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Holds Nazis Plan Hostage System, First Tried on Jews, in Crushing British Empire

June 2, 1940
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Dorothy Thompson declared today in her syndicated column, published in the New York Herald Tribune, that the Nazis, if they succeeded in overrunning the British Isles, intended to hold Britain as hostage for the Empire and the fleet, using a system which they first employed with the Jews.

“The Nazis believe in the system of hostages, “Miss Thompson said, “They now admit that they tried it first with the Jews to see whether world Jewry would buy out its coreligionist, Thus they demonstrated that the humanitarian impulses of the world are some of their most useful weapons.”

The commentator, who returned this week from Europe, devoted her column to outlining the probable Nazi plan in the event of German victory. The Nazis, she said, intend to control all Europe through a customs union, with Nazification following economic pressure; exert pressure on the United States through control of the economic markets of Europe; extend similar economic domination to South America and exterminate democratic ideals by terror. Only the German “master race” would be allowed to bear arms.

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