German Jews Face Collapse of Cultural Activities; Silent Campaign Organized in Reich Provinces

The German Jews faced today complete collapse of their cultural activities with consequent impoverishment of hundreds of Jewish artists and entertainers as a result of the refusal of the Ministry of Propaganda to permit resumption of the Jewish Cultural Union.

The union, “headed by the Nazi-appointed Georg Kareski, was suspended immediately after the assassination of Wilhelm Gustloff, Swiss Nazi leader, in what was described as a reprisal, Under Nazi legislation, German Jews can conduct cultural and artistic activities only under the aegis of the union.

It was feared in Jewish circles that the ban would be long-lasting if not permanent. The Propaganda Ministry has failed to reply to an appeal from leaders of the ghetto culture organization to permit resumption of activity.

Indications of a silent but organized anti-Jewish drive were reported here today from various parts of the country as a secret conference of Nazi Party leaders called in Munich to map reprisals against the Jews for the assassination of Wilhelm Gustloff, Swiss Nazi leader, closed its deliberations.

Reichsfuehrer Hitler’s Voelkischer Beobachter reported that Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels addressed the closing session of the conference, held on the eve of the anniversary of the Nazi Party’s founding, and outlined a program of propaganda on Jews and other subjects to be carried out during the Spring.

Addressing a public meeting in Hanover, Herr Seifert, district leader of the German Labor Front, was quoted as saying: “We will make the ground so hot for the Jews that they will have to import fireproof soles for their shoes.”

He disclosed that in connection with the slaying of Gustloff by a Yugoslavian Jewish medical student, members of the Labor Front had been ordered not to make purchases from Jews. The order would extend the anti-Jewish boycott, now mandatory for Nazi Party members, to all members of the Labor Front, actually all German workers.

Herr Bruttel, Nazi Party district commissioner for Rustringen, assailed Germans who, despite the Gustloff murder, still defend the Jews and object on moral and esthetic grounds to the anti-Semitic displays of Julius Streicher’s Der Stuermer. The objections, he said, proved that they were still obsessed by “Jewish sentimentality.”

Dr. Wagner, medical commissar, has ordered extension of the Nuremberg anti-Jewish laws to the field of medicine. “Aryans” were prohibited from recommending Jewish physicians for participation in consultations.