Serious trouble for the Jews of Austia was indicated today in the appeal issued by the government of Lower Austria. While heavy guns are still bombarding Vienna suburbs, the local government made it clear that “the fight is being carried out in order to make Austria a free Christian country.” This is the first time that the note of nationalism has been in Austrian Socialists.
The appeal, which was broad cast over the entire country, urges the listeners to “stand with us for Dollfuss and help us make Austria free, Christian and Geman.”
All Austrian Jewish Socialists organizations were issolved today by order of the Dollfuss government. Among them were the Poale Zion, Socialist Zionist group, and the Jewish Socialist youth organization. However only Mendel Singer. Poale Zion leader and representative of his party on the Jewish community, was arrested so far.
EMPLOYES DISMISSED
The Municipal Bank of Vienna today refused to extend credit to Jewish merchants, while several other banks dismissed their Jewish employees under the pretext that economy forced cuts in the staffs.
Max Lenk, director of the Union of Austrian Jews. through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, voiced the great anxiety of Austrian Jewry whether Dollfuss, who is now fighting the Socialists with the help of the Fascist Heimwehr, would also have the desire or the strenght to turn aginst the powerful Austrian Nazi party in a similar fashion.
The Austrian Nazis, who have been quiet during the present battle between the Dollfuss regime and the Socialists, are now awaiting their opportunity and utilizing the existing chaos to futher their own aims. It is known that the Austrian Nazis have offered von Starhemberg’s Heimwehr a partmership in order to fight the Jews. The leading Nazi organ in Austria, Austian Beobachter, declared today in an editorial that the Jews are teh real Austian enemy.
The Juedische Volkspatei, nationalist group, today appealed to the Jewish population in Austria not to join any other political party, but to create a united general Jewish party in order to fight for Jewish interests. The appeal was signed by Dr. Desider Friedmann, president of the Vienna Jewish community, Oskar Gruenbanum president of the Austrian Zionists, and Robert Stricker, well known Austrian Zionist leader.
The Austrian government is spreading a rumor that Dr. Otto Bauer, age Socialist leader, has fied to Czechoslovakia, but the truth ius that Bauer is leading the Socialist fighters and heading the revolutionary forces in Austria.
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.
