It is generally understood in inside circles that the German cruiser Karlsruhe did not come to New York because the Nazi diplomats feared demonstrations in “the very citadel of Jewry.”
The ship gained a reputation for having on board considerable Nazi propaganda, which was said to have been landed on the Pacific Coast. The reputation has stuck to the cruiser, much to the discomfort of officers and crew. Most of the men aboard wanted to visit relatives and friends in New York. A number of the ship’s officers came down to exchange Hitlerite salutes with their New York sympathizers, but the seamen were forced to utilize such diversion facilities as Boston offers. Which, we know from experience, is nothing much.
In the back of such minds as they may have, the editors of the Deutsche Zeitung, Nazi weekly organ, are intertaining aspirations for a daily newspaper, which will report the news of Hitler’s Germany “fairly and squarely.”
This accounts for the vicious attacks at meetings of Friends of New Germany on the Ridder publications. The attacks are made almost without exception by the editors of the Deutsche Zeitung, and their methods somewhat transcend the tactics of Bonfils and Tammen, late owners of the Denver Post. Those who have read that elegant yarn, “Timberline,” will remember how Bon and Tam spent both waking and sleeping hours thinking and dreaming ideas for the ruination of their competitors.
The Ridder Brothers, incidentally, appear to be in a tough spot. With the German American Conference (of which Victor Ridder was president until last week) gone Nazi, and with a good share of the German readers in Yorkville gone the same way, the publishers are confronted with prospects of a dwindling circulation unless they report Hitler’s Germany and the activities of Nazis here in a favorable light.
This, we are certain, the Ridders will not do. Their papers have rated high among the New York dailies during their century of existence, and it is safe to assume that their opinions will not be blown about with every political zephyr. In any event, the brothers don’t appear to be pessimistic over the present condition.
Someone has taken the trouble to send us information about a large department store together with the concern’s advertisement of Agfa cameras. We learn, contrary to our correspondent’s assertion, that the cameras may have been made in the United States, all of which concurs with the firm’s announced intention of handling no more German goods.
The correspondent, however, advances a slogan which may well apply to stores cooperating with the anti-Nazi boycott in public and supporting Hitler in private. It goes: “It’s smart to be shifty.”
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.
