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 Yy = a 4 . “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