Term “hebrew” in U.S. Immigration Records is Still Debated in Germany

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

The question whether German Jews are to be described in the United States immigration records as Hebrews or Germans is still causing considerable agitation here.

The Norddeutscher Lloyd, which was attacked by the “C. V. Zeitung,” the organ of the Central Verein der Deutschen Juden, for an alleged confidential circular to its agents giving instructions that Jews must be described as Hebrews, issued a statement to the Berlin office of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. In the statement, the steamship company declares: “It is obvious that we, as a steamship company, cannot make any distinction with regard to the creeds of our passengers. The questionnaire corresponds in every detail to the provisions of the United States immigration authorities. The circular referred to was not of a confidential nature, but merely an instruction on the basis of the provisions given to the steamship companies by the United States immigration authorities.”

The Norddeutscher Lloyd further states that at the suggestion of Herr Galatzer, the representative of the Central Verein der Deutschen Juden in Bremen, it has gotten in touch with its agency in New York instructing it to attempt to secure an interpretation of the United States immigration provisions in the sense suggested by the Central Verein der Deutschen Juden, that is, that German Jews who wish to be described as Germans and not as Hebrews should be permitted to do so.