The Week in Review

Uncertainty, unrest and the fear of impending disaster is the lot of the thousand-year-old Austro-Jewish community in the troubled period through which Austia is passing. While Chancellor dollfuss and his second in command, Major Emil Fey, continue their attempts to reassure the Jews and, incidentally, foreign opinion so important to the Dollfuss regime, that the government has no intention of taking and steps against the Austian Jews, leaders of the Christian Socialists, the elerical group and the leaders of the anti-Semitic Fascist Heimwehr announce that they are fighting for a “German Christian state” with two classes of citizens. The Jews are to be in the second or lower class. A strong faction in the dollfuss government seems bent on introducing severe restrictions afainst the Jews, but without Nazi violence. It is significant that the Heimwehr, which insists on anti-Semitism, is heavily armed and has led the Chancellor to repudiate, to some extent, his own party, the Chirstan Socialists. M. A. Tenenblatt, chief Austrian correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, was expelled from the country after living in Vienna sixteen years. The dollfuss government objected to his dispatches. No charges were filed against the newspaperman. He had been warned earlier that the tenor of his dispatches was not pleasing to the dollfuss regime. Mopre than 5,000 Jewish families face immediate starvation. In the drive to rid the state and municipal administrations of Socialists, Jewish employes were summarily dismissed although they were not Socialists. None of the vacancies thus created was filled with Jewish supporters of Dollfuss. In all cases, Himwehr or Christian Socialists received the posts. The Vienna Jewish community is making arrangements to feed these new Jewish poor from funds donated for the purpose. Dr. Emmerich Czermak, leader of the Christian Socialists, speaking at a party conference, repeated the canard so assiduously spread by the government during the fighting that the Jewish Socialists leaders had fied like cowards from the fighting, leaving the workers to die on the barricades. At the same time he was making the speech a coury martial setenced the Jewish Socialist leader Urdler to twenty years imprisonment for participation in the fighting.

GERMANY

From Berlin comes news of an easing of restrictive measures against Jews in industry. However, since the measures came from the central government itself, it remains to be seen how much attention provincial Nazi organizations will pay to orders from Berlin … In East Prussia, the Nazi land commissar told the peasants to trade with whomever they please, “Aryans” or “non-Aryans.” He declared that attempts to exert pressure on the peasants would be regarded as sabotaging the upbuilding of the state and would be trated accordingly … The semi-official traveling magazine published by the government-owned railways crries a number of Jewish advertisements of Jewish hotels, including some in which the Mogen David is prominently displayed. Thus the wide-spread boycott against Jewish advertisements seems definitely broken … Jewish organizations in Germany seem to be adopting a somewhat firmer tone. This week the Central Union of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith announced that it was undertaking the protection of Jewish commercial representatives recently expelled from the “Aryan classe” … A special section was established by the Central Union to secure full legal protection for the expelled men … The Jewish land and Handicraft group supported by the powerful German Jewish organization announced the establishment of communal homes for German Jewish youths determined to stay in Germany and learn new trades and occupations … The group hopes th shift the inerest of German Jewish youth from the professions to agriculture and artisanship … From Munich, Theodore Habicht, Hitler’s “Inspector Gerneral for Austra,” gave the Austrian government a period of grace during which they could form an alliance with the Nazis. If the ultimatum was ignored he threatened active and aggressive measures.

PALESTINE

The Arlosoroff hearing still holds the ceter of interest in Palestine. Defense counsel Samuel declared that he intends to prove that the bullet which killed Dr. Arlosoroff was fired from the Arab, Abdul Mejid’s revolver. It is thought that the long-drawnout hearing may end within a fortnight … Hebrew daily papers point out that while the government, with an enormous budget surplus on hand, continues to fear unemployment, a definite shortage of labor exists in Palestine. Davar pointed out that ships wait in groups in the harbors of Jaffa and Haifa to be unloaded, with no workers to be had and that the same thing applies to many of the industries with improvements in factories and machinery postponed because of the shortage of labor.

BELGIUM

Belgian Jewry mourned the death of Albert, King of the Belgians. The King was known to be inerested in the Zionist movement and on more than one occasion expressed his friendliness toward the Jews and Ziouism. He visited Palestine and expressed his enthusiasm for the constructive work of the Jews there. At the time of his death, the King was said to have been planning another trip to Palestine.

GREAT BRITAIN

British Jews, led by Chief Rabbi Hertz, joined in the appeal to aid the victims of Austra’s civil war. The Rothschild banking firm announced that it was receiving contributions for victims irrespective of race, creed or politices … Sharp criticism of Anglo-Jewish leader ship was voiced at a meeting of the Board of Deputies of British Jews … They were accoused of haveing no constructive policy for the German Jewish refugees and of merely carrying on relief activities … At the same meeting the British government and the Prime Minister were severely hit for not having a definite policy toward the persecution of German Jews.

THE REST OF EUROPE

Endek hooligans continued their anti-Jewish attacks in Warsaw and other centers of population … A bomb was exploded in a synagogue in Sofia, Bulgaria. The synagoue was badly damaged. No one was hurt … Dr. Chaim Weizmann, after interviews with important Italian personalities, is to see Premier Mussolini … Soviet newspapers began a sharp campaign against the collection of funds abroad for Passover relief for Russian Jews. The campaign is merely a pretext for anti-Soviet propaganda. the Russian press declared … The Latvian parliament rejected two motions by anti-Semites to destry the cultural autonomy of the Jewish minority in the country … Heinz Liepmann, German Jewish refugee writer, author of a novel on present-day Germany, was sentenced to one month in prison for having libeled President von Hindenburg, the head of a friendly government.

UNITED STATES

A slashing attack on the Joint Distribution Committee was made by Louis Lipsky, chairman of the American Palestine Campaign, who spoke at the annual convention of the Jewish National Fund. The convention voted to raise $100,000 for a Ussishkin colony in honor of the veteran Zionist leader. The total budget for the year adopted at the convention is $500,000 … The United Rumanian Jews of America celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the organization … Congressman Samuel Dickstein hit leading American Jewish organizations for spurning the Nazi probe he sponsored. He accused them of failing to cooperate … Assemblyman Samson Inselbuch introduced a bill in Albany calling for legislative investigation of Nazi activities in New York State. Ely E. Palmer, newly appointed American Consul General in Jerusalem, was guest of honor at a reception tendered by the Jewish Daily Bulletin.