Based on a new law permitting individual members of a race or creed to bring a libel suit in instances where the whole race has been libelled, a trial will start soon in the province of Manitoba, Canada, which resembles in many ways the trial on the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" recently begun in Berne.
The Manitoba trial will doubtless attract no less attention in the United States than in Canada. This is the first trial of its kind to take place on the American continent. This is the first time that a single Jew is fighting in a Canadian court for the honor of the entire Jewish people.
The defendant in this case is William Whittaker, the publisher of a Nazi paper, the Canadian Nationalist. The plaintiff is Captain William Tobias, a Jewish World War heo. Captain Tobias is being backed by the Canadian Jewish Congress.
The specific complaint of libel in the Manitoba case is based on a recent issue of Whittaker’s paper which contained the old story of the blood libel. The decision of the court will set a precedent for further action in similar cases of anti-Semitic slander.
AUSTRIA GONE MAD
Open economic war must be declared against Austria by the Jews all over the world in reply to the new trade law which the Austrian government promulgated yesterday and which will completely ruin the Jews in commerce and in industry.
With this law Austria has reached the limit in its anti-Jewish legislation. She has gone much further than Germany. Laws restricting Jews in commerce have not been issued even in Germany.
Disfranchising Jewish citizens, segregating Jewish children into ghetto schools, ousting Jewish professionals from public institutions and, now, discriminating against Jews in commerce—can the Austrian government go any further?
What has happened to the St. Germaine treaty? Has Austria gone mad Has Austria forgotten that she signed this treaty; Has she forgotten her international minority obligations provided by this treaty?
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.