A report from Vienna yesterday informs us that the Austrian Jews were again reassured by Premier Schuschnigg that they will be treated as equal citizens. A report from Praha declares that this assurance came as a result of the advices of the Austrian diplomatic representatives in the United States and in England.
It is difficult to estimate the value of the assurance given by Schuschnigg yesterday. Only a month ago, Dr. Schuschnigg gave similar assurances in Geneva with regard to treating the Jews of Austria equally with other citizens. But two days after this assurance was given a ghetto was introduced for Jewish children in the Austrian school system, and a large number of Jewish doctors and officials were dismissed from different state and municipal institutions in Vienna.
ACTION WANTED . . .
Diplomatic assurances are therefore to be taken by the Jews with reservations. It is action by the Austrian government that will have to substantiate the assurances given now by Premier Schuschnigg.
Only a year ago, the Jews of the world were in highest sympathy with little Austria and with the fight which she has been carrying on for its independence. Jews abroad were watching Austria’s struggle with keen interest and were willing to help Austria no less than were the Jews in Austria itself.
JEWISH CONFIDENCE SHAKEN . . .
The situation has changed when Premier Schuschnigg embarked on a policy of converting Austria into a pure Catholic state; when he modified the Austrian constitution in a way which enables the government to declare the Jews second-class citizens at any time; when Jewish doctors were being dismissed right and left from municipal and state institutions; when instead of taking the advice of the entire Jewish community on Jewish matters, the government displayed a tendency to associate with one group in the Jewish community only.
Jewish confidence in the Austrian government especially was shaken after it segregated Jewish children last month in special schools. The Jews of the world now find very little difference between the anti-Jewish policy of Austria and the anti-Jewish policy of Germany. What the Nazis are doing openly to the Jews in Germany, the Austrian government is doing in a veiled form to the Jews in Austria. The unfortunate “Aryan paragraph” which has been introduced in Germany ousting all Jews from public life has to all purposes been practiced silently also in Austria.
THE VALUE OF A PROMISE . . .
The assurance which Premier Schuschnigg has now again given to the leaders of the Jewish community in Vienna, promising the Jews equal treatment in Austria, is therefore something which may be of value only if the Austrian government will change its anti-Jewish policy. The value of this assurance may be great not only for the Jews in Austria, but also for the Austrian government.
We have the pledge of Premier Schuschnigg. We shall now await his actions.
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.
