Sunday, June 15, 1930

Berlin:  Having been banned from wearing their uniforms (see June 12), nazis hold a march shirtless. 

Meanwhile, S. Parker Gilbert, Agent General for Reparations under the now-expiring Dawes Plan (predecessor of the Young Plan), makes his final report on Germany’s financial condition.  He sounds repeated warnings that Germany needs “immediate and radical” budgetary reform if the nation is to meet its obligations and gets its financial house in order.  Tax revenues have improved “to an extent far exceeding expectations of experts,” Gilbert says.  The main problem: the government spends too much.  “There is evidence of unwillingness on the part of both government and parliament squarely and promptly to face the situation by taking the necessary steps either to control expenditures or to provide adequate resources to cover them.”

Gilbert’s report further complains that the German government’s budget presentations are “ideally calculated to obscure the real position.”  Yet Gilbert says social expenditures have risen 458% over the past five years, from 259 million marks to 1.345 billion, as the nation has become more deeply involved in subsidizing social insurance funds.  Germany’s public debt increased 11% in the last year alone, to 10.353 billion marks.  Germany’s gross deficit for the 1929-30 budget of about 1.075 billion marks is the worst in years.

“When the experts of the Dawes Committee were called together at the beginning of 1924, Germany was on the point of collapse after an unprecedented period of inflation,” Gilbert’s report says.  “Germany’s credit has been re-established both at home and abroad, her industries have been reorganized and her productive capacity has been restored, and the general standard of living has greatly improved.  The Dawes Plan, as was its object, also cleared the way for complete and final settlement of the reparations problem, which is embodied in the Young Plan and the Hague agreements of Jan. 20, 1930.  The new plan is an act of confidence in the good faith and financial integrity of Germany, and Germany now has a definite task to perform on her own responsibility, without foreign supervision and without the transfer protection provided by the Dawes Plan.”

S. Parker Gilbert

Leipzig:  Armed nazis and communists clash in Eythra, a suburb, killing 1 and injuring 12. 

Vienna:  Waldemar Pabst, the German leader of Austria’s fascist Heimwehr paramilitary who faces deportation for revolutionary activities, loses his appeal to stay in the country and leaves on a plane for Venice. 

Meanwhile, in economic news, reports have unemployment in Austria 20% higher than a year ago.  Export trade has declined significantly. 

Washington:  President Herbert Hoover announces, as expected, that he will sign the tariff bill known as the Smoot-Hawley Act that has been making its way through Congress.  Representatives of Spain, France and Great Britain have all warned that if Hoover signs the bill into law, it will unleash retaliatory tariffs from their countries. 

China:  Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang has reportedly told northern rebel forces he will join the fighting against them unless they accept his offer to mediate between them and nationalist government head Chiang Kai-shek (see March 21).

Sunday, June 1, 1930

Halle, Germany:  In a speech here, nationalist politician Alfred Hugenberg proposes a “reparations duty” – a tariff on all goods and raw products imported into Germany – to extract from the rest of the world funds for Germany to pay its war debts under the Young Plan.  “Whoever utilizes central Europe, its market, traffic system and culture, must help us bear the burden which the rest of the world imposed.”  Hugenberg further suggests that this duty would be the first step in an economic fusion of central Europe centered around Germany, as opposed to France’s plan for a “United States of Europe.”

Dunkelstein, Austria:  Socialists and Heimwehr fascists clash in a street battle, throwing stones and firing shots.  Injuries are described as “numerous,” including gunshot wounds.

Manchuria:  Japanese consular police and Chinese troops mobilize in the Kurin province in anticipation of further outbreaks of violence by Korean communists.

Philadelphia:  More bad economic news -- new data indicate unemployment here is 40 percent higher than same time last year.  

Thursday, 13 March 1930

Germany:

Berlin:  President Paul von Hindenburg signs the Young Plan bills passed yesterday by the Reichstag.  Among other things, they commit Germany to World War debt payments until 1988.  After the morning signing ceremony, Hindenburg issues the following proclamation.  “With a heavy but firm heart and after thorough and conscientious examination, I affixed my name to the Young Plan.  After hearing the advocates and opponents of the plan, I have reached the conclusion that, despite the heavy burden which the plan puts on the German people for long years, despite the strong criticism of some of its terms, compared to the Dawes Plan, the Young Plan means progress on the long road of liberation and reconstruction of Germany.  I could not refuse to sign, since such a refusal would bring immeasurable harm to German economics and finances and would cause a great crisis to our fatherland.  I am wholly convinced that the acceptance of the Young Plan does not free us from all sorrows in the future, but I believe it is the road that will bring us our long-desired freedom.  I have received many letters asking me to keep my name – the name of a former field marshal – from being darkened in history through these documents.  My answer is: during my entire life I have served in the school of duty, and I have learned to do my duty for the fatherland without consideration for my person.  Therefore any thoughts my person had was abandoned in this decision, and I gave up the idea of relieving myself of the responsibility by a plebiscite or resignation.”

