A strong attempt to convince the German public that Jewish emigrants from Germany are engaged in anti-Nazi activities and are conducting a campaign against the interests of Germany abroad, is being made by the Nazi press following publication of the cabinet decrees authorizing the confiscation of property of Germans who have fled abroad.
Under a banner headline, “What Our Emigrants Do in Paris,” the Voelkischer Beobachter, Hitler’s own newspaper, carries a five-column article on its first page describing the activities of the Jewish Relief Committee in Paris. It alleges that the German Jews in Paris are indulging in all types of anti-German activities, issuing publications, organizing anti-German protests and meetings and spreading “atrocity” propaganda regarding the maltreatment of Jewish women and the cutting off of the beards of aged Jews.
It also accuses these German Jews of having smuggled their property out of Germany and of having converted it into cash.
ASSAILS NEW YORK TIMES
The Lokal Anzeiger, emulating the Voelkischer Beobachter, features a first page story from its New York correspondent, August Thalfeld, giving the impression that the Jews are the chief instigators in the United States against Germany and alleging that the “American Zionist press,” with other Jewish organizations, is spreading information detrimental to Germany, thus influencing senators, congressmen and others in high Government posts.
The New York Times also receives its share of the attack in this paper. Adolph Ochs, publisher of the newspaper is described as a “Jew from Germany who went to the United States in war-time and is now fiercely engaged in campaigning against Germany with all kinds of atrocity propaganda.”
This provocative article, which seeks to establish an atmosphere justifying the not-far distant confiscation of the property of Jews, concludes with the assurance the United States, too, will become anti-Semitic because “the average American is an anti-Semite from the cradle.”
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.
