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Cooperative Houses in Chicago Suburbs Practice Anti-jewish Bias

July 24, 1963
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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An average of at least 20.2 per cent of co-operative housing listings in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago are “restricted” against sale to Jews, it was revealed here by the Sentinel, local English-Jewish weekly publication. The discrimination was reported on the basis of a survey made by Albert Weiss, of the local office of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League.

Real estate operators in North Shore communities exchange their listings and hide their anti-Jewish limitations through a notation often reading: “Owner reserves the right to refuse or reject any and all offers.” That phrase, according to Mr. Weiss, is a subterfuge, meaning “no Jews wanted.”

The survey embraced about 3,000 co-operative housing listings in 10 North Shore communities, and showed that the discriminatory notation on listings existed in from 31 per cent of the cases to 50 per cent. In one community, it was found that 100 per cent of the homes offered for sale are closed to Jewish purchasers.

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