THE SAAR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19943, 30 October 1934, Page 8

THE SAAR

PLEBISCITE DUE IN JANUARY TACTICS OF HITLER In the plebiscite that falls due in the Saar on January 13 it is probable that between 30 per cent, and 40 per cent, of the votes will be cast for the “status quo” (that is to say, for the perpetuation of the sovereignty of the League over the Saar), and all the rest (excepting, perhaps, a tiny poll for incorporation in the French Republic) for return to Germany, says a special correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian.” The outlook may change by January 13. Thus it is not impossible, although unlikely, that the vote for the “status quo” will exceed 50 per cent., in which case Germany will lose the Saar, thanks, exclusively, to the present German Government, which, by political and religious persecution, by the distress resulting from its economic policy, and by the fear that it will involve Germany in another war, has estranged a German population which, before Hitler became Chancellor, would have voted almost unanimously for the return to the mother country. Even a vote of 30 per cent, for the “status quo,” or even 20 per cent., would be a serious matter for the German Government, for it would show that relatively free elections produce at least twice as big an opposition to Hitler as elections or referenda held under the jurisdiction of his Government. A Hostile Minority That Government, acting in collusion with the Nazis in the Saar, is trying bymeans of terroristic pressure, by threats, and by promises to keep the hostile vote as low as possible. But a strong hostile minority at least is now inevitable, and the shock it will administer to German public opinion is already being counteracted by the fiction (specially devised and officially spread for the purpose by the German Press and radio) that not Herr Hitler but Mr Knox, the President of the Governing Commission in the Saar, is the real terrorist. Thus the responsibility for the hostile vote is already being shifted from Herr Hitler to M’r Knox in anticipation, so that when the returns have been declared Hitler will, in the eyes of the German public, have no responsibility at all for a hostile vote of which he will, in truth, have been the principal creator. But what if the hostile minority threatens to become a majority? The loss of the Saar would be a disaster for Germany-, but for the Hitlerite Dictatorship (which is by no means the same tiling as Germany) the fact of the hostile majority would in itself he a bigger disaster than the purely territorial loss. The Dictatorship can afford to lose the Saar, but it cannot afford to lose it by a hostile German vote, for that would be equivalent to a loss for which Hitler would be mainly responsible, and it is doubtful whether even the German public could be blinded to this fact. Thus, if it seems at all probable that the hostile vote will exceed the 50 per cent., disorders, as a means of circumventing the plebiscite altogether, will become what from the Hitlerite point of view will seem a political necessity.

Attacks on Mr Knox. It will be easy for the Nazis to create disorder, although the Saarlanders are a peaceful population. The executive at the disposal of the Governing Commission is wholly inadequate. Mr Knox is the object of continual personal attacks by German Press and radio. radio. These attacks have been going on ever since Hitler became Chancellor, and show no signs of abating. The fact that they are not stopped is an international scandal, especially since the murder of Dr. Dollfuss, which was a warning example of what Nazi propaganda can lead to. The German Government operates principally with defamatory insinuations that are continually being broadcast (especially in the regularly recurring item known as the “Saar Umschau”), and are meant to create the impression that the Saar is in a state of dangerous unrest, and that the responsibility lies, above all, with Mr Knox. This insinuation was made quite crudely in the form of ti question broadcast by the Frankfort station on August 18. In the "Saar Umschau” of August 29 Mr Knox was denounced as regarding only persons who are hostile to Germany as neutral, and as tolerating “the bureau of the G.P.U.” (which does not. of course, exist) at Saarbrucken, “where terrorist groups” (the only “terrorist groups” in the Saar are Nazi groups) are formed. Some time ago a Nazi attempted to assassinate the Police Commissioner, Herr Machts, in the Saar. On August 16 the Frankfort station announced the complete falsehood that Maeht’s would-be murderer was not only a French agent but that Mr Knox knew him to be a French agent. Assassination Risks. These insn.uations —against which the League Council offers Mr Knox no protection whatever —are a continual incitement to murder. It was only the watchfulness of the Czech police that saved the Socialist leaders Weis and Scheidemann ' -om assassination by Nazis on Czech soil last year. Professor Lessing was assassinated purely as the result of the German propagandist campaign against him. The successful attempt on the life of Dr. Dollfuss was by no means the first attempt. And —despite the example of Austria—the i-erman Government is allowed to create exactly the same atmosphere round Mr Knox as it created round Dr. Dollfuss and its other victims. Public opinion in the Saar and in Germany is similarly incited against Mux Braun, the leader of the Saar Socialists, and against Johann Hoffmann, the editor of the Catholic “Neue Saar Post,” who was denounced —untruthfully, of course—as a “traitor” (Landesverarter), besides being characterised —with equal untruth —as “clumsy, dull-witted, and uneducated” (“plump, schwerfallig, und ungebildt”) in the “Saar Umschau” of August 11. A “ Saar Legion.” It is not only as the target for defamatory propaganda that the Caar threatens to become a second Austria. A kind of “Saar Legion,” analogous to the “Austrian Legion,” has been and is still being, trained on German soil outside the demilitarised zone. (This has now been reported to the League.) When the time for action comes this Legion is to invade the Saar in three columns starting from Coblenz, Frankfort, and Mannheim-Lud-wigshafen, to be joined by local forces* in the Saar itself. To the German public such an action would be represented as a spontaneous popular rising by the Saarlanders against intolerable tyranny. The perpetrators would, of course, be disowned (just as they were in Australia) while being secretly applauded. The German Government, | although alone responsible, woul' be

made to seem the really outraged party. All these plans are known in fullest detail. Documents were seized by the Governing Commission and 2000 neutral police are to be recruited for the preservation of order.