A newspaperman just returned from Berlin said today that the Jews of Germany were in an extremely dangerous position at this moment, perhaps more dangerous than at any previous time since the Nazi regime. He quoted extremely qualified foreigners in Berlin whose names could not, for obvious reasons, be divulged.
Berlin, he reported, was in the grip of an almost hysterically feverish war atmosphere. It was an ugly atmosphere, full of plain evidence of bitterness and disappointment which might at any time take the form of brutality against the Jews, but a breakdown in the negotiations to find a way out of the crisis may bring pogroms of unprecedented severity and proportion. If the present crisis is prolonged for any length of time, the correspondent said, the results may be the same.
The journalist, who has just completed a tour of central European countries, said that non-Jews would not be spared if the tension reached the breaking point. He declared that this was the considered opinion of observers of several nationalities who have lived long enough in Nazi Germany to be able to get the feel of Nazi psychology.
The newspaperman said an important foreign official voiced in his presence the following warning: “Physical force against foreign as well as German and “stateless” Jews is an imminent possibility in the event of war. Foreign Jews may be beaten, jailed and cut off from all contacts with the outside world.”
Jews of American, Dutch, Belgian and Danish nationality, as well as Frenchmen and Englishmen, were advised yesterday to leave Berlin without a moment’s delay, the journalist disclosed. One prominent Jewish official of Dutch nationality, an active leader in Jewish cultural life, was ordered to return to Holland immediately despite his close and constant association with the German Ministry of Propaganda.
The writer said he had been warned by a diplomat that “there is not an hour to be lost. Foreign Jews must get out at once. None can tell what will happen or when. If the Germans get disappointing news, there will be trouble and no foreign diplomat will be in a position to help. If war starts or the crisis gets worse, the frontier will be closed to all Jews. Foreign as well as German Jews will be in grave personal danger because of the mood of Government and people here. No distinction will be made.”
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.
