WHAT PRICE REPRESSION?

ROMBERG PARK MEMORIAL

ROMBERG PARK 

In the last months of the Second World War orders were issued from Gestapo main office in Münster for  a series of mass executions.  The sweep of executions during the final weeks of the war reached its climax in Dortmund, where the Gestapo maintained its head office for the eastern Ruhr. One wave of executions was carried out on the 30^th March 1945 (Good Friday) in a bomb crater near the municipal forest building in Romberg Park. The firing squads, composed of Gestapo and police detective officers, liquidated at least 42 prisoners, including members of a French theatre troupe from Iserlohn accused of espionage. In the week after Easter, also in Romberg Park, another 15 or so prisoners were shot, among them a number of female Eastern workers. Shortly after yet more were shot in the wooded area of Romberg Park.

Shortly after Easter, the 150-strong Gestapo execution commando fled via Hemer and Iserlohn for destinations all over the world. 27 of them were brought to trial in Dortmund in 1951 and 1952. 15 of the accused were found not guilty and no-one was found guilty of murder. However, 12 were found guilty of being accomplices to murder and received between 2 and 6 years in prison.

In its verdict on members of the Dortmund Gestapo, the Dortmund Provincial Court later commented:

The exact number of victims is shrouded in darkness. The horrible deeds were uncovered immediately after Dortmund was occupied…The list indicates that some 230 to 240 men and women were shot in the back of the neck by the Gestapo. Identified victims include members of the Dortmund resistance movement, members of the smaller resistance groups operating in Lippstadt and Meinerzhagen, as well as other German citizens identified by relatives and others. However, the great majority of the victims, according to consistent evidence, were labourers of foreign nationality, principally Russian workers and prisoners of war...

These barbaric acts are not unique in world history. Repressive regimes have used and misused the rule of law to impose their rule and power. After the First World War, the British in India were no exception.

On the 30^th March 1919 Mohandas Ghandi organised resistance against the Rowlatt Act. The Rowlatt Act was a law passed by the British in colonial India in March 1919, indefinitely extending "emergency measures" (of the Defence of India Regulations Act) enacted during the First World War in order to control public unrest and root out conspiracy. Passed on the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee, named for its president, British judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, this act effectively authorized the government to imprison for a maximum period of two years, without trial, any person suspected of terrorism living in the Raj. The Rowlatt Act gave British imperial authorities power to deal with revolutionary activities. This is an early example of Anti Terrorism Acts so beloved by Tony Blair and New Labour.

Mohandas Gandhi, among other Indian leaders, was extremely critical of the Act and argued that not everyone should be punished in response to isolated political crimes. The Act led to indignation from Indian leaders and the public, which caused the government to implement repressive measures. Gandhi and others found that constitutional opposition to the measure was fruitless, so on a "hartal" was organized where Indians would suspend all business and fast as a sign of their hatred for the legislation. This event is known as the Rowlatt satyagraha.

Hartal (also hartaal) is a term in many Indian languages for trike action, used often during the Indian Independence Movement. It is mass protest often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law as a form of civil disobedience. In addition to being a general strike, it involves the voluntary closing of schools and places of business. It is a mode of appealing to the sympathies of a government to change an unpopular or unacceptable decision.

However, the success of the hartal in Delhi, on 30 March 1919, was overshadowed by tensions running high, which resulted in rioting in the Punjab and other provinces. Deciding that Indians were not ready to make a stand consistent with the principle of ahimsa (non-violence), an integral part of satyagraha, Gandhi suspended the resistance.

The Rowlatt Act came into effect in March 1919. In the Punjab the protest movement was very strong, and on April 10, two outstanding leaders of the congress, Dr. Satya Pal and Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, were arrested and taken to an unknown place.

A protest was held in Amritsar, which led to the infamous Amritsar Massacre of 1919. At the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, on April 13, 1919 (which happened to be 'Baisakhi' one of Punjab's largest religious festivals) fifty British Indian Army soldiers, commanded by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer (pictured) began shooting at an unarmed gathering of men, women and children without warning. The shooting lasted for ten to fifteen minutes, until ammunition ran out. Dyer ordered soldiers to reload their rifles several times and they were ordered to shoot to kill. Official British Raj sources estimated the fatalities at 379, and with 1,100 wounded. Civil Surgeon Dr Smith indicated that there were 1,526 casualties; however; the casualty number quoted by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with roughly 1,000 killed.

From here 1600 rounds of bullets were fired by troops on 20,000 innocent people.

Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar

Bullet marks on the walls of the park premises

Accepting the report of the Repressive Laws Committee, the Government of India repealed the Rowlatt Act, the Press Act and twenty-two other laws in March 1922. At least they had to good grace in 1922 to have a Repressive Laws Committee. Perhaps one could be established in 2011 by the Government of Britain. It would seem about the right time. I would suggest in the meantime you stay out of any park during a troublesome demonstration.