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"We have no flag!" cried Son Friedrich Ebert Jr., trying to calm his mother. After huddling & whispering, the chief of the Nazi youths advanced upon Son Ebert.
"Do you pledge your holy word of honor that there is no flag here?"
"I do."
"Search the place for arms!"
After much rummaging the Nazis found a pistol belonging to Son Ebert and a permit to carry it which had expired. Scowling, they departed with these trophies.
Dr. Meissner, when he had heard this story over the telephone, rushed to President von Hindenburg. Calmly Der Feldmarschall ordered a police investigation, dictated his "profound regrets for such unchivalrous treatment'' which were duly conveyed to Widow Ebert. Later Nazi Captain Hermann Wilhelm Goring, Minister of Interior for Prussia (i. e. of police), apologized to Germany's George Washington's still trembling widow. Safe outside Germany where he says he will stay "because of Hitlerism," Professor Albert Einstein read last week that his home had been burst into and ransacked by Nazis who said they were "looking for arms," found none.
Flexible Instruments. The German press censor passed cables saying that Nazis in Potempa who took an unresisting Communist from his bed last August and stamped upon him until he died were last week pardoned, set free. Dispatches also passed the censor in which Jews were described as being commonly beaten by Nazis with an instrument consisting of a steel spring tipped by a small lead ball. The effect: maximum flesh bruises without actually breaking a bone.
In Cologne several Nazis were interrupted while robbing a wealthy old Jew by other Nazis who tore the brown shirts from the Robber Nazis backs, reminded them that Chancellor Hitler has commanded DISCIPLINE (TIME, March 20), restored the old Jew's property, had the shirtless Nazis expelled by local party officials and turned over to the police for what they were: burglars.
Dare-Devil. In Munich dare-devil Count Anton Arco-Vally who in 1919 assassinated the then Socialist Premier of Bavaria but was set free in 1927, said candidly last week that he now intends to assassinate Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Just before the Chancellor arrived by plane in Munich—traditional Fascist headquarters —the Count was placed in a cell, still firmly maintaining that he will assassinate Herr Hitler. Just after the Chancellor left for Berlin, Munich's Police Chief claimed to have prevented an attack on Handsome Adolf's life by three men who deposited three hand grenades and some ammunition near the Chancellor's Munich home. "If a single shot is fired against any member of the new Government," said the Police Chief, "even if it misses its mark, there will be unparalleled chaos and the greatest pogrom which no authority in the world could prevent!"
Death to Marxism! With Jews still being beaten and Jewish stores raided or closed throughout the Reich last week, non-Jews gradually recovered a feeling that any further Nazi violence would almost certainly not be directed against them, unless they happened to be Marxists.