The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-30
|NAZIS DAMN
own WORDS
IN FIRE TRIAL
Fail Again to Link the
Communists With
Van der Lubbe

Nazi witnesses contradicted
their own testimony, which
was moreover riddled by the evi-
dence of other witnesses, as the
court continued it's unsuccessful
efforts to link three of the Commu~
mist defendants with Van der Lube,
Nazi tool, at Saturdays session Of
the Reichstag fire trial, in the
Reichstag building, Berlin.
At the opening of the Saturday
session, Walter Oehme, bourgeois
newspaper man, testified that he
interviewed Ernst Torgler between
8 and a o'clock on the day of the
fire, at the time that three previous
Nazi witnesses had said they had
seen Van der Lubbe and Popoff
with Torgler. He established the
time because he had to file his cor
respondence for a Vienna paper
before 4:30 each day. -
He said that Theodor Neubauef,
Communist deputy, and Wilhelm
Kuehne, Communist Party secre-
tary, entered while he was inter.
viewing Tor~ler.
Judge Gags Dimitroff
Jakubovich, former secretary Of
the Social Democratic Party, testi-
fled that he was in the Reichstag
until 4 on the day of the fire, and
saw Torgler repeatedly. He mem
toned his own slight resemblance
to Van der Lubbe, and said it might
have been him that the three Nazi
witnesses saw with Torgler.
The three Nazi witnesses, Kar-
wahne, Frey and Kroyer, declared
they could not have confused him
with Van der Lubbe. Sack asked
the court how it happens that these
three Nazis, who had previously
been SO uncertain in their identifi.
cation, were now SO sure. George
Dimitroff commented:
1T looks very suspicious that
three witnesses are all from the
same camp"
"Silence! That's enough" roared
Judge Buenger.
Teichert, attorney for two of the
Bulgarian Communists, quoted from
the minutes of the preliminary in
quiry and the previous sessions Of
the trial to show the contradictions
in their attempted Identification of
Popoff.
Ex-Maior Hans Weberstedt, chief
of the Nazi press bureau, took ths
stand and said he had noticed a
smell of benzol coming from the
Communist Party. rooms in the
Reichstag on the afternoon before
the fire. -
Seeks to Involve Taneff
He naturally also saw the two
Y'unknowns" with Torgler. When he
had faced the prisoners, however,
it was Vassil Taneff whom he said
he recognized as having spoken to
Van der Lubbe. He also said he had
seen Van der Lubbe carrying box
into the Reichstag. -.
Taneff, who was thus brought
into the case for the first time since
the trial began, calmly stated to
the court:
"This witness is in error"
Attorney Teichert called atten-
ton to the fact that Weberstedt
had previously said Van der Lubbe
was bare-headed, and spoke of his
light bushy hair, whereas now he
says he wore a cap.
Webersted t added that he had
seen Taneff in the Reichstag on
previous days. This is clearly inn
possible since Taneff did not arrive
in Berlin until three days before
the fire.
"This witness is either in error,
or he is deliberately lying" Taneff
declared. 81 had just arrived in
Germany, and knew no German.
How could | have been speaking
with Van der Lubbe?"
When Dimitroff challenged We
berstedt's badly cooked up evil
dence, the Nazi declared pompous-
~, "a German officer does not lie"
A chauffeur employed by the So
cial Democratic Party, named
Gutsche, testified that q case of
wine had been delivered to his par
ty on the afternoon of the fire,
suggesting that it was the men who
brought it in who were mistaken"
for Van der Lubbe and Taneff.
Explains Communist Position
Theodor Neubauer, Communist
deputy brought to the court from
a concentration camp, having had
no chance to communicate with
Torgler since before the fire, COR
roborated in detail the testimony of
Torgler, Oehme, and others regard
ing the events of the afternoon be-
fore the fire. T.
Neubauer was questioned re-
garding the meaning of an article
by Torgler in the "Rotwaaler, q
Communist publication, concerning
mass action.
MASS action refers to strike
preparations, the paralyzing of fac
tories, and later, possibly, general
strike. 1t does not mean individual
actions, or actions against individ-
uals," he said, adding that general
strike had sufficed to halt the Kspp
putsch in 1920. -
rs this strike action not a pre-
liminary to civil war;" asked the
prosecutor. ~
"That depends on the counter
action of our class enemy" an
swered Neubauer.
Did you receive instructions
from Moscow" asked the judge.s
NO" answered Neubauer. eve
received instructions from the CEN
trail committee Of the Communist
Party of Germany"
A Mrs. Feldman, Reichstag en-
ploye, then took the stand and said
she saw Torgler at 2 80 on the day
OF the fire with an unknown per-
son, whom she said she suspected
was Popoff. s.
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