FINAL SCENE IN SAAR DRAMA

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21413, 4 March 1935, Page 11

FINAL SCENE IN SAAR DRAMA

* Formal Return To Germany HITLER TRIUMPHANTLY WELCOMED (united re ess association— hy electric TELEGRAPH —COPYRIGHT.) (.Received March 3, 5.5 p.m.) SAARBRUCKEN, March 1. No triumphant Caesar received a reception such as that accorded Herr Adolf Hitler when he stepped out of his car on the occasion of the return of the Saar to Germany. Storm troopers lined the streets and Herr Hitler, with his arm continuously raised in a salute, was obviously moved as the Saarlanders streamed from beer houses and cheered, cried "Heil" and saluted. The handing over of the Saar was carried out in accordance with the programme. Baron Aloisi, chairman of the League of Nations Committee of Three, briefly addressed Herr Wilhelm Frick (German Minister for the Interior) in French. After the speech had been translated Herr Frick walked to the microphone and gave a curt order to hoist the flags.

Baron Aloisi said "In the name of the League of Nations and in my capacity as president of the Committee of Three which has regulated all questions connected with the Saar, I have the honour to-day to complete the actual transfer of the Saar territory to the Reich. This closes a page in history and with it disappears an element of unrest in the relations among the peoples. "I express the wish that the solution of this problem, reached after long and difficult negotiations carried on in a spirit of loyalty and mutual understanding, may prove a good omen for the quiet and peace of Europe." Herr Frick then broadcast a speech in which he said that what the Saar had yearned for for 15 years had become a reality. The Saar had been German for more than 1000 years. To-day it returned to the Fatherland. "Never again shall we tolerate German land being torn from us by force," he declared. Herr Hitlers absence from the ceremony occasioned surprise, but it was learned that he was flying from Berlin to make a triumphal entry into Saarbrucken. The aerodrome there was waterlogged, so Herr Hitler left the aeroplane at Mannheim and arrived after the ceremony.

AT SAARBRUCKEN CEREMONIES MARKED BY GREAT ENTHUSIASM "GERMANY'S PROMISES KEPT" SAARBRUCKEN, March I. "Hitler is here," was the news which electrified a city that had been transformed overnight into a mighty stage ringing with music and bedecked with banners and garlands under whi i thousands of Black Guards, storm troops and police marched and countermarched. The enactment of to-day's historic drama was prolonged far into the night with ceremonies and demonstrations. Loudspeakers, martial music and the tramp of troops defied sleep as the incoming thousands from Germany strode triumphantly to their quarters unmindful of a bitterly cold drizzle.

Amid delirious enthusiasm in which 20,000 participated, Herr Hitler took the salute at an impressive march-past from the steps of the illuminated town hall. Speaking to the cheering concourse, he recalled addressing the Saarlanders in 1933 and declared that Germany had kept the promise then broadcast to stand by them. Hitler added: "I am happy to be with you during your first hours of liberty. It is a day of happiness for all Germany, even for Europe, because it has . removed a crisis under which two great nations suffered. "Let us hope France is as readv as we are to seek peace. It must be possible to grasp hands and remove all obstacles to peace. "To-day should be a lesson to those who believe a nation can be robbed of character by force or that its soul can be stolen," he continued. "This cannot be done; blood is stronger than documents. "To-day is only the beginning of the work for the great Reich. I implore you. who have been faithful for 15 years, to have faith in the new Germany, whose millions are now marching in step." The cheers having subsided, cry went up:—"Germany is Adolf Hitler. Hitler is our Germany."

Hitler, standing erect and bareheaded in his car, doffed his overcoat on arrival at the town hall; despite a downpour. In order to demonstrate that he scorned protection, lie did not possess a Nazi bodyguard. BERLIN CELEBRATES BERLIN. March 1. The capital celebrated the return of the Saar with a gigantic torchlight procession, even exceeding thai in Herr Hitler's honour in 1933. Scores of thousands of the Reichswehr Air Sports League and others marched, singing patriotic songs. The procession:; gathered at the Lustgarten, opposite the exKaiser's pala.ee, and sang a hymn of thanks, led by massed bands.

SIR GEOFFREY KNOX RETURNS TACT AND COURAGE PRAISED (BRITISH OJTICIAI. WTRELBSS.I RUGBY, March 1. Sir Geoffrey Knox, chairman of the Saar Governing Commission, who handed over to the Committee

of Three yesterday, afterwards left the Saar, where he had fulfilled for three years an extremely difficult task. British newspapers to-day pay tributes to the tact and courage which he displayed despite the unfortunate campaigns of vilification to which he was at time; subjected.