A demand that Jewish refugees now in South Africa be forced to return to their homelands as soon as possible and that legislation be enacted to bar further Jewish immigrants was made in Parliament at a session highlighted by the charge that Jewish organization were conspiring to flood the country with alien Jews.
Eric Louw, anti-Semitic nationalist deputy, who has been introducing similar legislation since 1939, asserted that there were already too many Jews in South Africa and introduced the proposed ban on Jewish immigration as an amendment to a bill which urges the government to consider the advisability of encouraging large-scale immigration from Europe after the war.
Louw urged that future immigration be restricted to non-Jewish Europeans who possess sufficient capital to ensure that they will not compete for jobs with the local population. The ban on the entry of Jews, Louw added, should be extended to British subjects, who do not, at present, come under the regulations of the Alien Act.
Reiterating the usual Nazi charges that Jews control a disproportionate share of the country’s trade and professions, Louw charged that local Jewish organizations are conspiring with overseas Jewish groups to bring additional Jews into South Africa. As alleged substantiation for his charges he cited what he purported to be minutes of the Board of Deputies of South African Jews.
G.A. Aron, secretary of the Board, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the material to which Louw referred was 14 years old, and had been stolen from the files of the Board’s Capetown office in 1934. The documents, Mr. Aron disclosed, referred to an arrangement reached in 1930 under which overseas relief organizations pledged to provide financial guarantees for would-be Jewish immigrants. The arrangement was made with the knowledge and full consent of the government, the Board Secretary emphasized.
Adjourning debate on the immigration measures, the Minister of the Interior told the House that he regretted the introduction of the Jewish issue. It is understood that Louw’s allegations will be answered when debate is resumed next week.
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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.
