News Brief

German newspapers, commenting today for the first time on the renewed anti-Semitic campaign, said it had been provoked by the “offensive” actions of 3,000 Jews who have migrated from Austria to this capital. Chancellor Hitler’s Voelkischer Beobachter defended the anti-Jewish drive as an act of “self-defense” on the part of the “Aryan” population. The newspaper, however, did not mention the widespread arrests of Jews.

Declaring “the Jews have thick skins,” the newspaper charged that they began “infesting” various restaurants, driving off “Aryans” by “threats and offensive actions,” It declared: “This is only a partial illustration of the provocative attitude of the Jews. The fact that the Aryan population defended itself by its own means does not constitute an excess but merely an act of self-defense.” The lot of Jews in the Reich cannot be so bad since they refuse to leave the country, the newspaper added.

The Boersen Zeitung assailed the foreign press for its alleged portrayal of the anti-Semitic drive as a “pogrom” whereas it constituted “a natural defense reaction on the part of the German population.”

Jews must report their property to the Government before June 30, under a new regulation issued by the economics ministry. German Jews residing in other European countries must take their declaration before July 31 and those living outside Europe, including Turkey and some Mediterranean countries, must comply by Oct. 31. Foreign Jews living in Germany likewise must declare their property before June 30.

The Berlin correspondent of the London Daily Express, Ronald Selkirk Panton, and his wife were arrested at their home after taking photographs of Jewish shop fronts bearing anti-Semitic inscriptions. After three hours the couple were released, but their camera was confiscated and their automobile held by police. A German photographer arrested at the same time was not released.