Hitler and his adherents have undoubtedly suffered a reverse, and are terribly disappointed, Dr. Alfred Wiener, the Syndicus of the Central Union of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, writes in the “C. V. Zeitung”, the official organ of the Union.
The 11,338,571 votes which were cast for Hitler are clearly the maximum that can ever be mustered for the founder and leader of the Nazi Party. Not all these votes have gone to the Nazi Party as such. Many hundreds of thousands voted for Hitler personally and not for his Party.
We do not believe, Dr. Wiener proceeds, that all those who voted for President Hindenburg did as a protest against the spirit of hatred that is being spread by the Nazis. At the same time, however, the result of the election is reassuring.
Nevertheless, we must not relax our efforts, Dr. Wiener goes on. 11,300,000 Hitlerist voters is something that must fill us with anxiety and apprehension for the sake of Germany and the sake of the Jews. Not all these Hitlerist voters are bitter enemies of the Jews. Many of them are thoroughly ashamed of the smashing of tombstones in Jewish cemeteries and the painting of swastikas on Jewish houses of worship; but they keep silent about it, and they tolerate Jews being held up to obliquy at meetings and in newspapers. Our task now, as in the past, is to seek to render our fellow citizens immune to the antisemitic poison. The second ballot in the presidential election, the elections to the Prussian Parliament and the elections to the Parliaments of the other States all call to us to continue our work in order to help to protect our Jewish honour.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
