Frederick Voigt to W. P. Crozier.
Location: Paris.
He is not sure that he understood Bone on the telephone, or that Bone understood him. His point is that the Manchester Guardian is not telling the story of what is happening in Berlin. It is a story that ought to be told. Werth cannot as a Jew, expose himself to danger as the other correspondents can. He could however speak up from Bale [Basel?], Saabrücken or Zürich.
The Brown Terror is not just an election terror; it has not abated since the 5th. Of all his experience of war, famine and armed upheaval and oppression, the Brown Terror is the worst. Not just because of the numbers of dead and injured, but because it is going on in a civilised county and is happening to people like us, to friends and colleagues. He wants the truth to be known in England. Friends who went through the Red Terror in Russia tell him this is far worse. People in England have no concept of what it is like. He says it is the biggest historical event since the Great War and it is much nearer than people imagine.
He does not wish to go to Germany, but he thinks someone from the Guardian should give an impression of what is happening in Berlin (there is no news from the provinces). The Times alone is doing this. He describes in detail some of the atrocities of the Brown Shirts. They raid the homes of Republicans and Jews and kidnap them. He says they have several Braune Etappen (Brown Bases) in Berlin where victims are beaten and tortured. Many people die in custody. The police do not intervene and the hospitals are afraid to treat any survivors. The terror of the smaller Jewish shopkeepers is awful. Werth says the government is not responsible, but they are. At a recent cabinet meeting Hitler demanded the hanging of Communists. He emphasises that the terror is an organised thing and that 'it is a war, a war against everything the Guardian has ever stood for'.
He stresses that Werth as a Jew in Berlin, particularly a Jew of Russian origin, is compromised. He suggests that Werth be recalled instantly. He will go in his place even if he is expelled, he, Dell and Fodor have masses of information from their contacts and from refugees. The Nazi regime must be exposed and MacDonald's hand must be forced.