NAZI BRUTALITY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 80, 20 July 1942, Page 6

NAZI BRUTALITY

FACTS THE WORLD MUST FACE There are, indeed, evil things going on in Germany to-day. For many years now, blasphemy, persecution and torture have disfigured the Home of I lie ileninyolk. Assassination of a few hundred, as i>n the Night of the Lung Knives in June, IfKi I, has grown into the kill-* ing of thousands in their own and in other countries. Among the papers found in a German field post office, recently capture ed by Soviet troops was this instruction : 'The More You Kill' "For your own glory you must kill exactly 100 Russians-— this is the only just ratio —one German equals 100 ' Russians. You have no heart or nerves you do not need them in war. "Destroy in yourself pilj- and compassion. Do not hesitate if .you have an old man or woman, girl or boy before you. Kill!" The result of this brutal advice on the individual is well shown in this letter, taken from the bodj r of a German soldier : "The more you kill, the easier you find if . . . One must have, a harsh soul . . . Our world should be grateful to us . . ." To the crimes which the Nazis have committed in the past must now be added fresh charges. The first is that the Gestapo are secretly putting to death the insane ; the second, that seriously injured German soldiers on the Easi-i ern Front are not being allowed to recover. The third is the abominable bru j talities they are perpetrating .in Russia. The German authorities have not denied the truth of the Bishop of JYieinster's charge that the Gestapo, with the knowledge and approval of the Government, is systematically putting to death the mentally deficient population of the Reich.

They Were Murdered The facts, as staled by this German prciate, are that in his Diocese a considerable number of patients in asylums -.vcrc taken aivav, and their relatives .subsequently informed that they 'had died from pneumoniaHe added that everyone knew that those persons had been murdered. Now, the llishcp is no renegade— he is a patriotic German who ru~ JiOices in the successes of his country's armed forces, it is, therefore, all tho more striking that lie should risk death o:' the concentration camp to expose the crimes committed by tlie leaders of his own country. If any state fails to support its invalids, merely because they are a burden, it is as blameworthy as an individual who shirks his personal responsibilities. How much more terrible is the act of a Government which, in cold blood, rids itself of Us responsibilities by murder ?

Milch's Dictum And what is happening to the German soldier in Eastern Europe ? So Unit Germany shall not he flooded with the maimed and the blind from Russia, the Nazis have introduced the , Todesspritze, or Death Injection. The severely wounded are a drag on the Slate —therefore they must be sacrificed. The German High Command are find in i; it almost impossible to cope with th<-'ir enornuiiis casualties. And here is n method which will avoid an incessant stream of blinded and mutilated soldiers pouring into tiermany. Is this in keeping with the German doctrines? Let Air-Marsha! Milch answer this question. Four years ago he said to a distinguished Khglishman: "Wo .want in breed a \cry tough race of Germans. 'We require for this as large a population as possible to select from: liaise -inndards must be sterilised nr olherwis;: eliminaled. 'This is the reward which awaits their own badly wounded soldiers. What, then, is the late which the Germans have ordained for the Russians who fall into their hands? In August Mr Churchill spolio these ominous words : '"The aggressor is surprised, startled, staggered. For the lirst time in his experience mass-murder has become profitable. Tortured Captives "He retaliates by fhe most CrightI fill cruelties . . . scores; literally jscores of Thousands of executions \\\ cold blood .i:v being perpc*. rate-d by the Genua;; police- tronp upon tls-.--r?tj:-siai' p,d.•■:/>>'-• .'V;; ,\>] .! :-',r

And now comes the Note which M. Molotov has sent to all the Governments with whom the U.S.S.R. has diplomatic relations. Let me quote two paragraphs onlj* from this terrible indictment : "Red Army prisoners arc tortured with red-hot irons, their eyes are poked out, their legs, hands, ears and noses cut off. They are tied to tanks and crushed to pieces. "In the south western direction, in the' Village of Rcpke in the, Ukraine, after the Germans had retreated froln occupied positions, bodies of Battalion Commander BobroA*, Political Instructor l'yatigorsky, and two other men were found. "Their hands and legs were nailed to a beam, and their bodies bore black scars of the swastika sign branded on them with red hot knives'' 'Blotting Out' "We must, of course, expect atrocity stories from any battlefield and we must be on our guard against accepting them when unsupported by evidence. In this case, howcAer, there is this fact to be faced. The Avorld knows that the German is always a "dirty lighter."

We arc therefore less surprised to hear of the savageries which M. Mololov reports. The acts have one object only: Hitler ordained that '".Russia must be blotted out." This is part of the process. Make no mistake about one thing: if. 1)3- using the most .barbaric methods known to modern science, If, by oppression of the occupied peoples and by terrorising the enemy, the German army can win this war, the German people will endorse their actions. Self-pity and envy of their neighbours are far stronger motives with them than the humanitarianism which influences more civilised peoples. Fanning Savagery If this were not the case, how is it that German soldiers can be found in sufficient numbers who arc Avilling to torture and mutilate their enemies? Surely courage and selfsacrifice should evoke admiration, not revenue? The answer is that the savagery which has always characterised the German has been Canned to a white heat by the carefully organised teachings of the Nazis. As Lord Vansitlart has said, the German people will have to undergo a complete spiritual regeneration before they arc fit to join on equal terms with other nations.