GERMAN ELECTIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 205, 30 July 1932, Page 8

GERMAN ELECTIONS

3 P.M. EDITION 1

CAMPAIGN CLOSING. AMAZING SCENES. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) Received July 30, 12.45 p.m. BERLIN, July 29. With the frenzy hitherto unequalled, the election campaign is closing with amazing scenes. All eyes are on the Nazis, whose headquarters at Munich, guarded by armed sentries, focus their ceaseless activity. Police patrol the streets 'day and night at Cologne. The Rhineland, though outwardly calm, is excited beneath the surface. The alarmists declare that bloodshed is inevitable, hut the general opinion is that a revolution is unlikely. There is a persistent rumour that if Herr Hitler is thwarted, he will not hesitate to use the storm troops and attempt a coup d’etat and seize the reins of Government. The Jews are intensely afraid of such developments, but Herr von Papen has assured them that he has Herr Hitler’s promise to do nothing rash. General von Schleicher says that he will throw the whole force of the Reichswehr ruthlessly against disturbers of the peace. It is significant that President Hindenburg has issued a decree enforcing 10 days’ political truce after Sunday, thus barring all political demonstrations.

It is still the general belief that no party will gain an absolute majority. Herr von Papen, broadcasting to the American people, declared that the world did not realise that Germany had been in danger of civil war. Illegal Communist activities were largely responsible for the recent disorders which no Government could tolerate. Order had been restored and would not be disturbed. Cabinet would not support a dictatorship. The real source of the discontent was the Versailles Treaty.