Yorkville, New York’s Germantown, has gone pro-Hitler. Night after night Nazi busybodies, congregated in small groups on 86th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues, disseminate the wisdom of the Great God Adolf to anyone and everyone who wishes to give ear. There are too a number of German Communists who join in the evening repartee. And a good time is usually had by all.
Of course Americans mingle with these groups and generally succeed in switching the conversation from Teutonic to New Yorkese which they too can understand. But their presence intensifies the heat of the arguments and adds a bit of grotesque to the proceedings. These political get-togethers, which usually end in a miniature street riot and are dispersed by the corner policeman, indicate the widespread influence of Nazi propaganda. They voice the sentiments of Nazi muckrakers who are at present pouring forth venom against the Jew in Germany. Now and then it is easy to pass judgment on Nazi judgment, biased and vicious and poisonous, which is publicized obviously at weekly brownshirt meetings at Kreutzer Hall, East 86th Street. The remarks disclose that the men “behind the scenes” are willfully aiming their tirades against the Jewish race in accordance with the program outlined by the ringleader, Germany’s “little corporal.”
“THIS IS NEW YORK”
One night last week a small German individual of about fifty got into a heated argument with several of his brethren and a few Americans. In broken English the Nazi sympathizer gave vent to his enmity and violently insulted the Jewish people. His barrage was interrupted by a reminder from one spectator who declared that “this is New York, and not Berlin.” The German resented the interruption. He screamed his answer: “To hell with America”, adding with fervor a string of epithets to which there can be no rejoinder. From among the interested audience came several persons who resented this outragous language. But the German was not to be stopped.
“Vy shuddn’t I inzold the Chews,” he shouted. “Dey inzold us doo. Don’t dey call us ‘gois’ all de dime?”
Such a misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the meaning of a simple Yiddish word startled the listeners. The Jews among their number looked at each other askance.
“Is it for this we are denounced?”
The meaning of the word “goi”, as every Jew knows, is “Gentile” or “non-Jew”. It has no connotation of criticism. It has the same value as the word “people”, and indicates a race or body of people.
IT MEANS ‘ENNIMEL’ TO HIM
“Since when is it an insult to call a Gentile ‘goi’? Do you know what ‘goi’ means?”
“Shure,” asserted the Aryan. “Shure I do. ‘Goi’ means ennimel.”
Amused, the Jewish bystanders were seen to nudge each other. But the amusement was cautious and withheld. At any other time the comic would be more thoroughly appreciated. Today the risability of the Jewish people is subdued. The Jewish bystanders, however, explained what the word “goi” means in Hebrew. It availed nothing.
At another point along the 86th Street community stood a tall, blonde man who with vehemence and conviction was sounding his views in connection with what he termed a “decree” issued by the “Shulchan Aruch.” This group, he insisted, has long since published orders urging that Jewish men seduce Gentile girls. He quietly told his audience that the “Shulchan Aruch” meant something unprintable. He warned that the Jews must be punished, and flouted whatever restrictive utterance was made by one of his listeners.
At another point along the street stood a panting youth who wore an expression of violated manhood on his face. He said that “all capitalists are Jews”, and added that there is in existence a flourishing secret society whose aim is, he said, to “destroy Christianity and all other non-Jews.”
MORGAN ALSO A JEW
The certainty with which the young man pressed his belief that there is a Jewish Ku Klux Klan invited the criticism of a young lady, obviously of Aryan blood, who advised the speaker to visit the East Side.
“There,” she said in effect, “you will find all the poverty of the city of New York existing among members of the Jewish race.”
The young man did not demur.
“Are you sure that all capitalists are Jewish?” questioned the young lady. “How about Morgan?”
“He’s a Jew,” growled the youth.
“How about Rockefeller and Mellon and Henry Ford? Tell me they’re Jewish too.”
“No, they aren’t. They’re all right. But the Jews…”
A middle-aged man, a non-German, who pulled from his pocket a Rosary which he waved in front of the young Nazi, shouted:
“Listen, you. I’m a Catholic. And if you bring up any reliigous question, I’ll punch you in the nose.”
The threat of corporal punishment, a device used widely by Nazi Germans and practiced with punctual regularity, ended the discussion for the time being.
KNOW-NOTHING GERMANS
It is notable in connection with the demonstrations in New York, most of which are nipped in the bud by police or enterprising non-Aryans, that the one clause which is prominently understood and heeded by the Nazis is that condemning the Jews. Observers remark at the ignorance in which the Nazi-support is steeped when questions regarding the economic, political or social policy of Hitler are discussed. A fraction of their number are aware of the name of the party to which they profess allegiance. How and when Nazi “socialism” will be put into practice means little to them, possibly because of their ignorance. An explanation offered by one of the 86th Street orators as to meaning of the word Socialism was that “we all work together, socially-like. Everybody is included.”
Meanwhile the show down along 86th Street goes on unremittingly every night. It is gratis! Everybody is admitted! Perhaps you too will go down and lend an ear!
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.
