The Mayor of Frankfurt has refused to intervene against the seizure by left-wing youth groups here of two empty houses owned by Jews. The buildings were selected out of several hundred other empty dwellings owned by non-Jews as targets for squatters. The action was a protest against alleged abuses by landlords. The squatters implied that Simon Kressler and Morris Gertler. owners of the two buildings, were not Germans. The Mayor, a member of the Social Democratic Party, refused to evict the squatters on grounds that they were protesting against a “social evil.” Local Jewish leaders have responded with caution. They maintain that it is not for them to intervene as Jews in social conflicts. But they observed that it was odd that only Jewish landlords were singled out by the leftists.
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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.