
              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 6  Num. 92
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                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
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TERROR IN BALKANS TOLD BY BARBUSSE
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[New York Times, December 11, 1925]
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VIENNA, Dec. 10 -- A black picture of repression in the Balkans 
and Hungary is painted by Henri Barbusse, author of "Under Fire," 
in a series of speeches delivered here on his way to Paris after 
investigation of conditions in Southeastern Europe.
 
He declared that he found that the White Terror {1} exists in 
Bulgaria, Rumania, Yugoslavia and Hungary, and that the situation 
is much more tragic than the West imagines. He urges 
international publicity as the only force capable of making the 
Balkan Governments use more humane methods of treating political 
and ethnical minorities.
 
Bulgaria he describes as the most backward and Rumania as a close 
second.
 
As to the number of Bulgarians who have "disappeared" since the 
present Government overthrew Stambulski less than three years ago 
his investigations lead him to make the total at least 15,000.
 
"Disappeared" he translates as meaning frequent assassination and 
the secret burning or burial of the bodies.
 
Despite its promises, Barbusse says, the Rumanian Government did 
not give him any evidence supporting the official contention that 
the Bossarabian peasant uprising was fomented by the Soviets. He 
said he found nothing to prove this.
 
In general, he describes the Balkans as countries ruled by 
governments without strong popular roots anywhere, none of which 
permits any real opposition, and resort freely to "torture or 
other savage methods unknown elsewhere in Europe since the Middle 
Ages."
 
He declined to be more specific in his statements until he had 
digested the mass of material collected, which he intends using 
in his next book. He denied the report that he personally was 
attacked or maltreated by a Bucharest mob, citing the rumor as an 
example of how news is twisted in the Balkans.
 
One improvement Barbusse notes in the Balkan conceptions of 
political power is the fact that he, despite his reputation as a 
Red, was allowed to enter these countries and was officially 
promised help in investigating, although the promises proved to 
be illusionary. He describes the officially helpful attitude to 
the Balkan Governments' fear of Western public opinion.
 
Although Vienna throngs with open and secret representatives of 
the "ins and outs" of all Balkan countries whose continual 
plotting and fighting is often brought to the surface by the 
assassination of some Balkan leader here, no incident has 
resulted from Barbusse's denunciations.
 
The Viennese warmly applaud his description of conditions.
 
The Rumanian Government has issued a statement saying that 
Barbusse's charges are not surprising, as he is "known to be a 
Bolshevist agent."
 
---------------------------<< Notes >>---------------------------
{1} I'm not certain, but the "White Terror" alluded to may 
signify a connection to the "White Russian" anti-Bolshevik 
faction in Russia.
 
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