Dimitroff addressed questions to Van der Lubbe which the president of the court disallowed, these including the query: “Why are you behaving so strangely ? Is, it because you. are weighed down with the consciousness of the terrible crime you have committed against the proletariat?” The president abruptly silenced M. Dimitroff and withdrew permission to put the questions on the ground that it was conducting a Communist agitation. , .. The examining judge and the police officers, in order to expedite the proceedings, will testify to-morrow regarding the correctness of Van der Lubbe s alleged confessions. The is accepting this evidence in lieu of V an der Lubbe’s vague replies.