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Emigration Plan Termed “blackmail”

February 14, 1939
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The relaxation of anti-Semitic decrees provided for in the German memorandum on emigration is motivated by a desire to accumulate foreign exchange for armaments and amounts to “blackmail, pure and simple,” the New York Times declared today in a leading editorial which demanded reversal rather than “relaxation” of the Nazi anti-Jewish policy.

Attributing the reported “relaxation” to “the swift and catastrophic decline of Germany’s export trade,” the editorial said that temporary relaxation of “inherently vicious” decrees failed to meet the needs of the situation. “It will not win the world’s respect,” the Times asserted. “It amounts in effect to saying. ‘We will agree for the time being not to mistreat physically the helpless men and women whom we hold for ransom, if you will buy our goods.'”

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