NAZI REJOINDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 May 1939, Page 5

NAZI REJOINDER

TO POLISH MINISTER’S SPEECH “DOES NOT ATTACK ROOTS OF PROBLEM.” COMMENTS BY OFFICIAL ORGAN. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The following' communication has been received by the German ConsulGeneral in Wellington:— The “Voelkischer Beobachter,” the official organ of the National Socialist Party, comments in the speech of thePolish Foreign Minister, Colonel Beck, as follows: — The speech of the Polish Foreign Minister has caused disappointment because it does not attack the roots of the problem. (1) The main reason which obliged the German Government to consider the Polish-German agreement of 1934 as at an end was not the Polish refusal to accept the German proposals, but the conclusion of the Anglo-Polish Treaty of Alliance. By the stipulations of this treaty Poland is obliged to attack Germany without the latter giving the slightest offence to Poland wh.enever the Reich should be involved in a conflict with Great Britain anywhere else in the world—it does not matter for what reason. It is impossible to reconcile this obligation to attack Germany'with the solemn declaration of the pact of 1934 by which the use of arms between Germany and Poland was mutually excluded. (2) The assurance given by Colonel Beck that neither Poland nor Great Britain have the intention of attacking Germany cannot stand closer examination. It will be sufficient to have a look at the Warsaw and London newspapers, which explain with greatest frankness the policy of encirclement. AN ACCOUNT CHALLENGED. (3) The historical account which Colonel Beck has given of the development of the recent crisis also does not stand the test. The Polish Minister tries to establish.'that at least part of the offers which the Fuehrer formulated in his speech of April 28 were new to him, or that these proposals were never made before in concrete form. The “Voelkischer Beobachter” points out that not only in January and March, 1939, but as early as October, 1938, the Polish Ambassador in Berlin was officially informed of German proposals for a definite solution of the outstanding questions between the Reich and Poland. These applied not only to Danzig and the Corridor, but contained also a German offer to extend the non-aggression . pact for 25 years. This offer was not only made to the Polish Ambassador in Berlin, by the German Foreign Minister, but also' to Colonel Beck personally when he saw the Fuehrer at Berchetsgaden-on January 5. (4) If Colonel Beck demands “peaceful designs and peaceful methods of negotiation” as a condition for solving the problem, it must be stated that this has been exactly the supposition which induced the Reich to make the proposals mentioned above. These proposals were made in the most amicable form, giving the greatest consideration io the rights of Poland. There has not been a single German soldier near the German-Polish frontier to give these proposals the slightest resemblance of pressure or menace. (5) It is incorrect that Colonel Beck should reproach the Reich with having made her decisions on the basis of information given only by the Press. There was also the unmistakable declaration which Mr Neville Chamberlain gave, also on behalf of Colonel Bsck, in the House of Commons whereby any direct or indirect menace to ony of the two partners of the alliance was defined as the point at which automatically an attack on Germany should be launched by the other partner. DANZIG & DUTCH PORTS. (6) With regard to Danzig, Colonel Beck refuses to allow the return of this purely German town to the Reich on the pretence of the economic necessities of Poland. The Fuehrer recognised these necessities in a broadminded way and .took them into consideration when he made his proposals. If the fact that the German town of Danzig is situated on the mouth of a river which flows through Polish territory would justify the Polish theses, the Reich could claim with equal right Dutch ports because they happen to be situated on the mouth of .the Rhine. In this case the last decision can be given only by Danzig herself. (5) It is not by chance that Colonel Beck did not even mention the port of Gdynia, which was constructed for the sole purpose of runing Danzig economically,. under the hypocritical pretence ’that the harbour of Danzig was ' not sufficiently large for the Polish traffic. There are today more than ten miles of unutilised harbour frontage in Danzig which are at the disposal of Poland. These facts show better than words the degree of credibility of Colonel Beck’s arguments. The rest is done by the unbridled Polish Press, with its reckless demands for German territory. ALLEGED TERRORISM. POLES IN GERMAN SILESIA. (Received This Day. 9.55 a.m.) WARSAW, May 8. The Press alleges that Poles at Grosstrelitz, in German Silesia, are being terrorised. A Polish school at Jedryn was destroyed. HOPEFUL SIGN. APPOINTMENT OF SOVIET AMBASSADOR. (Received This Day. 9.55 a.m.) WARSAW, May 8. The unexpected appointment of M. Szaranoff as the Soviet Ambassador to Poland is regarded as a sympton of improving Polo-Soviet relations.