German Jewry is breathing freely again with the reelection of President Hindenburg, with an absolute majority of nearly 2¼ million votes over the combined vote of Hitler and the Communist candidate, Thaelmann. President Hindenburg polled 19,367,000 votes out of the total vote of 36,483,490, out of which 13,417,000 were cast for Hitler.
The Hitlerists called up all their reserves for this struggle, it is felt, and used every ounce of support they could possibly obtain, so that no further increase in their polling strength is to be expected, and in all likelihood, a falling-off from the present peak-figure.
This is the principal lesson drawn from the presidential election, insofar as it affects the forthcoming elections to the Parliaments of Prussia and the other German States, which take place on April 24th. The increase of two million votes in Hitler’s poll is regarded as having come from the Nationalist and the Steelhelm camps, whose candidate in the first ballot, Colonel Duesterberg, who did not stand in the second round, had polled only 2½ million votes. This bodily transfer of the Nationalist and Steelhelm vote to Hitler, it is pointed out, means that the present Hitlerist vote represents the maximum of support that Hitler can obtain from any of the other parties, and this is insufficient to enable them to place in power a Hitlerist Coalition Government, even with their participation.
There is also a belief in Jewish quarters that now the election is over, with its test of strength between Hitler and the forces of stability decisively settled in favour of the forces of stability, both the Federal and the State Governments will adopt a much more drastic attitude against the Hitlerists, and that the Hitlerist Storm Troops will probably be suppressed.
Responsible Jewish leaders are determined to demand now more vigorously than ever that the German Governments should effectively protect Jewish honour and make incitement to anti-Jewish boycott a punishable offence.
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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.
