Not America, not even the countries bordering on Germany, can have a full picture of the insults, tortures, hopelessness and helplessness which the Jews are undergoing in Germany. I found the Jewish situation here much worse than reported or imagined abroad. Everything that was true the first days of the Hitler revolution is still true now to an even more drastic extent. Jews still disappear and are found later in morgues. They are still economically terrorized and are still physically molested, especially outside of Berlin where there are no foreign observers.
In addition, the army of over thirty thousand Jews dependent on soup kitchens is growing rapidly and is including ousted professors, lawyers, artists and former Government officials.
Oppressed and depressed, the Jews fear to complain, especially to foreigners, because of the espionage system which surpasses that of the Russian GPU. Suicides among the Jews are assuming unimaginable proportions. The tragedy is even greater because Germans of all classes who were formerly enemies of Hitlerism are gradually accepting the situation patriotically. Thus the Jews of Germany find their friends of not so long ago converted into anti-Semites anxious to see the Jews outlawed in order to share their properties, their business and their jobs.
Trembling with fear, German Jewry expects this week promulgation of a law which so far is only being projected, but which if enforced will mean that out of the six hundred thousand Jews in Germany, only twenty thousand will be permitted to earn a livelihood while the others must remain dependent on their savings or on charity.
This law provides that no firm may have more than three percent of Jews in its employ, thus throwing out of work not only Jews among the professional classes, but alsa salesmen, typists, stenographers and every kind of office worker.
Helpless to fight this drastic measure, Jewish leaders, in efforts to minimize the effects of this catastrophe, are asking that the rigid three percent quota be enlarged, but the outcome of their plea is doubtful.
The law which will be promulgated, if nothing rises to prevent it, will require the Jews to face the problem of establishing an unprecedented number of soup kitchens and of supplying other relief, since the poorest Jews, possessing hardly any savings, will be most seriously affected by it. It is doubtful whether the Jews of Germany will be able to supply the relief necessary for the army of people to be affected, the size of which is expected to #each hundreds of thousands.
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.
