Irritated by the continued and increasing public sentiment in the United States against participation in the Olympic games, Dr. Theodor Lewald, chairman of the Nazi Olympics body, tonight angrily refused to explain to American correspondents who pressed the issue how Germany can prove that there is no discrimination against Jews in sports.
Dr. Lewald, who had previously insisted that a written invitation to participate in the Olympics had been sent to Helene Mayer, Jewish fencing star now residing in California, declared that he was cabling Miss Mayer tonight an invitation to join the German team.
Dr. Lewald admitted to the correspondents that a clash had taken place at Ratibor, Silesia, on the occasion of a Polish-German football match there recently, but denied that a Jew was killed. Previous statements by the German official news bureau denied the match had been held, that there had been a riot and that anyone was murdered. One person was injured during the clash, asserted Dr. Lewald, admitting the person’s name was Edmond Baumgartner. He said, however, that Baumgartner is not Jewish, on the contrary being a member of the Schutzstaffel, Hitler’s favorite troops.
The German official news bureau interpreted the statement made in Chicago today by Avery Brundage, chairman of the American Olympic Committee, as marking the final defeat of Judge Jeremiah Mahoney’s campaign against United States participation. The report carefully avoids mentioning that the final decision rests with the Amateur Athletic Union, whose certification of athletes is essential before an American team can be sent to Berlin. The union is scheduled to meet in New York in December and several delegations have been instructed to vote against participation.
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.
