Steuben Council’s Right to Whitewash Nazis is Challenged by Members

Dissatisfaction within the membership of the Steuben Society with the stand taken by the organization in regard to Nazi treatment of the Jews in Germany has resulted in a challenge to the National Council of the body of its right to issue a statement on the subject without ascertaining the attitude and wishes of the constituent groups, it was learned yesterday.

A delegation representing the John Jacob Astor Lodge of the Steuben Society in a meeting with the national officials protested against the making public of resolutions by them whitewashing the Nazi regime and denying maltreatment of the Jews in Germany, it was learned. The lodge asserted that no such statement should have been issued on the basis of information available here, and said that the situation should have been studied at first hand before any step was taken by the organization.

Representatives of the lodge proposed that a special inquiry committee be sent to Germany immediately to make such a study of the situation and report to the Steuben Society. The proposal won warm support among members of the German-American society, it is understood, but no action has been taken on it as yet due to the inability of the body at this time to finance the step. The proposal, however, is still under serious consideration, it is learned.

The resolutions, which aroused a storm of protest here which is now being manifested among the members of the society, denied reports of atrocities perpetrated upon the Jews of Germany, and warned the Jews to be careful lest they arouse anti-Semitic feeling against them in other countries. They also warned against use of the boycott as being “a two-edged weapon.”