AGAINST HITLER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 April 1940, Page 6

AGAINST HITLER

MOVEMENT GROWING QUIETLY IN GERMANY. AIMING FOR LIBERTY. The aims of the Social Democratic Party in Germany "to establish new liberties for the masses of the German people” are being maintained by “an underground movement” in that country today, according to Dr Paul Hertz, a leader of that group in the Reichstag before 1933. Dr Hertz, who left Germany for Prague when Hitler came into power and has been more recently in Paris, has arrived in the United States, says the “New York Times." In an interview at the headquarters of the Friends of German Freedom, the former political leader outlined the progress of this “underground group.” Because of its limited operations. Dr Hertz explained that “the strength of the movement" was difficult to estimate, but pointed out that "it is not a mass movement."

He said the purpose of his visit to this country was "to spread some of my ideas to the American people, and thus help the underground movement as a former member of the old Social Democratic Party, as well as those who are working in its behalf in Germany' at the risk of their lives.” The war has placed “an even greater burden" on those who are engaged in this movement in Germany. Dr Hertz, added, but “the goal is even more noteworthy and the possibility of a strong mass movement becomes greater."

Questioned about the effect of Germany’s campaign on the Western Front Dr Hertz said that in his opinion “the mass of people in Germany have no conception of what is going on, and that only those listening to foreign broadcasts under the threat of the death penalty know what is happening cutside of Germany." The effect of the pact, with Russia, according to the information Dr Hertz has received from members of “the underground group" has been different in relation to different groups. With one group "the feeling of desperation was uppermost,” he explained, while that of another held it “a hidden diplomatic move,” with the feeling that Russia will eventually oppose Hitler. Dr Hertz expressed the opinion that “big business in Germany" was always "favourable towards Russia," citing as an instance the establishment of German airplane manufacturing plants after the World War on Russian soil. He said that “Hitler has opposed Russia only for purposes of propaganda, and that the movements of anti-Semi-tism and anti-Bolshevism were weapons to win over the German people as well as to split up other nations on those matters.”