Energetic continuation of the fight for the maintenance of Jewish emancipation in Germany is necessary, Jewish leaders decided today despite the Nazi losses of 4% in votes and thirty-five seats in the Reichstag, as the result of Sunday’s elections.
The Nazis won 195 seats, receiving 11,705,256 votes, as against 230 seats and 13,700,000 votes in the July elections and continue to constitute the largest party in the Reichstag.
Jewish leaders hold that the Nazi losses will probably cause Adolph Hitler, the Nazi chieftain, to abandon his demands for a Nazi government, but that it will lead to renewal of negotiations with the Centrists and the Nationalists for a coalition.
They see either the present Chancellor, Franz von Papen, or Dr. Franz Bracht, Deputy Commissioner in Prussia, both in the confidence of President Paul Von Hindenburg, in the Chancellorship.
Although violent anti-Semitism as a
government program has not materialized, nevertheless there is the danger that Hitler by exerting pressure as a party to a coalition, may bring about the continuation and possibly an increase of the expulsion of Jews from the administration and the economic life of the country, in the view of Jewish leaders.
All the parties with the exception of the Communists, the Nationalists and the People’s Party suffered a loss of seats and votes.
The Communist party which won 89 seats in the July election, won 100 seats yesterday; the Nationalists received 50 seats as against 37 in July and the People’s Party 11 seats as against 7 in July.
The Socialists on the other hand lost twelve seats, having 121 mandates; the Centrists lost 5 seats, remaining with 70; the Bavarian People’s Party lost 4 seats, maintaining 18, while the Christian Socialists maintained their 4 seats and scattered parties received 4 seats. In all there were 575 deputies elected as against 608 in the July election.
Election day passed quietly for the Jews of Berlin. In the Grenadier quarter some nervousness prevailed. The Jews refrained from assembling on the streets because of the presence of uniformed Nazis in the Jewish district. Police reinforcements were on duty to maintain order.
The Central Union of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith has made representations to the police with regard to the confiscation of Nazi boycott leaflets directed against the Jews and leaflets containing a forged Central Union appeal which had been distributed in large quantities.
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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.