STERN MEASURES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 March 1939, Page 5

STERN MEASURES

NAZIS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA WHOLESALE ARRESTS. BIG GAINS IN EQUIPMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON, March 21. The Nazis have closed Jewish organisations in Czechoslovakia and are banning Jews from factories. There have been wholesale' arrests. , The Prague correspondent of ‘‘The Times” estimates that the arrests now total 18,000, including a large proportion of the Communists and Jewish leaders.

Two squares in Prague have been renamed after Adolf Hitler, and Wilson Square has become Goering Square. The production of the Skoda armament works is to be reserved exclusively for the German army and navy, and other factories are to supply the army of the Slovak protectorate. The “Daily Express” states that 1000 Czech planes escaped German seizure and flew to Poland, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, Formulas for steel alloys, special concrete for fortifications, and blue-prints of a new automatic rifle and of many other secret Skoda productions were taken from the country, though the swiftness of the German occupation was intended to prevent this. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says that Germany has acquired from Bohemia and Moravia £17,000,000 in gold and foreign exchange belonging to the Czech National Bank, small quantities of ammunition and a limited number of modern aeroplanes from the 1500 confiscated. The greatest gain to the Reich is in agricultural, armament, and industrial equipment, which is superior to the Austrian, and raw materials taken arcworth £250,000,0'00.

It is understood that the Germans are preparing to break up the big estates and distribute the land among the peasants in the hope of winning their support and simultaneously to launch a “drive against corruption in high places” by bringing many Czech agrarian and manufacturing leaders to trial on charges of enriching themselves at the expense of the people.

In case these tactics fail to win popular support, plans are ready to move 100,000 of the most brilliant Czech workers to different parts of Germany and to replace them with Germans.

1 RUTHENIA’S FUTURE. AUTONOMOUS AREA WITHIN HUNGARIAN STATE. BUDAPEST, March 21. The Regent, Admiral Horthy, has issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Ruthenia announcing that Ruthenia will henceforth be an autonomous area within the framework of the Hungarian State. The proclamation adds that Hungary and Ruthenia are “a divinely created and indissoluble unit.” The Prime Minister, Count Teleki, and the Foreign Minister, Count Csaky, are visiting Berlin and Rome before the end of March. This is described as a usual and formal visit following their appointments. FRENCH ATTITUDE. ANNEXATION NOT RECOGNISED. (Received This Day, 11.5 a.m.) PARIS, March 21. The Government has announced that as it refuses to recognise the German annexation of Czechoslovakia, Germany would not be permitted to occupy the Czech legation in Paris, nor consulates throughout France. GOERING DEPARTS. BRITISH PAPERS CONFISCATED IN GERMANY. (Received This Day, 11.5 a.m.) BERLIN; March 21. Field-Marshal Goering has left for Italy. The Gestapo has confiscated the issues of March 20 of leading British newspapers, including “The Times’ and the “Daily Telegraph.”