A very young looking man for an ambassador, with a polite worldly manner, offered a statement to America, on his arrival to resume his duties as Ambassador, reassuring the citizens of the United States that any seeming disturbances in Germany were due only to the lack of economic stability and not to any untoward tendencies of the German public.
When asked whether the announced anti-Semitic policy of Hitler was at all representative of the official German attitude Herr von Prittwitz smiled and said very lightly, “Hitler is not the voice of Germany. Hitler’s statements do not mean anything. All the anti-Semitic agitation will die down within a few weeks.”
Reference was made to Hitler’s threats that Jewish capitalists and bankers would be expelled from Germany and their money confiscated by the government. Herr von Prittwitz waved this matter aside as a childish fantasy. “Jewish citizens of Germany will have their full right and be protected just as any other citizen and Jewish bankers are as safe as any bankers in Germany. The anti-Semitic feeling aroused by Hitler may also be attributed to the economic difficulty of the German. When the economic conditions are bad that leads to all sorts of unrest and the man on the street is ready to seize any excuse that is in the air as an explanation for his troubles.
“If you went to Germany you would see people at work and people going to the theatres and business going on just as anywhere else. The next election, if economic conditions by then are bettered, may be an entirely different distribution of power. The last votes were largely for the extremist parties such as the Hitlerites because, I repeat, of the economic unrest.”
Herr von Prittwitz throughout the entire interview spoke only in a conservative and reassuring way of the situation in Germany. He continued to dismiss with smiles any reference to anti-Semitism saying, “The Jews have nothing to fear in Germany.” He is leaving directly for Washington.
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.
