The British Military Government in Germany is displaying leniency towards Nazis, at the same time that it treats Jews like all other Germans, Dr. Philip Auerbach, chairman of the Union of Jewish Communities in the Rhineland and Westphalia, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.
Dr. Auerbach, who came to London to attend the international Jewish conference which has just concluded, said that German Jews who desire to remain in Germany will be unable to do so unless British policy undergoes a radical change. “I do not have the impression,” he said, “that the military government desires to help us.”
Alleging that the British are reluctant to take action against Nazis, Dr. Auerbach said that while high-ranking Nazis, who helped to carry out and enforce the anti-Jewish measures, have been named to administrative positions by the military authorities, he was dismissed from his post in the provincial council of the Rhineland–to which he was reinstated after his release from Buchenwald–because he refused to compromise with the Nazis, and was “over-insistent on their removal.”
GERMAN NON-JEWS GIVEN PREFERENCE OVER JEWS IN REOPENING SHOPS
In many cases, the Jewish communal leader charged, German non-Jews are given preference over Jews. He said that while permits for reopening commercial and industrial establishments are freely given to non-Jews, they are frequently refused to Jews. However, Jews are not exempt from taxes imposed by the British upon residents of their zone of occupation, Dr. Auerbach said, “thus we are called on to foot the bills for Nazi crimes.”
Dr. Auerbach disclosed that he is submitting a memorandum to the War Office containing the following requests:
1. The military government should promulgate a law ordering banks to pay deposits of Jews into a special account of the military government. If it is established that the owner of the funds has died without leaving heirs, the money should be turned over to the Jewish community.
2. Jewish movable property now in the hands of individuals or public institutions should be surrendered to the Jewish communities.
3. Twenty-five percent of the property levy imposed on Jews in 1938, following the murder of Ernst vom Eath in Paris, should be immediately refunded.
4. Jews should be exempted from all taxation for three years.
The Union of Jewish communities which he heads, Dr. Auerbach declared, is affiliated with the Jewish Central Committee in the British zone, which includes both German and displaced Jews. “We no longer differentiate between German and Polish Jews,” he added.
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.
