Sunday, August 31, 1930

Trier, Germany:  Chancellor Heinrich Bruening, making a campaign speech like every other politician in Germany these days, reaffirms comments made by Foreign Minister Julius Curtius a few days ago that Germany has no plans to seek revision of the German-Polish border. He says no responsible politicians would seek “rash experiments” or “foreign adventure” of the sort. 

Saturday, August 30, 1930

Budapest:  Unemployed farmers and labor members plan “protest walk” parades Monday.  Every policeman in Hungary has been called to duty in preparation -- 4,200 in all.  Reports say fully 25% of all agricultural workers and nearly 13% of organized labor are unemployed. 

China:  Three divisions of Manchurian troops march into northern China, surprising both the nationalist government and northern alliance rebels, even though both had been courting Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang’s support.  No one seems to know what the Manchurian forces are there to do, but reports are they will garrison in the Peking-Tientsin area.  Some believe Zhang is planning to grab that area for himself. 

Friday, August 29, 1930

Freiburg, Germany:  Foreign Minister Julius Curtius, in a campaign speech of his own, rebuts recent comments made by Minister of Occupied Territories Gottfried Treviranus. “Election time is a trying time for foreign ministers. The campaign requirements of parties and the party speakers confuse the country’s foreign policy and give a distorted picture of Germany abroad. The government continues along the lines laid down by Dr. Stresseman [former Foreign Minister]. The Reich simply is adapting his principles to changing conditions.” He asks for “discipline regarding campaign utterances on Germany’s foreign policy.”’

Berlin:  Chancellor Heinrich Bruening, who has been running the country without the Reichstag since its dissolution last month, releases a communique containing an outline of plans to reform the country’s finances. Critics immediately call it light on specifics and vague on the most pressing issues, such as the government’s deficit. With elections now only a couple of weeks away, observers say Bruening doesn’t want to communicate anything that might hurt his party’s chances.

Thursday, August 28, 1930

Moscow:  The soviet government shoots 10 of its citizens for money hoarding.  This brings the total killed for this crime to 23, with hundreds more arrested and awaiting trial.

Berlin:  A new survey says one in every 45 people in Germany is a civil servant, paid by public funds.  This comes to 1.4 million people, consistent with earlier reports which called the German government the largest employer in the world. 

Wednesday, August 27, 1930

Moscow:  The Communist Trade Union, at its congress here, advocates aggressive communist agitation aimed at the British and French colonies, seeing them as ripe for revolution. 

Tuesday, August 26, 1930

Koenigsberg, Germany:  Minister of Occupied Territories Gottfried Treviranus, whose campaign speech last week about the German-Polish border touched off a mild diplomatic crisis, is at it again.  In a speech here before a small group of political supporters, Treviranus predicts that Germany will one day regain the territory it lost to Poland in the treaty ending the World War.  “However necessary I personally regard the revision of those treaties, nevertheless the time for such action can be fixed only when the internal strength of our people gives us the assurance that we are strong enough to insist upon our demand.  Otherwise, the harm will be much greater than the benefit.  Were I the foreign minister I would not give the Poles the opportunity of having this problem discussed at Geneva and shelved.” 

Helsinki:  Many of the communists who fled Finland into the Soviet Union earlier this year are reportedly returning, saying conditions in Russia are too chaotic for them.  Yet they return to a nation that may be even more anti-communist than when they left.  Peasants who were behind the march on parliament earlier this year are said to be planning even bigger demonstrations, possibly even to contemplate overthrowing the government. 

Havana:  Cuban authorities arrest two communist leaders, and find on them letters from the Communist International urging Cuba’s communists to get into positions of control in government departments, in an effort to gain control of the country.

China:  A bidding war of sorts is reportedly on for the support of Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang in the civil war.  Nationalist government head Chiang Kai-Shek has reportedly offered Zhang the equivalent of US$30 million and rule over the Tientsin-Peking area in exchange for his support in the conflict with various rebel groups, including Northern Alliance rebels.  Other reports say Zhang has decided to support the rebels. 

Sunday, August 24, 1930

Berlin:  Communists demonstrating for their party in the upcoming parliamentary elections launch attacks on nazis, police, and even innocent bystanders, in various parts of the city.  Using bottles, chairs, table legs and beer steins, the communists fire projectiles seemingly at random targets.  In the East End, they close a street and hold up cars and pedestrians for “contributions” to the communist party.  100 communists and 41 nazis are arrested, and two policemen are injured. 

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office issues a statement that it does not intend to raise the German-Polish border at the upcoming League of Nations meetings, scheduled to start next month in Geneva.  The French press had raised the issue, claiming a speech given by Minister of Occupied Territories Gotfried Treviranus last week had been a prelude to a German initiative to seek revision of the border. 

Friday, August 22, 1930

Bunzlau, Germany:  Three people are killed and six wounded when a mob protesting a nazi meeting attempts to charge fire fighters who were spraying them with fire hoses to disperse them.  Police open fire, leading to the deaths.

Berlin:  Unemployment among labor union members rises to 20.8 percent, up from 19.9 percent in July.  A total of 3 million are said to be unemployed in Germany, an increase of 80,000 in the first half of August alone.  Recent attempts by various government entities to stimulate the economy with large orders for goods or services appear to be failing.

Washington:  More bad economic news: preliminary official census figure show more than 2.5 million may be unemployed in the United States. 

Budapest:  Police occupy public buildings, the airport, and strategic highways approaching the city as rumors fly that Archduke Otto, pretender to the Hungarian throne, has arrived in the country to attempt a coup.  Government officials characterize the rumors as “fantastic,” but order the police anyway, who are reportedly under orders to arrest “a heavily veiled lady and an 18-year-old youth.”  Leave is also canceled for military officers, who are recalled to duty in case needed.

Helsinki:  Records show that authorities have detained a total of 517 communists so far this year, charging 104 with high treason for their role in communist agitation in the country. 

Thursday, August 21, 1930

Paris:  Diplomats say naval talks between Italy and France are quietly resuming, five months after the two couldn’t agree at the London Naval Conference. 

Tuesday, August 19, 1930

Klausenberg, Romania: Carol Danila, an anti-Semitic agitator whom the police have been hunting for nearly a month, is arrested here.  Authorities say his arrest completes their roundup of the leaders responsible for a wave of anti-Semitic unrest in the country earlier.

Madrid:  Two days after the cabinet of Prime Minister Damaso Berenguer began urgent cabinet meetings over a dramatic fall in the peseta, Minister of Finance Manuel Arguelles resigns.