NAZI TACTICS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 164, 29 March 1939, Page 4

NAZI TACTICS

SOUTH-WEST AFRICA J' , & “SUDETEN PROBLEM” JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 25.—Subversive tactics which have for their aim the creation of a. problem identical to the one which has arisen in the Sudeten areas of Czechoslovakia are ■being practised by the Nazis in SouthWest Africa, according toi a wellknown member of the- Legislative Assembly, Air. J. D. Lardner-llurke, who visited Johannesburg recently, “Tlnf Nazis there work ’"ground,9 he continued. “They realise the futility of force and so they ’have adopted tactics which, unless, checked, will create a ‘Sudetaiv problem’ in South j-Africa in the near future.” The;solution lay, lie’ declared, in the incorporation of the territory withinj the Union. “If the administration tjf South-West Africa, because an integral part of the ’ Union-fj-aiid it could!-bet done without, in any way, violating the terms of the Mandate—it would have a steadying effect so vita-lljf needed: at the present time.” The Nazis in the territory were not '% expecting a- war at the present time, Mr. Lftrdner-Burke said. . “Mauy are of the opinion that it will occur next spriiig. , ,In . the meantime, they are imposing-tlieir policy on the territory mainly by. means of economic pressure, threat oF punishment' t'o relatives of offenders in Germany and by social boycott.!’ Only about half the Germans in South-West Africa .were Nazis, but Afr they; had formed themselves into a v ; powerful independence group and were adopting tactics that wore an uncomfortable parallel with the tactics y adopted by the Nazis in Europe before the! annexation of Austria and before tliej Sudetan problem. Aa ' Trie re was a large and influential body of opinion in the territory which favoured the incorporation Aof south West Africa in the Union. It Would probably mean that a provincial Council would he created and that the territory would have direct representation in the Union Parliament. A Alternatively, special measures would have to be devised. “It we dot not have the steadying infiuenie of the Union admi nistrut’.on., t then if will onlvj be a matter jbf!||?nie, *; if thihgs continue as they are now, bej'oreHhe Nazis will demand the sev- - era nee "of the ties which bind the ter-r . : . ritorv to the Union,” he”.declared.