“There is a distinct, definite atmosphere against the Jew throughout Germany. Only a fool would deny that Hitler’s program is to subordinate the Jew in every way. Nobody, not even the non-Jew, dares utter a word of criticism in Hitlerland today. But the Jews have a vast sympathetic following.”
Picturing Germany as a land ruled by fear, Corwin S. Shank, prominent Seattle attorney, former president of the Baptist Convention of America representing 9,000,000 American Baptists, president of the Japan Society here and a local resident forty-three years, today related his impressions of a three-week stay in the land of the swastika from which he has just returned.
“How will it all end? Hitler may be bumped off,” Mr. Shank said. He is trying to do something that has never been done in the history of the world before in attempting to make, by terror and propaganda, every avenue of influence— political, social and economic— subservient to his plans.
“I saw Hitler the day after Hindenburg’s death. He is loud, demonstrative, dynamic. In America he would be a soap-box orator. I spoke to many Jews. But they have to keep their mouths shut.”
Mr. Shank was a Seattle delegate to the recent Baptist convention in Berlin, where resolutions deploring anti-Semitism and other religious hatred, aimed at the Nazi regime, were passed in the very center of Hitlerism—the German capital.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
