News Brief

Appointment of a new government in Prague has been accompanied by a sudden intensification of the anti-Jewish campaign in the controlled press, with several papers publishing identical and apparently officially inspired articles urging a speedy and radical solution of the Jewish question, it was reported here today.

Meanwhile, agreement on the problem has not yet been reached by the so-called “Jewish Commission” of the Czech Union of National Unity, nor has the commission clearly defined who is to be regarded legally as a Jew.

Some papers suggest adoption of an anti-Jewish law on the Hungarian model, while others recommend following the Slovak pattern and still others advance Germany’s Nuremberg Laws.

The Economic Commission of the Union discussed “Aryanization” of trade and decided to establish a special “Aryanization” Commission in view of the disappointment in Czech economic quarters at the transferring to Germans only of Jewish enterprises. Czech papers accordingly urge more radical “Aryanization” methods by the Czechs to satisfy Czech claims, expressing fears that the stocks of Germanized firms will be exported to the Reich. On the other hand, many Czech firms refuse to display “Aryan” signs distributed by the Merchants Association, declaring that they are not “Aryan” but Czech firms.

Increasing anti-Jewish violence is reported in the provinces, accompanied by rising suicide figures. In Maerisch-Ostrau, Pilsen and Bruenn Jews are frequently beaten on the streets and forced to clean streets and lavatories. The Gestapo in Prague has arrested the poet George Mannheimer, editor of the periodical, Wahrheit.