The Week in Review

Amidst a series of conflicting reports on the proposed law regulating the status of Jews in the Reich, the draft of a code giving Jews and other non-Aryans the status of second-class citizenship, regulating their participation in certain professions and rigidly forbidding intermarriage, was made public by responsible authorities.

New measures by the Nazi authorities to stir up world hartred against the Jews took the form of a new international propaganda service quietly distributing mimeographed sheets designed “to educate poorly orientated Aryans concerning the doings of the Jewish under-world.” The Boersen Zeitung, chief financial financial organ, reported that the Steuben Society and the German-American Chamber of Commerce were backing the anti-Jewish, anti-boycott drive in the United States.

Jewish students were barred from final examinations in Prusians universities, only sons of war veterans being exempted from the decree. Minister of the Interior Frick urged haste in ousting Jews from public posts. Transfer taxes were waived to expedite transfer of businesses from Jews to Aryans.

The case of the Jews of Upper Silesia again will come before the League of Nations when the Council, meeting this month, considers several petitions protesting discriminations against members of the Jewish minority there. The Council has signified, however, that the petitions will be taken up at closed sessions of the body.

PALESTINE

The Arab Executive announced, and secured official permission for a country-wide demonstration on January 16 against continued Jewish immigration into the country

The anticipated Municipal Government Ordinance, establishing a slight measure of self-government for Palestine, was promulgated.

The hearing of the three defendants in the Arlosoroff murder case took a dramatic turn when the defense shifted emphasis of the case onto the revolver owned by the assassination victim and the prosecutor accused the defense of trying to clear the three men by establishing a case against Dr. Arlosoroff’s widow.

Five Arabs accused of membership in the terrorist organization responsible for a series of outrages in Palestine were freed in Haifa magistrate’s court.

ROUMANIA

Outward disorders have gradually subsided in Roumania since the assassination of Premier Duca and the vigorous measures taken by the Tatarescu government, together with the frequently-repeated pledge of the new premier that he would spare no effort in crushing the anti-Semitic Iron Guard which was responsible for the death of his predecessor. The Roumanian situation still remained troubled, however, with Nicholas Titulescu, veteran Foreign Affairs Minister, a reluctant member of the new ministry. Whith King Carol’s popularity somewhat in eclipse, the nation hard-hit by the general economic situation and disturbed by the rapidity of political developments since the December election, tension remains high and there is considerable forebodings regarding the future among members of the Jewish community.

POLAND

The fourth All-Polish conference of the Agudath Israel made a significant decision when it decided not to participate in the proposed world congress of all orthodox groups called by the World Mizrachi to meet in Jerusalem next year.

The prayerbook used by the Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, came into the possession of the Lubawitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneerson, and created something in the nature of a major sensation among the devout Chassidim who flocked to Warsaw from miles around for a glimpse of the famous book.

Two hundred chedorim, He brew schools, were closed by the authorities for not having school licenses. The Polish rabbinate is studying the plight of the teachers and is considering an appeal to the government in their behalf.

HUNGARY

Student anti-Semitic disorders flared into the open again as a nation-wide strike of students broke out in all Hungarian universities. Non-striking students were forcibly prevented from registering for the new university semester as the striking students sought to force the government to adopt their twenty-point anti-Semitic program.

AUSTRIA

Events in Austria moved with gradually increasing speed in a definite Fascist trend as the Heimwehr, Fascist guard, extended its influence. Austrian Nazis defying the Dollfuss efforts to crush the movement treated the country to a display of bombings and other form of violence unparalleled in the country.

THE REST OF EUROPE

In Latvia, Jewish boycott leaders, betrayed by a group of Latvian Jews who are opposed to boycotting Germany, were arrested and interrogated by the police. They were subsequently released but their records were confiscated.

In Salonica, Greece, Jewish merchants were seriously affected by a rigid Sunday observance law enacted this past week. Under the law now, Jewish merchants who observe the Jewish Sabbath, must lose two days of business each week.

French Jewish organizations were to confer on the question of finding permanent habitation for refugees from Germany who have to vacate the government barracks in which they have been temporarily housed. With two hundred leaving for Palestine and most of the others established in positions, a considerable number of refugees still remain destitute and in need of aid in Paris.

THE UNITED STATES

President Roosevelt was called on to make representations to the German government regarding the persecution of the Jews in a resolution introduced in the Senate by Senator Millard E. Tydings, of Maryland. The House Committee on Rules has under consideration the bill introduced by Congressman Samuel Dickstein calling for a probe of Nazi activities in this country.

Congressman Dickstein announced that he had been informed that the American Federation of Labor will support his resolution.

The protest of American Jewry at the restriction of immigration in Palestine and the man-hunt for tourist illegals took the shape of a resolution adopted at a conference of national Jewish organizations, bodies affiliated with the Zionist organization, the Zionist Organization of America and the American Representatives of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.

High Commissioner James G. McDonald, stressing responsibility of non-Jews to aid in the refugee work, estimated that $25,000,000 would be required for the work. Professor Albert Einstein was awarded a silver loving-cup by the high school boys of Philadelphia.

George Blumenthal was elected president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.