Anti-Semitic material of several varieties is being distributed in the Albany area and postal officials and police have been unable to trace their origin. In the village of Westerlo, a rural area outside of Albany, neo-Nazi newspapers were placed in mailboxes. Bearing a return address of Lincoln, Nebraska, these handouts appear to be written by the same American neo-Nazi group that is printing anti-Semitic leaflets for distribution in West Germany.
Albany postal officials have forwarded copies of the literature to inspectors in New York City, because they were placed in mailboxes rather than mailed. Those who made the unauthorized deliveries, if caught, could be charged with failing to purchase postage.
In Albany, the state capital, residents of an area that has a large Jewish population have found yellow pieces of paper on their car windshields. Printed in capital letters by a crude press, the message on the leaflets states: “Jews beware. Look you scorners. Wonder and die. Acts 13:41.”
Last Tuesday, a similar leaflet was found on the bulletin board of Temple Israel, the city’s largest Conservative congregation. In a new twist, this particular piece was signed “Vilis Hazners” in ink. Hazners is an alleged Nazi war criminal facing an Immigration and Naturalization Services hearing in Albany.
Rabbi Paul B. Silton, education director of Temple Israel, has been leading community efforts to see that Hazners is deported. The rabbi received a threatening phone call several weeks ago and was told by a man with a thick European accent, “If you people don’t stop stirring up trouble, the same thing will happen to you here that happened in the old country.”
Dr. Steven Windmueller, executive director of the Albany Jewish Community Council, said the leaflets began turning up about a week ago. “Whoever is responsible seems to work erratically, as this is the first time since last fall that the literature has resurfaced.” Windmueller added that last week he received an unsigned letter in his office that said: “Jews–the scourge of the earth.”
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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.
