chine parts from which the mark “Germany” had been ground off.
Bergen was released on $500 bail. The charges were preferred by the Anti-Nazi Boycott Committee of the American Jewish Congress. The case was the first under the Wald Act, Section 435 of the Penal Code, which makes the owner of a business personally responsible for articles in his place of business on which the label of the country of origin is defaced.
The action was taken by the Boycott Committee to prevent the widespread practice of selling German merchandise without labeling its origin. S. A. Raboy, a member of the boycott committee’s legal subcommittee of which Joseph Tenenbaum is the head, acted as attorney for the American Jewish Congress.
Magistrate Goldstein stated from the bench that “Americans are entitled to know what they are buying. This law was passed for their protection.
“If they want to buy foreign goods,” he said, “they may do so, but they are entitled to know where it comes from. If they want to boycott a foreign country to bring it to its senses, they can do so too.”
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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.
