GERMAN DREAD TERROR CAMPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20083, 1 November 1939, Page 11

GERMAN DREAD

TERROR CAMPS

UNSPEAKABLE HORROR BRUTALITY OF GUARDS ACCOUNT TO POLICE REGULARS SHOCKED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 3 p.m. RUGBY. Oct. 30. Further details of the White Paper dealing with the Nazi treatment of opponents in Germany include a report made by the British ConsulGeneral at Munich, Mr. Carvell.

Reporting on January 5, 1939, on the conditions at Dachau, where, according to some estimates, 14,000 Jews were confined, he said that the first day of captivity was apparently one of indescribable horrors, since no released prisoner had been able or willing to speak about it. Referring to the routine of the camp, he said that the prisoners were made to do a great deal of marching and physical exercises and kept standing to attention in thin suits answering repeated roll-calls. Generally speaking the prisoners were on their feet almost continuously from 5 a.m. until 7 o'clock at night. Steel Birches Used The accounts of brutalities were 100 consistent to have been fabrications, continued the Consul-General. “Prisoners have been buffeted and kicked end even beaten and bastinadoed with steel birches.” The Consul at Dresden, Mr. Shepherd, reporting on February 2, 1939, on the conditions at Buehenwald, said that to the authorities in charge there were two classes, alive or dead, and no consideration was paid to old or sick persons. One of the most impressive documents in the White Paper is the calm recital of revolting conditions at Buehenwald by a former prisoner which was communicated to the Foreign Office on February 18. Its concluding passages indicate that the regular police force, to whom he reported on his release, were shocked at the conduct of this concentration camp, the name of which, he says, strikes terror in the hearts of the people of Germany. Threat Remembered The ex-prisoner, who was closely questioned by a group of regular police. says: “Remembering the threats that had accompanied my departure from the camp, I at first refused to answer. They showed me their identity documents to allay my suspicions and again urged me to tell them what the conditions in Buchenwald were really like. They would see that no harm came to me. “When I told them the things I had seen they were so shocked that they could not help interrupting me. Such conditions, they said, were revolting and a scandal.

“Herr Frick'and Herr Himmler were responsible. No one else. They were at pains to impress upon me that they had no control whatsoever over the concentration camps where, in fact, the German guard had supreme and exclusive authority. ’