EXODUS FROM BERLIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 September 1938, Page 5

EXODUS FROM BERLIN

OUTLOOK THOUGHT SERIOUS IN FRANCE NO HINT OF PEACEFUL SOLUTION. DANGER TAKING NEW SHAPE. PARIS, September 13. It is learned that, though the Foreign Office reaction to Herr Hitler’s speech was specially toned down, the Cabinet actually considers it more serious that it is willing to admit, as it contained not a single hint of a peaceful solution and virtually demanded complete Czech capitulation. The greatest danger is thought to be that Herr Hitler cannot now run the risk again of retreating before the energy of Britain and France. The British Consulate was besieged today by 400 persons seeking visas to enable them to go to England. It is the biggest rush since 1914. Many aged Frenchmen, seeking passports to leave France, were told to apply again in three days.

Trains from Berlin were crowded with Frenchmen, whom the French Embassy advised to leave Germany. M. Blum, leader of the Popular Front, in an article in today’s “Populaire,” says Herr Hitler’s speech is not an ultimatum rendering a coup de force inevitable. It may make negotiations difficult, but does not prevent them.

“A military invasion of Czechoslovakia,” says M. Blum, “seems arrested, but the danger takes on a new .shape daily. Herr Hitler will now attempt infiltration from within.” “Le Jour” says that the aim of the Germans is an anschluss with the Sudetens by avoiding bloodshed, thanks to the resignation of those interested.

GERMAN DIPLOMATS. UNEXPLAINED DEPARTURE FROM MOSCOW. LONDON, September 13. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the unexplained departure of the majority of the German Embassy with their families for Berlin has caused speculation. The note of defiance in Hitler’s speech has caused no surprise.

THREATENING SPEECH. • VIEW TAKEN IN BELGIUM. BRUSSELS, September 13. The first reaction here to Hitler's speech is that it is threatening.