Dr. Kurt Schuschnigg, Austrian Chancellor, prior to his departure for Vienna last night, issued a lengthy statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency dealing with the Jewish tradition in Austria and with the charges that the present Austrian government has adopted an anti-Semitic policy.
In his statement Dr. Schuschnigg declared that the Austrian government has no intention whatsoever of expelling East European Jews from the country, as has been reported.
SOCIALISTS OUSTED
“The administration of the City of Vienna was quite justified in ousting certain elements from its system, but this was not done for anti-Semitic reasons. It was done chiefly because of the need to eliminate Socialists,” Dr. Schuschnigg said.
The Chancellor denied that the measures which are now being taken by the Austrian government and which affect the Jewish population are aimed chiefly against the Jews.
“All measures taken have no reference at all to religion,” he explained. “They were necessitated by political and economic reasons only.”
Referring to the drastic anti-Jewish attacks now conducted in the press in Austria, Chancellor Schuschnigg said that “the Jews have their own press and are able to reply to these attacks.”
“The government cannot be partial,” Dr. Schuschnigg explained. “It acts regularly by confiscating the anti-Semitic newspapers when they overstep the limits in attacking the Jews. But the Jews have a right to hold public meetings and can reply publicly to the charges made against them by the anti-Jewish press.”
With regard to the mass dismissals of Jewish doctors and other municipal and state employes, Dr. Schuschnigg denied
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.
