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| Far East Crisis The Japanese have placed a protest in Moscow against the sinking of their ship, the Kivi Maru, which had allegedly hit a Soviet mine. American citizens were evacuated from Pacific bases; R.A.F. arrived to Australia to prevent invasion; the Japanese are leaving Burma; a great number of troops have recently arrived in Singapore. Ankara says that Japan ultimatively demands from the U.S.A. a reply to its 5 requirements. Tokyo requires the following: 1. the acceptance of the occupation of Manchuria, 2. the calling off of the U.S. help to China, 3. the cancellation of the blocade of Japan, 4. the end of the surrounding policy aimed against Japan, 5. free hand in China. America is supposed to respond until the 15th. The situation became more critical as a special envoy of the Japanese Prime Minister was sent to Roosevelt with a personal letter. Cordell Hul declared that the U.S.A. will not yield in any subject and will not allow a single gram of petrol to pass into Japan. He also proclaimed that the special messenger of Tojo was not invited to the U.S.A. but was allowed to enter. This special mission is a link in the chain of a peace offensive. The snappy Japanese press announced that world peace depends on this mission. "New Social Order" Heydrich orders massacres, then arranges for some sort of a workers' delegation to visit him and to express their appreciation of his hangman skills. Thus, the Protektor feels himself compelled to declare that Czech workers understood the situation and show an example to the nation. Then he orders the radio to unleash a campaign turning to workers, giving them evidence of what advantages they have under Nazism. These advantages were brought to them by Nazi social science. A miraculous medicine, for, according to Professor Stanislav Tyls, it had reconciled the employee with his employer. The employer added more paid holiday, increased wages and social benefits. He shows rare understanding towards his employees building housing estates, where the workers come to live for free or for a mere bakhshish. (Such originality. The housing programme of the Wiener Social Democracy is clearly copied.) The spirit of Kraft durch Freude, which forces him forward, gives the workers small gardens, snacks in the canteen during the working hours and encourages competitiveness, so much profitable for him and the Reich. What's Your News Say? From a letter from a Czechoslovak officer: For some time, I was attending a course somewhere in England. We were accomodated outside a small town, so the newspaper usually arrived just before noon. I arranged for the Nase noviny to be sent to my new address and although it was arriving with a day's delay, it was there with the evening post, so it was practically the only newspaper at breakfast. Although it was a day old, it still had the latest news, the news, which was brought by the English papers later that morning.  I always had to translate the latest news and in three days, the question "What's your news say?" became a common one during breakfast. Very much attention was paid to news from Czechoslovakia and the reviews of the situation on the Russian front. The Fallen In one of the training centres of the Royal Canadian Air Force, our countryman, cdt.-officer O. Nájemník, crashed his aircraft on a instrument flying training flight. We will remember him. J.V. Sladek He is against us He who is not with us against us stands, Be it one hair, a strand thin, That he allows to fall to enemy's hands, Not anymore is he our kin. We are in need of men unbroken, And in fight, a trouble-proof skull, And of courage and bravery a token, And a despise for enemy's lull. We need personalities great, Who can endure a storm above, And from their whole hearts hate, And from their whole hearts love. |
| Saturday Story Dog Interpreter For ing. (university educated engineer) Karel Pontsky, the journey to foreign resistance became a highly adventurous story. At home, this man with a face of the Chinese sage and poet Li Tai Pe sold porcellain and antique furniture. After work, where he was, with love, daily inspecting the wormy legs of chairs from Louis XIII's era and scrawling orders with a red pencil, he always left for his usual half an hour in St Thomas Church, to give his thanks for the day and the good deals he made. In the last pre-war years, people did not believe anything, so they were buying antique furniture and china, assuming that their money were invested safely. At that time, however, they did not know of the consequences of air bombardment. Ing. Karel Pontsky also had no knowledge of that subject, for that matter, as he would have, in time, begun in the scrap iron business. Our ing. loved his home atmosphere, the breath of his home's hearth, the black coffee on the Tumova Street, the sausages at the famed butcher's in the Spalena Street, and was, therefore, quite surprised by Hitler's expansive policy. After all, the western politicians were surprised as well, although they themselves were planting this scourge, or this painter's brush rather, as a rare orchid. When Hitler invaded what was left of our republic, Karel Pontsky just said: "Oh my, what a wretched villain he is!" - and made his way abroad, valuing his freedom more than his china. He was most fascinated with France. He visited all the cathedrals of Paris, went to see the mysterious chambers and then, with lightness in heart, he went to be conscribed. His hernia and a rather fragile figure were not a problem to him. The French military trousers, so narrow that we could hardly pull them on, were somewhat flappy when he took them on. He was a cute soldier, his elegance was reminding us of those tiny toy soldiers, whose heads we were so happy to break off. After the necessary training, ing. Pontsky was requested by the military administration, such a whirlwind of ideas in France, to become a commander of a dog catcher squad. His group included two offsprings of the Mydlar family (Mydlar, an almost legendary name in Czech history, became certainly the most famous Czech royal executioner in the Middle Ages) and a grandson of sir Vasic, the last official executioner in the Czech lands. These soldiers were ordered to catch all the the stray dogs in the camp, as there was a suspicion that they may be infected with rabies. Captured dogs were loaded on a cart and brought to French officials, who let them free again. The dogs returned to the camp, thus making the dog catcher squad busy all the time. Ing. Karel Pontsky, as his knowledge of dogs or rabies was practically non-existent, sought help from doctor Knihar, a veterinary surgeon, who was a member of the kitchen staff, cleaning up hogwash and sweeping. From his lectures he remembered that the symptoms of rabies are as follows: "foaming at the mouth, listless look and unpredictable behaviour." As he recognized these symptoms were present in the case of a certain blonde soldier, who attended a hotel at the Agde station, he arranged for his men to arrest him. However, it soon became apparent that his diagnosis was not correct. The blonde was drunk from drowning the taste of a failure in love and when he sobered up, he was determined to make Karel's day, being a person of higher rank. Karel soon found that French dogs do not understand Czech. That is why he took on himself the role of a dog interpreter. Every time his men discovered a dog in the camp, they reported it to him, he made his way to the place, calling: "Sil voo play, vyen isi!" - when the pooch ignored him, he took another shot with German to find out whether the thing is not an emigrant or, indeed, a spy. If that failed to help, he ordered the dog to be caught. There were holes in the camp's outer fence, and through these holes the dogs were slipping into the camp, sneaking towards the kitchen, lured by the smell of stinky bones. Dog catchers soon tracked the dogs back to their entrance and began catching the animals right at the holes. One evening, the grandson of sir Vasic was on guard, stiffening his determination with wine once in a while. Suddenly, he heard a noise at the fence. Focusing his attention, he loosened his snare and as soon as something appeared in the hole, he caught it and called: "Come here, guys, I have another dog - and it's a St Bernard dog!" It was then that a voice came from the hole: "Jesus, don't be silly, man, I'm no dog, I'm Venca!" - "Anyone can say that," the dog catcher answered. And he did not let Venca free until his commander, Karel, came to officially state that Venca is not a dog. But it took Venca some serious work, as the dog catchers were highly suspicious people. With this case the career of Karel Pontsky the dog catcher ended. He was ordered about to another job, but that is another day's story. |
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