Between the Lines

What is the truth behind the reports that the Nazi government in Germany is trying to adjust itself to a new policy with regard to the Jews? Can these reports be taken seriously?

An answer to these questions can be found in the differences of opinion between Dr. Schacht, economic dictator of Germany, and Rudolph Hess, Hitler’s right-hand man and the ruler of the Brown House.

Following the policy of his predecessor Dr. Kurt Schmitt, Dr. Schacht is trying to convince the Brown House, the headquarters of the Nazi party, that any discrimination against Jews in commerce will affect Germany more than the Jews. He therefore suggests that people like Streicher should once and for all be checked in their Jew-baiting activities.

PREMATURE OPTIMISM

This viewpoint is, however, hardly shared by the officials of the Nazi party. These officials are well aware of the fact that thousands of Germans joined the Nazi party just because they saw in it a good chance to develop their own business and to get rid of their Jewish competitors. Once the Jews are let alone in commerce, this type of Nazi will not only be dissatisfied, but will spread dissatisfaction also among others.

It is for this reason that little optimism can be laid upon the reports that Nazi Germany is intending to embark on a policy of peaceful cooperation with its Jews. Even if they are promised to be let alone in Commerce, the Jews in Germany can never be certain that this policy may not be changed locally at the caprice of this or the other official.

The Jewish situation remains and will always be serious as long as the Jews are considered second-class citizens; as long as they are not admitted to public life; as long as the doors of the German universities are closed to them; as long as they cannot become members of the Labor Front, which embraces employers and employees. As long as the Jews are pushed into a ghetto life in Germany, their situation will always require careful watching.

THE COMPETENT JUDGE

The reports now coming from Germany through London that the Nazi government is seeking “a new approach” towards the Jewish question can therefore be looked upon as just an attempt on the part of Dr. Schacht and his aides to pacify the Jews abroad and to make the non-Jews in foreign countries believe that Germany is on the road towards peace with the Jews. Such an attempt is highly in the interests of Nazi Germany at present.

It is difficult to understand where the London News Chronicle has taken its information that “Zionist leaders are impressed” with the reported possible change of the Nazi policy and are expecting that “this change may be laid as a basis for mutual German Jewish approach.” It hardly stands to reason that any Jewish leader would enter into any negotiations with the German government until the Jews are restored in their rights. Furthermore, if any negotiations are to be carried on between the Jews and the Nazis, they will certainly be carried on not by Zionists, but by the Reichsvertretung, the central representative body of German Jews, which is the only institution competent to conduct such negotiations.