Although the people of Germany had no alternative but to register an emphatic “yes” to the policies of Chancellor Hitler in today’s plebiscite, the Nazis took no chance that the affirmation they desired would be less than they intended it to be. Consequently, they turned toward the half million Jews remaining in Germany with a stern demand that they, too, voice approval of Hitler’s assumption of supreme power.
Speaking at Nuremberg Saturday, Julius Streicher, overlord of Franconia and the most notorious anti-Semitic agitator in Germany, demanded that every Jew vote “yes.”
SAYS JEWS PLANNED TO SKIP
Charging that some Jews had registered for voting but intended to board trains today in order to avoid casting their ballots under the pretext that they were voting in another city, Streicher warned the Jews of Nuremberg that they had to vote in Nuremberg under the watchful eye of the local Nazi machine.
While leaving the city might make it possible for Jews in other communities to avoid voting, this method of escaping a distasteful action would not be tolerated in Nuremberg, Streicher declared.
Propaganda Minister Goebbels, addressing a huge gathering of “yes” voters Friday at the Sports Palast in Berlin, denounced the Jews once again.
“There are only two kinds of persons who change their names,” he asserted, “Jews and criminals.”
Premier Klagges of Braunschweig, addressing the gathering, declared that the Bible revealed that the “Jews had invented a racialism so cruel that it cannot be compared to ours.”
VOTERS CLOSELY CHECKED
That the Jews would go to the polls in large numbers appeared definite in view of the minute check of all persons eligible to vote taken by Nazi campaigners and the threats freely voiced against those eligible to cast ballots but failing to do so.
The proclamation of the Union of National German Jews, calling upon all German Jews to voice approval of Hitler in the plebiscite was lightly regarded, since the union, headed by Dr. Max Naumann, veteran anti-Zionist and fanatical German nationalist, has few members and little or no influence. The followers of Naumann, even before Hitler came to power, were in favor of the Nazi program with the exception of clauses barring native German Jews. Permeated with the nationalist spirit, they have continually tried to find some way of aligning themselves with the Nazi party.
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.
