Marriages between “Aryans” and Jews are increasing, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today, as sweethearts hasten to wed before Austria’s Nazi regime sets up a bar of race between them.
The marriages are spurred by the expectation that the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, prohibiting marriage between Jews and Germans, will be extended shortly to the Reich’s new province. One rabbi refused to officiate at such a marriage until he had obtained official permission. The authorities told him to go ahead with the ceremony.
Several Government officials have started divorce proceedings against their Jewish wives, it was learned, but the number of divorces on the whole is not increasing.
Jewish circles expressed fears that Dr. Desider Friedmann, president of the Vienna Jewish Community until his arrest, and Dr. Oskar Gruenbaum, president of the Austrian Zionist Organization, would be among the first to be interned in the new Salzburg concentration camp. It is believed that the Twentieth District School, the temporary Jail where they are held, is the threshold to the camp.
A bitter attack against Dr. Friedmann, featured by Das Schwarze Korps, organ of Chancellor Hitler’s elite black-shirted guards, was picked up by the Vienna press, dashing earlier hopes that he and other prominent Jewish leaders would be shortly released. It is now believed that the authorities intend to proceed vigorously with the prosecution of Dr. Friedmann and Dr. Gruenbaum on charges that they raised money for ex-Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg.
Meanwhile, hopes that the Vienna Jewish Community would soon begin to function, after its offices had been closed by the Nazis, appeared doomed to disappointment. For the moment Adolf Boehm, industrialist and Zionist leader, is nominally head of “the Provisional National Committee” of leading Jews, some of whom are imprisoned and one in the hospital.
Police closed the room in the Templegasse Building where the Jewish Community’s ancient archives are stored, and took away two volumes listing the contents. The remainder of the building, housing a seminary, school and library, are still open.
Jewish men and women were drafted today to beat carpets in the Augarten Palace, former home of Archduke Otto, which is situated in the Leopoldstadt quarter of Vienna, a predominantly Jewish section.
The impressing of Jews for street cleaning shows no sign of abatement. Jews are shunning the neighborhood of the Jewish Community buildings and the main streets, and are seeking to remain within their homes, in order to avoid being drafted by Nazi storm troopers for menial work.
An order was issued today exempting Jewish physicians from street cleaning work since those drafted for the enforced labor have no chance to communicate their whereabouts. In several instances Jewish physicians have been prevented from making necessary calls to patients.
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.
