While avowing “100 per cent anti-Semitism,” leaders of the Nazi-controlled Memel district today pledged that no legal measures would be taken against the Jews in the near future. The pledge was made by Dr. Ernst Neumann, Nazi leader of the district, and Willi Bertuleit, chairman of the district directorate.
The statement was regarded here as reflecting Nazi apprehension over the devastating results of Memelland’s nazification. Almost all Jewish industries in Memel province and half of the Jewish shops in Memel City have been liquidated in the past three months. Jewish capital estimated at nearly $10,000,000 has been exported to the interior of Lithuania, paralyzing the most important sections of Memel’s industry and trade and adding thousands of Germans to the unemployed ranks.
The Jewish flight is continuing despite Nazi assurances, since Jewish professionals and the few Jewish officials remaining in office are still being exposed to persecution under various pretexts. Many Jewish merchants have been heavily fined following framed up tax evasion charges. Dr. Berger, son of a well-known Zionist leader, was reported to have “committed suicide” following imprisonment on charges of performing illegal operations. Some 3,000 Jews still living in Memel fear a definite turn for the worse in their position during the second half of February, when the autonomous Nazi Diet opens its legislative activities.
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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.
