The Prager Mittag yesterday urged the Czechoslovak Swimming Union to rescind its recent action in fining and disqualifying three Jewish sports clubs for refusing to participate in the Olympic Games at Berlin.
In an editorial on the issue, which has provoked a storm of discussion in sports and political circles, the paper declares:
“Let us hope that this shame will be avoided at the eleventh hour. The Swimming Union should realize that a Jew wishing to go to Berlin to prove that he does not practice ritual murder, which at the present time is being discussed in German universities, may go; but a Jew thinking he has no business to visit a city ornamented with Stuermer boxes should not be compelled to go on pain of a fine.”
The clubs punished by the swimming union are the Hagibor in Praha and the Bar Kochba in Bratislava and Brunn.
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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.