Dr. Dibelius Acquitted The acquittal of Dr. Otto Dibelius in
Berlin last week, with costs against the State, is unquestionably a victory for the Confessional Church and a severe and public rebuff to Reichsminister Kerrl. Dr. Dibelius had attacked Herr Kerrl for a notorious speech against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Munster ; the Minister for Church Affairs, it was alleged, had described as " ridiculous " the doctrine that Christ is the Son of God. The public prosecutor admitted that, if Herr Kerrl had used those words, Dr. Dibelius was justified. National Socialists do not make such admissions, or accept such rebuffs, for nothing ; it is probable that the acquittal is a sign of the desire to achieve a more satisfactory relation with the Churches—a desire difficult to satisfy if protests against official abuse of fundamental Christian doctrines are to be punished as " underhand attacks on State and Party." But it is probable also that the sympathy of the Court was with Dr. Dibelius. The conservative class which for centuries has provided Prussia with its judges, administrators, army officers, is also the stronghold of Prussian Protestantism.
On Sunday 115 mm and women were arrested in the wealthy and fashionable suburb of Dahlem for publicly demonstrating their sympathy with Dr. Martin Niemoller, who is still in prison. It would be instructive to know their names, for in all probability they included, 'apart from some 5o pastors from the provinces, men and women typical of a social class which Herr Hitler cannot afford to offend or injure irredeemably.
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