Dresden:  Communists conduct a “hunger march,” which quickly leads to clashes with police.  Armored cars are used to disperse the demonstrators, and 125 people are arrested. 

Elsewhere:

Madrid:  One thousand unemployed people march peacefully, with banners announcing simply: “We want work.”

Wednesday, 12 March 1930

Germany:

Berlin:  The Reichstag approves the final reading of the Young Plan bill, 266-193, ending the days of political maneuvering over the bill and, some hope, ushering in a new financial era for Germany.  At the last minute, nationalists, supported by the communists, attempt to introduce a resolution which would delay signature of the bill by President Paul von Hindenburg for two months.  The government counters with a proposed resolution making immediate signature of the bill mandatory – and the government’s resolution carries the vote.  The communists make one last-ditch effort to derail the proceedings, calling for a vote of no-confidence in the government of Chancellor Hermann Mueller, which also fails, 277-169.  The nationalists jeer as the votes are counted.

Breslau:  More impact from the worldwide economic depression: the old German trading house Molinari declares bankruptcy.  The firm, though not overly large, is famous for the literary popularity it gained as the model for the fictional trading house in Gustav Freytag’s novel Debit and Credit.  

Tuesday, 11 March 1930: Germany Ratifies the Young Plan

Berlin:  

The Reichstag approves the Young Plan bill on second reading, as well as the separate war debt payment agreement with the United States.  President Paul von Hindenburg threw his support behind the measures when he threatened reluctant lawmakers that he wouldn’t sign the bill unless it passed by a substantial majority, thus placing the blame on them.  The plan additionally calls for all foreign occupation of the German Rhineland to end by June 30.  Today’s approval makes it virtually certain that the final bill will pass when it gets its third reading tomorrow. 

The Reichstag also rescinds parliamentary immunity for seven of its communist members who incited violence during the March 6 International Unemployment Day demonstrations.  Four people have died as a result of the riots. 

Also, the Reichsbank Board of Directors unanimously appoints Hans Luther, former Chancellor of Germany, to the post of bank president, vacated by Hjalmar Schacht a few days ago.

 

Moscow:  

The government’s persecution of religion intensifies, despite worldwide condemnation.  Leaders of the League of Communist Youths instruct their members to have “special shock brigades and groups of light cavalry” ready during Easter week to lead anti-God activities, and to investigate how anti-religious training is going in schools and universities. 

Additionally, the Society of Militant Atheists calls for Easter Day bonfires of icons (the religious symbols beloved by Eastern Orthodox Christians), to celebrate the “extinction of religion.”  The Godless One, newspaper of the society, writes, “In answer to foreign agitation against us, we will strengthen our Red Army.  We will build armored tanks and an entire tractor column which we shall name ‘The Godless.’  Forty-thousand rubles have already been collected for this purpose.  By intensifying the struggle against religion, we will hasten the collectivization of peasant farms.  By liquidating the kulak as a class we will quicken the fall of his chief support, which is religion.  We will convert the state and collective farms into great centers of atheism.”  

Friday, 7 March 1930

Berlin:  

Dr. Hjalmar Schacht resigns unexpectedly as Reichsbank President, citing again his opposition to the Young Plan – which he now calls merely a distortion of the original.  “Please don’t call it the Young Plan.  Sanctions, moral discriminations and even the taking of our property – as Snowden [Philip Snowden, British Chancellor of the Exchequer], France, Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Australia are doing – have nothing in common with the Young Plan as conceived in Paris.  I am for the Young Plan, especially in the Young spirit; I am even now willing to accept the Young Plan in the Young spirit.  What is now before the Reichstag I call the Hague protocol, and as to what I think of Germany’s future under it . . . .  Well, I don’t say anything.”

Schacht’s antagonism, directed both at Germany’s financial situation and the revisions to the Young Plan, had made headlines throughout Europe.  But his resignation catches official circles by surprise – it lends him a kind of moral high ground, some say, in that he is willing to give up a powerful and high-paying position over principles.  But some officials worry that Schacht is simply planning to launch an attack on the cabinet of Chancellor Hermann Mueller from the outside, possibly bringing down his government. 

