Despite frequent reports that the Nazi party and government intend to liberalize their attitude toward the Jews, no official sign has been forthcoming to show that the Nazis have undergone a change of heart in their racial stand.
On the contrary, recent events and the utterances of Nazi leaders have shown clearly that the Nazis intend to adhere strictly to the letter of their anti-Jewish enactments.
Addressing a mass meeting before the Reichstag in the square dominated by the victory memorial column of 1870, Dr. Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, referred to the union between the opposition electorate, which he described as consisting principally of “Jews, Separatists, Marxists, Communists and emigres from all countries.”
SEES VINDICATION
“Since a free vote was guaranteed in the Saar by the international governing commission established by the League of Nations, opponents of the present regime in the Reich,” he added, “will no longer be able to rely on their favorite pretext that large National Socialist majorities were secured by political and moral pressure.”
Dr. Goebbels’ address was greeted with frenzied applause. A torchlight procession of small bodies of regular troops, parties of storm troopers, Hitler youth, girls, children and other national organizations followed, proceeding from the Brandenburger Tor down Unter den Linden.
REACTION OF PRESS
The more moderate and restrained press, such as the Frankfurter Zeitung and the Berliner Tageblatt, makes no comment on the future of the Jewish community in the Saar, but the more partisan newspapers are particularly noisy.
“Trunks and Time Tables as Window Decorations for Jews and Their Friends” is a headline in the Fraenkische Tageszeitung of Nuremberg, an organ controlled by Julius Streicher. The story states that many shops in the small towns of the Saar are showing window displays consisting of trunks, railway time tables and whips as a timely hint to the Jewish population of the Saar. Concluding on a jubilant note, it forecasts a new exodus for the children of Israel.
“HIGH TREASON”
The Westdeutscher Beobachter of Cologne refers to “high treason in the Saar on the part Jews, Marxists and other vermin.” The same paper reprimands its contemporary, the Koelnische Zeitung, for not publishing the fact that an alleged Communist office said to have contained munitions and explosives was situated on the premises of a Jewish store.
The Paris correspondent of the Voelkischer Beobachter, which is the official organ of the National Socialist Party, reports that the “first refugee of Jewish descent has arrived in Paris from the Saar, accompanied by two prostitutes.” Evidence of the Jewishness of this exile’s pedigree is not, however, furnished by the correspondent.
The Westfalische Landeszeitung, Rote Erde, of Dortmund, has coined a new word, “semigrants,” a compound of “Semites” and “emigrants.”
Articles in the provincial press, such as the above, are not regarded as reassuring for the future of the Jewish community in the Saar by level-headed people.
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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.
