DR HACHA A PRISONER

Southland Times, Issue 23978, 20 November 1939, Page 7

DR HACHA A PRISONER

ACTION BY NAZI SECRET POLICE EXECUTION OF CZECH STUDENTS PRAGUE LIKE A DEAD CITY (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received November 19, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 18. Despite German denials that Dr Emil Hacha, Czech President of Bohemia and Moravia, has been arrested, reports persist from reliable sources that the Gestapo has confined him to his castle near Prague. The confinement is stated to be partly the result of Dr Hacha’s refusal to visit Berlin to sign a decree mobilizing 1,000,000 Czechs for attachment to German regiments in the proportion of one Czech to three Germans. y Dr Edouard Benes, the Czechoslav President, in a statement made in London, said that Czechoslovakia would never succumb to a reign of terror. The execution of students was strangely reminiscent of what happened in Belgium in the last war. Their killing would have the same effect on the Czech public as Nurse Cavell’s assassination on the British.

The Belgrade correspondent of the Associated Press of America says that the police twice dispersed hundreds of Serbian students attempting to demonstrate in sympathy with the Czechs. The Paris radio announced that 30 persons/ were shot in the Prague demonstration and thousands . were wounded. Other accounts say that Black Guards, with machine-guns, were stationed in the streets where the students homes were located. They occupied various schools and discovered a secret printing plant and an illegal radio station. Students attempted to blockade their premises, but Black Guards broke in with hatchets, arresting , a professor and many students. A secret Czech radio station broadcast a message to the students: “We hear that some of you have been murdered, but even these bloodthirsty gangsters will not succeed in murdering all of you. You will continue your work and reopen your schools.” _ A message from Zurich states that Black Guards have completely occupied Prague and placed machine-guns and light artillery opposite the university. Reinforcements from Germany have entered other Czechoslovakian towns. M. Jan Masaryk, the former Czech Minister in London, considers that there has not yet been any great revolt against Nazi aggression m the Czech protectorate, because it would at present be premature and stupid. He is of the opinion that the time will come, he adds, when Herr Hitler and his Nazis will disappear- after the failure of their systematic plan of denationalization and economic ruin of the Czechs. The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press says the Propaganda Ministry states that Dr Hacha broadcast appealing to the Czechs to preserve order and stating they should realize that the protectorate is „ now incorporated in the “vital space of the Greater Reich. Its Government, which represents the best interests of the people, should be implicitly trusted. The Prague correspondent of the Associated Press of America quotes Dr ; Hacha as saying: “You must not forget that Germany is engaged in a ; strenuous war on the Western Front, for the prosecution of which the Ger--1 man people are -entitled to take all they need. The Czech people have not been led into war as in the Great War 1 and are in a better position than many 1 neutral peoples." UNIVERSITIES CLOSED i Explaining the Czech executions, the German Official News Agency states that universities and high schools will be closed down for three years. A group of Czech intellectuals connected with Dr Benes attempted to disturb peace and order in the protectorate by r means of large and small acts of resistance. They molested individual Germans on October 28 (the anniversary of the founding of the Czech Republic) and on November 15. “All is peaceful and quiet in Prague today,” stated a Government spokesman in Berlin. “It is a mistake to , assume otherwise merely because > young intellectuals and criminals at--1 tempted to disturb the peace. We t cannot tolerate such people in war s time.” , , r An hour before the News Agency’s 1 announcement about the executions, - the official spokesman of the Foreign j Office informed foreign Press repre- - sentatives that there was no truth in r the rumours about disorders in Bohemia - and Moravia. 1 After the executions Prague became - like a dead city. The Czechs are 3 avoiding public places and remaining 1 indoors as far as possible. The German authorities have announced that

the Reich treason law henceforth will be applicable to the protectorate. Another Official News Agency message from Prague states that the Germans shot three more Czechs, two of whom were police officers, allegedly for attacks on Germans. The Bucharest correspondent of The Times states that after rumours that the Russians were coming to expel the Germans, crowds poured into the streets in Tabor, in South Bohemia, and beat up the disarmed German , police and threw them into the river. A message from Berlin states that the Official News Agency announced that nine Czechs had been shot and 1200 students arrested. Additional Storm Troopers had arrived in Prague and severe restrictions were being placed on Czech life.