TRIAL FOR TREASON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23593, 1 September 1938, Page 6

TRIAL FOR TREASON

THE SCHUSCHNIGG CASE "JUDICIAL MURDERS" Dr Schuschnigg, the last Chancellor of Austria, who has been in confinement since Austria was annexed by Germanv in March, is to be tried for high treason (wrote the Vienna correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Morning Post on June 30). This announcement was made by Herr Buerckel, German High Commissioner for Austria. Herr Buerckel also referred to the position of the former Countess Vera Fugger-Czerin, whom Dr Schuschnigg is reported to have married by proxy during his imprisonment and of Baron Louis de Rothschild, who is being kept in prison on account of the failure of the Credit Anstalt, of which he was president. Herr Buerckel, who was speaking to journalists, said he had decided, as the representative of the German Government in Vienna, to be perfectly frank, as far as that is possible for a High Commissioner. He answered 100 questions put to him with hardly any apparent reserve, never pausing a moment in replying and speaking very quickly and vigorously.

Marriage Unrecognised

"Schuschnigg is still in Vienna, Herr Buerckel said. "As soon as. I heard that he" was receiving visits from the woman Fugger-Czerin at the villa in which he was for some weeks, I sent him somewhere else. She is no longer allowed to seG him. Ido not regard them as married, and German law does not recognise a marriage by proxy. I. am not informed that any such marriage has taken place. The woman is living with her father, and is free to eat and drink what she likes and live an ordinary life, with certain restric- " I'cannot disclose where Schuschnigg is but he is well looked after. Other people have to be separated from the women they marry or wish to marry. , . , "The fact that Schuschnigg cannot be released," he said, "is not just because he is dangerous. People arc not imprisoned because they are dangerous, but on grounds of justice—because they have committed offences. Schuschnigg has deeply involved himself in the judicial murders in Vienna, and will have to bo tried .101 his share of them. Questions of guilt are not for foreigners to decide. As regards the treatment of Jews, Herr Buerckel said: "This is a revolution. The Jews may be glad that it is not of the French or Russian pattern. An Order Repudiated "Actually only about 150 people altogether have been sent from Vienna to the Dachau concentration camp. Of these, about half were Jews. There have been only 3780 political prisoners in Austria since March 11, including those under protective arrest. Little people who are up against big people are always arrested everywhere, and the Jews are little people. "The Jews must have an overseer. The whole question of the emigration of Jews from Austria is now under discussion. , .. , Asked about the orders sent out on June 21, apparently with his authority, for all Jewish employees in Vienna to be dismissed forthwith. Herr Buerckel said that he knew nothing of it at all until two days ago. It was done without his authority. He had seen a printed form containing these instructions, and had repudiated it. An inquiry was being held. Asked about the rumour of a ransom having been asked for Baron Louis do Rothschild, he replied: "No ransom has been asked by us for anybody. Louis de Rothschild is in prison in. Vienna, and all his property is under the control of a. commissioner,, We regard him as a criminal, and there is no question of releasing him. for a consideration. . He must receive the punishment he deserves. It is not simply a question of money. •.. • , Herr Buerckel said that there had been disagreements among some or his. subordinates, but more of them were about releases from arrest than about arrests. He could not build up the party in Austria without putting men from the Reich beside each Austrian official to work with him. "Hapsburgs Traitore" He had to finish the political and economic assimilation of Austria in one year. The Austrians would have to learn quickly. His chief subordinates would depart on August 1, and he was .himself at all times the supreme authority. The Hapsburg property had all. been confiscated because they were traitors. All Hapsburgs were traitors because they had kept Germany and Austri3 apart for centuries. ; , . "The Catholic Church and the Nazi Party are not quarrelling," he said. "Certain negotiations are going on which I cannot discuss, because it would not be in the interest of the negotiations. There is no reason why the Catholic Church and the Nazi Party should not be in perfect amity. "Thank God there has been no war in Czechoslovakia. We do not ( want a war. We want to construct.