Stranica 5 [5]
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gious, bowhe dre genuinely devoted to their cause. Singer especial¬
ly is a hard man, of great energy, of much understanding for Pos
lice Work, His only trouble lies in the fact, that the Police
forces do not like him very mech, and that hence he has to count
with sabotage on the lower échelons, This is espacially true on
his actions against the pro-german opposition.
. All these men are the leaders of the ruling Christian
People's Party, which holds the absolute majority in the Saar
Parliament, The Party is very conservative, very religious, but
at the same time close to the worker, They have been instrumental
for getting many of the social reforms, The party at present is
powerful, unless the pro~Gemen opposition is permitted to partake
in the elections,
" The loyal opposition in the Saar Parliament is the So¬
cial Democratic Party. It is accepting the Saar Policy and Inde=
pendence, is very strongly pro=french and one might almost say
anti-german. Its leader is Dr. Braun, the brother of the late
Max Braun, leader of the Socialists in the Saar at the time of
the Hitler=plebiscite and main supporter of the Mandate Party.
Dr. Braun's main hatred is Germany's Schumacher, whom he consi¬
ders a Hitlerite despite his official Socialism. The party is
weak, wince it has but scattered support among workers, and this
because of its anti-German attitudes |
Both the ruling party and the loyal opposition never=
theless are only possible thanks to the present electoral law,
which bans all political parties not accepting the Saar indepen=
dence, If genuinely free elections were held, it is the conside¬
rate feeling of this observer, that both parties would get less
than 25% of the votes, They would get the support of merchants,
of certain bussiness men and of the higher bureaucracy of the
new regime 3 but little else. The Church would be neutral, though
overwhelmingly for Germany 3 and the Unions would be quite for
Germany e
While at present two German parties have been autorized
it is still questionable whether they'll be permitted to contest
the elections, slated for the fall, the German action, which is v
very powerful is mainly concentrated in the Trade Unions, In these
. the pro-german element fully dominates 3 and furthermore the all¬
important svorting organizations and football ejubs are further
decisive vehicles of the Germán action, While there is no open
. pro=Germen leadership, this is also not needed, They have the
masses and in case of need they can fall back on the Unions and
Sporting Clubs. And both these positions are impossible to
assaile
Hence this coming fall much will be decided. free
Ag,