DARKEST AGES IN MANKIND RECALLED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 258, 1 November 1939, Page 7

DARKEST AGES IN MANKIND RECALLED

NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS

PUBLICATION OF OFFICIAL BRITISH DOCUMENTS ACCOUNTS OF BARBARITY AND TORTURE

< Daveniry Broadcast . I.O.XDUN, Oct. 31). The British Government has issued a White Paper giving authentic accounts of the treatment of German opponents to the Nazi regime in and outside concentration camps during the past two years. The documents were not intended for publication, and the Government was reluctant in taking any action that might inspire hatred, but it was only the unscrupulous propaganda of the German Government which compelled the British Government to publish the documents so that public, opinion throughout the world might judge for itself. The documents show that, conditions in Germany and the treatment accorded to Germans recall the darkest ages in the history of mankind, and give accounts of the barbarity and torture practised bv the Nazis.

TERRIBLE TREATMENT INSTANCES GIVEN PUNISHMENT GF JEWS COLD-BLOODED ACTION IX)NDON. Oct. 30. The While Paper refers to the Nazis Terribly avenging themselves on their opponents, while Storm Troopers wantonly assaulted Brioni in the streets. A former inmate described the Buchenwald concentration camp as filthy, with mud knee-deep. His face was unrecognisable because of torn flesh. There were 100 straw sacks for 10,000 men. who were beaten if they lay on their backs, being ordered to lie on their sides. Sentries used their rifles without warning. “A bullet cost 12 pfennigs, which is.all a Jew is worth.” Eventually no Jews were accepted as sick. They could only be well or dead. Many were unable to stand and had to be forcibly held up at the roll-call. Many virtually committed suicide by feigning flight to be shot down. The British Consul-General in Frankfort-on-Maine. Mr. R. T. Smallbones. wrote last December that if the Government of Germany depended on popular suffrage those responsible for these and similar outrages would be placed against walls and shot. Anti-Catholic Riots Describing the Vienna anti-Catholic demonstration, the Consul-General recorded that the cardinal’s palace was entered, the windows smashed, religious pictures destroyed, valuable chalices and three episcopal rings stolen, and rones and even * he personal wardrobe of the cardinal thrown into the courtyard and set on fire. A priest who endeavoured to restrain the attackers was mishandled and an attempt was made to throw him out the window. He was badly cut about the hands and arms bybroken glass. A similar attack was made upon a resident dean and a priest. One was actually thrown out of the window and both his legs broken. The police were telephoned for seven times from the palace and arrived three-quarters of an hour after the first call, when the leader of the mob blew his whistle and the attackers. forming a column, marched off unmolested and undetained by the police. Forbidden to Drink The remaining documents in the White Paper deal mainly with antiJewish demonstrations and the barbarities to which prisoners at Buchenwald and Dachau camps are subjected and observations of the consular officers. The experiences of two former prisoners from Buchenwald, in statements communicated to the Foreign Office by charity organisation in Germany. reveal a close detail of conditions which internees endure. During working hours of 10 hours for seven days a week, says the statement of a well-to-do Jewish business man. it was forbidden to drink even in the hottest weather. Food was not bad but quite insufficient. While he was there the work of Jewish prisoners was doubled and rations halved. The work consisted in moving heavy stones, far beyond the strength of even .•» normal well-fed man. The Jews were sneeringly told by the guards that they were only experiencing the same treatment as their forefathers in Egypt and that Pharaoh had not gone half far enough. The men were kept standing at attention for many hours on end. Floggings were frequent for such small offences as drinking water duii.y working hours. The usual punishment was 25 strokes, given alternatively by two guards. This often produced unconsciousness, but Jews were told that the Fuhrer had given ordets that Jews might receive up to 60 strokes. Heavy Floggings Another former prisoner, a small business man. was arrested in June. 1939. in a round-up in the streets of Berlin without cause or pretext, describing the floggings, said that the normal punishment was 25 strokes on the seat, carried out by two guards standing on each side with riding whips. The prisoner was lashed to a board. If he cried the strokes were increased to 35. The guards used all their force, sometimes springing into the air so as to bring their arms dewn with increased momentum. /Another punishment was hanging

