GERMANY: Free Gold Watches

The Verdict: “Guilty of high treason in propagating within the German Army, Fascist cells [political groups].”

The Sentence: “Eighteen months detention in a fortress.”

Thus tactfully last week the German Supreme Court dealt with the three young Lieutenants at whose trial fiery Fascist Adolf Hitler testified that, should he become Dictator, the heads of the “November criminals of 1918” [German Socialists and Social Democrats] would “roll in the sand” (TIME, Oct. 6).

Proceedings revealed last week that a German Army officer who reports to the Ministry of Defense about a brother officer’s subversive opinions is likely to receive from the Ministry a solid gold watch engraved with mysterious portent Hindenburg.