Resumption of Cohn Lectures Unlikely; Urge Steps to Curb Nazi Terrorism

Despite the vote of the Senate of the University of Breslau favoring the resumption of the lectures of Professor Ernst Cohn, it seems unlikely that the lectures will be resumed on Tuesday as scheduled, owing to the difficulties in coming to an agreement with the Nazi students.

A committee composed of members of the faculty has been negotiating with the Nazi students since last week for some terms which will insure peace and order. Twice Professor Cohn’s lectures have been postponed in the last week and it seems likely that a third postponement will follow next Tuesday, it is pointed out here.

Professor Cohn’s “recantation” in the interests of peace, of his statement with regard to Leon Trotsky, the exiled Soviet leader, has failed to appease the Nazi students. He aroused the ire of the Nazis when, in response to a newspaper inquiry on the merit of granting asylum in Germany to Trotsky, he declared: all spiritual workers deserve asylum provided they do not engage in political controversies. Last week he informed the University Senate that he realizes he should not have made this statement to the press without previously sounding his colleagues on the matter.

The Nazi Student Ring now asserts that Professor Cohn’s statement merely proves that he is unsuited as a University teacher for the promotion of Nationalist ideals.

“We demand a national college,” they insist, and will continue their fight. In this the Nazis are joined by the Nationalist students.

Democratic circles, however, call on the government and the University Senate to employ every means to enable Cohn lectures to be conducted anew next Tuesday. Unless this is done, they assert, the Nazi terrorization will completely destroy university freedom.