U.S. Government Watching Treatment of Jewish War Prisoners in Germany, Hull Says

The United States is keeping careful watch to prevent discrimination by the German authorities against American Jews who become prisoners of war, Secretary of State Cordell Hull told Rep. Arthur Klein, N.Y. Dem., in a letter read on the floor of the House.

Klein said: “knowing the racial theories of the Nazis, and the treatment accorded to civilians because they are not members of the ‘Master Race,’ I have wondered what treatment our Jewish soldiers were receiving.” He said he wrote to the Secretary of State expressing the fear that the “Aryan” laws were being applied to Nazi prisoners.

Hull replied, “The Department is exercising special vigilance to prevent discrimination by the German authorities against American prisoners of war upon a racial or religious basis and it has not so far obtained evidence establishing that such discrimination exists.”