"Germans"

Any Aryan who has the slightest Germanic strain is a "German" to Adolf Hitler, who has laid down in Mein Kampf the mystic affinity of all "German blood." Last week "Germans" in the Free State of Danzig finally forced the dissolution of the last remaining political party opposed to the Danzig Nazis, the Catholic Centrists, whose leaders were thrown into jail by Nazi stalwarts, charged with "treason." This made Danzig a 100% Nazi State, nearly justified the New York Times's, excited headline: "DANZIG NAZIS LINK FREE CITY TO REICH."

Meanwhile "Germans" in the Republic of Czechoslovakia were being egged on by the official Berlin press to demand "autonomy." There were even lurid rumors in Prague that Nazis were scheming the assassination of Czechoslovak President Dr. Eduard Benes. He, famed as "Europe's Smartest Little Statesman," cracked out activity in Czechoslovakia by prohibiting for the time being political meetings of any party in the republic.

The rumpus in Czechoslovakia arose entirely from "Germans" who in 1914 were subjects not of the German Kaiser but of the Austrian Kaiser--that is they are Austrians who find themselves and their old homes now in the new state of Czechoslovakia. From the Sudetes Mountains many of them take the name of Sudetendeutsch, and leader of the Sudetendeutsch Partei is pudgy but strenuous Herr Konrad Henlein. He was embarrassed recently by the arrest of his chief henchman, Hans Henrich Rutha, and 16 young men as homosexuals.

To distract public opinion from this, Herr Henlein made a much-advertised visit to England, returned last week to announce that he had found "widespread sympathy" for all Germans in London, precipitated a free fight between Sudetendeutsch members of the Czechoslovak Parliament, who had come to hail Leader Henlein, and Czechoslovak police who did not know that these zealots who tried to break through their lines were persons with parliamentary immunity. The cracked crowns of the deputies were to be investigated by Parliament committee, but Adolf Hitler's press was screaming with such rage at latest reports that Eduard Benes had need of all his proverbial adroitness to keep major strife from erupting in Czechoslovakia.

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