A complete account of the anti-Jewish outbreak at Arnswalde, reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency March 1, but without details, which were consored, reached this city through German insurance companies which had their losses re-insured with a Swiss insurance company.
Many victims of the Arnswalde raid were insured by German companies, which reported that on the night of February 24 all Jewish houses and stores, the synagogue and other community institutions in the town, were suddenly bombarded with stones, apparently as the result of a special order.
The bombardment was accompanied by revolver shots into houses through doors and windows. Not a single window pane was left whole in any Jewish house. The synagogue, the community house and the residence of the rabbi were invaded by storm troopers, who destroyed everything in the synagogue, extinguished the ever-burning holy candle and desecrated the holy books.
The terror continued throughout the night. Next morning the majority of the Jewish population fled, leaving everything behind.
The report emphasized the fact that the insurance companies suffered heavily as a result of the incident and stated that no one had been arrested as yet. (Reports from Berlin March 1 said several storm troopers were being held in connection with the attacks).
Another report by the companies concerned similar occurrences at Neuwedell, where Nazis maltreated the Jews in the hope that they would thus force them to leave the town.
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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.
