WEB OF INTRIGUE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 92, 16 October 1934, Page 9

WEB OF INTRIGUE

STRUGGLE OF THE SAAR

PLOTTING FOR A RISING

TACTICS OF HITLER

In the plebiscite that falls due in the taar on January 13 it is probable that between 30 per cent, and 40 per cent, of the votes will bo cast for tho •'status quo" (that is to say, for the perpetuation of the sovereignty of the League over the Saar), and all tho rest (excepting, perhaps, a tiny poll for in■orporation in the French Republic) for return to Germany, says a special jorrespondent of the "Manchester Guardian." The outlook may change by January 13. Thus it is not impossible, although unlikely, that tho vote for tho "status quo" will exceed 50 per cent., in which case Germany will lose tho Saar, thanks, exclusively, to the present German Government, which, by political and religious persecution, by the distress resulting from its economic policy, and by the fear that it will involve Germany in another war, has estranged a German population which, before Hitler became Chancellor, would have voted almost unanimously for tho return to the mother country. Even a vote of 30 per cent, for tho "status quo," or even 20 per cent., would be a serious matter for tho German Government, for it would show that relatively free'elections produce at least twico as big an opposition to Hitler as elections or referenda held under the jurisdiction of his Government. A HOSTILE MINORITY. That Government, acting in collusion witli the Nazis in tho Saar, is trying by means of terroristic pressure, by threats, and by promises to keep tho hostile vote as low as possible. But a strong hostile minority at least is now inevitable, and the. shock it will administer to German public opinion is •already being counteracted by the fiction (specially devised and officially spread for the purpose by tho German Press and radio) that not Hcrr Hitler but Mr. Knox, the President of tho Governing Commission in the Saar, is the real terrorist. Thus the responsibility for tho hostile vote is already being 'shifted from llerr Hitler to Mr. Knox in anticipation, so that when tho returns have been declared Hitler will, in tho eyes of tho German public, have no responsibility at all for a hostile vote of which he will, ( in truth, have been the principal creator. But what if (ho hostile ' minority threatens to become a majority? Tho loss of the Saar would -be a disaster for Germany, but for the Hitlerite Dictatorship (which is by no means the same thing as Germany) tho fact of tho hostile majority would in itself bo a bigger disaster than the purely territorial loss. The Dictatorship can afford to lose the Saar, but it cannot afford to lose it by a hostile German vote, for that would bo equivalent to a loss for which Hitler would be mainly responsible, and it is doubtful whether even the German public, could bo blinded to this fact. Thus, if it sepms at all probable that the hostile vote will exceed the 50 per cent., disorders, as a means of circumventing the plebiscite altogether, will become what from the Hitlerite point of view will seem a political necessity. ATTACKS OH MR. KNOX. It will be easy for tho Nazis to create disorder, although the Saarlandors are a peaceful population1. The executive at the disposal of tho-Governing Commission is wholly inadequate. Mr. Knox is the object of continual personal attacks by German Press and radio. Those attacks have been going on ever since Hitler became Chancellor, and show no signs of abating. The fact that they arc not stopped is an international scandal, especially since the murder of Dr. Dollfuss, which was a warning example of what Nazi propaganda can lead to. The Gorman Government operates principally with defamatory insinuations that are continually being broadcast (especially in the regularly recurring item known as the "Saar Umsehau"), and are meant to create tho impression that tho Saar is in a state of dangerous unrest, and that the responsibility lies, above all, with Mr: Knox. This insinuation was made quite crudely in tho form of a question broadcast by tho Frankfort station on August 18. In the "Saar Umschau" of August 20 Mr. Knox was denounced as regarding only persons who arc hostile to Germany as neutral, and as tolerating "the bureau of the G.P.TJ." (which does not, of course, exist) at Saarbrucken, "where terrorist groups" (the only "terrorist groups" in the Saar are Nazi groups) arc formed. Some time ago a Nazi attempted to assassinate the Police Commissioner, Herr Machts, in the Saar.-On August 16 the Frankfort station announced the complete falsehood that Machts's would-be murderer was not only a French agent but that. Mr. Knox knew him to be a French agent. ASSASSINATION RISKS. These insinuations—against which the League Council offers Mr. Knox no protection whatever —are a continual incitement to murder. It was only the watchfulness of tho Czech police that saved the Socialist leaders Wels and Scheidemann from assassination by Nazis on Czech soil last year. Professor Lossing was assassinated purely as the result of the German propagandist campaign against him. The successful attempt on the life of Dr. Dollfuss was by no means tho first attempt. And—despite the example of Austria—the German Government is allowed to create exactly the same atmosphere round Mr. Knox ns it created round Dr. Dollfuss and its other victims. Public opinion in the Saar and in Germany is similarly incited against Max liraun, the leader of the Saar Socialists, and against Johann Hoffmann, the editor of tho Catholic "None Saar Post," who was denounced —untruthfully, of course — as a "traitor" (Landosvorarter), besides,being characterised—with equal untruth —as "clumsy, dull-witted, and uneducated" ("plump, sch werfallig, und ungrbildet") in the "Saar Umschau" of August. 11. A "SAAB LEGION." It is not only as tho target, for defamatory propaganda that the Saar threatens to become a second Austria. A kind of "Saar -Legion," analogous to the "Austrian Legion," has been, and is still being, trained on Gorman soil outside the demilitarised zone. (This has now been reported to the League.) When the time for action comes this Legion is to invade the Saar in three columns starting from Coblenz, Frankfort, and Mannheim-Ludwigs-hafen, to bo joined by local forces in the Saar itself. To the German public such an action would be represented as a spontaneous popular rising by the Saarlanders against, intolerable tyranny. Tho perpetrators would, of course, be disowned (just ns they were in Austria) while being secretly applauded. The German Government, although alone responsible, would be made to seem the really outraged party. All these, plans are known in fullest detail. Documents were seized by the Governing Commission and 2000 neutral police, are to be recruited for the prefieryafion of order.