Germany’s harassed Jews were given scant solace tonight by promises that “cellar” prices will be fixed for liquidation of their businesses and that those Jews would be unmolested whose activities were helpful to the Reich’s foreign trade. These two announcements, neither of them official, were only a ripple, however, against the anti-Semitic tide.
Feature of the day’s developments was confirmation in American circles that United States Ambassador Hugh R. Wilson had lodged representations against damages caused to American property during last week’s savage wave of vandalism. The American note made no attempt to deal with the question in detail, it was learned, but reserved the right to make any other representations deemed necessary for the defense of American interests.
No official comment has yet been forthcoming regarding President Roosevelt’s condemnation yesterday of Berlin’s tactics. It was expected that Reich political spokesmen would have something to say tomorrow, however. Neither Ambassador Wilson’s move nor his “recall” home to report to President Roosevelt made any impression on the Reich newspapers’ tirade against Anglo-U.S. criticism of the new Nazi campaign.
One of the negative assurances given Jewish merchants was made by Trade Ministerial Director Krueger in a review of the situation published by the Berliner Tageblatt. He stressed at the outset that the new anti-Jewish measures would have been taken in any event, regardless of the murder of Ernst vom Rath. Krueger went on to assert that only two-thirds of the existing Jewish establishments will disappear as a result of Berlin’s plan to compress the retail trade. Prices to be paid by “Aryan” successors for those businesses to be continued will be low, he said, but care must be taken to see that they do not go below a certain level.
Nothing must be allowed to interfere with the Reich’s export trade, the Koelnische Zeitung said in another reassuring note. The newspaper said, “if certain supplementary business could be realized by maintaining a Jew in an enterprise, this Jew will remain in the enterprise.”
Both the Koel nische Zeitung and Krueger hinted at some sort of “ghetto” life for the Jews. The newspaper said there were no definite plans yet for their concentration in certain specified areas, but that in certain cases Jewish families would be lodged in Jewish buildings, particularly in the big cities.
Jewish store owners must repair their damaged property and pay their employes full salaries until the end of December, when they must retire, Krueger said. “That does not mean,” he explained, “that the Israelites will be obliged to remain in business until the end of the year, but only that they must place it in shape to avoid disorders in economy.”
Possible confirmation of the Koelnische Zeitung’s predictions was seen in Krueger’s statement that several ordinances relating to the wholesale and export trade were under preparation, particularly designed to maintain Germany’s foreign trade.
He explained that final decision regarding collection of the 1,000,000-Mark “atonement” fine levied on the Jews will not be taken before next week. It was still uncertain, he said, whether it will be imposed by increased taxation or through creation of a special tax. “In any case,” he said, “confiscated insurance payment will not be deducted from the payment of this 1,000,000,000 Marks.”
Two of the seven billion marks worth of property owned by the Jews in Germany has already been taken from them, Economy Minister Walther Funk said here last night, and the Government plans to take away the rest and to eliminate the Jews entirely from the nation’s commercial life. Dr. Funk spoke on the occasion of M.R. Zangen’s installation as the new chief of the National Industries Group.
In return for their property, which will be transferred to “Aryan” ownership, the Jews will receive indemnity in the form of Government securities, the Economy Minister declared.
“Particular care will be taken,” he promised, “that the (Jewish-owned) merchandise stocks, so important and so precious to Germany, will be made available to consumption by the German people without decline in worth or substance.”
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.
