FOUR COMMUNISTS SHOT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18313, 3 February 1934, Page 13

FOUR COMMUNISTS SHOT

INCIDENT IN GERMANY ALLEGEDLY ESCAPING (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Received Feb. 5. 3 p.mf BERLIN, Feb. 2. Following an escape from a police van which was" proceeding to Potsdam from Berlin, four well-known Communists were shot dead, including Johann Scheer, successor to Thaelmann in the leadership of the Communists. The quartet, though in a concentration camp when the crime was committed, allegedly were involved in the murder of a carpenter, Alfred Kattner, who was found shot in bed yesterday morning. The actual murderer is not known, but it is asserted that the quartet conspired with him to cause Kattner’s death.

It is officially reported that when the van was slowing down on an icy patch of road, the prisoners jumped out. The police pursued the fugitives, who although they were unarmed, attacked the police, who were armed with rifles, revolvers, daggers, and batons, injuring one in the face. The quartet were promptly shot. Kattner would have been an important witness in a charge of high treason against Thaelmann. The newspapers print varying accounts of the incident. None explain why unarmed fugitives ceased their flight in order to attack armed police with their bare hands.