The shots that today struck down King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Foreign Minister Louis Barthou of France, in Marseilles, at the same time struck a severe blow to the hopes of Jewry for an early and favorable solution to many of its pressing problems.
Recognized as among Jewry’s leading champions, the assassination of the forty-five-year-old monarch and the seventy-two-year-old diplomat created consternation in Jewish circles here and among Jewish leaders who are conversant with international politics and realize what an important role these two were playing in the fight of Jewry against its enemies.
The death of these two men at a time when they were thought to be about to effect a rapprochement between France and Yugoslavia that would have tightened the ring of steel about Nazi Germany and brought Yugoslavia definitely out of the possible sphere of Hitler’s influence, was believed fraught with ominous significance for Jewry. What effect the assassination will have on this phase of international politics is problematical. That the cause of German Jewry has received a decided setback by the tragic occurrence cannot be doubted.
CHAMPIONED MINORITIES’ CAUSE
Particularly in the case of M. Barthou, Jewry has lost a champion of international influence and power. His fight in the interests of minorities carried out on the floor of the League of Nations assembly brought him the admiration not only of the world’s liberals, but of Jews the world over. His efforts in behalf of the minorities both of the Saar region and Poland, where they were being endangered respectively by the imminence of German rule and repudiation of minorities treaties,
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.
