COMPROMISING DOCUMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20426, 17 February 1938, Page 8

COMPROMISING DOCUMENTS

According to the reports of the recent conference between Herr Hitler and Dr. Schuschnigg the Austrian Chancellor possessed some trump cards in the form of compromising documents which Herr von Papen, until recently German Ambassador at Vienna, did not know the Austrians possessed. Probably it will never be known what the documents were, but it is a strange thing that compromising documents seem to be the bane of Herr von Papen’s life. He was on the staff of the German Embassy at Washington when war broke out and in 1915 was expelled from the country. According to a German writer the carelessness of von Papen resulted in the American authorities getting possession of the key to the German code, so that the authorities were able to read the official messages. Then when the ship by which he was returning to Europe was searched by the British authorities at Falmouth, von Papen’s papers were seized. It is stated that ho had counted on his possessions being immune from search, but apparently the immunity applied only to their owner. Among the documents found was a cheque book which showed that he had made payments to secret agents in the United States, and thus linked a German official with the work of the dynamiters and others who had done great damage in munition plants. It is stated by some well-informed writers that Herr von Papen, who had been attached to the Turkish Army as a liaison officer, had to leave his baggage behind him when lie hurriedly departed from Jerusalem, and in them were found oilier documents which incriminated agents in America. The information was duly passed on to Washington and did a great deal to influence official opinion there. It would be a remarkable thing if. once again, personal documents had created difficulties for Tlorr von Papen. The typically German ■. S< me-