The general furore over the latest spurt of anti-Semitic manifestations continued today as reports of further swastika smearngs and other Nazi-type activities poured in from many parts of the world, including the United States.
These reports, however, were balanced by many official and quasi-official statements, ranging from expression of abhorrence, outright condemnations of neo-Nazism, and calls for action against the resurgence of anti-Semitism that has followed the Christmas Eve desecration of a synagogue in Cologne, Germany.
In New York, where the City Commission on Intergroup Relations was drafting a report on the swastika daubing and related activities, police arrested two more youths in the crackdown against anti-Semitic outbursts. The pair, both aged 16, were charged with breaking windows at a synagogue in Queens. Six others were arrested Sunday for a similar synagogue desecration in Brooklyn.
At Marshalltown, Iowa, the local synagogue was found this morning to have been desecrated by the swastika. The town’s police chief, D.A. Dooley, denounced the act which, he said, “must have been committed by some stupid, moronic imbeciles. ” Asserting that “this is a church town, and we don’t go for that kind of stuff here,” Chief Dooley pledged his force would find the culprits and “bring them to justice.”
In Cincinnati, teachers at an elementary school with a large proportion of Jewish pupils discovered on desks chalked signs reading “Death to the Jews,” and “Hitler Defeated, but not Dead.”
In New York. Dr. Joachim Prinz, national president of the American Jewish Congress, declared “we cannot dismiss lightly the sneak attacks on Jewish institutions.” Dr. Prinz. who was a rabbi in pre-war Berlin, pointed out that the use of the swastika and similar slogans like “Juden Raus” all over the world indicated “a coordinated effort to demonstrate that the international anti-Semitic movement still flourishes.”
The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith announced in New York that its national director, Benjamin R. Epstein, will leave for West Germany within a week to discuss the recent anti-Semitic incidents with officials of the Bonn Government.
In London, a half-dozen demonstrators wearing the six-pointed Star of David paraded today in front of the German Embassy carrying banners proclaiming: “Nazis Raus.”
Britaims Ambassador to Bonn arrived in London to confer with Foreign Office officials concerning Britain’s responsibility for maintaining order and suppressing Nazism in the British sector of West Berlin.
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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.
