Pledged To Bring Perpetrators Of Nazi Atrocities To Justice

Northern Advocate, 22 February 1943, Page 5

Pledged To Bring Perpetrators Of Nazi Atrocities To Justice

(P.A.)

WELLINGTON, This Day,

Condemnation of Nazi atrocities in Europe and a determination to see the perpetrators brought to justice and freedom restored to humanity was expressed at a public meeting arranged by the Wellington City Council over which the Mayor (Mr Hislop) presided. Speakers included the -Prime Minister (Mr Fraser), the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holland), leaders of different religious denominations and the Belgian Consul-General (Mr M. A. Nihotte) on behalf of the Allied Nations.

After a resolution condemning Nazi atrocities had been passed, the following decision was also reached. “We ask that, on the day of reckoning, no stone be left unturned to bring the perpetrators of these monstrous crimes to justice. We pledge our lives anew to the utmost efforts of total war against the Nazi powers which menace the safety of free, decent humanity and threaten the security of the future of our children.

“We wish to express our unbounded admiration for the sons of the Empire and other Allied nations for their heroism and self-sacrifice in the cause of justice and freedom. We pray God that their magnificent efforts may speedily be crowned with success of victory, and that peace, liberty and justice be firmly established in the world for all time." Sinister Nazi Atrocities

Many evil things were done in the last war, said the Prime Mhv.sler, but Nazi atrocities were something more sinister. They were mass cruelties planned in cold blood, a practical ap plication of philosophy that Germany had been taught since Hitler got into power. Resolutions, ho said, did not count with these Nazi monsters.

“Our best resolution is our New Zealand Division in the Eighth Army, cur troops in the Pacific and our men in the air and on the sea everywhere. This is, unfortunately, the only argument these beasts can understand." Acts Greater Than Words

“We have a long way to go yet and a hard job ahead. Resolutions are useless unless we are determined that, whatever we are doing, whether it is in the armed forces, on the farm, or in the workshop, we will do it with all our heart and souls. That is the way to back up our resolutions.” “Today, as we register a verbal protest we rejoice in the gathering strength of our forces and the momenum of our progress, the success oi cur Allies and ourselves and the absolute certainty of victory and triumph of right over wrong, the liberation of the oppressed people everywhere, and just punishment of those cruel monsters who brought misery to mankind,” said the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holland).

The Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland said that the traditional values of human civilisation had been trampled underfoot. We now knew that unless the Nazi terror was driven from the world, man’s life for generations to come would not be built on a foundation of law, justice, decency and merpy, but on sadism, inhumanity and contempt of the spirit of liberty and the human right to life itself.