The Third Reich struck a new and drastic blow at Jewish businessmen within its frontiers today by rigidly defining what constitutes a Jewish firm and ordering these concerns be listed in a special public register. In addition, the Interior Minister was empowered to order that all Jewish shops be identified as such by a distinctive mark.
The decree, issued by Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick, was countersigned by Rudolf Hess, deputy leader of the Nazi Party, Economics Minister Walther Funk and Justice Minister Franz Guertner.
The new register of "non-Aryan" firms will be open to public inspection, said the decree, "in order that each citizen may know whether a store is Jewish or not." Firms owned or controlled by foreign Jews may be listed in the special register only by special permission of the Economics Minister.
Defined as Jewish concerns are the following: (1) Any enterprise owned by a man who is a Jew under the Nuremberg racial laws; (2) A Limited partnership in which one or more Jewish partners are personally responsible; (3) Limited companies in which one or more Jews are qualified to represent the firm, or in which one or more directors are Jews, or in which Jews own more than one-quarter of the capital or a majority of common stock.
The Jewish cafes in the Kurfuerstendamm were almost completely empty tonight, Berlin’s Jewry preferring to remain at home and escape the continuing police raids. The confusion was multiplied by the fact that hundreds of Austrian Jews fled to Berlin to escape the anti-Jewish drive, hoping to find anonymity in the larger metropolis. Instead they met with a new wave of anti-Semitic activity here.
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.
