Although deprived of the right to exercise their citizenship by voting in Chancellor Hitler’s plebiscite on Anschluss, Austrian Jews did not count the day altogether lost, since, rightly or wrongly, the impression is growing that the plebiscite marks a turning point of sorts in the Jewish situation.
(Provisional results in the Anschluss plebiscite announced at 10:40 p.m. (Berlin time) showed that out of 30,493,320 eligible to vote in the 34 districts which had reported by that time, 30,375,411 cast ballots of which 30,051,575 were “yes” votes — a total of 98.94 per cent — 276,216 were “no” and 47,420 ballots were invalidated, according to the Havas News Agency. The preliminary reports were interpreted in Vienna as indicating that the total favoring Anschluss would be higher than 95 per cent, and it was even suggested that a “yes” percentage of 98 or 99 per cent might be reached, according to Havas.)
It is believed that contact will now be permitted between Austrian and German Jews. It has been known that for some time members of Berlin Jewish organizations were prepared to come to Vienna to render what aid is possible, but were told that such trips were impossible until “after the plebiscite.”
Some quarters report private assurances that more stable conditions will prevail after the plebiscite. The most recent developments do not point to any immediate cessation of anti-Jewish activities.
Marianna Trebitsch-Stein, Jewish author and translator, committed suicide last Monday at the age of 54. The home of Dr. Desider Friedmann, arrested president of the Vienna Jewish Community, has been thoroughly searched. Officers of the Gestapo have been visiting Jewish business houses and demanding to see cash books, asking particularly about entries on March 10 and 11, when Jews reportedly contributed large sums to ex-Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg.
The Wiener Journal today published a lengthy article describing the aims of the Nuremberg racial laws of 1935. It is noteworthy also that copies of the laws are sold no street corners at ten groschen each.
After Chancellor Hitler’s address here last night concluding the plebiscite campaign, the crowd sang the Dutch hymn, “Netherlands Song of Thanksgiving.” The version sung was written sixty years ago by a “non-Aryan” poet named Josef Weil.
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