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N.Y. Library Does Not Apologize for Nazi Monthly on Shelves

July 22, 1934
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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The New York Public Library wants all the Jewish and anti-Jewish publications it can get.

The reason for this, according to K. D. Metcalf, chief of the reference department of the library, is because of New York’s huge Jewish population and the consequent interest aroused in Jewish problems. At present, Metcalf is on the lookout for anti-Nazi periodicals from this country and abroad to complete the assortment of view already on display in the periodical room there.

This the librarian stated yesterday, after having been queried as to the reason for the library’s maintenance of Der Welt Kampf, an anti-Semitic monthly formerly published in Munich by Alfred Rosenberg, anti-Semitic aide to Hitler.

INTERESTED IN ALL SIDES

“We have no apologies to make for the fact that this periodical is on our shelves,” said Metcalf. “We are particularly interested in having literature dealing with all sides of the Jewish question, because so many Jews and those interested in Jews patronize the New York Public Library.

“There is absolutely no censor ship in the library. If there were we should fight against it. The only books we restrict from our library are those dealing with certain academic phases of law, medicine, theology and education, and we do this to enrich other libraries in the city which specialize in these particular lines.

“We have been accused of being communists, atheists, and even cannibals because we permit such books to grace our shelves. Nevertheless we intend remaining a reference for as wide a field of knowledge as interests the public.

“We have been trying to get all available material on the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, because this document, authentic or fabricated, appears to have much to do with history as it is being made,” Metcalf concluded.

MAGAZINE THOROUGHLY ANTI-SEMITIC

Der Welt Kampf is thoroughly anti-Semitic. In every number available and in almost every article in each number runs a strong vein of derision direct against the Jew. It has been on the library shelves since its inaugural number, under the editorship of Alfred Rosenberg, ten years ago.

Each edition carries a categorical list of countries in which the progress of “Judaistic conspiracy” or opposition to it is set forth. The most recent issue carried leading articles entitled, “Definite Proof of the Authenticity of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.” Covering much the same matter, the issue immediately preceding this featured an article called, “Address of Rabbi Rechhorn at the Grave of the Great Rabbi Simeon the Jew at the old Jewish Graveyard in 1869.

It is now edited by Dr. C. Boepple and sells for fifty pfennige.

Make a habit of glancing through the classified advertising columns. They may have a surprise in store for you.

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