Round Up 1000 Nazis

Northern Advocate, 1 April 1946, Page 5

Round Up 1000 Nazis

(Rec. 11.0 a.m.) LONDON. March 30. It is officially stated in Frankfurt that nearly 1000 members of the Nazi underground movement were rounded up in the raids which were made in nearly 200 Western German and Austrian towns. DANGEROUS THREAT British and American intelligence officers have smashed a widespread Nazi underground movement which had been gradually building up in the British and American. zones of Ger - many, states an announcement from the headquarters ot the Allied Control Commission. The intelligence officers, in a great, silent swoop, following months of patient tracking, arrested six leaders, former members of the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, who had been selected to reconstruct Germany' on Nazi lines. Britain and America Jinked forces to track down the leaders of the movement, which high officers of the Hitler Youth and Girls’ League formed through secret groups, which spread gradually from Southern Germany into Northern Germany and the British zone. All information on sub' versive activities was pooled as secret service officers prepared for the operation. The first blow was struck at the New Year, when many arrests were made in Ihe British and American zones. POLITICAL. ECONOMIC There is no information about the numerical strength of the movement, but the announcement says that sabotage and actual v : olence against the occupying forces were "not contemplated. Its aims were political and economic. It was hoped tr- establish through its economic department a network of firms and business contacts in Western Germany who would be in the good graces of the Military Government and able to provide jobs and money for the underground political section, aimed at the rebirth of the Hitler Youth. .*

Those arrested include Arthur Axmann, aged 32, Reich youth leader, who commanded the entire Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, and Ernest Oberbeek, who held a rank equivalent to that of Army brigadier. Reuter says that arrests in the American zone are still proceeding. A later message from ,the Associated Press says gun battles between Nazi fanatics and Allied troops broke out at scattered points in Western Germany today as the troops rounded - up members of the underground movement. The majority of the raids, however, were carried out peacefully, although the Germans are believed to have had advance information of the intended raids. It is estimated that 6000 to 7000 Allied troops were engaged in the round-up. 1000 RINGLEADERS ‘•The long-range plan designed to revive the Nazi ideology is the most dangerous threat to our security we have met since the war,” said the head of the American intelligence in Germany. Brigadier-General Edwin Sibert. ‘'The ba-ck of the movement has been broken."

One thousand suspected ringleaders have already been gaoled or are being rounded up by combat soldiers in a huge man hunt in Austria and Germany. in which many espionage agents have seized Germans by the hundreds. Armoured cars have rumbled across Austria and Germany raiding homes and hotels.

The full outcome of the dragnet is still unknown, as officers are awaiting reports from all parts of the British and American zones. General Sibert said the downfall of the movement resulted from distrust between two warring Nazi elements, Arthur Axmann appointed a former Hitler Jugend colonel, Willi Heidcmann. as custodian of a considerable amount of Nazi cash, with which Heidemann established himself as a business man. He was supposed to organise the Werewolf resistance movement, but gave up the idea as foolish and turned to the plan for influencing German politics toward Nazi principles.

JEALOUSY Heidemann opened branches of the business, staffed tlhem with former high-ranking Hitler Jugend men, and sent them abroad under the guise of travelling salesmen. However, last autumn another undercover group, organised in Northern Germany under Willi Lohel, proposed a merger, which would give it a share of Heidemann’s financial backing. Heidemann said the merger was untimely, and subsequent wrangling led to the exposure of the plot.

Axmann. Overbeck, Heidemann and eight others were arrested in December. Also in custody are Kurt Budeaus, who was head of an organisation in the Hitler Jugend Command; Willi Lohel, who is a former commander of a Hitler Jugend district; and Gustav Memsinger, the press propaganda chief of the organisation. The organisation now broken had few traces in the Rusian zone of Germany, but what details were learned about this aspect have been handed over to the Russians.

The statement issued by the Allies pointed out that it was noteworthy that the first major attempt at resurgence came from the Hitler Youth. Their vews were likely to be hardest to eradicate, and they would eventually have become a powerful influence in German affairs if the organisation had not been smashed.

ONLY SHOT FIRED Brigadier-General Sibert announced in Frankfurt that the British and American round-up of members of the Nazi underground movement yesterday was completely successful. He denied that the Allies used armoured forces or encountered heavy opposition. The only shot fired was to blow off the lock of a door and force entry into a house in which a suspect was hiding.