IN SEARCH OF PEACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23114, 13 February 1937, Page 14

IN SEARCH OF PEACE

EX-GERMAN BANKER SETTLING IN NEW ZEALAND DISASTROUS NAZI REGIME (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND, Feb. 12. In search of a country in which he can bring up his children in "an atmosphere of freedom and humanity." Dr Otto Heymann, a German banker of Jewish ancestry, arrived at Auckland by the Rangitiki. Dr Heymann, who until recently was director of the Dresdner Bank, one of the " Big Five " banks in Germany, is accompanied by his wife and two young sons, and intends to settle in New Zealand. Dr Heymann will not talk of the reasons behind his departure from Germany nor of the consequences of the Nazi regime, which have proved so disastrous to many of his race. "I do not wish to talk ot Germany nor of the political conditions in Germany," he said. "To talk of one it is necessary to talk of the other, It is sufficient to say that I have left Germany so that my children may live and be brought up in a country of freedom and in an atmosphere of humanity." Dr Heymann is a German Jew, born in Southern Germany. .For some years before the War he worked in England, but in December, 1911, he left to return to his native land. " Not long after that," he said, "war broke out. I remained in Germany throughout the years of the War and throughout the years of reconstruction after the peace. Then, 25 years after my return to Germany, I left to find a place for myself again in the British Empire. It was an anniversary—a jubilee perhaps—but it was an unhappy occasion for all that. "I do not wish to talk of conditions in Germany nor of the plight of thousands who are members of my own race," Dr Heymann continued. " I am not a politician and have never been concerned with politics. For 25 years I served my Fatherland to the best of my ability, but finally I found I would have to leave it for the sake of my children." Dr Heymann said it had not taken him long to select New Zealand as the country of his adoption. "I myself hope to enter business in New Zealand," he said. "My eldest son, who will join us later, hopes to take up farming and before long we all hope to be New Zealanders in the full meaning of the word."