NAZI INTRIGUE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 166, 17 July 1939, Page 7

NAZI INTRIGUE

NETWORK IN FRANCE WIDE INVESTIGATIONS BEING MADE (By Telegraph—Tresa Association—Copyright) (Independent Cable Service.) Received July 15, 6.30 p.m. PARIS, July 14. A network of Nazi bribery, intrigue, and espionage which in wartime might have brought a score of prominent Frenchmen before the military courts to answer for their lives was bared last evening by France's famous anti-spy squad, the Second Bureau. At least 150 cases of people suspected of acting as Nazi propaganda I agents arc already being investigated. The first hint that a military swoop was pending came at the end of June, when Henry Robertson Luce, proprietor of the American magazine ''Time,” was sued by a syndicate of Paris journalists for publishing a report that Paris newspapers were receiving money from foreign countries and that the Paris Press was "the sewer of the world.” Luce apologised, but it is believed thaj he instructed his solicitors to prepare evidence to fight the case. The dossier of facts they collected was handed tn the military authorities last week. The Arrested Newspapermen. Two newspaper executives, M. Aubin, news editor of Le Temps, and M. Loirier, of the Figaro, are held in I Cherchemidi prison, accused of acting |as Nazi propaganda agents for the The arrests were followed by the expulsion from France of Herr Otto Abetz at the beginning of July. It is beneved that Herr Aoetz was the head of a German propaganda bureau originally started by the present German Foreign Minister. Her von Ribbentrop, in his champagne-selling (days. He had an entertaining alllowanre of £2OOO a month, and employed unsuspected women and some -ocially prominent persons as go-be- . weens. I M. Henri Dekerillis, the "Winston Churchill of France." declares that over £lOO.OOO was spent by Germans in propaganda payments during the Munich crisis.

Police Search Houses. The scandal is expected to assume considerable proportions. Police searched the homes of a number of persons who are believed to have been in contact with Herr von Ribbentrop and Dr. Goebbels. Further arrests are expected. The Paris Soir states that 150 journalists are implicated, and that a beautiful Austrian countess, the brains of the organisation, escaped to Germany. INTENSIFIED ACTIVITY NAZI ESPIONAGE PLANS IN BRITAIN. (Independent Cable Service). Received Juiy 16. 11.55 p.m. LONDON, July 16. A further increase in the number of detectives attached to the special branch of Scotland Yard will be made following the discovery .of intensified activity on the part of Nazi agents in Britain and France. The anti-spy bureau in Paris has secured information revealing the plans of the German espionage department to flood Britain and France with agents on the lines of the prewar German Intelligence Service. PREMIER TAKES CHARGE OF INVESTIGATIONS Received July 16, 7.50 p.m. PARIS. July 15. The Prime Minister. M. Daiadtcr has personally taken charge ot the investigations into Nazi propaganda under the espionage laws. In an official statement the Premier assures the country that the purge will be pursued without consideration for anyone. “We are also resolved to prevent the Government’s action becoming a matter of polemic.:,” he adds. Publication of information with relation to the investigation will henceforth he punishable, u.nles?- sanctioned by the authorities. The statement adds that thos. arrested admit that they received large sums from agents of foreign Powers. The Paris correspondent of the British United Press says t.iat Robert BrarJllach, editor, and Pierre Gaxotte, i assistant editor of the weekly. Je Suis i Partout, are suing Paris wireless s-.a- -| lions and several newspapers for ix'zbO I damages for announcing inch in connection with the Nazi spy activities. Both deny receiving any payments. *