The Reichstag bills to approve the Young Plan have been tied up in negotiations for days, as political parties who’s support for the plan will be needed use that in turn as leverage to negotiate for things they want – in particular, for or against a tax increase on individuals to help pay the government’s bills. 

Meanwhile, more communists riot in East Berlin, with two police and a civilian shot.  It starts with a demonstration of several hundred.  When police attempt to break it up, someone opens fire. 

Moscow:  

The Commissariat of Health issues a rule that priests and other “former people” of the old Russian monarchy are not to be given beds in hospitals until all the treatment needs of the “proletarians” have been met.  Since non-proletarians are already prohibited from receiving medical care at public clinics – whose physicians are the ones referring patients to hospitals – this all but excludes these “former people” from the healthcare system (although they still may receive private medical care in their homes).  

Friday, 28 February 1930

Russia:  

The campaign against religion continues.  Atheist, trade groups and city soviets report they have closed 81 churches throughout Russia in the past week.  The president of the Atheist League gives a speech, broadcast nationwide, in which he urges even more intense religious persecution.  “We must be cleverer than the Pope.  We mustn’t use the institution of stake burning and the guillotine, like the Roman church.  We must propagandize.”  Soviet officials continue to characterize the closings, and the arrests of religious leaders, as prosecution of political dissent, rather than religious persecution.

Berlin:  

Meanwhile in the Reichstag, nationalist party members announce that they intend to question the government of Chancellor Hermann Meuller on its policy toward the religious persecution in Russia.  On the same day, a bill to approve the Young Plan is approved by a conference committee, giving rise to optimism that it will be approved by the full legislature. 

And finally, reports surface that secret meetings have been held in Hamburg, Danzig and Vienna between representatives of the Third International and communist leaders from the United States.  These reports also speak of a worldwide demonstration of communists and the unemployed set for March 6. 

Madrid:  

Unrest over King Alfonso’s rule continues.  Demonstrations rise at a local university, while the cabinet says it supports the monarchy unswervingly.  The Minister of the Interior says the government will take “whatever energetic measures are necessary” against disturbances.

Oakland, USA:  

500 unemployed riot in front of the state employment agency, the sixth such riot in two weeks.  Five demonstrators and two police are injured.  

Wednesday, 19 February 1930

Berlin:  Hundreds of leading Germans issue a signed manifesto calling on the nation to reform its financial situation in order to meet the terms of the Young Plan.  The manifesto doesn’t specify what measures should be taken, but it stresses that no government money should be spent without an adequate return.  Signatories include Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, head of the Reichsbank, as well as leading industrial magnates and bankers, and a former chancellor.

London:  The naval conference adjourns for one week due to France’s political crisis, which has the French delegation at home.  

Wednesday, 12 February 1930: Anglicans, Catholics Protest Soviet Religious Persecution; "Two-Thirds Ratio" for Japan Emerges from London Conference

Libya:  

Italian occupying forces battling Libyan resistance fighters step up their tactics.  Rodolfo Graziani, colonial governor and head of Italian forces in Libya -- who is reportedly furious at his inability to obtain a decisive battle with the rebels -- orders his air force to fly missions along the Libyan-Algerian border, harassing the rebels as they try to evade the Italians by slipping across.  According to one source, the warplanes bomb and strafe “the herd of humanity, consisting of soldiers, but also a multitude of women and children.”  Rebel leader Abd en-Nebi Belcher, with those following him, manages to cross the border and surrenders to the French at Fort Charlet in the Algerian desert oasis of Djanet. 

Great Britain:  

The Church of England joins the Catholic Church’s condemnation of religious persecution in Russia.  In speeches given simultaneously to separate bodies, the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Church, and the Archbishop of York, head of the Catholic Church in England, jointly denounce anti-religious activity by the Soviet Russian government.

 

“I feel bound to refer to a matter lying heavy on our conscience.  It stirs the strongest feelings.  It is the cruel and persistent persecution of all forms of religion which the soviet government continues to wage,” the Archbishop of Canterbury says.  “It is a record almost unparalleled in history of religious persecutions.  It is not any one form of religion which has been assailed, but it is every belief in God.  The persecution has been accompanied by popular blasphemies and obscenities and ridicule, encouraged, and even ordered, by the government.  I hoped there would be some mitigation of this cruel and barbarous policy, but it seems to be continuing even more relentlessly than before.  As Christian men, we cannot keep silent.  The time has come when the church should express its corporate sympathy by a united act of intercession.”

