Goering, Prussian President of the ministry, president of the Reichstag, honorary general-and, since recently, also honorary chief master of artisans- finds every instance in which an emigrant escapes his concentration camps exceedingly painful. That is really very petty of him: no matter how great the number of refugees may be, the human material which he ordered tormented even at home should in itself suffice for his undoubtedly highly developed sadistic exaltation.
This Goering recently issued a decree which, in part, gives vent to his anger in new attacks upon the refugees, but which; in part, makes an attempt to lure emigrants back into Germany. Explanations which the authorities give to the decree expressly emphasize that much attention would be given the minister’s announcement that the material status of many of the emigrants is very poor. It is all the more reprehensible that in the decree and, even more sharply in the explanations, full security to those returning is guaranteed only in those cases in which the emigrant bad, previous to his return, ingratiated himself with the Hitler regime. Only he who openly lauds the Hitler regime, labels the regime’s continued terrorist state and breach of justice as atrocity propaganda and slanders those of his fellow refugees who tell the truth, in short, those who prove themselves completely coordinated morally will be admitted by the grace of the authorities to general German uniformity.
THE SCHEME FOR SLANDER
The official German press provides the scheme for the slandering of their fellow-emigrants by those who, for the sake of their daily bread, would make themselves a place with Hitler. The press maintains that the number of political emigrants is, as a matter of fact, only very slight. The majority of those who have fled are criminals who have fled becase they feared that the new government would take them to account for their misdeeds.
Of course, the German government did everthing possible to label its political enemies ordinary criminals. Without any scruples whatsoever it introduced proceedings for embezziement, unfaithfulness, murder, stock fraud and bankruptey crimes. As we know it did not succeed with these claims in any country, proof being in the fact that everywhere their game was transparent.
It received these rebuffs at a time when much had not yet occurred in Germany, much which could really show the true character of Hitler in a true light. Since then the rest of the world has learned that it is possible to suspect persons in Germany for months, and then cynically to rob them of their freedom again, even after the highest German court has marked the suspected persons as such by setting them free. Since then the rest of the world has learned that the German government does not dare to permit the corpse of Van der Lubbe to be post-mortemed by his Dutch relatives because it is afraid they will discover the poison in the body, the poison with which they treated the half-wit in order to make him incapable of naming the real incendiaries of the Reichstag.
Who will believe such a government? What foreign government and what refugee emigrant to whom a pardon is promised? Where are the criminals really?
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.
