All world events were overshadowed this week by the conference which took place between Sir John Simon and Hitler in Berlin in an effort to prevent a new world war.
It was at this conference that Sir John drew Hitler’s attention to the Jewish question, indicating that the mistreatment of Jews in Germany is also a problem in which leading statesmen of the world are interested.
The outcome of the talks was not as optimistic as some British statesmen originally expected. Hitler made it clear to Sir John that he meant what he said when he issued the order to restore the German army to prewar strength. Furthermore, Hitler made it clear that the Germany of today will not feel content until it obtains the Polish Corridor, Memel, a part of Czechoslovakia and whatever else is necessary to have the Third Reich big and strong.
JEWISH PROBLEM FORCED TO OCCUPY BACK SEAT
With this challenging program so impertinently outlined by Hitler, Simon was faced with a situation where he could not press the Jewish issue.
Compared with the dangers which Hitler’s program carries for the peace of the world, the Jewish question in Germany constituted for the British Foreign Minister a second-class matter which could not be discussed elaborately.
As a result of Sir John’s visit to Berlin, Sir Philip Sassoon, British Under-Secretary for Aviation, a Jew, appeared in Parliament this week with a proposal to enlarge the British air forces. Sir Philip, who seldom goes before the House of Commons, acted this time as the spokesman of the government. He pointed out the menace of Nazi Germany not only for England but for all Europe.
REICH PERSECUTIONS CONTINUE UNABATED
The Simon Hitler conference did not prevent the Nazis from continuing their anti-Jewish persecutions in the very presence of Sir John. The German newspapers went about their anti-Jewish attacks even more vigorously this week than during the last few months. Speeches were made in all parts of the Reich calling for a renewed boycott against the Jews and addresses were delivered in which Nazi officials went so far as to urge that Jewish capital should be confiscated in Germany in order to force the Jews out of the country.
It was reported this week that the German cabinet is now preparing a law which will once and forever clarify the status of the Jews in the Reich and definitely establish whether the Jews are still to be considered citizens of Germany or merely inhabitants.
ARMY’S RESTORATION RAISES MAJOR ISSUE
The idea of issuing such a law was born in connection with the question whether Jews should or should not be conscripted into the new German army. This question is of major importance to the Jews of Germany, who lost some 13,000 heroes during the last war. From all indications it may be assumed that the Nazi government will decide to consider the Jews as nothing but inhabitants, not as citizens, and thus eliminate them from the army.
The Jewish viewpoint on this problem was expressed this week in a memorandum submitted to the Nazi government by the Reichvertretung, the supreme representative body of German Jews. In this memorandum the leaders of German Jewry expressed hope that they will be given a chance to show their loyalty to the Fatherland by being taken into the army. This is the second memorandum which the Jews in Germany have submitted to the Nazis. The first was on the intolerable suffering of German Jews.
Just as the first memorandum, which was submitted to Hitler himself, did not result in any alleviation of the Jewish position in Germany and was not even acknowledged, the same is expected also with regard to the second memorandum. Jewish leaders outside of Germany are definitely of the opinion that the Nazi government will not modify its attitude toward the Jews, no matter what pressure may be used.
SEES CONDITIONS TAKING TURN FOR THE WORSE
Reporting last Thursday before a selected group of Jewish leaders in America the impressions of his visit to Naziland, Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, one of the leaders of the Joint Distribution Committee, made it clear that the general feeling prevailing in Germany is that conditions have changed for the worst so far as the Jews are concerned. There is a determination to show them no mercy and to make them the scapegoats for everything, Rabbi Wise stated.
It was at this meeting that Rabbi Wise disclosed the starting fact that 11,000 German refugees returned to Germany in 1934, in the vain hope that conditions would improve and that Jew-baiting in the Reich would decline. Most of them are now in concentration camps, since the Nazis are determined to discourage the return of German Jews from the countries of exile.
DRIVE AGAINST VETERANS IN PRESS, MEDICINE
The dark future for German Jews which Rabbi Wise reported was emphasized by an order issued this week ousting from employment even those Jewish journalists who were exempted from the restrictions imposed by the so-called “Aryan Paragraph” as war veterans. A new drive against Jewish doctors and lawyers who are still permitted to practice as participants in the war was also started this week.
The somber developments in Germany were brightened this week by the reports from Spain on the festivities which the Spanish government has arranged in honor of the eight hundredth birthday of the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides.
