May 6.
Comparatively unnoticed, a small war of reprisals has been commenced between Great Britain and Germany, arising out of the activities of Nazi agents in the former coun~ try. For reasons which it is quite easy to understand the British Government will not tolerate Gestapo activities within its own Jurisdiction, and the action of this body in Great Britain has been receiving the close attention of the British Secret Ser~ vice and Scotland Yard, with the re= sult that early Last month the boast was made that the authorities knew the identity, and whereabouts of every Nazi spy and Gestapo agent in Britain, Enquiries had not been confined to Germans but to suspects from other European states as well, while it was stated that a number of German agents under the guise of refugees had sought to enter Britain, but had been turned back on Home Office instructions. Mr. Will Thorne, Labour M.P. for Plaistow, gave notice of a question in which he was to ask whether the Metropolitan Police had any information as to the activities of the Nazi organization at the Brown House, Wilton Road, Victoria, S.W., whether these German subjects had now transferred to the former Austrian Legation, and how many cells were operating Im London. He also gave notice that he would ask the Home Secretary for information concerning the German Labour Front cells operating in London. By that time three officials had already been given notice to leave Britain, while it was stated that the Home Office had a list of a further tivities had been brought seems that the whole of Britain has been divided into four or five regions, each of which is in charge of a Stutzpunktleiter, or key-point leader, with the object of bringing every German within the country into the Labour Front. Condential documents were being circulated amongst Germans asking them to join the movement, and including a significant blank space for the recording of refusals, and reasons. Herr Ernst Lahrmann, recently appointed German Vice-Consul in Manchester, was well-known as the Stutzpunktleiter for the Lancashire district, and his activities have received prominent mention in the British Press.
He with some eight other persons have been expelled from Great Britain, and retaliation six Britons have been' expelled fom the Reich. These include the chief correspondent for the "Daily Telegraph" in Germany and his secretary. The differences between the actions of Great Britain and Germany in this matter is indicative of the different manner in which this subject of German activities in Britain have been approached by the governments. Great Britain objects to the activities of the Nazi officials
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.