vineyards and the sleepy villages

Dr.

By PHYLLIS ROSNER

MN

oe oo |

Otto Joh

BERLIN

The Nazis are once again winning the upper hand in
Western Germany; a new attempt is being made to carry
through the plans of Hitler and his general staff.

This was the warning given here at a press conference
attended by more than 250 world press, radio and news:
reel representatives by Dr. Otto’ John, until last month West

German security chief.

Among ex-Nazis now holding
office in Adenauer’s government
he cited Dr. Theodor Oberlander,
Minister of Refugee Affairs, for-
merly notorious for his German-
isation campaign in Poland.

Dr. Oberlander—a Nazi Party
member from 1933—has thrown
all the genuine democrats out
of his ministry and replaced

them by his old Nazi friends,
declared Dr. John.

Dr. John spoke of the growing
inyportance of former Nazi gener-
als and war criminals like. Kessel-
ring, Ramcke and Hasso von Man-
teuffel. }

He told of the re-Nazification
schemes of Dr. Werner Naumann,
Goebbels’ ex:propaganda aide,
whose guilt the Adenauer govern-

ment had been forced to belittle

and who even now had not been
tried. :

Dr. John warned that “every-

where, in administration, in West
German economy and industry, in
the universities ... . the Nazis are
there. again. And with them” the
spirit . . . which led the German
people to disaster.”
- “I consider it to be my duty
openly and urgently to warn the
German people of the danger
which threatens them today. When
the first shot has been fired it will
be too late,” he said.

He declared that after his recent
visit to the United States, where
he found “hysteria and prepara-
tions for war,” it became absolute-
ly clear to him that the American
slogan for the Germans was: “Ger-
mans to the front.”

PUL CE UIP I

"Nazis are winning back power:
n tells press parle

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. “A new attempt is being made to carry through the plans of Hitler and his general staff,”
warned Dr. Otto John (left) former West German security chief who fled to East Germany recently.
Dr, John took part in the July 20, 1944 plot against Hitler (shown above, surrounded by his generals)
which misfired. On a visit to the United ‘States some months ago Dr. John found “hysteria and pre-
parations for war.” If an American-instigated war comes, he declared, “all that will be left of Germany
will be a radio-active cemetery.”

‘ "The unilateral ties of Ger-

many to the American policy of
strength — as they are being
bound by Adenaver — must irre-
sistibly lead to a war on German

soil. After that, all that will be

Germany’s Rhineland
‘the land of afom guns’

BERLIN

One of the most beautiful parts
of West Germany is Rhineland
Pfalz. Its soft contours and richly-
wooded hills are very much like
parts of North Devon.

And yet, to travel through this
region is a ‘horrifying experience
in some ways.

The~ wonderful landscape, the

the there, but they contain a can-
cer: the U.S. Army, which has
turned Rhineland Pfalz into a huge
war base. i
There are camps, transport and
supply depots, huge blocks of flats
—many still under construction—
for an army which has taken com-
plete possession of this province,
bordering on the Saar and France.

In Heidelberg, the ‘old universt-
ty city and now headquarters of
the U.S. Army, one sees ‘the im-
pact of the American invasion.
The town’s normal population of
110,000 thas been swollen by 25,000
U.S. military and civilian persen-
nel. Huge American cars are
everywhere. t

Travelling westward through the
lovely rolling countryside into
Rhineland Pfalz, it is hard at first
to believe that war is being Ee
pared so intensely. But no illu-
sions remain when one approaches
Kaiserlautern, with its normal pop-

ulation of 75,000 having been in-
creased by 40,000 Americans.

‘ German car, left, appears peanu
shown being moved on the German au

‘Here and there are cafes called
“The Florida,’ “Texas,” or “Har-
ry’s Bar.” We are nearing the U.S.
Western Area Command.

Guarding the huge depots, often
behind electrified barbed wire, are
watchtowers. At the approaches
to the town every vehicle has to
slow down and get the “go ahead”
signal from an American soldier.

At nearby Baumholder there are
said to be another 40,000 U.S. sol-
diers. We went into a cafe there.
It was four o’clock on a Sunday
afternoon. As we entered a fami-
liar “blues” record was being play-
ed.

Siz U.S. soldiers stood at the first
bar. We went in farther. It was
rather dark. On the left was an-
other bar where a rather florid
barmaid was being embraced over
the counter by a GI.

We asked for coffee and some-
body asked for a whiskey. Quick
as a flash came the question from
the banmaid—‘“and a Coca-cola?”

On the outskirts of Baumholder
are huge military practice. grounds,
stretching for miles. The Ameri-
cans have requisitioned 20 villages
there. ‘ :

At Bad Kreuznach, standing by
the roadside we saw five atomic
cannons, unbelievably huge mor-
sters.

The catastrophic effect on morals
was described to use at the ancient
town of Landstuhl. A young store

weapons have been sent to Germany.

t size beside the huge carrier of the U.S. army’s atomic cannon,
tobahn at Frankfurt . An unspecified number of the atomic

clerk was proudly telling us of the
town’s historic traditions.

He started to talk about~ the
Americans. She pointed to a near-
by hill in whose trees nestled an
American ‘hospital with a thousand
beds.

And what, we asked, were the
other buildings nearby. She ex-
plained they were barracks, flats
and administrative buildings all
belonging to the U.S. Army.

