German Priests in Slovakia Baptize Jews to Save Them from Deportation

German priests in Slovakia were notified that “strongest disciplinary action” will be taken against them if they continue to baptize Slovakian Jews, it is reported in the Karpathen-Deutsche Post reaching here today.

The Slovakian Nazi newspaper discloses that German churches in Slovakia are accepting Jews as members in order to save them from being deported to Nazi-occupied Eastern territories. Citing a number of cases where German pastors have baptized Jews and admitted them into membership of the German Protestant parish in Slovakia, the Nazi newspaper threatens these pastors with “consequences.” These ministers, the paper says, are not only sabotaging the anti-Jewish policy of the Slovak government, but they are also defiling the honor of the German master race.

The hunting down of Jews by the Slovak police throughout the country, is provoking pro-Jewish sympathy not only among the clergy, but even among certain Slovak officials, and is resented by the majority of the Slovak people. The Grenzbote, a Nazi newspaper published in Bratislava, reports that many Slovaks are embittered over the removal of the Jews. One government official in Eastern Slovakia was arrested for hiding local Jews, the paper discloses. It reveals that even the officials who have been appointed to “Aryanize” Jewish enterprises complain that they cannot manage these enterprises without the help of the former Jewish owners.

The panic prevailing among the Jews in Slovakia is best illustrated in a report in the Grenzbote that many Jews, in an effort to save themselves from deportation, are joining the Protestant church prior to becoming converted to Catholicism. This, the Nazi paper says, is due to the fact that the probationary period required by the Catholic church is much shorter for Protestants than for Jews. The Grenzbote also reports that the Calvinist pastor, Rev. Branyik, has baptized a large number of Jews in Eastern Slovakia, including 44 in Bratislava.