A Week’s Events in Review

The much feared announcement that the Jews of Germany may be completely deprived of their citizenship rights came this week from Berlin. It was made by none other than Wilhelm Frick, the German Minister of Interior.

In a statement to the press, Herr Frick disclosed that the new citizenship law, which will annul the citizenship of German Jews and convert them into stateless residents, has already been practically approved by the Cabinet and will be promulgated in the very near future.

ENDS HOPE OF IMPROVED SITUATION

This announcement puts an end to all the hope entertained by some optimists that the Jewish situation in Germany may eventually improve. Deprived of their German citizenship and not enjoying the protection of any other government, the German Jews will be left to the mercy of local Nazi officials who will treat them as they see fit.

The hope that the Jews had placed in Dr. Schacht, the Reich Minister of Economics, also turned this week into mere illusion when it was learned that a secret order has been issued to all Nazi district leaders in Germany to mobilize their forces against Jews in commerce. This order is being carried out in Bavaria where the Jewish population has decreased by 10,000 since the last census. Windows of Jewish shops in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, were painted this week with anti-Jewish slogans calling upon the “Aryan” population to boycott Jewish firms.

GOEBBELS RETURNS TO ANTI-SEMITIC TASKS

Failing in his job in Danzig, Minister Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, this week resumed his activities on the anti-Jewish front. An order issued by the Reich Press Chamber under his instructions gives three months’ notice to all Jewish publications in Germany to liquidate. The German – Jewish press, which hitherto the Nazis regarded with contempt as a “ghetto press,” may thus disappear entirely from the scene, if the negotiations just started by Jewish leaders to save it do not prove successful.

An order forbidding Jewish leaders to refer to Germany as their Fatherland in their public speeches, was also one of the edicts issued this week by Goebbels. Martin Buber, the Jewish philosopher and one of the most important Jewish spiritual leaders in Germany, was prohibited by the Ministry of Propaganda to deliver any public speeches.

JEWISH BOOKS BARRED IN MAILS

The Ministry of Posts in Germany this week issued an order prohibiting the carrying in the mails of any books written by Jews or any advertisements of such books, thus completing the drive against the Jewish printed word.

Finding it easy to suppress Jewish expression in Germany, the Nazis have found it harder sledding at the “Protocols” trial in Berne. Speaking for three consecutive days in court, the Nazi expert from Germany, Col. Ulrich Fleischhauer, made himself a laughing stock with some of his absurd assertions about the alleged “Secret Jewish State”—the legend upon which the Nazis are building their entire anti-Jewish propaganda.

EXPERT ADMITS DIFFICULTY OF TASK

The Nazi “expert” admitted that it is not an easy matter to prove that the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” are not a forged document. The Nazi press could to add weight to Col. Fleischhauer’s arguments and even went so far as to attack the court before the verdict was issued.

While the verdict is expected on Monday, the presiding judge at the trial has frankly indicated his indignation at the methods used by the Nazis to intimidate the court, before the trial concludes.

“If this is ‘Aryan’ spirit, then I would rather give up being an Aryan,” the judge declared, condemning the Nazi tactics.

PALESTINE GERMANS BOYCOTT JEWS

The Nazis also continued this week their efforts in Palestine. The German colony in Sarona, neighboring the all-Jewish city of Tel Aviv, has under Nazi influence decided not to deal with Jews and to buy all their commodities from Arabs only.

With the order issued this week by the Palestine government extending the borders of Tel Aviv, the German colony will be practically surrounded by Jewish settlements. Under the present increased search for land, the Jews would have long since bought up the Sarona territory. The Germans residing there have, however, under Nazi instructions, pledged themselves not to sell their land to Jews.

THE FARM BANK AND A ‘NEW DEAL’ FOR LABOR

In order to prevent the further sale of Arab land to Jews, the government of Palestine has announced the establishment of an Agricultural Bank. This bank will grant long term loans practically to Arabs only, in order to enable them to hold on to their land.

Addressing the Farmers’ Day celebration in Palestine, the High Commissioner made it clear that he is highly interested in helping the Arab landowners and that loans would be granted to them by the bank at very low rates. The establishment of the Agricultural Bank has been greeted with a notable lack of enthusiasm among the Jews.

The High Commissioner of Palestine also announced this week “a new deal” to protect labor in the Holy Land. This “new deal” will make it impossible for employers to dismiss their employes without proper notice or compensation. The new law gives the High Commissioner the power to fix a minimum wage for any occupation in Palestine. Penalties are provided for violation.

ZIONIST LEADERS EN ROUTE TO POLAND, U. S.

With the next Zionist Congress approaching the leading members of the Zionist Executive left Palestine this week for Poland, America and other countries, with a view to stimulating the Congress election campaign. The Zionist Executive is especially interested in offsetting the propaganda of the Revisionists for the creation of an Independent Zionist Organization.

The members of the Zionist Executive seem also to be somewhat concerned about the fact that they will now have two fronts to fight: one is the Revisionist front and the other is the Agudah. Both have now openly proclaimed their ambition for independent political activities which may rival the political activities of the World Zionist Executive.

The member of the Zionist Executive who is en route to America is David Ben-Gurion, labor leader and head of the political department of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. Mr. Ben-Gurion will doubtless be warmly welcomed on his arrival to New York, since he strove sincerely for peace and has shown it by signing in London the peace agreement with Jabotinsky which was later rejected by the Histadruth plebiscite in Jerusalem.

Mr. Ben-Gurion, upon his arrival in America will devote himself chiefly to the Shekel campaign for the American Laborites. Although there is no doubt that the next Zionist Congress— with the Revisionists absenting themselves—will yield a majority to the Laborites, Mr. Ben-Gurion is interested in seeing that the Laborite elements in America come to this Congress with a stronger representation than the last Congress. A stronger representation from America would weaken the influence which the Hashomer Hazair, the Left Wing of the Histadruth, may exercise at the Congress in its opposition to the present Laborite leaders.