NO QUARTER FOR SPIES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19946, 2 November 1934, Page 9

NO QUARTER FOR SPIES

DRASTIC MEASURES IN GERMANY

SEVERAL BELIEVED SENT TO DEATH

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright

BERLIN, October 31

The Ministry of Justice announces that a number of alleged spies in the service of foreign Powers have been secretly sentenced to death, and others to 15 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. The Ministry adds that the sentences were pronounced under the new law, under which every German betraying the Fatherland forfeits his head. Only such merciless procedure against a traitor corresponds with the Nazi conception of justice, and has created a wholesome feeling in Germany. The announcement of the death sentences on the spies was tucked away without comment in the corners of the newspapers, though in any other country the news would have been the sensation of the week. The Nazi’s People’s Court is comparable with a revolutionary tribunal, from which there is no right of appeal. The names of the condemned p6Tsons are only known to the judges, but one case seems to be that of Frau von JBerg, the wife of the director of the well-known German electrical firms. A. D. Sosnowski was accused of sell-' ing the secret of a new type of aeroplane engine to a foreign Power. Two girl employees in the Reichswehr Ministry, Fraulins von Matzner and Engelbrecht, both belonging to good families, were also found guilty of high treason, but it is unknown if they were executed. The mother of one of the girls unwittingly gave her daughter away because she was anxious about the girl’s extravagance, and went to the Ministry and inquired what salary she was paid. Detectives followed the girl, and found her meeting Frau, von Berg and Sosnowski. It is understood that Sosnowski had been exchanged for a German officer who had been caught spying in a foreign capital. Frau von Berg’s fate is not announced, though it is reported in society circles that the two girl clerks were summarily shot. This, however, is not confirmed.