American Jews were the subject of a veiled attack by the German and Austrian War Veterans League of the United States which met in the Motor Club here Wednesday night. The anti-German boycott received a verbal walloping for being a movement “opposing President’s recovery program”, and therefore was violently condemned as “un-American.”
Delegates of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania meeting at the convention listened with obvious enthusiasm as Fred Obermueller, national commander, and Richard H. Krueger, of Newark, former national commander of the League, denounced the boycott as a “two-edged sword.” The phrase some time ago became a recognized contribution to American belles-lettres when the German-American Chamber of Commerce warned that the boycott jeopardized foreign investment interest payments.
The resolution passed by the League read in part:
“The boycott is a two-edged sword injuring not only the recovery program of the President but German American relations as well.”
Committees were named to “watch” the boycott activities in Newark, Camden, Elizabeth, Hackensack, Passaic, Paterson, Union City, New York and Philadelphia. Data gathered will be submitted to the German-American Chamber of Commerce.
In an address Mr. Krueger assailed Dr. Ignatz T. Griebl, who has recently been queried by the grand jury in connection with the Nazi propaganda activities in the United States, and said he has evidence tending to show that certain German American shipping lines are “affiliated” with the Nazi party in Berlin.
The Hudson County delegation also voiced protest against the investigation being conducted by Representative Samuel Dickstein of New York, chairman of the House Immigration Committee.
The American Legion was another target of criticism for allegedly publishing a book entitled “The Fundamental Sources of War”, a volume said to describe German atrocities before the World War and today.
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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.