She pointed to the right and
said: “There is an airfield, the
second largest military airfield in
Europe, they say. When, in 1950,
the Americans said they wanted to
rebuild this airfield, there were
protests but they went ahead.”

The young man with her told
us that Landstuh! had 8,000 in-
habitants and that the Americans
had brought with them about
1,000 of their “girl-friends” who
are quartered all over the town.

The result: two-thirds of the
births registered in Landstuhl
are of illegitimate children.

We asked him whether the peo-
ple of Huetschenhauser had pro-
tested about the requisition.

“Yes,” ihe replied, “we have. We
all work together — Social-Demo-
crats, Communists and Free Demo-
crats, peasants and workers. But
just how much good our protest
will do we don’t know.”

He shook his head and added:
“Ordinary people can get on to-
gether, why is all this necessary?”

s

left of, Germany will be a radio-
active cemetery,’ he continued.

But, he said, it is possible to
prevent war “if we refuse to carry
out the American plans. .But to
prevent war it is also necessary to
expose the real background of the
Bonn rearmament policy.” (

By means of the European De-
fence Community treaty (EDC) Dr.
Adenauer and the militarists in-
tended to create a strong Wehr-
macht “which sooner or later
would absorb other EDC conting-
ents, including the French, so that
France and Western Europe will
again be delivered up to the Ger-
man militarists. When this aim is
achieved the treaty will be torn
up.” , .

In fact, Dr. John declared, a new
attempt will. be made to develop
the strategy of Hitler and his gen-
eral staff: to wage war against the
East on the basis of a militarily
united West.

“Because I knew of this, I could
no longer remain in Western Ger-
many without participating in the
plot and thereby making myself
guilty in the eyes of the German
people,” he declared.

Dr. John said he knew, in his
capacity of former security chief,
that there were secret clauses in
the European Army treaty; it was
the duty of Bonn politicians and
West German parliament to get
these disclosed.

Dr. John, a participant in the
1944 anti-Hitler plot, explained
that when he took up office in
1950 he was under the illusion
that he would be able to con-
tribute to the creation of a new
Getmany, free from National
Socialism. a
“Instead we have a divided Ger-

many which in the conflict between
East and West threatens to become
the shooting-ground for a new war
which will destroy our country.”

The fact that Communism exists
and embraces half of mankind was
a reality. “The belief — or rath-
er the dream — that it is possible
to destroy it is as false as Hitler’s
belief in wanting to destroy Chris-
tianity. :

“The British have recognised
this intelligently. Therefore they
strive to find a modus vivendi
with the Communist half of the
world. ;

“The Americans do not want to
recognise this. They believe, soon-
er or later, in a new crusade
against the East’ when they will be
able to wipe Communism from the
earth, and they prepare for war.”

The Western world was, first by
Hitler and» now by the US., per-
meated by an anxiety psychosis.
Hitler’s and Goering’s legends over
the “Bolshevik danger” were as
widespread in Western Gerinany
as they were in 1933 and 1941.

“Tn order to give the lie to these

PACIFIC TRIBUNE

legends and publicly to come ow
against this hysterical anxiety
psychosis, I myself have come to
this so greatly feared and fright-
ening Communist world,” he said.

Dr. John said he had wanted to
speak with the French premier, M.
Mendes-France, to warn him of tha
threatening danger, but this had
not been possible. .

“I stand here because nowhere

in the West, certainly not in West
Germany, would I get such a plat-
form,” he declared.
_ Explaining why he had taken
this step at this particular time,
Dr. John said he had thought about
the problem for a long time. He
had hoped that there would be a
sufficient anti-Nazi force in West-
ern Germany among Adenauer
supporters.

On July 20 (the anniversary of
the attempt on Hitler’s life in 1944)
things became clearer to him and
he decided to come to Eastern Ger-
many to carry on the fight from
here.

It was on July 20 that in West
Berlin he had met his old school
friend Wolfgang Hoefer, a United
States agent who subsequently
committed suicide because he
could not bear to continue his
work as a spy. :

Hoefer told Dr. John that he had
been ordered to spy on him — his
lifelong friend. ¢

Dr. Welgemuth (alleged in the
West to have instigated John’s
coming to Eastern Germany) haa
played a very small role in the
matter, said Dr. John. What had
happened was merely that Wolge-
muth’s contacts in Eastern Ger-
many had been used by Dr. John to
establish contacts here.

Asked what he thought the next
step should be to establish Ger-
man unity, Dr. John replied that
East and ‘West Germans should
form some sort of joint body to
discuss with the Big Powers the
unification of the country.” ~

Dr. John told the press that he
remained, “as intellectually free
and as politically independent as I
have always been.”

If he were asked to describe his
political leanings he would say he
was a liberal.

He was not concerned about
West German accusations of trea-
son, he said.

It was not the first time, and it
was no coincidence that the accusa-
tion was being voiced today by the
same persons who had done so for
his participation in the plot against
Hitler’s life. —

He emphasised that now it was
important that everybody, both in
West and East Germany, should
become “more active in trying to
get negotiations “in order to bring
the impossible division of Germany
to an end. This is the task to which
I shall now dedicate myself.” :

— AUGUST 20, 1954 — PAGE 3