Dr. Ernest Feder and Felix Salten, prominent German-Jewish and Austrian journalists and authors, arrived in New York this week, coming with a group of European editors as guests of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Dr. Feder, who is the assistant chief editor of the great German paper, “Berliner Tageblatt”, and one of the most prominent political journalists in Germany, declared in an interview with a representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency yesterday that “there is no cause for fear of a serious anti-Semitic wave in Germany. The fact that the notorious anti-Semite, and leader of the National-Socialists, Dr. Frick became Minister of the Province of Thuringia does not signify any anti-Semitic danger. After all, Thuringia is only a small province with a population of one million, just a quarter of the population of Berlin.
FEDER DISCUSSES NATIONAL SOCIALISTS
“Besides, anti-Semitism is not the direct aim of the National Socialists. They are fighting against the republican form of government, and utilize the anti-Jewish propaganda for their nationalistic purposes.
“It is true that they are in the process of growing but this, I am sure, is only a temporary National-Socialistic rise which soon will go down. This up and down movement of the Nationalists’ growth has repeated itself several times since the revolution in Germany,” Dr. Feder pointed out.
Asked about the repeated desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Germany, Dr. Feder declared that this shameful practice has been discontinued lately as a result of the fact that the government has offered high rewards to those who will reveal the desecrators.
“As long as there is a Republic in Germany there is no danger of serious anti-Semitic outbreaks,” Dr. Feder declared.
SALTEN EXPLAINS AUSTRIAN ANTI-SEMITISM
Felix Salten, the other Jewish participant in the Carnegie delegation is a prominent Viennese author and contributor to the Vienna “Neue Freie Presse”, the paper in which Dr. Theodor Herzl wrote his famous feuilletons.
“When Herzl first disclosed his Zionist theory in Vienna, literary circles laughed at him and did not take him seriously, and it is with pride that I can claim to be the first one who befriended Dr. Herzl and helped him obtain an audience that would listen to his ideas,” Mr. Salten stated to the representative of the J. T. A.
“Now we see that Zionism has become the power which helped the Jewish spiritual awakening. No matter how great the persecutions against the Jews in different countries are, we will endure as the eternal people, thanks to our spiritual integrity.”
Talking about the anti-Semitic movements in Austria, Mr. Salten declared that although there is much anti-Semitic propaganda, no real danger exists.
ANTI-SEMITISM MOSTLY IN UNIVERSITIES
“The anti-Semitism reveals itself mostly in the universities,” Mr. Salten said. “This is because according to the constitution, the police have no admittance there and cannot interfere with the riots in the universities.”
“It is remarkable that while many cultural institutions all over the world inquired of the University of Vienna what were the preparations for the celebration of Dr. Freud’s birthday, nothing was even planned or contemplated by the University officials.”
Mr. Salten who has come to America for the first time is very anxious to learn more about American Jewry of which he has heard so much.
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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.
