October 23, 1933
Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen is refusing to cooperate with authorities, the Associated Press reports today. The 25-year-old Prince has been charged as a Nazi and is being held in a Klagenfurt jail. In their investigation, police have discovered that the "names and addresses of the alleged confederates, found in his confiscated correspondence, was deemed to be insufficient evidence against them without corroborative information."
The police have tried to question the prince, but he refuses to answer the questions, apart from saying: Do you take me for a traitor?
The letter from Dr. Joseph Goebbals, Germany's Minister of Propaganda, has shown on "closer inspection to be relatively tame, proving little beyond the fact that Goebbels and the prince corresponded."
Police continued to press for further investigation, which is being conducted "vigorously." The prince was sentenced to six weeks in jail without a trial. His wife, Princess Margot, is interned in the family's castle without a trial. These sentences were based on the "recent concentration camps decrees for internment of Nazi agitators."
After six weeks, it will be up to a court to decide whether the prince and his wife are to be tried for conspiracy.
The princess, who is being held at her castle on the orders of Chancellor Dollfüss, was permitted today to talk with the AP reporter.
Detectives "stood at her elbow to see that the conversation remained within strictly non-political bounds."
The 21-year-old princess "is getting a thrill out of the sudden American interest in her plight. She was allowed to tell the reporter: "I've heard that you called the castle several times in the last few days and I thank you for your interest."
The princess was not permitted to discuss her case.
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