Show REICHSTAG FIRE SUSPECT HURTS CASE OF STATE i i tenial e ial of Communistic Faith Cripples Strategy of Prosecution E a By United i LEIPZIG Germany Sept 21 21 Marinus Van Der Lubbe one of f five men nen put on trial before the supreme court today charged with burning the Reichstag building crippled the prosecution prose prose- cution strategy by denying from the witness ss stand that he was a com con It is the prosecution case that communists com corn burned the building and VanD Van VanD VanDer D Der r Lubbes Lubbe's codefendants arc are known communists J I Are you a communist presiding ude asked the old year p Dutch utah stonemason t Th There rc was a moment of silence Van l 1 CI Lubbe stared at the floor and I then mumbled t. t No What are arc you then 1 asked the judge MUTTERS ANSWER There was another silence Van VanDer X er Der er Lubbe muttered inaudibly the Judge satisfied proceeded f Nazis claim they have a c confession from orn Van Der Lubbe The defense cf t f the other men is that he is not a communist and that he had been making mak mak- ing ng g pro-nazi pro statements for two yea years s. s They allege nazis burned the building to discredit and seize pow pow- r er The trial was opened promptly at a. a ro m. m in the high gloomy Wainscoted Wali-is- Wali hall of the gray supreme court building where many historic trials have been held The sun was able to light the han hall only onI- dimly through the high windows Photographers Stationed In a little gallery like a choir loft trained a great searchlight on en the principals The defendants were already Incourt in incourt incourt court wh when n the red robed judges enl entered red and the audience rose and gave ave a Hitler salu salute e. e Van Der Lubbe had led lcd the procession procession pro pro- cession eion of prisoners He was handcuffed handcuffed hand hand- cuffed between a Q policeman and a aprison aprison aprison prison guard and paid not the slightest slight slight- est attention to his surroundings Next came Ernst 40 for years rears ears whip of the communist party In the Reichstag Pale he stared ahead and bit Ills his lips a 2 Then came the three Bulgarians Georg Dimitroff 51 a writer Wassil 36 a shoemaker and Blagoi 31 a student all like known communists and abandoned t to their fate ate by their government They stared about curiously l Presiding judge read the charges high treason and arson against Van VanDer Der Lubbe and treasonable activities Against the others The defendants except two acknowledged they understood the charge which then W wai wa read in Bulgarian |