Deutsch Ejects Critics of Police Actions at Rally

For the first few minutes of an interview at City Hall Friday afternoon between ten members of the Allied Professional Committee to Aid Victims of German Fascism and Bernard S. Deutsch, president of the Board of Aldermen, everything was serene and pleasant.

The committee had come, by appointment, to protest to Mr. Deutsch against what is characterized as “police activities in aiding the Nazis” at the stormy Ridgewood rally on Sunday, April 8, at which several anti-Nazis were arrested.

Mr. Deutsch was courteous. He was polite. He listened to David Freedman, opening spokesman for the group, sympathetically and patiently. Occasionally he interrupted the speaker to ask a question.

“Was this a Nazi rally?” he wanted to know. When the answer came in the affirmative he suggested, calmly enough, that it was obvious that any “antis” who had come to the meeting in force were “inviting trouble, weren’t they?”

THE ARGUMENT BEGINS

This started an argument that began to show signs of heat. Strong words passed from the lips of committee members, several of whom were women. Mr. Deutsch’s calm began to ebb. Strong words hopped from his lips.

At this point Dr. Maximilian Cohen, a dentist, shouted that Mr. Deutsch’s actions were “not in accord with your anti-Nazi protestations.”

Mr. Deutsch leaped to his feet.

“Who the hell are you,” he shouted, “to insult me in that manner! Why I was engaged in anti-Nazi activities years before you ever heard of the Nazis. You’re a disgrace to the committee you came with. It’s men like you who made officials of the former administration refuse to meet protesting committees. Now get out and stay out.” Mr. Deutsch came from behind the desk to his office, where he had greeted the committee, opened the door and pointed the way. Dr. Cohen went and with him went the rest of the committee, protesting to the last that Dr. Cohen was merely expressing an opinion to which he had a perfect right.

SHOULD HAVE GONE TO O’RYAN

The committee, during the calmer moments of the session, had been informed by Mr. Deutsch that the proper person with whom they should have lodged their complaints was Police Commissioner O’Ryan. He told Mr. Freedman and his associated that he could not and would not go over the head of a department executive in a matte that was solely within his province, unless the committee could show him that it had first lodged their complaint with him and that it had been disregarded.

“No one in New York,” he said, “is more opposed to Nazi activities than myself. My record will show that. But I do not subscribe to anyone’s going to break up Nazi meetings any more than I approve of the Nazis breaking up the meetings of the anti-Nazis. As long as any group meets peacefully and abides by the laws of this city and nation, it is entitled to police protection and will get that protection while it keeps the peace.”

The explosion and ejection resulted from an argument as to the legality of the Nazi Ridgewood meeting. Dr. Cohen contended that the Nazis were contravening the laws when they wore the uniforms of a foreign nation and marched in the streets carrying rubber truncheons.

ACCUSE POLICE OF PREJUDICE

When Mr. Deutsch countered that this, if true, was properly a matter for them, as loyal citizens, to call to the attention of the police department rather than the president of the Board of Aldermen, Dr. Cohen flung back his charge that Deutsch was not acting in accordance with his expressed anti-Nazi sentiments. The committee accused the police department of prejudice when they permitted Nazi rallies to be held within a few paces of anti-Nazi meetings in the heart of Yorkville, hotbed of Nazism in New York. To this Mr. Deutsch replied that the anti-Nazis were extremely foolish in holding their meetings in the “camp of their enemies” and were certainly “inviting trouble” by persisting in such a course. The aldermanic president promised that if the committee protested to the police department and the protest was not heeded, both he and the Mayor would then take action. He assured the protestants that Commissioner O’Ryan, who was known to be ati-Nazi in his sympathies, would give them a haring.

Member of the Committee in addition to those named were Miss Florence Herman, Mrs. Rita Auslander, Jacob Beck, Miss Emmelin Green, H. H. Shaw, a member of the Commission Investigating Fascist Activities; Mrs. Fanny Horovitz, Mrs. Ada Brodsky and Mrs. N. Spahn.