A new orientation in Greco-Jewish policy was foreshadowed here today in a significant interview accorded by Eutherios Venizelos, former Greek premier and leader of the Liberal party to two leaders of the Salonica Jewish community.
The former Premier expressed to the Jewish leaders his profound regret that the Jews in Greece tend to hold him responsible for statements in the Venizelist press in Salonica attacking the Jews.
These statements, Venizelos declared, are to be condemned. He revealed that he had modified his views on the question of a separate electoral college for the Jews of Salonica, and no longer considers this institution indispensable for peace between the Jews and the Venizelists.
The electoral college has long been a source of friction between Venizelists and Salonica Jews. with the latter hotly opposed to its existence. The Venizelists strongly attacked abolition of separate voting for the Jews, the majority of whom in the last election supported the present government of Premier Tsaldaros.
Venizelos promised the Jewish leaders that he would bend every effort to the work of establishing harmonious relations between the Jews of Greece and Venizelists.
HITLER PROPAGANDISTS AT WORK
Hitler propagandists are continuing their activities in Greece on a more claborate scale than ever before. An illustrated lecture delivered by M. Kundorfer, representative in Athens of the German Nazi party, in the most luxurious cinema house in the capital, attracted wide attention. Many members of the Nationalist party, which has been friendly to the Jewish population, attended the lecture explaining the new Germany and its program. Among those present was Mme. Lina Tsaldaris, wife of the Greek Premier.
Nazi tactics employed against the Jews are taking more extreme forms in Salonica, where many Jewish merchants in the past few days were in receipt of letters headed by swastikas and warning them to “clear out of Greece or else we will kill you.”
Some of the letters bearing this ultimatum demand that the recipients leave the country within forty-eight hours.
The Jewish merchant, M. Carasso, who received one of these notes, brought legal action against the Greek equivalent for “John Doe.”
The anti-Semitic EEE, which functions with Nazi aid and support, has renewed an intensive anti-Jewish drive in the outlying provinces. To date the campaign has succeeded in stirring up violent feeling at Jannina, where heretofore relations between the Jewish and non-Jewish population had been excellent. Two Jewish traders were badly beaten by a mob led by members of the EEE there.
The population has been whipped up to the point of insulting and attacking Jews on the streets. Most of the Jews in the community are traders and, despite their satisfactory economic position, are now seeking anxiously to find a refuge in Palestine.
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.
