The overthrow of the Hitlerist regime in Thuringia by the elimipation of Dr. Frick, the Hitlerist leader there, who was Minister of the Interior and of Education and Fine Arts, has been followed to-day by the annulment of one of the anti-Jewish decisions which he enforced during his period of office. The new Cabinet, at its first meeting held to-day, has revoked Dr. Frick’s dismissal of Dr. Praetorius, the General Director of the famous Weimar National Theatre, because his wife is a Jewess, and has roinstated him on a contract for another two years.
Artistic circles throughout Germany were infuriated by Dr. Frick’s dismissal of Dr. Praetorius, which took place last January (a Hitlerist named Nebbe being appointed in his place), denouncing it as a piece of vandalism, endangering the future of the Weimar Theatre, which owes its prestige largely to the successful manner in which Dr. Praetorius has maintained the high artistic standards of his predecessors, among them world famous composers like Richard Strauss.
Immediately after the dismissal of Dr. Praetorious, Dr. Frick dismissed the same month seven Jewish artists who had been engaged by him at the Theatre, among them Walter Favre, the tenor, Madame Gerda Wolfsohn, one of the principal singers, Madame Sarah Jankelov, the mistress of the ballet, Madame Teich, who wrote plays for the theatre, and one of the principal actors, Herr Divolt.
It is hoped that the Thuringian Government will now proceed to annul Dr. Frick’s other antisemitic actions, particularly his appointment for Dr. Guenther, the notoricus race-antisemite, to the Chair of “Raciology” at the great University of Jena, despite the protests of learned men throughout the country, including the majority of the professors at Jena University, who contend that Professor Guenther’s “raciology” is a pseudo-science without any real scientific basis to justify the establishment of a University chair. His instalment was never the less made the occasion for a big Hitlerist demonstration, attended by Hitler himself, at this historic University, with its associations with Luther and Goethe, and numbering giants like Fichte, Haegel, Schelling, Schlegel and Schiller among its teaching staff of the past.
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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.
