Evening star., 1933-03-22
HITLER HOODLUMS
TO co UNPUN!SHED
NaziTerroristS Granted Am.
nesty for Mistreatlng
Foes of Party.
BY EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER.


BY Radio to The Star.
BERLIN, Germany, March 22.-Nazi
hoodlulns who during the last three
weeks have insulted, abducted, beaten
or blackmailed at the point Of revolver
10 American citizens and vastly larger
number of other foreigners, chiefly Jews,
will apparently get off scott free.
The German government announces
an amnesty for all crimes which were
"committed during the struggle Tor
national elevation" before March Il.
This means that the promise OF ful!
satisfaction which was given American
diplomatic authorities in the case OF
10 outraged American citizens will not
be fulfilled unless the German authorl-
ties at the last moment decide to eX-
empt from full pardon those who dared
attack foreigners as mere detail III
the general wave of brutality and anti
Jewish and antiMarxist terror.
American diplomats freely express
surprise at this amnesty plan and II Is
conceivable that the matter Will pe
raised again. The amnesty plan, Whlcn
will probably be realized in the form OF
an emergency decree, once more proves
the unwillingness OF the present gov
eminent to disSociate itself from tne
terror of last week.
Protect Nazi Uniforms.
Another emergency decree will punish
all Germans, even those living ABROAD
who. without being party members, pos:
sess Nazi uniforms or insignia, therepy
authorizing the Interpretation that all
acts committed by men in storm Dattal-
ion uniforms are government acts.
Furthermore, paragraph OF the sec
ond decree, lust as in Italy, makes II
A punishable offense to utter or to dlf-
fuse untrue or grossly misrepresentatlVe
statements which are likely to damage
Germany or the German national OF
state rulers or parties or ASSOCIATIONS
which support these rulers.
Obviously, with the power IN lts
hands, under this proviso to decide what
or what is not true the government may
still be more successful in preventing
knowledge of the extent OF the barbarlty
of its recent terror coming to the kroWl-
edge of a majority of Germans. These
Germans, thanks to the suppression OF
all independent newspapers, simply can
not learn the facts.
Parallel with the announcement OF
these DEGREES runs fantastic campaign
directed to diScrediting foreign news
paper correspondents in Germany, VINO
are accused of infinitely eXaggeratlng
the abomination within the country.
This correspondent can only answer
that he has not used one-tenth of the
duly verified information which he pos
sesses concerning the horrors practiced
against scores of persons, notably Jews
Details Withheld.
Details. such as compelling victims to
lick up their own blood or that OF fel-
low sufferers from tables and floors,
hitherto have been deliberately with
held. 1t can be said that in the town
of Elbing hospital of 81 beds mad
to be improvised in one police station
for victims of previous Nazi diSciplining.
as it is called Elbing is obviously no
exception in this country.
Several conservative German officials.
who know the truth. have condemned
the situation in most violent terms to
this correspondent. Yet SO late as Sat
urday another poor Jew, who happened
to be a Polish citizen, was abducted and
tortured in Berlin.
The atmosphere surrounding yester-
days Reichstag session tells its own
story. Today's issue Of the Boersen
Zeitung, a Nationalist newspaper, eX-
ults over the failure of the hamstrlng
parliamentary Left against events.
THE Catholic Center stood up with
the parliamentary Right like good
child" the newspaper writes.
Those members of the Social Demo-
cratic party who, not having the mis-
fortune to be in Jail, managed to be
present at the opening, according to this
same neWSpaper occasionally cast terri
fed glances at the doors, where aux
iliary police and ranks of Chancellor
Adolf Hitler's storm battalion stalwartS
stood ready to throw out the first dis
turbers, and so on for whole para
graph.
One only wonders why the German
opposition cared to participate i'll this
caricature of constitutional government.
copyright. 1933)