LEADER FOUND SHOT

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 238, 9 May 1933, Page 6

LEADER FOUND SHOT

Suicide of Prominent German ACCUSATION OF PLOTTING Blow to His Pju-ty Press Association —Copyright Berlin, May 8. Dr. Ernest Oberfohren, a former Nationalist leader, was to-day found shot dead at Kiel. Dr. von Hruck, ex-Mayor of Leer, who was amised of embezzlement, similarly committed suicide on the eve of his trial. * MPSIHWI The leaders of the Tysshauser League, which is Germany's Toe H, have placed the organisation and the membership of 3,000,000 under Herr Hitler's leadership. Nothing is more significant of the plight of the Nationalists than the suicide of Oberfohren, who was Parliamentary secretary to H?rr Hugenberg's party. Oberfohren was the leader of those Nationalists who are feeling that the NazL are having things too much their own way. His house was recently raided and searched and he was accused of plotting against Herr Hugenberg's leadership. "I want no bldodshed or war, but the right to live, and to freedom and to see Germans not treated as pariahs," Herr j Hitler declared to the Berlin correspond- i ent of the Daily Mail. Reviewing 30.000 Nazis, Herr Hitler re- j vealed that his uniformed army number- ! ed 600,000, who were "an iron guard re- | presenting the ili.sciplined will of the German people." They would see the revolution through to the end, Herr Hitler said. The Social Democrats were the criminals responsible for the misery of 8,000,000 unemployed, and they must now atone for their deeds or be driven from their last hiding places until the poison was removed from the nation.

•'.X The Marauess of Heading, former Viceroy of India, holding back the tide of his elnation with words that were slow and quiet almost to a whisper, made a noteworthy plea in the House of Lords on March 30 for those of his race who suffer under the new dictatorship in Germany.

•£ r He had come only to listen, says the "Morning Post." The debate was on foreign affairs, with, in the forefront, Viscount Cecil's apprehensions that Rome might cold-shoulder Geneva. But Viscount Cecil had remarked, before he passed to his defence of the League, that it; seemed difficult to contend that antiSemitism in Germany was perfectly legitimate, while anti-Germanism in Poland was called an act of tyranny.

Therefore, Lord Reading rose, and spoke for two minutes, with dignity and restraint. His head was bowed. He used no gestures. Only a nervous plucking of his fingers at the Order Papers on the table before him told of the distress in his mind. "As a member of the Jewish comm unity," he began, "and as a member of your Lordships' House, I find it impossible to sit still without raising my cry to |he Government." When he had done, Geneva and Home took second place. Germany and her racial strife captured thought. On a sudden impulse the Archbishop of Canterburp crossed the floor, and taking Lord Reading by the arm, drew him earnestly aside. Lord Halsbury rose. "The most impressive speech I have heard in this House for years," he said. The Earl of Iddesleigh, Roman Catholic Peer, spoke of the deep sympathy which those of his creed in every country in the world felt for the Jewish people in Germany.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, returning from his whispered conversation with Lord Reading, lent his authority to an appeal that "has touched our hearts." It was Lord Reading's careful moderation as much as the obvious depth of his feeling that won him this religious, racial and human sympathy. He made no unproven accusations. He touched only upon what had been "formally announced" by the German Government—the ''attack," to take effect from April 1, on professors, judges, lawyers, and men of the medical profession who happen to be members of the Jewish community, "solely because they are members of that community." Nor did he make exaggerated demands. "All that I desire to impress upon his Majesty's Government," he said, "is that while realising that they are in a very difficult position in dealing with this matter, I believe it is open to them, and I suggest respectfully to them that they should at least use such legitimate means as are within their power to let Germany know what is the opinion of the country, and what is felt by the British people;" It only remained for Lord Hailsham, as Government spokesman, to express gracefully his belief that Lord Reading's restraint would have " ; a great effect" on public opinion, even if tbo Government did not conceive themselves to be clothed with any authority to intervene on behalf of the Jewish communtiy in Germany unless they were British nationals.