GERMANY

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 17

GERMANY

ECHO OF KAPP REBEL'JON. BERLIN, July 15. Captain Erhardt, Germ-iy’s most dangerous reactionary, est--.ped from prison at Leipzig while serving a sentence of three years’ imprisonment in connection with the Kapp coup. The Government has offered 2,500,000 marks for his capture, and has also suspended the director of the prison. Captain Erhardt went to the cellars for a cold hath—a privilege which w'as granted him owing to the intense heat, and when he was returning he asked to be allowed to go back and fetch the soap. Instead of doing so he escaped through three iron doors, which had been left open by confederates inside and outside the prison. July 16. Captain Erhardt’s escape has caused great consternation in Germany. Somu newspapers express the belief that the escape means the signal to get ready for a Monarchist outbreak. The Vossische Zeitung declares that all enemies of the republic will be encouraged by the escape, which counts against the State as much as a battle lost. A PRINCESS ARRESTED. BERLIN, July 17 It is ascertained that a motor car was waiting near the Law Courts at the time of Captain Erhardt’s escape. The driver was reading a newspaper, when suddenly three persons, one of whom is believed to have been Erhardt, dashed towards the car, which sped away. Several warders have been arrested and charged with facilitating the escape. A sensation has been caused by the arrest of Princess Margareta Hohenlohoit Oehringen, aged 29. Her complicity in the escape is not proved, but she was charged with sheltering Erhardt after the Kapp coup and with committing perjury by swearing that he was not known to her. Hitherto she had been permitted freedom pending her trial. FURTHER ARRESTS MADE. BERLIN, July 18. Further arrests made in connection with Captain Erhardt’s escape include Massow Von Prince, a student who assisted in opening the prison doors. He worked for the Erhardt organisation at the time of the murder of Herr Erzberger, and was twice subsequently arrested at Hamburg in connection with a bomb plot to attack a Socialist newspaper office. STINNES S.A., LTD. CAPETOWN, July 16. An indication of the German bid for the domination of trade is afforded by the fact that Herr Hugo Stinnes has opened an office here, the firm being styled Stinnes S.A. (South Africa), Ltd. PARIS, July 17. The Matin’s Warsaw' correspondent states that there is great anxiety in Polish political and industrial circles over Herr Stinnes's activities in Upper Silesia, where he has acquired numerous foundries and factories, which could rapid'y be transformed into one of the most formidable war manufactories on the Continent. Most of the Kattowitz mines have passed into Herr Stinnes’s hands. EX-CROWN PRINCE. BERLIN, July 17. The ex-Crown Prince has brought an action against the Prussian Minister of Finanoe in order to get the sequestration order on his estates lifted. STILL IN A MINORITY. LONDON, Julv 18. The Cologne correspondent of The Times, in reviewing the position of the separatist bodies, declares that notwithstanding many recent recruits they are still a minority of the population of the Rhineland. Nevertheless there has been great activity in the two main bodies led respectively by Dr Dorten and Herr Smeets. The former is an advocate of separation from Prussia but adherence to Germany. The Tatter favors the establishment of an independent Rheinish State as a buffer between Germany and France. STRIKE IN SILESIA. BERLIN, July 18. The metal workers in Upper Silesia have proclaimed a general strike. They are asking for a fixed method of payment such as by means of gold, in order to avoid the losses consequent on the collapse of the mark. SHADOW OF CIVIL WAR. BERLIN, July 19. Civil war prospects are being freely discussed in the German press in consequence of the Communists’ organ calling on the Communists to prepare to fight w’hat it designates as the W'hite terror. The middle classes hold up their hands in horror, while the Socialists smugly declare that military success is valueless without political momentum. Only the Nationalists see anything to be gained from civil war, and they are quietly preparing to utilise force when the time is ripe. In addition to Bavaria, where preparations are proceeding openly, training goes on elsewhere, especially in Mecklenburg and Pomerania, on the estates of the Junkers. Some of the best military brains in Germany control the movement. The pivotal district lies in the Spessart Forest, in the northwest corner of Bavaria, from which spot the important industrial region of Northern Bavaria is assailable. The Monarchists wish, first, to make sure of Bavaria. The virtual cessation of the Interallied Commission’s activities enables the Monarchists to proceed undisturbed j hence the Communists are beating the big drum and are urging the workers to sally around the Communist standard. They are organising monster parades all over the country.