Jews Offer Services to France in War; Anti-semites Almost Lynched in Paris

Headed by the Federation of Jewish Societies, practically all landsmanshaften (organizations of Jews of foreign origin) have appealed to their members to volunteer for army service in the event of general mobilization.

The Jewish War Veterans’ Association, comprising Jews who fought in all Allied armies in the world war, has commenced preliminary registration of Jews willing to volunteer and has appealed to its members to enlist in the French army. The Organization of Jewish Front Fighters of Poland, composed of Jews who fought in the Polish army during the war and subsequently immigrated to France, sent a message to Premier Edouard Daladier, as National Defense Minister, declaring its members at the Government’s disposal.

A number of refugees from Germany, informed that they were at present ineligible for volunteer service in the army, volunteered to do any type of passive work that would be assigned to them.

Anti-Semitic agitators, seeking to take advantage of Paris’s tense atmosphere, demonstrated in the boulevards, shouting that Jews were against France. Police were obliged to rescue agitators from an angry crowd on the Champs Elysee which attempted to lynch them. Agitation was also reported in Strasbourg, on France’s Rhine border, where a German-language newspaper was distributed bearing the headline, “Should We Allow Reds and Jews to Drive Us to War?”

All central Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Colonization Association, have completed preparations for instant evacuation, if necessary, to a town on the English Channel, the J.D.C. retaining a staff for emergency refugee work.