Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-19

10. a telegram arrived from
Berlin. The strike was called
off! The wage cut was ac-
cepted. The seamen were 10
be advised TO return 10 their
ships. i was stunned. II was
defeat. But why?
l learned the answer later.
The Hitlerites. who had sup
ported the strike In its early
stages, had executed one of
their about-fronts. and made
an offer TO the shipowners to
man the marooned vessels
with NaZis.
Soon ships began to leave
Hamburg manned exclusively
by storm troopers. To thwart
the conquest of the merchant
marine by Hitler, the Com
munist Party had commanded
its followers TO return aboard
the ships. The strike was
over.
Then came the aftermath.
The maritime laws of the
Weimar Republic had been
taken over unchanged from
the kaiser's time. Under
these laws. seamen who struck
on the high seas or in for
eign ports were guilty OF
mutiny.
MUTINEERS PUNISHED
Tn Germn ports and in the
pilothouSe Of the Kiel Canal,
special courts were set up TO
sentence the mutineers. The
courts worked in three shifts.
"a hours a day. Crews who
had struck abroad were met
by police upon arrival in
erman waters. Police
boarded the incoming steam
erS. They arrested the mutt
neerS and brought them 10
court.
One hundred and forty-two
ringleaders who had Needed
the communist call 10 action
were sent TO prison. Twenty
five OF the ships which had
been tied up in Leningrad
became overdue.
Their crews. knowing what
awaited them In Germany,
mutinied at sea. Fires were
douSed, engines disabled with
sand. LifeboatS loaded with
mutineers left their ships TO
drift helpleSSly on the Baltic.
Government airplanes were
sent out 10 locate the DIS
treSsed vessels.
Like most Communist cam
paigns, this one. too, left
wake of shattered hopes.
broken homes, and misery for
its guileless participants.
| returned 10 Germany
aboard the Soviet steamer
kooperatZia. As soon as ]
set foot on German soil. was
accosted by two burly men in
civilian clothes. They flashed
their badges.
"Show your papers"
What's the matter ."
"We'll show you. You're
under arrest"
ESCORTED TO JAIL
They escorted me TO the
central jail in the heart OF
Hamburg. 1 was photo
graphed and fingerprinted and
locked in a solitary cell. The
charge brought against me
by the German government
was sabotage and Indictment
10 mutiny and rebellion"
/ was not the only one who
had been arrested for engl-
neering the mass mutiny in
German shipping. From in
formation whispered by the
prisoner who distributed our
food. and from a constant surf
Of yells that came from hun
dredS of cell windows, /
gathered that half of the
great prison was filed with
arrested Communists.
That was heartening. De-
tectives came 10 question me.
They cajoled and threatened.
l refused to answer. i refused
10 eat. l joined the chorus of
yellers, and would hoist my
self up on the bars TO look out
of the window. l did every
thing / could do 10 violate
the official rules of conduct.
l knew that my comrades did
the same.
In the face of such mass
action. the jailers were be-
wildered and helpless. All
day Communist demonstra-
tons surged outside the prison
yards. j heard the singing
crowd. the chorus of shouts.
and the sounds of police at
tackS on the mass Of demon
Strators.
VICTORY FOR SOVIET
Among the prisoners were
Albert Walter, Edgar Andree
and Christian Heuck. a Reich
stag deputy from Kiel.
tHeuck hanged himself in
1888 shortly after his arrest
by the GestapoD
All three had been seized in
violation of their constitutional
immunity The whole NON