Startling revelations that 121 Nazi organizations were in existence in the South African Union and were distributing a large number of scurrilous anti-Jewish leaflets and that text-books used by the children contain anti-Semitic propaganda, have stirred the Jewish community in South Africa.
The disclosures were made by I. M. Goodman, well-known lecturer on South African Jewish problems, in the course of an address before the Jewish Board of Deputies.
Mr. Goodman quoted passages from the works of noted African authors, including Sangiro, in which the Jews are accused of being vultures, robbers, the cause of poverty, sly thieves and many other unflattering names. The offending books have since been withdrawn at the request of the Board of Deputies.
“We must watch and guard against anti-Jewish propaganda of the type disseminated by certain local papers, financially unsound publications subsidized by Nazi organizations overseas,” Mr. Goodman declared. “In addition, we have discovered that over 121 Nazi groups in the Union are today menacing the future not only of Jewish South Africa, but all South Africa. They make it their business to distribute through the mails and in person leaflets describing all the alleged vices of the Jews, and purporting to show how the Jews have stolen all the financial prizes in the country, and how the Jews are responsible for all the unemployment in the Union. The pamphlets have also been known to state that all South Africa is in danger of becoming the slave of Jewish interests.”
The lecturer also pointed out that in several cities in the Union men in public life were identifying themselves with the Hitlerite policies.
“This is an appalling state of affairs,” the speaker declared, “and it is an opportune time to remind our people in South Africa of Dr. Max Nordau’s words to Vladimir Jabotinsky: ‘Logic is a Greek art which the Jew has not learned. The Jew learns from catastrophe, not from experience.’ We take no notice of a threatening storm, but wait until we are drenched before we even think of buying an umbrella. We took no notice of the storm brewing in Germany for many years past. Now, it is too late.
“The Jews have been identified with the progress of South Africa from the very beginning,” said Mr. Goodman. “The sugar industry in Natal, whaling in the Cape; trading in Namaqualand, fruit export from Graaff-Reinet, the export of skins and many other industries all owed their foundation to the enterprise and far-sightedness of the Jews.
“Of course, the authors of anti-Jewish propaganda do not take these factors into consideration. It is therefore our duty to see to our interests locally.
“The poison of Hitlerist doctrines spreads swiftly. Now more than ever before, Jews must give thought to local conditions that effect them directly in South Africa,” Mr. Goodman concluded.
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.
