Falkenhausen Freed

Lieut. General Alexander von Falkenhausen, sentenced to twelve years at hard labor last month on charges of war crimes committed while he was military governor of Belgium, last week was a free man. The Belgian government released the 72-year-old prisoner, after crediting him with the six years served before he came to trial. Before dawn, Falkenhausen hurried to the German border, where he told newsmen: "I will go to friends and to my dogs who surely wait for me." As for German participation in European defense: "I can't imagine myself fighting shoulder to shoulder with contingents whose military leaders today condemn German generals." Into the "visitors' book" at the German frontier post, Falkenhausen--who claims that he had tried to help the Belgians (TIME, March 19)--wrote: "Ingrata Belgia, non possidebis ossa mea [Ungrateful Belgium, you shall not possess my bones]."*

Antwerp's Le Matin made the appropriate reply: "We did not want your skin. What would we do with your bones?"

*A splattered echo of the great Roman general, Scipio Africanus, who defeated Hannibal at Zama (202 B.C.) and was Roman proconsul in Spain. When the Roman Senate accused Scipio and his brother of accepting bribes and misappropriating funds, he tore up the account books in question, flung them on the floor of the Senate, and went into embittered exile. On his tomb, he ordered the inscription: "Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem habebis [Ungrateful fatherland, you shall not have even my bones]."

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