For the second time in two years, the membership of the New York Country Medical Society voted overwhelmingly to reject the membership application of a speech specialist from Vienna who had been linked with the Nazis. In both cases, the membership voted to reject the favorable recommendation of its executive committee.
The applicant, Dr. Godfrey Arnold, has denied that he was ever a member of the Nazi Party. He did admit, however, that he applied twice for membership in the party under duress from his superiors at the University of Vienna. Dr. Arnold insisted that both applications were rejected, one by the Gestapo and the other by a Nazi court, on the grounds that he was “politically unreliable,” The membership at last night’s meeting questioned the veracity of these denials.
Dr. Leslie Tuchman, only member of the membership committee to vote against admission of Dr. Arnold, said that there was “no test of political ideology” for membership in the medical society, but charged that Dr. Arnold had dented membership in the Nazi Party while the Office of the United States High Commissioner said that he had been accepted to membership in the Nazi Party in 1940 and that he had belonged to the Storm Troop organization. On these grounds he called for rejection of Dr. Arnold’s application.
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.