The Archbishop of York says, “No words can be too strong to express the indignation and abhorrence with which we hear day by day the news of persecutions in Russia.  Anything possible to mitigate the horrors of that persecution and bring it to an end ought certainly to be done.  There is real danger, however, lest we relieve our own feelings at cost to the very people whom we wish to succor.  Nothing could be more disastrous than to give the persecuting government the smallest ground to appeal to patriotism in support of its own policy.” 

London:  Meanwhile, at the naval conference, the Japanese delegation finally responds officially to the U.S. proposal that was presented to them Feb. 6.  The U.S. proposal reportedly called for Japan to accept a 60% ratio of cruisers to the U.S. and Great Britain, consistent with the ratio Japan is permitted in other categories of warships.  Japan had come to the conference, however, seeking a 70% ratio.  Japan’s reply, however, is not made public.  

Germany:

Ruesselheim:  Six-hundred communist agitators take over the Opel automobile manufacturing plant briefly, forcing workers out.  Police quickly subdue the agitators and restore order, arresting two German legislators who were involved.

Berlin:  Debate on the Young Plan continues in the Reichstag, with Joseph Wirth, Minister of the Occupied Areas, recommending approval.  “We finally agreed to the Young Plan in the confident hope that in America too there would sometime be a race of men who would not merely want to squeeze out of Germany and Europe everything possible, but who would let ethically moral principles count.” 

Tuesday, 11 February 1930

Berlin:  The Reichstag debate on the Young Plan grows rowdy when Alfred Hugenberg, the nationalist politician who spearheaded the Liberty Law campaign opposing the plan, proclaims vociferously that it will bring about Germany’s ruin.

 

London:  At the naval conference, France and Japan oppose the call by the U.S. and Great Britain for abolition of submarines.  France says lesser naval powers cannot do without the submarine, noting that subs are no different from other warships as instruments of death.  Japan says the submarine has legitimate military uses for defense, reconnaissance and in warding enemies out of national waters.  But both nations say they support limitations on submarine warfare.  Japan is “emphatically opposed to unlimited submarine warfare as witnessed during the World War.”

Paris:  An anti-communist crowd marches on the Soviet Embassy in protest of the recent disappearance and alleged abduction of former White Russian General Alexander Koutiepoff.  Police break up the marchers before they reach the embassy.

Cleveland, USA:  More effects of the global economic depression: a crowd of 3,000 unemployed people storms city hall and clashes with police, demanding food and jobs, shouting “work and wages, or we’ll fight.”  There are conflicting reports of who starts the actual fighting, however.  Reporters say members of the crowd begin shouting, “The police are clubbing us” before any clubbing has in fact begun, and that this cry was in reality a signal for the rest of the crowd to try to break through the police line.  It is only then that the police begin the clubbing.  In any event, at one point as many as 30 rioters and six police are lying on the city hall steps, being trampled by the rest. 

Rome:  Still more effects of the global economic depression: two of Italy’s four largest banks -- Credito Italiano and Banca Nazionale di Credito -- merge after suffering huge losses. 

Wednesday, 22 January 1930

Berlin:  Chancellor Hermann Meuller, after receiving a complete report from the German delegation to The Hague Second Reparations Conference, confirms that his government will ratify the agreement.  He promises that bills necessary for ratification will be submitted to the Reichstag next week.

Poland:  Two people are killed during communist demonstrations quelled by police.

Monday, 20 January 1930: Second Reparations Conference Ends

The Hague:  

The Second Reparations Conference ends, with all 18 officially represented debtor and creditor nations signing the agreement enacting the Young Plan as the new World War debt reparation payment framework.  A flurry of late-night, last-minute wrangling produced agreements satisfactory enough to Italy and Hungary that they, too, agreed to sign.  The agreement calls for Hungary to pay its creditors 13.5 million gold crowns per year from 1942 to 1966, and Austria to pay 1 million gold crowns per year over the same period. 

Only Czechoslovakia, despite signing, refuses to renounce its rights under the Treaty of Versailles.  No sooner than Belgian Prime Minister Henri Jaspar, who is presiding over the meeting, has read the preamble to the agreement, than the head of the Czech delegation asks for the floor.

“My country much regrets to introduce reservations into these agreements, but inasmuch as the Eastern European accord which has been reached is of such a nature that in the arbitration of our disputes with Germany, if the verdict is pronounced in favor of the Czechoslovakians, they would receive nothing, while if the verdict favors Germany we would have to pay, you can easily understand that in signing these accords, Czechoslovakia cannot consent to renouncing her rights under the Treaty of Versailles.”

