Evening star., 1939-11-24
Kidnapping
Continued From First Page.)

were investigating Wnetner
German peace offer was bona
fide," the Associated Press re-
ported. A British spokesman said
that everything Capt. Stevens
and Best learned was transmit
ted to their own government and
that it was in the course of the
endeavors to see If the peace
offer was bona fide that they
were kidnapped.'D
Questions Puzzling London.
Several pertinent questions are
puzzling London observers, and per-
haps also British officials today.
Were the captured British interme-
diaries originally in contact with the
leaders of the so-called right-wing
Nazi opposition? Could such an
ambitious man as Germans No. 2
Nazi, Field Marshal Hermann Goer-
ing, have been trying to find out
what changes in the Reich govern
ment and regime would be obliga-
tory before Great Britain and
France could discuss or accept any
peace settlement? Or were the ne
gotiations purely trap set for the
men whom the Gestapo charges
with being British agents, and whom
the German radio last night stated
were connected with the secret serv-
ice, which is headed by Sir Robert
Vansittart, chief diplomatic adviser
to Britain S foreign secretary?
On the other hand, were the peace
overtures allowed to proceed until
the moment of the kidnapping as a
trap set by Himmler to get the goods
on certain Nazi leaders of dubious
fidelity to Der Fuehrer? And, final
ly, was the Munich beer cellar bomb
explosion, which the Gestapo has
exploited as an attempt on Hitler's
life, simply part of an extraordinary
plot to trap anti-war dissidents In
the upper Nazi hierarchy and to
give Himmler free rein to make
wholesale arrests among dubious
Nazis?
AS yet. the British do not profess
to begin to know the real answer
to these questions. The press here
admits the possibility that highly
placed Nazis were anxious to explore
peace terms with the British behind
Hitler's back, but is unable to offer
any light as to whether the trap
was sprung on the British agents
or was boomerang trap for uni
Identified Nazi opposition leaders. In
any case, 1t is insisted that Capt.
Stevens and Best were acting
merely as postmen" in an exceed
ingly delicate and dangerous under
taking.
Accompanied by Dutch Officer.
According to last nights Dutch
statement, the kidnapped British
agents produced the authority to
show that they were empowered to
enter into preliminary discussions
with the Germans on the possibility
OF opening peace negotiations;
whereupon a Dutch officer was in
structed to accompany them in the
interests of Dutch neutrality. OBJ
viously the Belgo-Dutch monarchs'
recent peace appeal could have
served as grounds for German and
British representatives to establish
tentative contacts on Dutch soil, al
though the degree of official British
responsibility for embarking on Sc
cret exchanges Of this sort is not
clear.
1t is interesting that the British
statement, which was made here
after the Dutch statement last night,
made no effort to deny that Capt.
Stevens and Best were British
agents and failed to dissipate the
mystery of the character of the
peace overtures with which they
were prepccup<d What the reac-
ton may be here, politically or
otherwise, cannot be predicted.
Returning to the question of who
was trapped and how big game was
bagged by Himmler's Gestapo, spec
ulation inevitably focuses upon what
role Goering-actually, or by simu-
lation-may have played in the mis-
carried peace talks. Persistent ru-
mors have portrayed Goering both
as dissatisfied with the radical wing
OF the Nazis in their mania for pros
ecuting the Western war to it's bitter
end, and as reputedly inclined to
sound out the prospects for secret
peace deal which would leave him
supreme in Germany.
Nazis Leaders Distrustful.
1t is common knowledge that
deep distrust and mutual dislike
long has existed between Goering
on the one hand, and Himmler and
Foreign Minister Col. Joachim Won
Ribbentrop on the other. The
Nazis' war defense council is headed
by Goering but neither Himmler
nor Col. Won Ribbentrop is included
among the five other members.
Both of these men are also promi-
nent Nazi extremists, whereas Goer-
ing is far more prudent and much
more concerned over the preserva-
ton of the German Army, even II
equally ruthless in the application
of most Nazi doctrines.
In view of this inner conflict
Himmler inevitably would watch
Goering and his associates like 9
hawk for any evidence of treachery
or double-cross to Hitler's leader.
ship. This is why the linking of tht
kidnapping of the British agents tt
a secret Nazi peace overture may bs
an important key to a behind-the
scenes struggle for power between
Nazi leaders,
Has Goering been trapped b.
Himmler? Was the Munich boml
explosion concocted for that or ,
similar purpose2 About the onl,
certainty here appears to be th