High Spanish officials expressed their joy that the wrongs done to Jews in ancient Spain had been forgiven and that representatives of all Jewish communities in the world are now participating in the Maimonides celebration in Cordoba, the city where Maimonides was born.
“Without peace with Jewry there is no world peace,” one of the speakers said, alluding to the present situation in Germany.
CANADA GIVES PREFERENCE TO PALESTINE ORANGES
Another bright event in Jewish life this week was the announcement of the Canadian government that no customs duty will in the future be levied upon oranges from Palestine. During the last few years Jewish orange growers in Palestine have been fighting for imperial preference. They demanded from the British government that Palestine products should be accorded equal treatment in all British dominions as far as customs are concerned, since Palestine is a territory under British administration. Representations have been made also directly to the Canadian government.
The present decision of the Canadian authorities to relieve Palestine citrus products from custom duties opens a new market for Palestine oranges, which are the basic item of Palestine export. This decision alleviates to a large extent the fear prevailing in Palestine that the opportunities of placing Palestine oranges on foreign markets are shrinking in view of the competition coming from Spain and the United States.
Another welcome item of news concerning Palestine was the report that a meeting of leading Arab sheiks in Transjordan decided to ask the British government to open Transjordan for Jewish settlement. It has long been known that the leading sheiks of Transjordan are envious of Palestine prosperity and should like to see the Jews develop. Transjordan just as they developed Palestine. The Palestine High Commissioner is, however, in the way. Whenever the question of admitting Jews into Transjordan comes up, he always finds a way of hampering it.
TRANSJORDAN SHEIKS ALTER THEIR STAND
Now the sheiks of Transjordan have realized that, if the Jews will not be permitted to enter Transjordan, Jewish capital will flow to Syria, since Jewish expansion from Palestine is unavoidable. Fearing this, they decided this week to press more vigorously their demand for admitting Jews into their country.
On the other hand, the Grand Mufti of Palestine summoned this week a number of Arab leaders and landowners and made them take an oath that they will not sell land to Jews.
The problem of obtaining new land from Arabs in Palestine and in Transjordan was dealt with at large by Moshe Shertok, the member of the Executive of the Jewish Agency in charge of the political department, who reported last Thursday evening to the session of the Actions Committee on the political situation and on the relations between the Jews and the Arabs.
Mr. Shertok was very optimistic about eventual Jewish settlement in Transjordan. He emphasized, however, that in Palestine the land problem is provoking Arab hostility, which must be met tactfully.
The session of the Actions Committee at which Mr. Shertok delivered his address will be one of the historical gatherings in the Zionist movement. As a result of this session, the Revisionists may be compelled to leave the Zionist Organization and form a separate independent Zionist party. The issue involved is the discipline within the ranks of the Zionist Organization, to which the Revisionists do not want to submit until a roundtable conference of representatives of all Zionist groups is called.
SENTIMENT IS OPPOSED TO DESIRED PARLEY
The sentiment during the first meetings of the Actions Committee, which will be in session for another five days, was against convocation of a round-table conference. Hope is still entertained, however, that before the session is concluded some kind of compromise may be reached which will prevent a formal split in the Zionist Organization.
Important in the decision will be the voice of the Laborite members of the Actions Committee. A plebiscite held this week in Palestine among the members of the Laborite party and the Jewish Federation of Labor rejected the peace agreement concluded between David Ben-Gurion, leader of the Laborites, and Vladimir Jabotinsky, leader of the Revisionists. This plebiscite disclosed that there is a sharp division of opinion in the ranks of the Laborites themselves and that this division may lead to a split in the Laborite party, since the extreme Laborites of the Ha-Shomer Hazair do not approve of the policy of the moderate Laborites, led by Ben-Gurion.
A blow to the Zionist Executive was landed this week by the Palestine government when it announced that immigration certificates will henceforth be granted directly to employers. This takes away the monopoly which the Zionist Executive enjoyed over the distribution of certificates. This also limits the control of the Executive over the elements which will enter the country. The Executive will, however, continue to get immigration certificates under the so-called labor schedule, as heretofore.
Joseph Blumenthal was a member of the Committee of Seventy that was instrumental in overthrowing the Tweed ring.
Simeone de Guizolfi, Genoese Jew, married Bikhakhanim, reigning princess of the Taman peninsula in the Crimea in 1419.
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.
