Statements by Fritz Hailer, German vice-consul in Detroit, defending the Hitler regime and blaming East European Jewish settlers for the anti-Semitic program of the Nazis, have aroused deep resentment among members of the Detroit Jewish community and brought a spirited reply from Dr. Noah E. Aronstam, noted Detroit physician and scholar, who frequently in the past appeared on the same platform with Mr. Hailer.
Recalling the fiftieth birthday anniversary of Professor Albert Einstein, at which the German official paid tribute to the now-exiled scientist as “one of the most distinguished sons of Germany”, Dr. Aronstam remarked that “times have changed and you, Mr. Hailer, are now throwing a flood of invectives against all the non-Aryans who at present live in Germany.”
Dr. Aronstam, pointing to the record of excesses against Jews in Germany, declared that these could not be condoned “as excesses unavoidable in times of revolution and attributable to irresponsible persons” and asserted that messages from German-Jewish organizations, quoted by Mr. Hailer, could not be used as proof that all had been serene since “goodness knows under what stress and duress those quotations were made by the aforementioned organizations.”
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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.
