Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-15

short sojourn 10 the Soviet
Union to study methods and
conditions in the nautical
union there. Dimitrov and
Heckert agreed at once.
without having had actual
experience as ships officer"
/ objected, 81 shall he dis
credited and kicked out of the
first officers meeting I enter.
The Nazi organizers will stand
up and say: Look. this man
has never stood on a bridge,
and now he comes to tell the
mates and engineers to fight
under his direction
GETS SHIP COMMAND
"AlI right" Dimitrov said.
"We'll get you ship. Well
get you a job as captain on a
Soviet ship. You must arrange
10 have some Nazis In your
crew who will see with their
own eyes that you are the real
commander of the ship"
That sounded fantastic. But
the adventurous flavor of this
proposition made my blood
tingle. Dimitrov promised 10
inform me when he had found
a suitable ship. Fritz Heckert
then telephoned his secretary.
LiSelotte. a thin dark girl, to
bring $500 from the Soviet
Trade Mission. Twenty min
utes later she arrived, carry
ing the money. in So and $40
bills, in a battered brief case.
In Hamburg. i spent seven
days exploring the various
officers unions and boarding
dozens of ships 10 interview
mates and engineers. Then /
wrote the first issue of the
new ships officers bulletin.
which l called The Bridge, and
had an edition of 5000 copies
printed on the Party presses.
| divided the lot into parcels
and shipped them to the Inter-
national Seamen's Clubs in
Danzig, Kiel. Stettin, Lubbock.
Hamburg, Bremen and a num-
Der of smaller ports. then
went off with a member of the
Party motorcycle squad on a
trip through all German har-
borS.
| was in Danzig when a
message from Berlin reached
me. 1t read:
Report to Soviet consul I'm
Bremen TO take command Of
Soviet Pioneer. Choose your
own crew. Wollweber."
My heart pounded. The
magicians of the Comintern
had turned the trick. At II,
with no practical experience
as a navigator, / was told to
go and become a skipper! 1
made a mad race for Ham
burg by motorcycle At 9
o'clock the next morning
was with Firelei. Breathlessly
/ told her of my mission
Take me along" she said
at once.
But the Party I de-
handed. "YOu can't run off
without a leave of absence.
FIRELEI WANTS TO GO
party or no party" she
decided. IF you become cap
tain, 1 request to De signed on
as cabin boy"
/ called the Hamburg chief
tain of the Ships Officers
League, Comrade Karl Meinin-
ger, former leader of the
F'reethinkers' Society, and put
him in charge of all our units
in German ports during my
absence. incidentally, this
Meninger was arrested by the
Gestapo in 1884, convicted TO
prison for high treason,
escaped from Germany in 1886,
and subsequently became a
master mariner of Palestine
merchant vesselD Then Fire
lei and l hastily packed some
belongings. and we took the
train across the h h OF
Lueneburg to Bremen.
At the Soviet consulate I'm
Bremen. / met an official of
the Sovtorgflot, the Russian
shipping trust. who was super
ing the construction of Soviet
vising he construction OF
yards. The consul introduced
him AS Captain Kosln, sup
posedly former submarine
commander in the Czarlst
navy.
Our friends in Berlin have
recommended you highly" the
consul said to me. II assume
that you're thoroughly familiar
with all phases related to the
captaining Of n valuable ship
cor course" l answered
brazcnly.
The fact that our friends
i'm Berlin" who had recon-
rnnnded me. knew nothing