Seven more prominent Jews were under arrest today as the Nazi secret police continued widespread seizures. The Jews taken into custody are Maximilian Schreier, editor of the weekly Der Morgen; Dr. Bianca Steinhardt; Dr. Carl Lothberger, professor at the Vienna University Medical School; Ludwig Hirschfeld, Raoul Lauernheimer, former member of the editorial staff of the Neue Freie Press; Arnold Eisler, former Undersecretary for Justice, and Emil Mauer, ex-president of Vienna’s seventh district.
Persistent reports that Robert Stricker, Zionist leader and publisher, had committed suicide while under arrest were categorically denied in informed circles. Mr. Stricker, Dr. Desider Friedmann and other arrested Jewish leaders are understood to be in good health.
The authorities today ordered Jews to pay tax bills immediately. The customary privilege of installment paying was withdrawn from Jewish property owners and business men.
Two more soup kitchens were to be opened over the weekend, in addition to the three now in operation, to feed a third of the Viennese Jewish population of about 160,000 which is now compelled to apply to charity for food. It is hoped that another two will be opened this week. The seven kitchens will be able to serve 3,400 meals daily. An attempt to reopen closed middle-class kitchens, charging nominal amounts, has been thwarted by lack of funds.
GOERING DECLARES, ‘JEWS MUST GO’
Hitler’s No. I assistant, Air Minister Hermann Goering, in a speech after his triumphant entry into Vienna last night declared that there was no room for both Jews and Nazis, and the Jews must go, according to the Havas News Agency.
“Vienna is not a German city, because 300,000 Jews live here,” he said. “Vienna must become German again. The Jew must know we do not care to live with him. He must go. They will be expelled systematically, without racial hatred, simply because we will not live with them. That is our unshakable determination.
“It is our will that in four years Vienna again become German Vienna and that the Jews should be expelled. Keppler (Wilhelm Kepler, new Reich Commissar for Austria) will be charged with carrying out this task systematically, without rest and without weakness. No one has anything to say about this affair, which is purely a domestic situation.”
Field Marshal Goering spoke at the Northwest Station Hall, which is situated on the corner of the Leopoldstadt, Vienna’s Jewish quarter. Occupants of neighboring buildings were ordered to keep all lights lit during the evening and Jews were forbidden to watch the proceedings from open windows.
Thousands of Goering’s audience passed through streets lined by Jewish shops and homes, both going to and leaving the meeting. Although Viennese crowds have thus far shown no disposition to riot against Jews, inhabitants of the quarter were feeling greatly apprehensive.
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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.
