Leonard G. Montefiore, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, today asserted the right of the British Jews to continue their attacks on Nazi Germany, and warned that Chancellor Hitler’s demands for cessation of British press attacks against the Reich implied regimentation of English newspapers.
“We cannot accept the position that Nazi leaders should be free to bring what accusation they please about Jews and that we must submit to such things in silence because it involves criticism of foreign states,” Mr. Montefi ore asserted in an address before the association.
“As long as Jews and Judaism are traduced and vilified, as long as these slanders are spread by Nazi sources to the four quarters of the world, we cannot allow silence to be imposed on us,” he declared. Commenting on reports of forthcoming Anglo-German negotiations, he said that any policy taken should be arrived at in full knowledge of the facts.
Referring to Hitler’s demand for cessation of British press attacks against Germany as a preliminary to Anglo-German negotiations, Mr. Montefiore said this demand was equal to a demand for “Gleischaltung” (regimentation) of the British press and would mean that no British paper would be allowed to report anything displeasing to the Berlin authorities.
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.
