For the first time linking up the fate of German Jewry with that of Jews in other lands under anti-Semitic regimes, the Jewish News Page today urged mass settlement of European Jews in some pioneer land as the only possible solution of “the acute and pressing problem.” (The Jewish News Page, only remaining Jewish paper in the Reich, is a semi-weekly issued under the close control and dictation of the Propaganda Ministry.) The paper asked united support of Jewish emigration bodies for a plan to open British Guiana to Jewish colonization.
“To those who wish to see,” the paper declared, “it is unmistakably evident that areas of settlement are necessary not only for German Jews, but also for Jews in other European lands. Those who appreciate the march of events must see clearly how quickly the Jewish problem in other countries is coming to a climax and how urgent an immediate solution of the problem has become.” Voicing hope for the absorption of 150,000 German Jews in other lands, the paper asserted that this would make easier the resettlement of the rest in some pioneer colony.
Informed Nazi quarters admitted, however, that neither the so-called Schacht plan nor any other transfer scheme had developed the slightest possibility of realization and that the whole emigration problem, resurrected by the moderate Nazis, was no nearer to solution than it was two months or two years ago.
From the viewpoint of Jews here, the only bright spot in a gloomy picture is the fact that the door is not definitely closed to negotiations with the Intergovernmental Refugee Bureau. Usually well informed circles declared that Director George Rublee’s visit to Berlin was very likely, although they denied that a definite time had been fixed.
The Reich is said to have adopted definitely the attitude that foreign countries must pay for their humanitarianism towards the Jews by acceptance of increased German exports or by sending increased foreign exchange into Germany, while Dr. Schacht’s visit to London and other tentative approaches have revealed that the nations are not prepared to accept this. Repeated rumors of negotiations progressing along these lines, arising from sources close to Field Marshal Hermann Goering, have proved baseless.
According to one of the latest rumors, English, Dutch and Belgian bankers have offered a 2,000,000 mark loan to finance Jewish resettlement, accepting the fortunes left behind by the Jews as part security. It is reported that this plan has fallen through because Field Marshal Goering demanded that at least 50 per cent of the loan be sent to Germany, while the bankers wished all of the money to remain outside.
JEWISH CULTURAL ACTIVITIES CENTRALIZED
At the same time a new nation-wide Jewish Cultural Union, modelled on totalitarian lines and taking over all German Jewry’s cultural artistic and entertainment activities from Jan. 1, was officially announced today. The existing local Jewish Culture Leagues will be merged into the new organization. The Cultural Union will become the sole publisher and distributor of Jewish books, newspapers and magazines. Separate departments will be devoted to theater, music, lectures, adult education and new Jewish cinemas. The first such cinema opened last night in one of the large halls of the Union’s headquarters.
Publication will continue of the semi-weekly Jewish News Page and an official monthly journal of the union and information as to Jewish emigration, hitherto published by the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland, central Jewish relief organization. Additional publications may be announced in the future.
Meanwhile, the Voelkischer Beobachter announced a decree which will have the effect of using the expulsion of Jews from the retail trade to help solve Berlin’s pressing housing shortage. On Jan. 1, when the ban on Jews as retailers becomes effective, about 2,500 Jewish stores will be permanently vacated, the paper points out. This, in addition to several thous and Berlin stores vacant for some time, will be sufficient to produce room for at least 6,000 dwellings for “Aryans,” the paper said. Commenting on Jewish business, which after tomorrow will remain “closed forever,” the Nazi organ remarked that these business had profited enormously because of the economic upswing which the paper claimed had taken place since the formation of the Third Reich.
It was announced that the anti-Jewish exhibition, “the Eternal Jew,” has proved “so popular,” that it will remain open until Jan. 13.
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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.