’up three metres from the ground by ihe arms violently bent back. For Ihe purpose special men were pm- ■ ployed to carry out these punishments. iThe hanging lasted 10 to 12 hours, land was in public. The British Consul-General, in Vienna, Mr. D. St. C. Grainer, reporting on November 11. 1938, on anti- * Jewish demonstrations in Vienna on the occasion of Herr von Rath's murder in Paris by a Jew. said that when many Jewish shops, houses, prayer houses, and synagogues were fired the .police obviously received instructions not to interfere. ' "Vienna presented an extraordinary spectacle with fires raging all over j the city and the Jews being hustled along the streets, cursed at, and assaulted by crowds of hooligans whose pride it is to belong to one of the greatest and most civilised nations in the world,” he said. Afraid to Disapprove ' The British Consul-General in Cologne, Mr. J. E. Bell, writing on November 14. said that anti-Jewish manifestations on the eleventh were very , thorough and systematic. He re- ! ported: "There is nervousness among : the middle class of Germans who in j general disapprove, but they dare not ivoice disapproval. One German woman who did so in a tram-car which runs past my door was arrested at ithe first stopping place. 1 have been more shocked by the cold-blooded imanner in which the action was taken (than by anything else. "Yet I am inclined to think the FuhIrer knows his Germans. Among the ’masses who have nothing at stake there is observed a certain amount of •schadenfreude (joy at the misfortunes of another).” ! Consul-General Smallbones, on December 14. related in detail what happened to a well-educated Jew who 'was in a trench in the last war and had a good business in Frankfort. His statements corresponded with those of ’others seized and humiliated during the pogrom. A typical passage in this recital of indignities suffered before j his removal to Buchenwald reads: Sport for Guards "German guard troops and police 'now had sport. with their charges. They made them kneel down and Icross their hands behind their backs and lean forward until they touched 'the ground with their foreheads. , Those who could not perform this] Teat were assisted by the guards, who kicked them in the back of the neck, i ’Others were made to run round the building. Some were sick." At Buchenwald, flogging was ■ ordered for trifling offences, such as ’not jumping to attention quickly. A Rabbi was flogged because he "refused to sign his name on the Sabbath. He was then threatened with a second (flogging, but his spirit was too weak and he signed. Some died stretched i between poles. Those who survived were kicked back into a shed. "Some went mad. They were then ichained up and a sack tied round their heads to stifle their shouts.” NAZIS UNMASKED TORTURE OF PRISONERS REGULAR POLICE SHOCKED Received Oct. 31. 7.5 p.m. RUGBY, Oct. 30. Further details of Nazi cruelties in concentration camps in Germany are given in the White Paper. The Consul-General at Munich (Mr. Carveil), reporting on January 5, ’1939. on conditions at Dachau where. ' according to some estimates, 14.000 Jews are confined, says the first day of captivity was apparently one of indescribable horrors since no released prisoner had been able or was willing to speak about it. Referring to the routine of the camp, he says the prisoners were made to do a great deal of marching and physical exercises and were kept standing to attention in thin suits, answering repeated roli-calb. Generally speaking, the prisoners were on their feet almost continuously from 5 a.m. till 7 at night. The accounts of brutalities were too consistent to have been fabrications. "Prisoners have been buffeted, ‘kicked, and even beaten and bastinadoed with steel birches,” said the Consul from Dresden (Mr. Shepherd), reporting on February 2, 1939, on conditions at Buchenwald. He says that to the authorities in charge there were two classes, alive or dead, and no consideration was paid to the old ( or sick. Regular Police Surprised One of the most impressive documents in the White Paper is a calm