CIVIL WAR?

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 288, 30 July 1932, Page 2

CIVIL WAR?

ENORMOUS ODDS ^GAINST NAZIS IN GERMAN CAPlTAL TENSE SITUATION. LONDON, July 16. The situation in Germany is terribly anxious, especially in, Silesja, reports the Berlin correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. There is undoubtedly danger of civil war, wherein enormous odds would be against the Socialists. The Socialists' iron front, however, is growing vastly stronger. Even wealthy meri, who have been living in fear of a Nazi dictatorsHip-, welcome it. " The Reichswehr cannot be relied upon to. operate against the Nazis, whom the Papen Government favoursrathef thah the Socialists. But the so'-called Bavarian W atch, coristitutirig a formidable volunteer force, which the Bavarian Government is supporting, far outnuir.bers the Brownshirts, to whom they are . opposed. i Nazis Scarcer. Bei'lin is beginning to breathe more easily owing to' the compaihtive dis- ; appearance of the Nazi storm troops from the streets, which, until recently, they ocCupied like a foreign ar'xiy. Apart from huge demonstrations, they only occasionally walk in groups, and never singly. They never show themselves in the poor quiarters, unless marching in thousands. The truth is that the Brownshirts are being slowly defeated by a harmless but deadly weapon. Thrash Them. Inhabitants throughout the city, . esp.ecially in the poorer district,, are rallying in self-defence, mounting guard and signalling the approach oi' the Nazis, wheri stalwarts gather and beat olf the hssault. A solitary Nazi wandering in a quarter where there are no police is immediately hustled to the entrance hall of flats, ordered to strip off his uniform, and thrashed, after which he is turned into the streets in underclothes Pelted with Pots. There are parts of Germany where Communists and members of the Reichsbanner have been murdered, in which Nazis run the risk of death. Nazis now have difficulty in holding meetings. Recently Westphalian Socialists at an electric station struck, preventing the lighting of the Nazis hall. Wben the Nazis transferred thsir meeting to a common, Communists fied the neighbouring woods and smoked out the iNazis, who, marching home through a Workers' suburb, were pelted with floWer pots.