Since the virtual suppression of the German press, with the exception of the Nazi organs, European newspapers outside Germany are devoting a great deal of space to reports from all over the Reich. In them, stories of excesses, attacks, and imprisonment are given in considerable detail.
This morning’s London “Times” carries a detailed report of the attack on Edward Dahlberg, the American author, whose case threatens to become a diplomatic issue. It reports that Dahlberg was beaten up in the presence of police. The “Times” goes on to say that after Dahlberg had lodged a protest with the American Consulate and had instituted proceedings against his Nazi attackers, the Nazis asked him to withdraw his complaint. The American Consulate, however, advised him to proceed with the charge.
Describing the appearance of Berlin’s fashionable neighborhood, particularly in the evenings, today’s “Daily Telegraph” says that “it appears to be depopulated, as if visited by a pestilence.” It gives a great deal of detail of the Nazi terror and the ferocity with which the National Socialists are directing their campaign against the Jews. It says that the terror is producing a wholesale exodus of Jews from Germany into Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and other neighboring countries, and enumerates a list of men prominent in the arts and sciences, including Max Reinhardt the noted impressario, who have escaped from Germany.
Vienna newspapers describe the horrors experienced by a well-known Jew who, they say, escaped into Austria after fourteen days in the Spandau fortress. There, he declares, he was beaten with steel rods and trampled upon by Nazi Auxiliary police. The Austrian press also reports cases of others who have had their teeth knocked out with rifle butts, their hands burned, and even their fingers cut off. These gruesome recitals are capped by stories of prisoners who were starved to death, and dead bodies thrown daily into the River Spree, and different Berlin canals. The press comments on the fact that although Hitler’s appeal against violence has been circulated, Goebels and Goering have done everything to counteract the effect of the appeal and intensified the anti-Jewish incitement.
The Vienna press also learns that Nazi troops yesterday entered the Cologne Meat Market and ordered the immediate suspension of shechita, confiscating the shechita appurtenances and forcing Jewish butchers to leave the market.
From Paris, the London “Morning Post” reports that large numbers of Jews have arrived there from Germany, particularly many who are without means and are being looked after by Jewish relief organizations, who are endeavoring to find employment for them.
[The reports of atrocities on Jews in Germany emanating from Vienna are given with all reserve, as the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has had no confirmation from its own sources of the incidents described.—Ed. J.D.B.]
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.