ARRESTED BY NAZIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23703, 10 January 1939, Page 5

ARRESTED BY NAZIS

AN AUCKLAND SURGEON PHOTOGRAPHED ATTACK ON JEWS LATER INJURED IN AIR CRASH (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Jan. 9. Arrested in Germany for photographing Nazi retaliation against Jews following the shooting of Dr von Rath and injured in a fatal aeroplane crash in Holland, Dr W A. Fairclough. a prominent Auckland surgeon, returned by the Niagara looking little affected by his varied .and arduous experiences abroad. In the course of his trip. Dr Fairclough visited clinics in England and also in Germany, studying the latest developments in specialised branches of surgery. “On the day that Dr von Rath died the Nazis rose to break up Jewish shops and synagogues throughout Germany," Dr Fairclough said. “ I was using my movie camera on one of the riots when I was seized by a German soldier and surrounded by an angry crowd. I was pushed into a motor car and taken to headquarters There were six uniformed men in the office, with several shouting and talking at one time. I began to wonder if I should get in touch with Mr Chamberlain. I understood nothing of what they said and could not talk with them.

AUCKLAND, Jan. 9

"An interpreter was forthcoming,” he continued. “I explained that I was a doctor from New Zealand and had in my camera 100 feet of film of their country which I did not want to lose. There was a lot more argument, and I was warned not to nhotogranh anything of a military nature. They then told me that my camera would not be opened. I was detained an hour and_ aquarter before being escorted into the street.” '

Dr. Fairclough said that he had had a fortunate escape when a large aeroplane in which he was a passenger crashed at Amsterdam while bn its way from, Berlin to London, a journey normally made in five hours. He was in hospital in Amsterdam for 10 days, and then flew to. London in a Dutch machine, the company, providing him with a couch on which to recline, a nurse, and oxygen cylinders The nature of his injuries was such as to make it unwise to be in high altitudes, Dr Fairclough explained, otherwise he would have flown back to Australia as he greatly enjoyed his flight to England on the Empire route. Instead, however, he recuperated in London, crossed the Atlantic on board the Queen Mary, travelled across Canada and joined the Niagara at Vancouver.