Sinister Nazi Threat Against Frau Hess

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 114, 15 May 1941, Page 7

Sinister Nazi Threat Against Frau Hess

■‘THE MAGGOT IS IN THE APPLE,” SAYS CHURCHILL Received Wednesday, 9.40 p.m. LONDON, May 14. The Daily Mail says the Nazis have threatened that Krau Hess and her child will be treated “according to the use. which the British may make of Hess for propaganda purposes.” It is officially denied in Berlin that Frau Hess has arrived at Ankara. A Berlin message says Hitler held a meeting of all the Reich leaders and gauleiters. Field-Marshal Goering was present. The meeting, after listening to Hitler, accorded him “an overwhelming demonstration of their determination to go on to victory.” Officials declared: “We will not recognise any statements Hess may make in England. We know British rulers will make every crude misuse of this situation. Who knows by what ugly means some sort of confession may be extracted from him? We cannot even be certain that ho has made any of the statements attributed to him.” They added that no formal steps had yet been taken to dismiss Hess from the Nazi Party, “but obviously such a man is unworthy to be a party member.” ANTI-NAZIS MISTRUST HESS Mr. Churchill, according to Die Zeitung, the German antiNazi newspaper published in London, summed up the situation resulting from the Hess flight in an eminently Churchillian phase: “The maggot is in the apple.” The newspaper summarises possible reasons for the flight. “He may have got on one of Himmler’s black lists and have had an inkling of it. He may have had serious political differences with his colleagues. He may sooner than the less initiated have obtained inside information about the real situation in Germany and thereupon acted as many of the lesser criminals will act when the zero hour approaches—try to get himself out of trouble and play the penitent sinner. “Finally, this most loyal of the loyal, as he was styled till yesterday, has perhaps been sent only to simulate treason end really make a last attempt at creating confusion among the onetime friends of the Nazis in England. If this is the case one may rest assured that it will be foiled by the vigilance of the British Government.” One warning is given by Die Zeitung. “Hess has—leaving Roehm aside>—been Hitler’s first and closest associate. He Was joint founder of the Storm Troops, joint author of ‘Mein Kampf ’ and one of those mainly responsible or the slaughter of June 13, 1934. When this man plays the unoffending husband and father nobody should become his dupe. His flight is a ground for grim satisfaction but not for a soft-hearted pardon.” Die Zeitung concluded: “We must earnestly warn against easy sentimentality. Some Britishers are tending to convey the impression that Hess is ‘not so bad.’ Do not make a mistake. He is bad as the worst of them. His hands are stained with the blood of thousands of innocent people. His fanaticism and ruthlessness match that of Himmler and Strcicher. If there Was anything by which he distinguished himself among his fellow criminals it was his impudence which always made him specially suited to deny the atrocities with an air of offended honesty. He did this from the tortures of the concentration camps to the war preparations against Czechoslovakia. “Germany has suffered a devastating defeat on the moral and political battlefield and it may be decisive if the propaganda strategists know how to use it.” NEWS GIVEN GREAT PROMINENCE IN SPAIN The news of Hess’s flight has been given great prominence In the newspapers in Spain. Both the British and German accounts are printed fully.