Double Bookkeeping

The announcement in the Voelkischer Bcobachter that the Nazi Party does not associate itself with the order which Dr. Schacht, the economic dictator of Germany, issued last Saturday that Jewish firms should not be interfered with in trading with Christmas gifts, is the latest proof of the double bookkeeping policy maintained by the Nazi government with regard to Jews in commerce.

This is not the first time that a difference of opinion has arisen between the Ministry of Economics and the headquarters of the Nazi Party. This friction is as old as the Nazi regime. Since the very first day of Hitler’s coming to power, the Ministry of Economics has maintained the attitude that the Jews should be let alone in commerce, while the headquarters of the Nazi Party in Munich continue to hammer that no “Aryan” is to patronize a Jewish store.

This friction between the Reichministry of Economics and the Nazi headquarters was to a great extent responsible for the resignation of the former Minister of Economics, Herr Schmidt. This friction seems to continue now, even under Dr. Schacht.

In its instructions to ignore Dr. Schacht’s order, the Voelkischer Beobachter refers in heavy type to other orders issued by the party headquarters to boycott Jewish enterprises. The Beobachter thus discloses a fact hitherto unknown, that special instructions to boycott Jewish stores do exist in Germany.

Nevertheless, the order of Dr. Schacht not to molest Jewish stores during the Christmas season should not be under-estimated. Members of the Nazi Party may not patronize Jewish stores. The bulk of the population in Germany is, however, still not enrolled in the Nazi Party. As long as Jewish enterprises are permitted to trade freely in articles fit for Christmas gifts, the call of the Voelkischer Beobachter will not induce many to boycott deliberately the Jewish firms.