GESTAPO PLOT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4427, 19 May 1941, Page 6

GESTAPO PLOT

UNEARTHED IN U.S.A.TATTOOMARK GAVE CLUE. ♦ A tattooed swastika on the forearm of a man held for robbery by a county sheriff has led to the unearthing of a remarkable Nazi secret police organisation in the United States, Canada, and South American republics,- according to a cabled message from New York. In a- twelve-page confession the man, Bruno Johannes Valianski, 31, has revealed the whole secrets of the organisation to Federal Intelligence officers. Members of the organisation, who were specially trained for their work by the Gestapo in Germany, proceeded to the American continents with orders to: 1. —lnitiate a saboteurs organisation throughout America for the purpose of wrecking the country’s war industry. 2. —Enlist German sympathisers for the German espionage service and set up an underground Storm Troopers and Brown Shirt organisation in America. 3. —Photograph fortifications and defence works in the United States, Canada; and South America. Valianski, according to the Intelligence officers, has made many startling disclosures in his 12-page confession. “We cannot reveal the contents,

[ but the confession is extremely en- | lightening,’’ said one official. 1 “It has opened out many avenues of investigation.” FUNDS FROM CONSULS. German consulates in Baltimore and New York, which were apparently the U.S. headquarters of the organisation, had supplied Valianski with funds. He was allowed to spend money lavishly in enlisting Nazi sympathisers in the saboteur and espionage branches of the organisation. One of the duties of members, Valianski’s confession revealed, was to prepare dossiers concerning antiNazi persons in German communities in America. TRAINED BY GESTAPO. America'n-Germans of pronounced Nazi leanings were enlisted in the inner organisation and were sent to Germany to receive special training at Gestapo schools. One of Valianski’s first tasks after his return from Germany was to photograph the fortifications in the Panama Canal zone. Valianski admitted he had been trained in Gestapo methods and espionage work at a spy school in Germany. He specialised in photography, map-reading and fortifications at a finishing school at Hanover. “TOURIST” IN DANZIG. His first assignment was that of a “tourist” in Danzig a fortnight before the German invasion of Poland. Like thousands of other “tourists,” he was equipped with brass knuckles'

and rubber truncheon, which he used effectively in quelling Polish “disturbances” when Danzig was reincorporated in the Reich. Later Valianski was stationed in Poland, where one of his duties was to protect high Nazi functionaries. He was one of a civil bodyguard o'f 50 who “protected” Hitler during his visit to Poland. NEARLY RELEASED. The disclosures arose out of the arrest of Valianski on a minor charge of robbery. He was taken into custody by Sheriff Dreyer, of Suffolk County. The sheriff was preparing to release him on bail when a police officer taking his finger-prints noticed the swastika tattooed on his arm. The sheriff asked him what the swastika meant, and, when the man refused to answer, called in Federal Intelligence officers. “TWO MONTHS TOO SOON.” Under protracted questioning by Intelligence officers, Valianski broke down and agreed to sign a full confession of the activities of the organisation. “You got me two months too soon,” Valianski told F. 8.1. officers when he signed the confession. He has implicated hundreds of associates throughout the country. On the arm of each member of the inner circle of the organisation a swastika has been branded, denoting that they are members of the Nazi Gestapo.