Dr. Ludwig Freund, former national director of the Jewish War Veterans of Germany, last night called on Americans to strengthen the boycott against Germany not merely to save the Jews there, but also to rescue the 65,000 non-Jewish German victims of the Nazi regime.
Dr. Freund voiced acceptance in behalf of German exiles in America, of the first American clubhouse for exiles. Presentation was made by Mrs. Stephen S. Wise, president of the women’s division of the American Jewish Congress, the organization sponsoring and endowing the clubhouse.
Situated at 50 West Sixty-eighth street, the clubhouse, to be known as American Jewish Congress House, is a five-story building lent by the Jewish Institute of Religion. It probably will be used as a recreational and social center as well as a temporary shelter for refugees.
500 ATTEND
Five hundred persons including many recent refugees attended dedication ceremonies and heard, besides Dr. Freund, Professor Robert Morss Lovett of the University of Chicago, Aldermanic President Bernard S. Deutsch, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Rabbi Joshua Goldberg and Mrs. Stephen S. Wise.
Professor Lovett, chairman of the American Committee against Fascist Oppression in Germany, denounced the Nazi regime whose moral dynamite, he warned is “more destructive than material explosives,”
Dr. Freund, lecturer and writer on philosophic subjects and active in communal affairs in Germany until his flight from the country this Summer, said the anti-Nazi boycott is the only logical sequence to the acts of Hitler.
ASSAILS TRADE PLAN
He assailed the decision of the National Foreign Trade Convention to renew trade relations with Germany.
“If,” he said, “noteworthy business men point out that commercial interests are endangered, that foreign loans can only be recovered by national trade, the reply of American public opinion should be that it will support every action in the interest of German and foreign investments in Germany only when that country is governed by persons deserving confidence.
“Commercial values can be preserved only if there is deserved confidence in the integrity of the commercial parties involved. That the present leaders of Germany do not merit any confidence needs no further proof in the light of their activities up to now. “
Dr. Freund warned the American public against being misled by “false reports.” To his way of thinking, “the great masses of Jews in Germany and the decent-thinking people of other religions in Germany have no more to lose.”
“Under no circumstances,” he said, “can we take into consideration the views of the indecent elements in Germany and of those few German Jews, fearful of losing the fortunes they still retain.”
“Germany will awaken,” the speaker prophesied, “when it finds out that Hitler’s promises and the actual facts are altogether different. Every success of Hitler’s in foreign countries will strengthen his political status. Every failure, every reduction in commercial trade will shorten the period of his reign.”
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.
