The invitation to German Ambassador Hans Luther to attend the thirty-eighth national saengerfest which opens here Wednesday has aroused dissension in the ranks of the St. Louis German community.
It is learned from an official source that police authorities will not allow the swastika to be carried in the parade arranged in connection with the musical festival.
Delegates representing 75,000 workers, including a large number of Germans, have voiced unanimous protest against Luther’s visit to the celebration. The protest was made at a meeting of the Central Trades an Labor Union.
OTHER EARLIER PROTEST
This follows the action of three local German organizations and of the Socialist Party, which have already protested to Mayor Bernard Dickman against a city welcome to the Ambassador from Nazi Germany.
Charles Nagel, a St. Louis resident and Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Taft, is honorary secretary of the committee arranging the saengerfest. Several days age Nagel denounced racial prejudice and in a recent letter to the Kansas City Star he made it clear that he abhors Nazi persecution of the Jews. He has taken this stand many times.
He will not countenance any effort on the part of Nazis to exploit the German musical festival here, the former cabins member declared.
No public action by Jews has as yet been taken, although it is known that leading Jews and representatives of Jewish organizations have been assured that the saengerfest will be purely a musical event. A protest on the part of the Nazi element against the selection of Walter Damrosch as conductor of the orchestra has been voiced, but the leaders of the affair have over-ruled this protest.
As a gesture of good will leaders of the local Jewish community have taken boxes for the festival, after having received assurances that the swastika will not be in evidence at the arena where the performance is to be given.
How Ambassador Luther was invited has not yet been made clear, but it is certain that his presence would be a source of trouble. The resolution adopted by the labor groups expressed regret that he was invited at all. The resolution also states that the government Luther represents has destroyed democracy and the German trade union.
VICTORY AGAINST NAZISM
This action on the part of local labor groups is seen as a great victory against the Nazis, in view of the large German population of the city. The Workers Gymnastic and Sport Alliance, the Workmen’s Sick and Death Benefit Fund and the German League Against Fascism are the three local German organizations that protested to the Mayor.
Many Jews purchasing tickets ask at the box office if the swastika banner will be on display at the festival. Plans for holding a Jewish protest meeting against the Nazi ambassador were abandoned after leaders of the Jewish community decided against such a move.
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