Seven hundred students and alumni of the University of Breslau issued a joint protest yesterday against the condemnatory statement against Professor Ernst Cohn of the University, issued by the Rector and Senate.
Professor Cohn, who has for months been the target of attack by the Nazis at the University because he is a Jew, attacks which led to the closing of the institution on several occasions, had in the past been protected by the rector and the faculty.
Last Saturday, however, the Senate of the University, joined by Rector
Brockelman issued a statement declaring that “Professor Cohn’s lectures cannot be maintained since Professor Cohn has not maintained the necessary political reserve.”
The statement referred to a declaration made by Professor Cohn to a newspaperman’s inquiry concerning the merits of granting Leon Trotsky, the exiled Soviet leader, asylum in Germany. To this, Professor Cohn replied: “Spiritual workers always deserve protection if they avoid agitation as politicians of whom we have plenty ourselves.”
The condemnation of Professor Cohn on this score has aroused widespread protests, particularly among professors in other Universities.
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