Evening star., 1939-10-15
Nazi Persecution
OF Gen. Won Fritsch
CoIors Murder Tale
Trumped-Up Charge
Was Used to Gust
Commander of Army
BY G. WARD PRICE

BY G. WARD PRICE
LONDON, Oct. IA. (N.A.N.A).-
The fate of General Won Fritsch is a
mysterious event that arouses
sinister suspicious.
They will be shared by all Ger
mans who know the true story of
Gen. Fritsch's bitter and justified
hostility toward the Nazi regime.
The question will have sprung al
ready to their minds: Did Won
Fritsch fall in action, or was he
shot by the Gestapo?
Here was a full general, former
commander in chief. Since when
have officers of that rank been called
upon to expose themselves to enemy
fire? In the last great war, with
all its systematic long-range bonn
bardment, not a single general of
Won Fritsch's seniority lost his life.
KILLED in action outside Warsaw"
Is it likely that a handful of deter
mined soldiers and civilians, defend
ing the ruins of their capital, would
kill the first full general to die in
battle for a generation?
Formidable to Nazis.
And if, contrary to the laws of
probability such a casualty occurred,
why should the victim be the one
commander whose supreme military
ability and experience of high office,
combined with a sense of outraged
honor, made him formidable to the
Nazi government?
The full story of the base treat
ment to which Won Fritsch was sub
jected has never been told. l know
it because a friend of mine is the
friend of woman who was his close
conidante.
When Marshal Blomberg was
minister of war, Gen. Won Fritsch
was commander in chief of the Ger
man Army.
Blomberg was the weaker char
acter. A man of much personal
charm. who likes to be popular, he
showed greater compliance with
Nazi policy For this he was re-
warded with the baton of a field
marshall political promotion that
made him unpopular with his
brother senior officers, who value
the traditions of the German Army
above the favors of the Nazi party.
OF Sterner Metal.
Fritsch was of sterner metal. That
tight-lipped, monocled face OF his
was always set in non-commlttal
mask of reserve when he had to
appear at Nazi ceremonies.
Both Blomberg and Fritsch rec
ognized the limitations of the Ger
man Reichswehr, especially in the
years 1935-l938, after its conversion
to a national-service basis.
First class though the human ma
terial at their disposition was, they
were aware that a modern army cam
not be produced in two or three
years, with all the trained officers,
N. c. O.'s, and technical services
that it requires. They warned Hitler
against any political measure that
might start European war. Hitler
thought he knew better than his
generals.
This difference of opinion first
came to a head when the Fuehrer
decided to reoccupy the Rhineland
on March Z, 1886.
The generals were aware that the
French army could invade Germany
with absolute certainty of victory.
There was no Siegfried line in those
days. The German troops that ad-
vanced into the Rhineland were un-
organized; they had no advanced
bases or strong points there.
AS matter of fact, the danger was
even greater than the high command
of the Reichswehr believed. Directly
the Rhineland reoccupation was an
nounced as having begun, the Polish
government proposed to the French
joint invasion of Germany. The
French government consulted the
British, and Stanley Baldwins cab
met advised against such action.
Triumph for Hitler.
So Hitler scored triumph over
the well-founded misgivings of his
/ generals. His confidence in his own
infallibility increased.
Two years later, therefore, when
Blomberg and Fritsch opposed his
scheme tor bringing about the An
schluss with Austria, on the ground
that Britain and France might in
tervene to maintain Austrian inde-
pendence by force of arms, Hitler
promptly dismissed them, and with
them a dozen other senior generals
who supported their point OF view.
But, even in Germany, the fact of
the two most distinguished army
chiefs being suddenly thrown out Of
their posts might have made bad
impression on public opinion Some
pretext had to be found.
In Marshal Blomberg's case, one
was ready to hand. He had just
married a young woman who was
the daughter of an artisan, and
had been employed as typist at
the war ministry.
Hitler and Goering had both
been at the wedding fortnight be-
fore, and had raised no objections
to it at the time, but that was not
allowed to stand in the way. 1t was
given out that Blomberg had made
a mesalliance unworthy of an Off
Ger of high rank, and had thereby
become untitled for his post as a
minister of war.
Adopted Shameful Scheme.
What could be done to discredit
General Won FritSch?
The scheme adopted was so
shameful that do not believe that
Hitler had personal cognizance of
it, but there are men in the Gestapo
who would stop at nothing to ruin
any one who had fallen from the
Fuehrer's favor.
Fritsch was put under arrest in
his own house on charge of i'm
morality, such as the German po-
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