A policy of complete absorption of all Czech Jews who do not emigrate to Palestine or any other land will be followed by the Czeckoslovak Government, it was announced today in a broadcast from Prague by Dr. Eric Kolar, secretary of the Committee to Abolish the Nuremberg anti-Jewish Laws.
Reviewing at great length the effects of the anti-Jewish measures introduced by the Germans and their collaborators in the former Czech Protectorate, Dr. Kolar estimated that hardly one-tenth of the 118,000 Jews who lived in Bohemia-Maravia before the German occupation have survived.
“This small number should no longer create a Jewish problem in our country,” he declared. He admitted that there was anti-Semitism in Czechoslovakia “resulting from commercial competition,” but said that now the situation has changed, “since many Jews expect to remain in manual work into which they were forced during the war, while others joined the government services and the Czech army-in-exile, thus there will be more Jews henceforth in government and in military service than before the war.”
Speaking of the intention of the Czech authorities to completely solve the Jewish problem in Czechoslovakia, Dr. Kolar expressed the hope that “the survivors of the older Jewish generation, who were educated in a German spirit and cherished the German language, will not create obstacles to the complete assimilation of Jewish Czechs.” He emphasized that “the same attitude is expected from the so-called Jewish nationalists and from the Zionists.”
ZIONISM IS NO LONGER AN INTERNAL JEWISH PROBLEM, OFFICIAL SAYS
“Sad experiences,” he continued, “certainly strengthened the Zionist movement. But, Zionism is no longer an internal Jewish affair. The non-Jewish Czech population must realise that Zionism is an international problem. The Zionist aspirations are humanly just.
“The Jewish population must, at the same time, realise that there are only two alternatives – either Jewish nationality within an independent Jewish State, or complete and full assimilation. Half-measures are illogical and would only prolong solution of the problem.”
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.
