Colonel Theodore Duesterberg, second in command of the Stahlhelm, the war-veterans’ Steel Helmet organization, was dismissed from the organization today on the grounds that his grandparents were Jewish. It was understood that the object of his dismissal, ordered by Colonel Franz Seldte, was to clear the way for the union of the Steel Helmets with the Nazi storm-troopers.
Col. Duesterberg was his party’s candidate for president last year, and polled 2,500,000 votes. His war record, it was understood, counteracted the fact of his Jewish origin, and was to have exempted him from Nazi anti-Semitic persecution.
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.
