Berlin, Mar. 3, It is learnt here from church circles that following the pronouncement of the sentence of seven months honourable confinement in a fortress on Pastor Niemoellor, the presiding judge made a statement setting forth the reasons for the verdict.
They had sat in judgment, he stated, not on matters of religion but solely on penal offences committed by the accused. After careful examination of all available evidence the court concluded that the accused had brought himself into conflict with the law through motives arising out of his sense of conviction. The court had, therefore, regarded Dr. Niemoeller's actions in each individual case in this light. Nevertheless the court had put on record that the accused was fully aware of the effect of his pulpit utterances, It had been proved beyond doubt that among those who had attended divine service in Dr. Niemoeller's church were persons who were induced to enter the church not out of religious interest, but solely through hostility to the state and party.—Trans-Ocean.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.