REICHSTAG FIRE

Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 September 1933, Page 5

REICHSTAG FIRE

SENSATIONAL SCENES • ‘MENDACIOUS EXAMINATION. ’ ’ Press Association Electric Telegraph—nopyright LEIPZIG, Saturday. On the resumption of the trial of those alleged to have been concerned in fifing the Reichstag building, Van der LubbC, more pale and apathetic than ever,*- through refusal of food, loo.ked in danger of collapse. Consequently,,at .counsel’s request, a doctor sat alongside" him.

'There: was a. dramatic moment when Dimitroff, one of the accused, was crossexamined. He said he had seen reports that he had been sentenced to, ■death in Bulgaria in absentia for leading an "armed band after having been previously given a life sentence in connection with the insurrection of 1927; Dimitroff heatedly protested at the injustice of the rejection of five lawyers he nominated. Dimirova provided sensation after sensation. Sometimes he addressed the court like a political meeting, continually gesticulating and often shouting. Ho denounced the police methods of investigation, causing the judge to explode with anger and threaten to exclude Dimirova from the rest of the trial if he did not behave himself. Charged with discrepancies between to-day’s testimony and his preliminary examination, Dimirova denounced the examination as mendacious, because the police wanted “to frame mo up as an incendiary.’’ . The President angrily interjected:— “I repudiate that.’’ Popoff, in a quiet, high-pitched voice, soberly dressed in black, provided a striking contrast to Dimitroff. He answered easily and suavely. He admitted joining the Bulgarian at the age of twenty, but denied that he had been prosecuted. Hq had not participated in armed insurrection. A Heisig police official, who examined Van der Lubbe after the fire, said he freely admitted firing the Reichstag to awaken the workers to revolt; he said he was willing to abide by the consequences. Torgler’s wife told journalists she was sure her husband would be fairly tried. HUNGER STRIKE ENDED. ("Received Monday, 11.50 a.m.) LEIPZIG, Sunday. Van der Lubbe ended his hunger strike and ate normally to-day. He has apparently completely recovered.