CHARGES AGAINST ENGLISHMEN

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 219, 12 April 1933, Page 3

CHARGES AGAINST ENGLISHMEN

ARREST IN GERMANY Discussion in House of ; j Commons Press Association.— Copyright. Rugby, April 10. —Answering questions in the House of Commons regarding the recent arrest of two Englishmen in Germany, Sir John Simon, Foreign Secretary, said that the British Consul at Berlin had been informed by the police authorities that one of the arrested men, a journalist named Jeofl’rey Fraser, was charged with having committed “acts in preparation for high treason,” and was to be transferred to the Moabit Prison to await trial.

The British Ambassador had asked the German Foreign Minister for more precise information regarding the charge. The second Englishmen, R. C. Catchpole, had been released the day after his arrest without, it was understood, any charge being brought against him. Sir John Simon was also asked whether action to protect the Jewish minority in Upper Silesia would be taken by the League of Nations and whether the Jewish minority was not guaranteed full equality under the German-Polish Convention of 1922.

Sir John said the League Council had laid it down that the procedure under Article 11 of the Covenant should rot normally be employed in cases relating to the protection of minorities under treaties and “Should be invoked only in grave cases which produce a feeling that facts exist which might effectively menace the maintenance of peace between nations.” It was doubtful whether Article 11 could be properly worked in the case of the Jewish minority in Upper Silesia. Regarding the German-Polish Convention, he was net aware that any appeal had been made to the council on the ground that the Jewish minority had been deprived of rights under that convention. Replying to further questions Sir John said that the whole subject of the position of Jews in Germany was receiving a great deal of public attention, and he himself was making inquiries.

Replying to a question, Sir John Gilmour, Home secretary, said the Jews might exhibit posters if they chose to do so, but he was sure (he House would agree it was undesirable that members of the public should at present take any action liable to inflame feeling. It was certainly the intend an of the Government to allow all reasonable expression of free opinion in Britain on the matter.

Many Jewish shops in the East End have restored German boycott notices following a police assurance that they would not take action. It was explained that the police originally ordered their removal with the best intentions. The police earlier requested Jewish traders in the East End to remove German boycott notices on the ground that they were liable to cause breaches of the peace. Most traders complied but others protested to Scotland Yard, which disavowed knowledge of the action.