for the activities of some of its members, Oberlaender replied as follows:
“As for Hitler’s reasons, I can’t answer. But as for myself, I would say that it is injustice to punish the entire Jewish race because of the few radicals. We have radicals in other denominations and these races are not punished.”
To show how opposed he is to Hitler’s racial policies, Oberlaender told how on his recent trip to Germany, from which he returned last week, his grandchildren were ill and he called in a Jewish physician to treat them.
“Why,” he declared, “my bankers in Germany are Jews. The Mendelsohn banking house has been handling all my business.”
JANSSEN IN ACCORD
Henry K. Janssen, who is associated with Oberlaender in the hosiery business and is also a vice-president of the Carl Schurz Foundation, to which he contributes heavily, was present at the interview. In a recent article in a Reading newspaper, Janssen declared he thought Hitler was doing a wonderful job in bringing Germany back to recovery.
Asked t###ay if that included the persecution of the Jews, he replied with an emphatic “no.” He revealed that during his last trip abroad, from which he returned last week, he had talked with Hitler. Janssen said he disagreed with the Hitler attitude toward Jews and declared that some of his best friends here and in Germany are Jews.
Ferdinand Thun, another associate in the hosiery business with Janssen and Oberlaender, who is president of the Carl Schurz Foundation, pointed out that the object of his foundation is to foster good will between the two countries and that he is not interested in the racial question.
Thun did, however, remark that “Hitler came and Hitler will pass and Germany will go on as it did before.”
Oberlaender said Thun’s views could be obtained in the book published by the foundation, “The American-German Review.”
On the cover of the book appears the legend: “To create better feelings with English and German speaking people.”
PRAISES ROSENWALD
Thun, who writes the foreward, pays tribute to the late Julius Rosenwald, the late Paul M. Warburg, who with himself organized the foundation for the betterment of the two nations. The purpose of the foundation, the article further states, is to help develop the cultural and social life of the German nation.
When asked if the foundation has any political significance, Thun replied, “None whatever.”
However, in one of the pages of the book, under the heading, “The Oberlaender Trust,” is an article which tells of the work Professor Hersey of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is doing under the sponsorship of the foundation, which declares that when he returns he will lecture to American audiences on the “wonderful social, cultural and political set-up in Germany.”
Ambassador Hans Luther of Germany is a frequent visitor to the homes of the retired hosiery men.
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.
