Rep. Martin Dies, in a speech before the sisterhood of Tifereth Israel Congregation, today warned Americans not to follow in the way of Czecho-Slovakia, Austria and Poland and allow Nazi or Communist minorities to undermine the Government of the United States.
Referring specifically to Pelley’s Silver Shirts, the German-American Bund, Knights of the White Camellias, and the Communist Party, he said: “The founding fathers never intended the Bill of Rights to protect traitors to this country.”
Using as his theme, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” Dies recalled that when the Nazis began their work in Germany they were regarded as a joke and Hitler as a madman. “This Republic,” he said, “must find a way of dealing with the undemocratic minorities in our midst. We don’t care if they’re open and aboveboard, but they are only following the way of Hitler, preaching racial and religious hatred under the guise of patriotism.”
All the leaders of the former German Republic with whom he has conversed, Dies said, now admit that they made their gravest error in ignoring or pretending to ignore Hitler when he first began.
Dies said that six weeks before Hitler sent his troops into Poland the German High Command was in possession of the defense plans of the Polish Army through their swarms of spies. Poland was paralyzed, he said, by Nazi spies.
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.