This brings a sharp rebuke from Philip Snowden, Great Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of such vehemence that observers say it surpasses anything from the contentious August 1929 meetings of the same conference.  Nevertheless, by the end, Snowden is saying “the nations gathered around the conference table by their act of signature are no longer enemies and allies, but from now on must be friends.”

Of course, there’s a reason why some of the powers represented are so eager to finish up business: they and much of the world – despite the seriousness of purpose of The Hague conference – are more interested in the other conference that’s about to start in London.

To view a photo of the closing conference

Murzuk, Libya:  

Italian forces under Duke Delle Puglie, backed by a handful of warplanes, battle Libyan resistance fighters here, finally taking the town after fighting that kills 50 and wounds 24.  Twelve more are taken prisoner.  Italy has 18 native soldiers (fighting for Italy) wounded. 

Moscow:  

The Bezbosnik (Godless) newspaper publishes a report which says that Russia will soon issue a decree authorizing soviet officials to expel all foreign missionaries and clergy from the country.  The decree will supplement an earlier one which already prohibited any new missionaries from entering Russia, and also prohibits foreign religious organizations from sending money, literature or other forms of aid to people of faith in the country.  The decree will apply to Christians, Jews and Muslims.  

Sunday, 19 January 1930

Germany:  More bad economic news: a report says unemployment is up 156,000 from same time a year ago.

The Hague:  A signing ceremony for the Young Plan is set for 11 a.m. tomorrow, even though Italy, Czechoslovakia and Hungary still say they have reservations to signing, and last-ditch meetings are being held at all hours of the night to try to address their concerns.  If they cannot be satisfactorily addressed, however, reports say the portions of the agreement relating to Germany will still be signed, and the rest will be left for further work. 

China:  In the civil war, nationalist government forces are reported advancing up the Tientsin-Pukow Railway toward a rebel stronghold at Pengpu.  

Saturday, 18 January 1930: Frick Appointed Interior Minister of Thuringia

Weimar, Germany:  

Nazi party member Wilhelm Frick is appointed to the post of Minister of the Interior and Education in the coalition government of the German state of Thuringia.  He is the first nazi to hold a ministerial-level post at any level of government in Germany.  In the recent Thuringian parliamentary elections, nazis gained 11% of the vote, their highest showing ever in any election in Germany.  This gave them enough clout to garner a post in the coalition government.  Among the departments that fall under the Minister of the Interior and Education: the police and schools.

The Hague:  

At the Second Reparations Conference, the payments of eastern European countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia becomes a growing problem.  Italy says it won’t sign the Young Plan agreement until the eastern issues are resolved.

Friday, 17 January 1930

The Hague:  

At the Second Reparations Conference, agreement is reached on the timing of Germany’s restructured war debt payments, along with other details regarding Germany’s rights to borrow money elsewhere on the open market. 

Istanbul:  

Two large soviet warships move unannounced into the Black Sea, disregarding international treaties on movement of warships through the Dardanelles and Bosporus.  Observers report the 26,000-ton dreadnought Parischkaja Koman and the cruiser Profintern (which had reportedly been in the Baltic) have appeared by surprise, supposedly assigned to Russia’s Black Sea port at Sevastopol.  If they remain, observers say they will significantly tip the balance of power in the Black Sea, as no other country has ships there anywhere near their size.  Political observers, however, speculate that the move is a protest to signal Russia’s unhappiness with not being invited to the London Naval Conference, which is scheduled to start in a few days.  

China:  

In the simmering civil war (in a winter lull), nationalist government forces, supported by gunboats in the harbor, drive communist rebel forces out of the city of Hoikow. 

Thursday, 16 January 1930

The Hague:  At the Second Reparations Conference, after all this time focused on Germany’s war debt payments, issues now arise between Hungary and the nations with which it has debt arrangements. 

Berlin:  The Prussian Ministry of the Interior bans all outdoor public gatherings and demonstrations in response to the communist violence yesterday.  The only public gatherings permitted will be funerals, weddings and other church processions.  The police are given broad powers to crack down on anyone found violating the new edict.  

Wednesday, 15 January 1930

Germany:  

Riots break out in three cities around the country, with five killed and 20 seriously injured, as communists observe the anniversary of the 1919 death of Rosa Luxemberg, a founder and early leader in the German communist party.  By nightfall, many of the country’s largest cities are under extra and heavily armed police guard. 

