Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-21
Out of the Night

night was dark. Lights sprang
up in the shacks. Those who
had guns spread out in
skirmish line through the gar
dens. Yells. the sound of
crashing wood and splinter
ing glass were heard.
HUTS RANSACKED
The storm troopers. adj
vancing slowly. demolished
and ransacked every hut. be-
ginning at the periphery of
the colony and working their
way toward the center. Rocks
flew through windows. Doors
were kicked in. The night
was filled with roars and the
cracking of pistol fire.
was not armed. l knew
of nothing better to do than
to crouch behind fence and
wait, a broken brick in each
fist. From the lanes, from
shattered windows, from be-
hind the fences and the naked
hedges pistols shot tongues
of flame.
The shooting was wild. The
confusion was great. At times
it was impossible to discern
who was friend and who was
foe. for the storm troopers
wore no uniforms and carried
no insignia. Storm troopers
invaded a cottage 20 yards
away.
Its occupant. young
worker named Fritz Klemke,
darted out of the door. A
second later l heard him
- shrek through the barking
guns. He died quickly.
I saw men and women run
ming in the night. I ran with
them. Searchlights blazed up
on both sides of the colony.
There was the Shrill twitter-
ing of police trucks and the
heavy cracking of service re-
volvers.
Police were closing in, but
the lorries could not get
through the narrow lanes of
the colony. Attackers and de-
tenders alike scattered in the
darkness. In the cold. dim
light of the morning l reached
the Tiergarten, miles away
from the scene of the massa-
ere.
l wandered through the
Tiergarten to the Brandon
burg Gate. The streets were
empty. l found a restaurant
open and ordered coffee. 1t
had never tasted better to me.
HUNT FOR AvATIN
Later in the day 1 went in
search of Avatin. I was told
that he had gone to Essen, in
western Germany. Schmidt
also decamped. The news
papers We're tfaking a terrible
noise about the Felseneck
affair. Two policemen had
been among the victims of the
affray. The Berlin police
arrested 81 storm troopers
and II Communists, and big
inquiry was on. l fed TO
Hamburg.
The police found clues link
ing the Felseneck massacre to
Communist opera ions in
II m burg. Police Com
missioner Braschwitz of the
political police in Berlin, made
a special trip to Hamburg to
question Edgar Andree, the
chief of the Red Front Fight
ers. but to no avail. Incl
dentally, BraschwitZ later
joined the Nazis and became
one of the 'chiefs of the
Gestapo.
Professor Schwartz was
found dead on the doorstep of
a Felseneck cottage. The wall
of the cottage, owned by a
Communist named Hohmann,
showed 32-odd bullet marks.
According to the police report.
Schwartz had been stabbed
in the back with an I'M
usually long knife"
To avenge the murder of
Professor Schwartz, the storm
troop formations among the
Students of the Berlin Uni
versity launched a murderous
attack on the members of the
Communist student units. The
latter called for reinforce
ments. The fighting became
so violent that the police
closed the university until
further notice"
SPIES ASSASSINATED
The S-Apparat of the Party
had discovered the identity of
Himmler's spy in the Felse-
neck colony. He was a 21-
year-old youth named Bern
hard Wittkowsky. Shortly
afterwards his body was found
on the outskirts of Berlin.
his head Dashed in. In the
distant city of Essen another
Nazi spy, Arnold Guse, was
located and assassinated the
following day.
Hitler offered publicly a
reward of 500 marks for the
disclosure of the names of the
GPU killers. 1t brought no
results.
When I saw Avatin again at