(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
While Henry Ford is being sued in Detroit for libel in his anti-Semitic publication and in his “International Jew”, the German agency of the Ford Motor Company will be sued for libel for an assertion that Henry Ford is not an anti-Semite and that his reputation as such is based on an erroneous translation of his book into German.
The suit was threatened today by Theodor Fritsch, the notorious leader of the German anti-Semites, in a statement he published in the nationalist press. Herr Fritsch repudiates the contention of the German agency of the Ford Motor Company to the effect that the reputation of Henry Ford as an anti-Semite originated with Theodor Fritsch’s inaccurate and tendacious translation of Ford’s book “The International Jew.” Mr. Fritsch also declared that it is untrue that he begged Ford for permission to translate the book. Actually Ford consented without a question.
The translator also contends in his statement that his translation is absolutely true to the original. He further declares he will start legal proceedings against the German agency unless it will prove within six weeks by publication of parallel texts of the original and translation, that the translation was tendacious.
The claim that Henry Ford’s reputation of anti-Semitism is erroneous and is traceable to his German translator, Theodor Fritsch, was made by the German agency of the Ford Motor Company in a letter to the “C. V. Zeitung”, the organ of the Central Verein Deutschen Buerger des Juedischen Glaubens.
The “C. V. Zeitung” refused to publish an advertisement of the German agency of the Ford Motor Company. The agency then wrote to the publication explaining that Ford’s reputation as an anti-Semite is traceable “to the falsified translation by Theodor Fritsch of Ford’s book.” Ford’s representatives have begun legal steps to prevent the further publication of the translation and to demand indemnity. The letter further states that the head of the Ford Motor Company, E. G. Liebold, is a Jew and the Ford plant employs 2,400 Jews.
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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.
