Nazi Rally at Garden Tomorrow to Signalize Nation-wide Drive

It was reported by the best authorities yesterday that the DAWA celebration, scheduled for Madison Square Garden tomorrow night, is to serve as the signal for the creation of a number of similar anti-Jewish boycott organizations throughout the country.

Spokesmen for the League of Friends of New Germany yesterday admitted that hundreds of members of the organization from the entire East and parts of the Middle West are en route here to attend the celebration. In some channels it was reported that large delegations are coming from Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and other large cities.

H. O. Spier returns to the DAWA offices at 347 Madison avenue today from a trip through the East and Middle West, where he discussed plans for the extension of the anti-Jewish boycott movement to other cities. This will be accomplished under the hand of various Nazi cells, of which there are a score throughout the United States.

The American Jewish Congress yesterday announced that it will counter demonstrate against the DAWA meeting with a rally in Brooklyn and a broadcast over station WBNX.

The list of speakers at the affair continued to remain a fast secret yesterday. At the Friends of New Germany headquarters those in charge of the demonstration were close-mouthed with regard to the program. Aside from the published fact that the league will provide a military concert by Nazi musicians, they would give no further information regarding the affair. In some circles it was reported that either German Ambassador Dr. Hans Luther or his representative would appear, but this could not be confirmed through the Friends of New Germany offices.

Invitations have been issued to a large number of congressmen. A few of them, it is understood, have been invited to speak, and they have been given assurances that, if they so desire, their identity will not be revealed.

A number of members of the Congressional Committee to investigate Nazi propaganda activities in the United States will arrive in New York tomorrow, and it is reported that they will attend the Garden demonstration. Special seats in the huge arena have been set aside for distinguished guests and the press.

Vendors of tickets to the affair yesterday reported a lively sale. It was reported likely that the 22,000 seats put on sale would be bought before the program began tomorrow night. Tickets bought at the advance sale cost fifty cents for general admission, seventy-five cents for the gallery, and one dollar for the lodges. An additional charge of twenty-five cents is levied on all pasteboards bought at the box office. The tickets have been placed on sale at about eighty German restaurants and shops in four boroughs.

Until yesterday afternoon the Mayor’s office remained silent with regard to a number of protests against permission being given the sponsors to hold the demonstration, which entails the declaration of boycott against American citizens refusing to handle goods made in Germany and against Jewry irrespective of the attitude of individuals toward the political situation in Germany.

CITY CRITICIZED

In a letter to Aldermanic President Bernard S. Deutsch, Joel Slonim, writer, poet and a member of the executive board of the American Jewish Congress, criticized severely the “change in attitude” of the city official with regard to New York’s Nazi question. In speaking of Deutsch’s refusal to act against the Garden demonstration “because the Police Department or the city administration cannot interfere with free speech,” Slonim wrote in part:

“It seems to me and to other friends of mine and yours that your stand in this important matter should be in accordance with the stand that you took when you were a candidate for the office to which you have been elected. At the time the question of the ‘German Day’ celebration came up for consideration at the City Hall. Mayor O’Brien called a conference in the Board of Estimate room and before the Mayor decided to stop the ‘German Day’ celebration which had undercurrents of Nazism in its organizing committee, you appeared personally at that conference and urged Mayor O’Brien to stop the meeting at Madison Square Garden.”

The letter goes on to ask “What has happened since then to change your attitude in this matter?” and reviews the details that led to the banning of the celebration.

To counter-demonstrate against the Nazi affair, the Williamsburg Section of the Brooklyn Division of the American Jewish Congress will sponsor an inter-denominational rally Thursday night at the Eastern Division High School Brooklyn. Jews, Catholics and Protestants have been invited to attend. Rabbi Louis I. Newman will discuss the DAWA.