The assurance that the South African Government does not practice any discrimination on racial grounds in its immigration policy, but is merely following a system of selective immigration to prevent undesirable elements from entering the country, was given today by Dr. T. E. Donges, Minister of Interior, addressing the Parliament in Capetown.
The Minister emphasized that the government also bars fascists, Nazis and Communists from entering the country. He added that he is not prepared to accept the definition of Fascist or Nazi as given by General Jan Smuts, the Labor Party or by the Communists. The government, he said, views Fascism or Nazism as foreign to South Africa’s “mode of life,” and no supporter of those creeds will be welcome to South Africa.
While this assurance is welcomed in Jewish quarters, some doubt is voiced as to the extent it may be carried out. It is pointed out that only last February the government admitted to this country J.L. Battersby from England where he was interned during the war as a Mosleyite. Battersby is now publishing a quarterly magazine here entitled, “Nation,” with articles expressing admiration for Hitler. Battersby also requests that inquiries regarding arrangements for lectures to be delivered by him should be addressed to “The Hitlerian Center, Post Office Newcastle, Natal.”
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.
