LUXEMBOURG’S FATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 May 1941, Page 6

LUXEMBOURG’S FATE

PEOPLE RESISTING NAZI PRESSURE FIRM FAITH IN REIGNING DYNASTY. ) GERMAN CAMOUFLAGED ORGANISATION. i 1 German efforts to force the inhabi- • tants of the Grand Duchy of Luxem- - bourg to declare for annexation by the • German Reich are described in a letter - from the Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Joseph Beck, received by the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) through the High Commissioner in London (Mr Jordan). Mr Beck is in London, and his letter shows that though the Grand Duchy is occupied by German troops and ruled by a Gauleiter, the people have firm faith in the reigning dynasty, which is beyond reach of Nazi pressure. After referring to the note sent .by his Government last September ex- ' plaining the measures taken by the Germans after the invasion of Luxembourg, Mr Beck says:—“Since then, the • intention to incorporate the Grand 1 Duchy in the Reich has been openly proclaimed by the German Gauleiter, ' who, after having abolished the constitution of the country and dissolved the Chamber of Deputies and the Council • of State, has just dismissed the administrative commission which has administered the country since the departure of the Government of the Grand Duchy. The public services of Luxem-1 bourg have been more and more eliminated from the administration of the country, and the Luxembourg high officials have been replaced by German National Socialists. “From the time of his arrival in the country, the Gauleiter has vaunted that he will convey to the Fuehrer the spontaneous adhesion of the population of Luxembourg to the Reich. His project, supported by a furious propaganda. has failed owing to the calm but stubborn resistance of the Luxembourg people. ' “This failure has given rise in Luxembourg to a regime of economic pressure and to measures of terror, their object being to force the Luxembourgers to adhere to the “Volks- ■ deutsehe Bcwegung" (German People's Movement), by signing a manifesto on- : titled “Heim ins Reich” (Home in the ( Reich). This popular German move- : men! is nothing but a camouflaged or- > ganisation of the National Socialist < Party imported into the country after 1 the invasion. The State and Com- ‘ mime officials arc required, under pen- ‘ ally of dismissal, to give proof of their 1 political zeal and to collaborate active- * ly in the incorporation' of their country I in the Reich. J

“To attain this last object, the Germans brutally apply to each category of Luxembourg citizens the form of restraint which they believe the best adapted to break their resistance.

“The Government of the Grand Duchy wishes to draw the attention of the Governments of free countries to this situation by denouncing in advance the fictitious character of the eventual result of such coercive measures.

| "From the most diverse sources, the Luxembourg Government receives irrefutable evidence that the Luxembourg people remain profoundly attached to their independence and to their dynasty. "Notwithstanding the distress, both moral and material, into which the invader has plunged the country, it places its hope on victory for Right and Justice.”