Systematic starvation of Jews to force them out of provincial cities has been undertaken by the Nazis on a wide scale, it became apparent today from reports reaching Berlin from many parts of Germany.
The reports gave starling confirmation of the recent order to all members of the Nazi party to make August the bitterest month for Jews in the history of Germany.
While the campaign to starve Jews out of the provincial cities got off to a flying start today, in Berlin Nazi chieftains were in conference to map out plans to keep the same Jews from taking refuge in the capital. The conference was called by Wolf von Helldorf, Berlin’s police president, and Julius Lippert, Nazi commissioner for Berlin. Plans to introduce food restrictions for Jews in Berlin were discussed by the Nazi leaders. A plan to revoke the licenses of Jewish cafes and confectioners was also broached, it is understood.
The starvation drive took on the most serious proportions in towns and cities throughout Pomerania and East Prussia. Grocers in those provinces have been ordered by the Nazis to refuse to sell to Jews. Hotels have been instructed not to accomodate Jews with room and board. Most hotels in these districts have suddenly sprouted signs announcing “No hotel accomodations for Jews.” Similarly, restaurants have been ordered by the Nazis to display signs announcing that “We Don’t Sell to Jews.”
The food situation for Jews throughout the Reich has thus become acute. Only those Jewish families fortunate enough to have in their employ non-Jewish servants are able to obtain food by the expedient of sending the servants to do their shopping.
In Berlin, a large sign has been erected by Nazis in Oranienburger Street in front of the headquarters of the Berlin Jewish Community. The sign shows a picture of a Jew stripped of his clothes. The inscription under it is: “This is how we will force Jews to leave Germany.”
In Essen, Frankfurt-am-Main, Chemnitz, Bad Mannheim, Limburg, Bad Hombur and numerous other cities, Jews were thrown into a panic by anti-Jewish demonstrations by uniformed storm troopers. In the district of Hanover alone, twenty-two demonstrations against Jews as “racial enemies” were staged by the Nazis last night.
Street demonstrations in Braunschweig were addressed by Prince Schamburg-Lippe, who was sent specially by Propaganda Minister Goebbels, he announced, for the purpose of fighting “Jews and other dark forces of Germany.”
At a meeting of hotel keepers, owners of furnished apartments and delicatessen stores in Rheinsberg, it was decided not to serve Jews in the future and to display the sign “Jews not served here.”
In Mannheim an order was issued to city officials obligating them to help in the anti-Jewish fight. In Pomerania an order was published prohibiting non-Jews from having personal commercial association with Jews.
The Voelkischer Beobachter reports today that the Municipality of Breuningweiler, Pfalz, decided “in recognition of Jewry’s responsibility for the greatest misfortune of the fatherland, and because Jews are the greatest opponents of Hitler,” to ban Jews from acquiring property or settling in the municipality.
Artisans, tradesman, or peasants having dealings with Jews cannot receive municipal contracts, the decision states.
Pointing to an anti-Jewish pronouncement made by the acting evangelical Bishop of Berlin, Provost Eckert, as proof, the Voelkischer Beobachter, announces today “The Church admits, in the name of Christendom, that Jewish influence must be exterminated.”
Provost Eckert had issued a statement condemning an article written by an executive member of the Berlin Mission, and appearing in the Berlin Mission organ, wherein it was conceded that “Jews are capable of great historic achievements.”
The acting Bishop alleges that the founder of the mission, Adolf Stoerker, “acting in the spirit of Christ, Luther and Adolf Hitler attempted to free Germany of the disintegrating influence of Jewry.”
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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.