Georg Bernhard Discusses Jewish Boycott in Germany

Professor Georg Bernhard, deputy in the German Reichstag, recently spoke before the leaders of the Berlin Jewish community on the boycott of Jewish merchants and Jewish employees in Germany and how to fight it. His remarks are reported in a recent issue of the “Central Verein Zeitung.”

The boycott movement against Jewish merchants has spread from a few small towns to the large cities of Germany, said Professor Bernhard. At the same time he showed that the process of “proletarianisation” of the middle classes in recent years has caused the Jews of Germany much more suffering than the rest of the population. A tremendous number of hitherto independent Jewish business men are now suddenly confronted with the necessity of earning their living as employes, he said.

“However the deep anti-Jewish sentiment which exists among the German people makes it especially difficult for Jews seeking employment to obtain it,” continued Professor Bernhard. “The boycott is not only due to the management, but also to the political views which obtain among the employes. Thus the diminution in the number of Jewish employes in the banks is due in no small part to the propaganda that is being conducted by the anti-Semitic National-Socialist party in those institutions.”

Professor Bernhard also mentioned the fact that Jewish employers are often not willing to employ Jews, and sought to explain the motives of the former.

The fight against this sort of anti-Semitic propaganda cannot be conducted by the Berlin Jewish “Gemeinde,” since the latter is primarily a social, political and charitable organization, thought Prof. Bernhard. Other Jewish organizations, in his opinion, must take it upon themselves to conduct this fight.