Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-09-19
HARSH PENALTY

groups.
HARSH PENALTY
The harShest punishment
that could befall a prisoner
was to be oStraciZed by his
own comrades. There could
be no more cruel treatment
than to live in a crowded hall
and to be Stunned by all hall
mates. But the price of COM
radeship was cooperation IN
our political schemes.
One of the political convictS
who refused 10 cooperate was
Comrade Nickel. He was the
same Nickel who. as a party
leader in Bremen, had tried
to impose his clustering will
upon me on the eve OF my
voyage 10 Murmansk aboard
the Pioneer.
The GeStapo had captured
Nickel and over 80 of his aides
in a single raid in the Summer
of 1888. Nickel was sent 10
prison for high treason. There
he refused to accept TonioS
leadership. The answer of the
Spitzengruppe was:
"Nickel must he isolated"
And NickelS isolation was
complete. No one wanted 10
be his neighbor during meals
or on the sleeping ScaffoldS.
No~one spoke to him. Com
rades edged away from him as
if he were a leper.
Nickel fell into the habit
of brooding alone in corner
of the hall. After nine months
of such treatment he grad
ually became like a man who
has lost his reason.
Speak To me-" he would
moan, ooh, why doesn't some
body speak TO me-"
And he would receive the
contemptuouS answer:
"Croak-yOu sabOteur."
KEEP IN TOUCH
Our prison organization did
not even relinquiSh its hold
on a comrade after his release.
Many, after serving their SEN
fences, were not released; If
the Gestapo considered them
still dangerous, it sent them
from prison straight TO another
concentration camp-bis auf
weiteres-"until further no.
tice."
The Estewege Camps in
western Germany and Camp
SachSenhauSen near Berlin
were the mammoth places of
detention for anti-NaziS who
had finished their term in
prison.
However. two prisoners out
OF three were actually re-
leased after they had served
their sentence. 1t was this
category on which we concen-
trated our interest. Such COM
radeS. after their last day in
the penitentiary had passed,
were brought to Gestapo head
quarters.
There. as the ineScapable
condition for their release.
they were required TO sign a
statement 10 the effect that
they would henceforth col
laborate with the Gestapo
The Gestapo procured jobs
for them.
In return, the comrades
were pledged TO send TO the
Gestapo weekly confidential
reports about the actions.
associations and conversations
of their fellow workers and
their neighbors.
If such reports were not
forthcoming, or if the GeStapO
considered them unSatiSfac-
tory, the respective inform
erS' were promptly seized for
another term in a cOncentra-
ton camp. SO. theoretically.
@ every anti-Nazi released from
prison was a Gestapo spy.
Those who refused to sign the
Spy-pledge were not released.
TURNED INTO ASSET
In the Hamburg prison we
began TO evolve a plan TO turn
this system of mass espionage
into an asset for the Commu-
mist Party. We instructed all
reliable comrades who were
due for release in the art of
connecting misinformation in
reports which the GeStapo
would nevertheless find salts
factory"
1t was a dangerous game
but one calculated 10 divert
the GeStapo'S attention from
the Communist cells in the
shops by furnishing them with
information on NaziS who
criticized the NaZi regime.
Repressive actions of the
Gestapo against rebelliouS
Nazis would tend to increase
the already existing anti-Ges-
tapo sentiment in the Nazi
rank and file. Before a com
rade was released from prison,