Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-09

ABOARD a train. In Berlin,
Georgi Dimitrov, denounced
by a waiter, was apprehended
and carried of to Jail. Torg-
Ter, the head of the Commu-
mist Caucus In the Reichstag,
surrendered voluntarily TO the
Gestapo. Albert Walter rushed
home in the gray of dawn TO
save his mother from the
raiders, only 10 find them
waiting for him In the old
womans bedroom.
HITLER's TECHNIQUE
Overnight the Communist
Party had taken on the ap-
pearance of an an t-heap
smashed by a sudden hail of
sledge-hammer blows. On
March 2. the new terror laws
against the Communist Party
were decreed. Hitler's tech
nique Of victory was simple:
concentration OF the whole
ferocity OF the National So
cialist movement against one
enemy at a time, while
'maneuvering the others into
a false sense of security.
Each morning brought in
telligence OF new disaster.
Still, under the hammering
blows, the cells OF our rank
and file. the "activist" units
and the Red Front Fighters
brigades continued to func-
ton.
One Thursday night. In
March, a concentration of
storm troopers in the work.
ing-class quarters of Ham,
burg was ambushed by one of
Edgar Andree's attachments.
The invaders were driven
out. Nine Brownshirts fell un-
der Communist bullets.
On the same day the water
front organization under my
command distributed within
one hour 100000 leaflets urg-
ing the workers to drive the
newly-appointed Nazi port
commissars out Of the harbor.
On the morning of the next
day a Communist sabotage
squad opened all valves in the
refineries OF the Hanover
Canal Harbor, and 100000
liters of gasoline flooded the
surrounding grounds.
OF the old leadership. only
one man remained at his post
Ernst Wollweber. the head
Of the Party's organization
bureau. He moved through
the general confusion with a
stony indifference to danger.
He was in Berlin today, in
Hamburg tomorrow. and day
later on the Rhine, appoint
ing new leaders in the dis
tricts and jabbing his fingers
into organizational wounds.
He was curt. almost naughty
now, and seething with a mer-
CHESS contempt for all who
SHE'D from doing his bidding.
ERROR STRIKES HAMBURG
In the night OF March S the
Brown terror struck Ham
burg. Here. as in Berlin and
other large cities, the cleo
tions had left the National
Socialists still in a minority.
But the rabid enmity be-
tween the two great camps of
labor. the Socialists and Com
munists, was too deep, hav-
ing been fostered too zeal
ously through the years, par
ticularly from the Communist
side, TO be bridged in this
last hour of decision for the
history of the world.
/ was that night at the
international Club in Ham
burg, speaking to an assem-
bly, OF delegates from the ship
and harbor action committees.
In another hall of the build
ing, Firelei was in charge of
a cinema performance where
a Soviet film-Storm Over
Asia-was shown TO a packed
auditorium.
On the waterfront. the red
flags still few from many
windows. Outside, in the
streets. our armed detach-
ments were on guard, and re-
connoitering parties cruised
through the city on their rou-
tine surveillance of Nazi
headquarters, police stations
and public buildings.
Not long before midnight a
headquarters courier brought
the news that storm troopers
had arrived in masses at all
railway stations. An hour
later came the message that
the Nazi formations had
seized the City Hall and Po-
lice Headquarters in a light
ming coup.
At 2 in the morning a COM
rade in the anti-Nazi Apparat
telephoned me that several
storm trooper brigades were
on the march against the In
ternational Club. At once I
contacted a call station of
the secret headquarters Of the
Communist Party. A tired
voice answered.
They are coming" I said.
HAS an agreement been
reached for united action with
the Socialists ?"
mo, we stand alone" the
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