Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

“safety of Life and Property of Loyal Jewish Citizens Guaranteed,” Declares Goering

March 12, 1933
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

strasse, Alexanderplatz, Alliancestrasse, and Wilmersdorferstrasse, the congestion and the intensity of the noise and the agitation compelled the closing down of the stores much earlier than usual. The same thing occurred at the Leiser shoe shops and the Karstadthaus Department Store on Kurfurstendamn. At the “Epage” stores, an organization similar to Woolworth’s, Nazi youths in their uniforms broke into the shops shouting “Out with the Jews.” They also threw stench-bombs into the stores, compelling the shops to close.

Seven shots were fired through the window of the shop owned by Samuel Grundleger, smashing the windows and destroying a quantity of goods. The attackers have not been traced, though Grundleger had lately received numerous threats from Nazis. In addition, he had been warned by Christian friends that Nazis contemplated an attack on his store.

At Kassel uniformed Nazis forced all the Jewish shops to close down. Eventually, following a meeting between the proprietors and the Police President, an assurance was received that the Nazi agitation would discontinue and the Jews would be enabled to open their shops on the following day.

An official communique issued by the Magdeburg police discloses that uniformed Nazis occupied “Breiterweg” — the main street of the city,— as well as other business quarters, and compelled the purchasers to leave the Jewish shops. The communique confirmed that the police were unable to resist the storm tactics of the Nazi troopers, so that it was impossible for the shops to remain open. The official statement adds that in the same city unknown persons fired shots into the air, causing panic among women and children. An attack was also made on the employees of some of the shops who were mishandled. The names of some of the hooligans have been communicated to the local judicial authorities, so that proceedings may be instituted against them.

The communique concludes with the assurance that the police have taken steps to make impossible a repetition of violence.

The whole of the Chemnitz area, one of the largest manufacturing centers in Germany, is suffering from the boycott agitation. Business has been seriously dislocated. In Chemnitz itself, a crowd which included persons wearing Nazi emblems attempted to storm the great Schocken stores, but the police managed to restore order before the disturbances reached dangerous dimensions.

A Nazi report dealing with the occurrences at Chemnitz, endeavors to divest itself of responsibility with the explanation that the crowds were in reality Communists who wore Nazi emblems, and that there was not a single Nazi among them.

The only bright spot in the unrelieved mass of distressing communications coming in from various parts of the country are the reports from Essen and Muelheim, where the Jewish shops are being reopened after being compelled to close down by Nazi agitation.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement