BESTIAL CRIME

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24106, 27 October 1941, Page 8

BESTIAL CRIME

BRITISH SYMPATHY RETRIBUTION TO COME FREE FRENCH SUGGESTION (Reed. 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 25 In a statement to-night the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, said the British Government fully associated itself with the sentiments of horror and condemnation expressed by President Roosevelt concerning the Nazi butcheries in France. 31 r. Churchill said that retribution for these crimes must henceforward be one of the major purposes of the war. Nazi atrocities in France and elsewhere. and above all behind the German fronts in Russia, surpassed anything since the darkest and most bestial ages of mankind. They were but a foretaste of what Hitler would inflict on the British and American peoples it he could get the power. Roosevelt's Condemnation President Roosevelt said the German practice of executing scores ot innocent hostages was revolting to a world already inured to suffering and brutality. "The Nazis might have learned from the last war the impossibility of breaking men's spirits by terrorism,' Mr. Roosevelt said. "They are the acts of desperate men who know in their hearts that they cannot win." General de Gaulle, in a broadcast to France, directed all 1' rcnch men and women to stand still for five minutes at tour o'clock next hriday atternoon as a universal demonstration against the shooting of hostages. Gesture ol Defiance "This immense national strike will show the enemy and the traitors what a gigantic menace surrounds them," General de Gaulle said. "France is going to show the world that she does not belong to anybody but herself." The shooting of French hostages has aroused deep feelings of anger and frustration throughout France, reports Renter's correspondent on the French frontier. Lists of the condemned were, torn down when posted up in prominent places, including the German headquarters in Paris, until the Nazis were forced to mount guards to protect the notices. It is now revealed that when the Germans in Paris arrested six university professors on charges of disseminating Free French propaganda last week 300 other professors and teachers who refused to sign a declaration of collaboration with the "new order" were also detained. Jews of all nationalities are still being rounded up in Paris. The arrest of Spanish Jews is reported to have annoyed the Spanish authorities, who pointed out that there was no racial issue in Spain. Decree in Belgium That the murder of hostages is now a settled policy of the Nazi leaders — a clear indication of the bankruptcy of their policy of organising a "new order" in collaboration with Vichy—is clearly indicated by the publication in a Brussels newspaper of a decree signed by the military commander for Belgium and Northern France. The decree states: "In cases where acts of violence are committed against members of the German army or German police, when the guilty person or persons cannot be found, a number of hostages, chosen according to the seriousness of the act —nt least five if the attack involves death —will be shot. From now on all political internees in Belgium are considered to be hostages." Commenting on the shooting of French hostages, the Times says: "The practice of indiscriminate massacre to avenge individual assassination is characteristic of German military methods." The paper then turns to " other German-occupied countries where no less brutal acts of repression and avowed terrorism are being perpetrated by the Nazi authorities. "Heydrieh is even now conducting similar massacres in Prague," the Times adds, "although he seems to be acting on a general terroristic principle rather than in reply to any specific attack on the Germans. Martyrs for Liberty "Von Stulpnagel, German commander in Paris, has been doing the same thing. There is an orgy of killing in Yugoslavia, where the Germans are shooting prisoners taken in the guerilla campaign. Other countries have seen their citizens hurried away to death or prison, stamped with some convenient label such as Communist or saboteur. These barbarities will excite the horror and reprobation of the civilised world. They will also defeat their own end. "The persecutors of old found that the 'blood ot martyrs was the seed of the Church.' Modern persecutors will find that the blood of martyrs is the seed of liberty." Although Hitler promised that 2.000.000 French soldiers would be allowed to return home when a collaboration truce %vas reached with Vichy, actually fewer than 100,000 have returned to France, and the great majority are terribly wounded or past middle age. A former United States .Ambassador to France, Mr. Walter Edge, revealed this in a broadcast to Europe. He said Germany was holding vast numbers of young Frenchmen as hostages so that the French race would wither and die. "As ex-Ambassador to France," Mr. Edge said. "I feel it my duty to tell the French people that as long as there is an America Hitler cannot win." AMERICAN OBJECTIVE DESTROY HITLER MENACE PRESIDENT'S AFFIRMATION (Recrl. 8.53 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 25 The destruction of the Hitler menace is "the real and inescapable end" of American foreign policy. President Roosevelt, said in a message to the Foreign Association Forum, lie pointed out that in achieving that end America's responsibility was fully as great as that of those who were fighting and dying for it. "1 know our country will not shrink from that responsibility, or from an equal sacrifice when tile critical hour arrives." he said. Mr. Roosevelt has created an Office ot Facts and Figures, to serve as a pool of defence information. It will be under the directorship of the Congressional librarian, Mr. Archibald Macleish. CHANNEL SEARCHLIGHTS DISPLAY ON BOTH SIDES (Reed. 6.35 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 25 The Channel, early this morning, shimmered in the beams of giant sea searchlights switched on from both shores. The Germans began the display by uncovering newlv-installed "Big Bertha" searchlights from a point near Cap Gris Nez. We replied with seemingly equally powerful eounterdazzlers, the whole display giving onlookers some idea of what might be made visible if either side attempted an invasion by night—a vast floodlit battle fought by ships twisting and dodging to escape the prying lights. Experts estimated that the "Big Berthas" were of about 300.000 candlepower, or approximately 100 times more powerful than the average cinema projector.