New Tax Decrees Hit Reich Jews; 200 Banks Closed in 2 Years

Further discriminations against Jews in the Reich’s tax system were decreed today. Jewish women will not be permitted in the future to claim tax exemption during the twelve weeks of maternity leave allowed by law. Jews will be compelled to pay tax on gratuities from employers for births and marriages, from which “Aryans” are exempted.

It is reliably reported that Jews will be deprived shortly of customary tax exemptions for wage earners supporting aged and invalid relatives.

Nearly 200 private Jewish banking houses, forming approximately half of the number which existed in 1935, have closed in the last two years, according to a report from “Aryan” sources received today. Many were partially “Aryanized” by the admission of German partners. In some cases Jewish cankers, while holding a majority of the shares, resigned.

Der Angriff, Nazi organ, tonight demands establishment of a credit institution to oversee “Aryanization” of Jewish business enterprises. The paper claims that the pace at which enterprises are changing over from Jewish to “Aryan” hands has been too slow. The paper points out: “There are many Aryans who worked in Jewish enterprises a long time who are familiar enough with these businesses to take them over, but the trouble has been that those who have enough knowledge have not enough money.” The paper warns that in many cases “Aryans” bought Jewish concerns with which they were not familiar, and asserts that especially in the retail trade all Jewish concerns must eventually change hands.

All Jews will be eliminated from the trucking and warehouse industry before Autumn, according to reports today. The forecast is on the basis of recent activities of the State technical group in charge of the industry.

Following an assertion by Der Angriff that the next legal attack against the Jews would be in connection with real estate, newspapers appearing in widely scattered sections of the Reich are now suggesting means by which leases with Jews may be broken.

A typical article is one published by the Westdeutscher Beobachter of Cologne, in which the writer declares that a person discovering his landlord to be Jewish “naturally” wants to break his lease. In such cases, the paper suggests, the tenant should promptly inform the landlord that he no longer considers himself bound by contract. If the Jewish landlord sues, the paper says, “the defendant might tell the court he was mistaken in the character of the landlord.”

“Of course,” the article goes on, “the character of one who signs a contract is a very important element in business relationships. Since the ordinary Aryan would not sign a contract with a person known to be a Jew and since the State is desirous of making a complete separation between Aryans and Jews there is a good chance that the tenant would not be held to the lease.”

Another procedure suggested is to state that “association with Jews can have heavy social and economic consequences.” The paper declares: “We do not go too far. We believe in accepting the theory that the Jew must call attention to his racial affiliation in entering a contract with an Aryan.” The article adds that courts have permitted leases to be broken, in cases involving large capital, when the tenant has claimed he did not know the landlord was a Jew.

A Jew who lived with a common-law “Aryan” wife and three children has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by a provincial court. The defendant pleaded vainly that he did not know about his Jewish blood before attempting to take out a marriage license.