GERMAN REVOLUTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21992, 29 June 1933, Page 8

GERMAN REVOLUTION

TRADE UNIONS CRUSHED EUGENIC TESTS (From Odb Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 12. On the morning of May 2 the offices of the Socialist Trade Unions were occupied by Storm troops in every town in Germany. Affiliated institutions such as the Workers' Bank were also occupied. Fifty -leading trade unionists, including Herr Leipart, Herr Wissel (former Minister of Labour), and Herr Grassmann, were put under preventive arrest. It is stated that they are to be released as soon as investigations have been carried through, unless offences against the law are discovered. At one blow institutions which were among ' the strongest factors in Germany's economic life only a few years ago have fallen. The Socialist .trade unions had >for a short time after the revolution as many as 11,000,000 members. This'number was rapidly reduced again to a loyal 4,000,000 or '5,000,000 during the years of the slump. In the first month of the Nazi regime the figure sank to between two and three millions. This position has been rapidly undermined by the pressure put upon employees to adhere to orfanisations under Nazi control—above all, the N. 5.8.0. (National Socialist Works Organisation) —if they were'not to be dismissed. BLOW AGAINST MARXISM. The Government action is described in the press as a blow against Marxism and against the Beds (says the Morning Post correspondent), but actually the trade unions, with their extensive property, have been anything but a revolutionary force for years past. The motivesj of the Government in seizing the trade unions are to be found first in the threatening bankruptcy for which thf workers would have considered the Government responsible, and secondly in the necessity, from the point of view of Nazi policy, of controlling all important organisations in the country, Dr Ley, the Nazi in charge of action, told the press that it was! a first step towards setting up a "Corporative State." The Nazis knew, he declared, that Marxism was only " shamming dead " and that the idea was still alive.

The whole apparatus of the Socialist trade unions would, said Dr Ley, be reorganised in new forms within a few days, and the plans for the new Nazi trade unions would also be made known in a few days in a broadcast speech. The new trade unions would not work for a party, or for class war, but for the whole nation. It is noteworthy that the Nazi action, including the arrests, was taken by storm troopers acting on behalf of the Government, in spite of Captain Goering's instructions reserving the right of arrest to the official police. EUGENIC METHODS. Kacial mixed marriages are to be prohibited in Germany 'so as to maintain the purity of (the " Nordic race." The population is to be divided into families whose descendants are desired by, the State and families whose offspring would be regarded as a burden on the nation. Compulsory sterilisation will be the logical consequence of this policy (says the Daily Telegraph correspondent). Already 80,000 school children have been examined as to their physical and racial qualifications. The examination of University students and candidates for official positions under the State will follow. Finally, the entire population must undergo these tests. This forecast of the eugenic laws proposed by the Government was given to the press by the Assistant State Commissary for Health in Dortmund. He has already established a " racial office" in that town. LIBRARIES PURGED OF UNGERMAN BOOKS. Berlin householders were asked by the University Students' organisation to collect all Marxist and Jewish works in their libraries so that these might be burnt. The students sent motor cars and lorries through the streets to ■ collect " un-Ger-man " books. In this category translations of countless works by foreign authors which Hitler and his followers dislike are included. It is declared that after May 10 no " un-German " works will be found in any German private library. The Government is now discussing a measure which will banish all Jews from the staffs of newspapers —even those who served in the war. Many of the most brilliant journalists in Germany belong to the banned race. Not only have the stamps' bearing the portrait of President Ebert been withdrawn from circulation, but the monument to him at Duebelsdorf is being demolished. CATHOLIC PROTEST. In a pastoral letter the Roman Catholic archbishops and bishops of Bavaria make a plea for the restoration of liberty. The protest against the persecution of individuals, the muzzling of the press, and the projected formation of a National Protestant Church in Germany. On the first subject they express themselves as follows: — "We absolutely reject every infringement of rights and every inequality in law levelled at subjects in our own State. We are in duty bound to show justice and love to all men." The archbishops and bishops state that they have pleaded with the State Government for those who, " during the stormy transition period were expelled from office, although they had faithfully done their duty and served the Fatherland with their whole strength." ASPERSION ON ENGLAND. Herr Esser's insinuations in his speech at Munich, that German prisoners of war were ill-treated in England, has aroused general resentment (says the Daily Telegraph correspondent). It is well known in Germany that they were well and honourably treated in England. According to reports of Herr Esser's speech given in the Muenchner Neueste Nachrichten to-day, he said that the English were "treating the Irish people like slaves." His disparaging remarks about England deserve special attention. Nazi leaders have hitherto weighed their words carefully when discussing; Great Britain. As Herr Esser is a responsible Bavarian Minister, it is unlikely that he would make accusations against another country which would be liable to censure in high Nazi quarters. His anti-British invectives may therefore denote a change of policy on the part of the German Government.