Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-15
DEMONSTRATIONS

IMAM the Ddllle lOI pOls tildl
are well filled.
DEMONSTRATIONS
The city of Hamburg echoed
with Communist demonstra-
tions, and clouds of crimson
leaflets descended from the
housetops at hours when the
streets below were most
crowded. The Gestapo struck
with lightning speed.
From police headquarters
reports filtered through that
the masses of prisoners were
made to suffer under the per-
Sistent accompaniment of the
question:
"Well, du Kommunisten-
schwein, are you ready TO tell
us now where Ernst Woll-
weber is?"
Hugo Marx. and Fritz
Luchs, the heads of the Ham
burg GPU Apparat. were
arrested. Walter Duddins was
seized, and a thousand others.
Marx hanged himself in his
cell. Fritz Luchs was beaten
to death. Duddins went TO
prison, convicted of treason.
Wollweber survived.
No one, except perhaps his
Superiors in the Comintern.
and Max. the leader of his
bodyguard. knew the sum
total of his comings and 60
ings. In the course of a single
day, Ernst Wollweber con-
ferred with special trans
port commission" of the Com
intern press service, with a
Russian who had come TO
Hamburg as a radio operator
aboard a Soviet ship, and with
a disagreeable ruffian named
Rudolf Heitmann, who was a
Gestapo agent on the pay roll
of the GPU. Circulating
among party members was a
new manifesto, issued by
Wollweber, which began:
Comrades! Our retreat
has ended. Another ofensiUe
begins. A military command
begins Wor With an army
ready at hand, the party must
create its army IN the course
of the struggle itself"
The new offensive, however,
ended in Hitler's prison camps.
To close ones eyes to the fact
of defeat became the criterion
of loyalty. 1t was not per-
mitted to ask. WHY"
NO MISTAKES
II was treason 10 intimate
that there had been mistakes
in-the general policy of the
past. We were. l suspect,
more afraid of facing the
truth and the doubts in our
own hearts than of facing the
might of the Hitler guards
and the Gestapo.
Early one morning, toward
the end of March, my secret
printing plant in the photog-
rapher's dark room was
raided. The story OF this
raid is a tribute TO the de-
voted heroism of Alexander,
Popovics. l had given the
Rumanian a batch of instruc-
tions but a few short hours
before the raid took place.
He had the aspect of a man
who had lived for weeks
without a bath or decent
food. But he was indomitable.
1--WE are all dead men on
furlOugh," he had told Firelei.
But we can't quit, we'd die
of shame. We'd lie awake at
night and see the faces OF all
those who have disappeared
stare at us from behind barred
windows"
In that CONSULTATIVE dark
room atop a gloomy apart
ment house Firelei cut a most
incongruous figure. Black
paint covered the panes of the
one window in the room.
Blankets had been spread
over all the walls to stifle the
sounds OF the humping ma
chine. And there was an
electric bulb around which
Firelei had tied a handker-
chief 10 soften the glare.
Firelei was 26. She was
slender and desirable, and
she still adored the bright
colors of Summer. She
seemed an utter stranger in
the bleakness Of life Of con-
slant m enace. Not her
enthusiasm for the cause. but
her love for me, had COM
PEELED her 10 take the
irrevocable step. She had
fought hard 10 conquer the
fine rebellious strain in her
nature. She won. She had
become one of us. and she had
never lost the sincere inten-
sity OF her emotions.
100 TO A PACK
The machine thumped, and
clean printed sheets leaped
out like so many eager
animals. When 100 we're
ready to be tied into a harm
less-looking package. Popo-
vics would raise his shaggy