The Hague:  

At the Second Reparations Conference, France secures agreement from the delegates that the World Court of the League of Nations will judge whether any moratorium by Germany on war debt payments is justified.  If the court decides it’s not, France reserves the right to use military force against Germany.  Ironically, it is rumored that the German delegation’s contempt of Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht’s conduct at this conference probably helped secure Germany’s acquiescence in France’s proposal. 

London:  

Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announces that, consistent with the manifesto issued by his Labor Party yesterday, the British government would seek the abolition of the battleship at the upcoming London Naval Conference.  

Tuesday, 14 January 1930

Paris:  

Alexander Kerensky, former Prime Minister of the short-lived Russian Provisional Government (which ruled Russia between the February and October 1917 revolutions), now living in exile, says his contacts within Russia inform him that Joseph Stalin’s communist government executed 583 people in October and November 1929 for “political offenses.” 

The Hague:  

At the Second Reparations Conference, Hjalmar Schacht, President of Germany’s Reichsbank, finally agrees – under pressure -- to the bank’s participation in the war debt payments of the Young Plan.  Faced with the prospect of the German government using other banks as an end-run, Schacht reluctantly gives way. 

London:  

A manifesto calling for the abolition of the battleship and a reduction of all warships to a maximum of 10,000 tons is published today, in advance of the London Naval Conference, signed by 77 Labor Party members of Parliament.  “The abolition of battleships would be a substantial step toward making the past a reality.  Such a step would not only result in an appreciable reduction of expenditure of naval armaments, but would of itself insure the success of the conference.  We note a growing feeling, even among naval experts, that fighting ships of over 10,000 tons are no longer necessary.  We therefore urge the delegates of the British Labor government to make the abolition of battleships and of warships over 10,000 tons one of the principal aims of the conference.

“In the event of a minority of the great powers not agreeing to the proposed abolition of battleships, we urge our delegates to consider where, in view of the advance in science and the fact that our danger lies in the possibility of an air attack rather than at sea, Britain cannot take the lead and announce that she will not in the future lay down any warships over 10,000 tons.” 

Germany: 

Worms:  Five policemen are injured breaking up a rowdy meeting of the unemployed.

Berlin:  And in an event that draws virtually no attention from the world’s press, a local nazi by the name of Horst Wessel is shot by a group of communists.  One of his few claims to fame is a song (or the lyrics) that he wrote to be played as kind of fight song at SA (Stormtrooper) events.  He will later die of his wounds . . . and his death be commemorated by the nazi party for years to come.

Monday, 13 January 1930

The Hague:  

Delegates to the Second Reparations Conference reach agreement on timelines for German war debt payment, sanctions if they default, and other issues.  Germany’s Reichsbank President, Hjalmar Schacht, opposed by letter the international bank for settlements, which is part of the deal, saying the Reichsbank could not subscribe to capital of the bank because the terms of the Young Plan had been modified.  But after briefly considering Schacht’s comments, the conference agrees to move forward, and not let what it calls purely “political” objections stand in the way.  The committee charged with organizing the bank is instructed to continue, regardless of whether the Reichsbank participates.  The rest of the German delegation assures the Allies they will go along with the plan.

China: 

In addition to the ongoing suffering of the civil war, reports out of the Shensi and Shansi provinces say that 2 million people – one-third of the population -- have died of starvation in the past year.

Sunday, 12 January 1930

Russia:  

The Soviet government kills or sentences to death 23 more of its citizens, the first in 1930.  All were charged with various forms of counter-revolution.  In Berditchev, 13 people charged with plotting against the government under the leadership of a former Imperial army officer are shot.  In Dniepropetrovsk, four former white guards are sentenced to death after it is discovered they served as executioners during recent civil unrest, killing as many as 140 communists.  And in Solonki, six kulaks are sentenced to death, charged with terrorism that resulted in the deaths of communists and poor peasants. 

Elsewhere: 

The Hague:  

After a day of grueling and sometimes bitter negotiations, the delegates to the Second Reparations Conference agree to the organization and leadership of a Bank for International Settlements, which will facilitate Germany’s war debt payments to the Allies.

Washington:  

R.M. Stephenson, Chief, European Section, U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, releases a report stating that 1929 was Europe’s best year for economic prosperity since the World War (reflecting, obviously, conditions mostly measured before the U.S. stock market crash).

Germany:  

But more bad economic news here: a new report from the steel industry shows no signs of improvement, and over 1.7 million unemployed in Germany’s industrial sector.