A German court next Monday will for the first time since passage of the “rassenschande” (race pollution) laws at Nuremberg hear charges of their violation by a Jew of foreign citizenship, it became known today.
The case is against a Jew who is a citizen of Poland. According to an official statement by the press department of the provincial court at Altona, a city of about 185,000 near Hamburg, the Polish Jew is accused of violating the Nuremberg law “for the protection of German blood and German honor.” The charge specifies that the defendant is accused of taking an automobile trip with an “Aryan” woman of Hamburg “for the purpose of entering into intimate relations with her.”
Inquiry made by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent at the Polish Embassy here elicited the information that the Polish diplomatic representatives in Germany have made no representations to the German Government “because the case is not a political matter.” It was stated, however, that the Polish Consul at Hamburg will be an observer at the trial.
Announcement of the “rassenschande” trial at Altona confirms a report by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency two days ago that the race pollution laws would be applied to Jews of foreign citizenship. Germany had occasion to test the law against a British Jew, Rudolf Selz, who was arrested several days ago in Munich on similar charges. Selz, however, was released on representations by the British Embassy, but was immediately rearrested and held for deportation, ostensibly as “an undesirable alien.” This course was taken, it is believed, because Germany feared to put a British subject on trial for the as yet untested “rassenschande” law.
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.
