Attorney General Frank Murphy said today that a special District of Columbia Grand Jury which will convene Jan. 2 to consider sabotage and espionage matters will also delve into “anti-Semitic activities of organizations and individuals.”
The Attorney General said he considered the investigation of anti-Semitic groups in this country to be of “the greatest importance.” The Department of Justice, he said, believes it is its function “to see to it that the freedom of religion is guaranteed to all peoples.”
Asked by a reporter whether “the anti-Semitic activities of Father Coughlin are coming under scrutiny,” Murphy said: “No complaint of any kind has ever been made in this department against Father Coughlin.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has quietly been investigating anti-Semitism for many months. The investigation of anti-Semitism, the Attorney General added, “is the beginning of something that may mean a great deal towards orderliness under democracy.”
What organizations and individuals are being investigated remained a mystery but it was admitted some time ago that the F.B.I. was probing the German-American Bund, the Christian Mobilizers and the Silver Shirts.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
