Evening star., 1949-02-24


that KoischWitz was largely re-
sponsible for Miss Gillars propa-
ganda broadcasts to the United
States and contended that it was
necessary for the defense to go
deeply into his character. Judge
Curran ruled that the defense
could explore Koischwitz' back
ground, but asked Mr.. Laughlin to
try to be briefer.
when did you first become en-
amoured or fond of Koischwitz and
when did he first become fond of
you?" Mr.. Laughlin asked.
"It is not always easy to draw
a line of demarcation sbetween
admiration and love, especially
under the circumstances under
which we met" Miss Gillars re-
sponded.
Several times during her re-
cital, Miss Gillars sighed deeply,
and once she turned to Judge
Curran and said: I'm sorry, but
I am so tired"
Finally she leaned toward the
judges bench and in a whisper
pleaded with him to call brief
recess.
On Stand AZ Hours.
For Az hours yesterday Miss
Gillars related the story of her
life up to the point where she
found herself in Germany at the
outbreak of World War II. In
November, 1912. she said she
def1ed the German secret serv-
ice and definitely told them
that, even though it means death
for me, I'll never do anything
against my country"
Miss Gillars told how a friend
ly and charming" Nazi secret
service official tried to get her to
engage in espionage activities in
addition to her work as a broad
caster for the German Overseas
Radio Service.
She led into that incident by
describing .the terror that over
took her only few months be-
fore when hundreds of angry
Germans surrounded the subway
telephone booth in which she had
made call. Some in the crowd
said they could tell she was Eng
lish by her accent. A GeStapo
agent appeared and told her that
even though she worked for the
German radio her papers did not
satisfy him.
Tells of Escape From GestapO.
Finally she persuaded the Ges-
tapo agent to talk over the tele-
phone to her boss. While he was
so engaged she ran through the
crowd, leaped aboard a subway
express train and escaped.
Shortly after the encounter
with the Gestapo man." she re-
lated, II was told that I had come
to the attention of the German
Secret Service, who wanted to
have q talk with me on a private
basis. If I did not appear, was
told, I would be brought before
them through formal channels.
IT recall this incident because 1t
accentuated the fact and brought
| it out into the daylight that was
without an American passport and
did not have sufficient identifica-
ton papers.
Wanted Her to Do Espionage.
IT was told the man I was to see
would give me any passport and
any papers I needed, if I would do
some espionage for him. / was
strongly advised to see him.
HE was a friendly and charm
ing man, and when admitted
that did not have necessary
Identification papers, he said,
Well, don't you think we're gen.
erous to you, letting you float
around Germany in wartime. But
don't you realize the danger that
you are in if the Gestapo picks
you up?'
"Then he said, Can you tell me
anything about the Curtiss- Wright
airplane factory in Ohio?'"
Il want you to know I told
him." she said, that, even though
am working for the German
Broadcasting Co., I will never
even though it means my death
will never do anything against
my country
my life was in danger, Of
course, without papers, but he did
not press me further. He advised
me to go to the police station and
fill out the blanks which were
necessary for me to get the proper
papers"