Now-editorial Notes

The statement made by Senator Alfred M. Cohen, president of the B’nai B’rith, in answer to the recent attack on the B’nai B’rith in Germany published in the Nazi press, will hardly convince the Nazis of the humanitarian and philanthropic work of this Jewish organization. The Hitlerites know very well the scope and the purpose of the activities of the B’nai B’rith, but they are deliberately seeking to discredit this fraternal Jewish order.

“Against the charge made by a malicious or uninformed journal that the B’nai B’rith is a ‘secret order against Aryans,’ it may not be inappropriate to direct attention to the very many eleemosynary, charitable, educational and patriotic undertakings which B’nai B’rith has supported in Germany, and which, unless interfered with by force, still continue as blessings not only for Jews, but for all peace loving Germans,” writes Mr. Cohen. “They include the Manheimer Foundation, the Ahlem Agricultural School, the training schools for nurses in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, the technical schools for instruction of boys in trades and mechanical handicrafts, employment bureaus, a sanitorium for poor Jewish children at Bad Nauheim, a German Jewish children’s home at Dietz, numerous orphanages, asylums and schools for backward children, and recreation centers.”

Mr. Cohen points out that during the three-year period of 1928-1931, B’nai B’rith expended in Germany $350,000 a year on these educational and charitable institutions.

The Nazi government regards any educational and humanitarian activities as benefactions directed “against Aryans.” The assurance given by Mr. Cohen that B’nai B’rith, unless interfered with by force, will continue to aid not only German Jews but also peace-loving Germans, is sure to irritate the Nazis still more. For the present misrulers of Germany are doing their utmost to stamp out all love of peace among the German people. To speak of peace to the Nazis is like waving a red flag to a bull.

A WISE CHOICE

The appointment of Judge Rosalsky by Mayor LaGuardia as mediator in the kosher poultry market difficulties is a very wise move. The prestige and authority of Judge Rosalsky, as well as his genuine interest in preventing the Jewish name from being dragged into unsavory and shady conflicts, will hasten to restore order in the chaotic situation existing between the wholesalers, the commission merchants and the kosher poultry shochtim.

Those who are sincerely concerned about the kosher food problems and who are paying higher prices for kosher food, are entitled to protection from deception and profiteering. The Jews of New York cannot afford any scandals or rackets along these lines.

We are sure that Judge Rosalsky, aided by the Mayor’s personal adviser in this matter, Arthur Simon, will not only adjust the present difficulties and avert the threatened strike of the shochtim, but will also find ways and means of eradicating the cause of these troubles.

NO ILLUSIONS

The New York Times correspondent in Berlin writes:

“The old adage that it is an ill wind that blows nobody good seems to apply to the Jews in Germany in the matter of the recent clean-up. So busy are the Nazis with their own troubles that nobody is taking much notice of the “non-Aryans” and they are being allowed to slip into the background. Certainly the flood of anti-Jewish items in the newspapers has distinctly diminished.”

On the same day our own correspondent in Berlin, Boris Smolar, cables that there should be no illusions about any possible improvement in the Jewish position in Germany, and that the organ of Propaganda Minister Goebbels, Der Angriff, supports this theory completely. The official organ of Propagandist Goebbels has just published a long article on “The Jews as Pacifists,” containing a vicious attack on the Jews, quoting scripture in justification of anti-Jewish propaganda.

The “Ritual Murder” organ of Dr. Julius Streicher, close comrade of Hitler and Governor of Franconia, is continuing his blood-thirsty campaign against the Jews. His organ, Der Stuermer, in screaming headlines, incites the population by publishing such slogans as “The Jews are our worst enemies” and “Whoever buys from Jews is a traitor to the German nation.”

Hitlerism is synonymous with anti-Semitism. Judophobia is the major part of the Hitler program. No amelioration in the situation of German Jewry is possible as long as Hitler is in power, even if Hitler were to change suddenly his attitude toward the Jews. First Hitlerism will be stamped out, and then the German people may be cured of the rabid disease of anti-Semitism with which he has been infecting them for the past fourteen years.