A mysterious epidemic of deaths from heart failure which struck down in quick succession four professors in a chemical laboratory in Germany has aroused keen interest and stirred speculation as to the underlying causes in German emigre circles here.
The deaths are reported in the emigre periodical, Die Wehrheit, which lists the victims as the professors Pschorr, Obermiller, Scharschnitt and Dr. Erich Buttner.
Pointing out that each of the chemists occupied similar posts in the laboratory, which is unnamed, Die Wahrheit dramatically emphasizes the fact that each died of heart failure and demands to know whether this suspicious circumstance has any special significance.
To understand the full import of this query, which is aimed at the Reich department of war supplies, under whose strict supervision the laboratory is, it is necessary to review reports which have been widely circulated both in and out of Germany and which have gained credence in conservative quarters.
According to these reports, Jewish and non-comformist “Aryan” scientists who have been employed in tasks important to the Reich war department and whose services were considered indispensable, have been deprived of their passports. These scientists, kept under strictest surveillance by the authorities, are forced to continue at their posts.
When the particular task upon which they have been working is finished, the reports state, the scientists are suddenly “stricken with heart failure” on the theory that they “know too much” and can do the Reich less harm dead than alive.
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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.
