Vice-Chancellor von Papen’s recent speech does not mean that Hitler’s regime is on the eve of collapse, said G. Harrison Brown, European representative of the Chicago Committee for the Defense of Human Rights Against Nazism and a student of German affairs, who is in this country for a few weeks, in discussing the repercussions and meanings of the recent statement by the vice-chancellor.
“Herr von Papen’s last speech is one of the most interesting recent symptoms of internal dissension within the German state,” declared Mr. Brown. “It is being interpreted largely according to the preconceived notions of those who make the observations. One interpretation, however, perhaps the commonest, is almost certainly erroneous. It does not mean that Hitler’s regime is on the eve of collapse. It is additional proof that Hitler has not united Germany, but it does not affect the fact that he has centralized authority as never before in that country.
“This therefore is no time to relax efforts in the fight against the menace of Hitlerism. The Jewish situation is largely the barometer of the situation in Germany. It seems probable that public support of the anti-Semitic program is weakening. It remains true that officially it has been pressed to the uttermost. To give Hitlerism even a breathing spell at this present juncture would be lunacy. There must be irrefutable evidence that this cancer in the body politic of Europe has been cut out before anyone who cherishes liberty and freedom of conscience dare slacken his efforts to destroy it.”
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.
