On the other hand, anti-Semitic activities in various parts of the country have again been on the increase lately. It is true that Jewish business men in certain branches have fared better than a year ago. This is true particularly of the textile branch, because of the scarcity of available raw material and of those industries which work for the German army. It is also partly due to the hidden inflation which characterize the monetary situation in Germany which induces many to make purchases in preference to holding on to their marks.
The various decrees which are cited in government circles do not necessarily represent a change of heart. The economic position of Germany is such that further measures against the Jewish business element would lead to new complications. Nevertheless Jewish circles here would welcome an official announcement that the Jewish problem is solved, bringing about a cessation of further anti-Semitic agitation. Such an announcement would be on a par with the government’s proclamation that the revolution is ended. It would usher in a period of more calm and peace than the Jewish population has so far enjoyed.
AJC REFUTES LIPPERT ON ‘JEWISH BOYCOTT’
The allegation made Tuesday by Dr. Julius Lippert, State Commissar for Berlin, at a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Berlin, that the boycott against German goods in the United States is a “Jewish boycott” was denied yesterday in a cablegram sent to the Chamber by the American Jewish Congress and made public by Dr. Stephen S. Wise, honorary president.
“The United States boycott is a spontaneous reaction of the American people of all faiths and races to Hitler terrorism against all groups in Germany,” the cable says. “Four million American associated with the American Federation of Labor have twice in the past two years reaffirmed adherence to the boycott. Members of the Catholic and Protestant churches practice boycott as rightful exercises of their abhorrence of a government which has returned to medieval barbarism. The office of the High Commission for German Refugees created by the League of Nations is an incontestable evidence of the ruination visited by Nazism upon many of its citizens. Jews from only small percentage of many millions refusing to do business with Nazi Germany.”
U. S. INDUSTRY GAINED
Referring to Mr. Lippert’s statement concerning the loss to America the cable points out that the leading department stores as well as the United States Chambers of Commerce affirm that American industry has shown a rise of from thirty to sixty per cent in new industries making products formerly bought from Germany.
“The statements by Dr. Lippert concerning conditions affecting Jews in Germany are brazenly Nazi,” the cable continues. “The economic, cultural and political life of Jews is completely ruined in Germany by government acts. Even if the economic life of German Jews were not in danger, civilized nations would still rise up against an infamous injury perpetrated against the many Jews in the German Reich.”
The cable concludes by stating that Dr. Lippert’s and Dr. Schacht’s statements are “typical of the Nazi policy of issuing mollifying statements for foreign consumption while relentlessly pursuing oppression against liberals, labor, Catholics, Jews and all who cannot be imprisoned within Gleichschaltung.”
The Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League of which Samuel Untermyer is president, also sent the following cable:
“Strongly protest Lippert’s speech reported American press, Entirely unaccord facts. Boycott world non-sectarian movement supported labor, women, Masons, Catholics, Protestants, Jews. Economic conclusions fallacious, tendencious, misleading. American headquarters unwilling to risk chances further restriction exports. Find barter plan unsound, cumbersome, unsafe. Further press reports same date show complete hypocrisy Lippert’s statement regarding position Jews, German industry, commerce.”
The cablegram was signed for the league by George Harriman, secretary.
SPEAKS AT EINSTEIN FETE
Dr. Wise, speaking at a reception afternoon to Professor Albert Einstein, amplified on the statement in the A. J. C. cable as follows:
“Nothing could be falser than to allege that there is a ‘Jewish boycott’ in the United States against Nazi goods and services, and this Dr. Lippert knows right well. If three per cent of the population of the United States, which is the percentage of the Jewish population, were alone in boycotting Nazi goods and services, Nazi Germany would not find it worthwhile appealing for the cessation of the so-called ‘Jewish boycott.’
“As for being a ‘Jewish boycott,’ organized labor in America, speaking through the American Federation of Labor and its leaders, William Green, has renewed its pledge to abstain from relations of every kind with the government of a people, which has ruthlessly and savagely destroyed its own labor front. Millions of liberty-loving Catholics and Protestants join with the American Federation of Labor in refusing to touch or use Nazi wares and services as long as the Hitler-Rosenberg pagan war against religion continues, with the sanction and blessing of the Reichsfuehrer and his Streichers.
“One thing more remains to be said. We Jews do not wish to be Hitler’s ‘favorites.’ We would rather be numbered among the victims of the Hitler war against freedom and justice than be singled out for economic favor at the hands of those who now seek to hurt us as we have never been hurt before…. They do not know the Jews. They do not know America. They do not know and understand the heart of free men. America cannot be Nazified into compromise with these hell-born forces which would save themselves and ere they go down to death, seek to destroy the moral and spiritual foundations of life itself.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
