The Patriotic Front, which is composed of the clerical groups supporting Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, made public today their program for solving the Jewish question. The communique, addressed to the press, declared that the “Jewish question must be regulated some day in accordance with Austrian culture, eliminating all alien influence in the Austrian state.” The statement was signed by Captain Reichel, who is acting as leader of the Patriotic Front under Chancellor Dollfuss.
Although the Dollfuss government has officially disclaimed any intention of changing the status of the Austrian Jews, or of introducing restrictive measures against them, the Christian Socialist party, one of the mainstays of the Dollfuss regime, under the leadership of Dr. Emmerich Czermak, has openly demanded numerus clausus for Jewish students and the withdrawal of citizenship rights from the Jews.
Recent dispatches from Vienna indicate that although the Dollfuss government still maintains that it is not anti-Semitic, government officials, communal institutions and private concerns are dismissing Jewish employees and that anti-Semitism is gaining ground rapidly in Austria.
RESIGNATION OF ORNSTEIN CREATES CRISIS IN COMMUNITY
A crisis was created in the Jewish community of Vienna today with the resignation of Dr. Jakob Ornstein from his post as vice-president. Dr. Ornstein is the only non-Zionist official on the board of the Vienna Jewish community.
The conflict arose over the question of full citizenship equality for the Jews of Austria. The powerful Christian Socialist party, headed by Dr. Emmerich Czermak, and to which Chancellor Dollfuss belongs, has openly advocated the limitation of the citizenship rights of the Austrian Jews.
Dr. Ornstein’s group, the Union of Austrian Jews, is determined not to consent to any such limitation and is fearful that some of the Zionist groups in the Vienna Jewish community will make concessions to the Czermak program.
Dr. Ornstein’s place on the Jewish community board has been taken by Dr. Ticho.
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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.
