Protests against the swastika-smearing plague, and promises of vigorous governmental action against the participants in the hate campaign, alternated in dispatches from virtually the entire Western world today with reports of further anti-Semitic incidents.
In Vienna, the Austrian Cabinet heard a report about the spate of incidents in that country from Minister of the Interior Josef Afritsch, who ordered that any culprits caught be treated with “utmost sternness.” At the same time, Austrian police authorities reported new outbreaks of swastika-daubings from Salzburg, Graz and other cities.
In Brussels, Prime Minister Gaston Eyskene told Parliament that the recent racist and anti-Semitic incidents were viewed gravely by his Government. “If our penal code,” he said, “is not sufficient to deal with the situation, the Government will invite Parliament to vote the necessary legislation. We hope that our Judiciary will show a timely severity to the culprits.”
ARGENTINE REPLIES TO ISRAEL PROTEST NOTE
Argentina, in a note given to the Israel Foreign Ministry at Jerusalem, pledged itself to “take the firmest steps to prevent any attempt to create an atmosphere of racial hatred.” The Argentine note was the first governmental reply given Israel in response to demarches in nearly all world capitals made by the Israel Government, expressing concern of the current wave of anti-Semitic manifestations.
In Australia, where more Incidents were reported from Melbourne and the country’s capital, Canberta, tie Lord Mayor of Sydney, Harry F. Jensen, called a public meeting tonight to discuss the outbreaks. Sydney police, meanwhile, detailed special squads to guard all Jewish communal property in the city.
Similar guards over synagogues and other Jewish organizational headquarters were assigned in Salisbury, Rhodesia, and in the larger centers of Jewish population in the Union of South Africa.
In Skaevoe, Sweden, a motion picture theatre showing the town’s premiere of the film. “The Diary of Anne Frank,” had been smeared with the swastika.
In Paris, more than 5, 000 persons crowded into the “Salle de la Mutualite” last night in a protect meeting against the anti-Semitic outbursts called by the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism.
In London, British Pathe Films exhibited a documentary motion picture depicting the current wave of anti-Semitism against the perspective of Nazi atrocities committed during World War II, The firm will show the film in 400 British movie houses beginning tomorrow, and will export the picture to 87 foreign countries, including Egypt.
At Montreal, the Canadian Jewish Congress thanked Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and others for their expressions of “general revulsion” over the few anti-Semitic incidents there. It held that, “while these incidents may be inspired by the example of neo-Nazism in Germany, they appear to be the acts of a lunatic fringe–a form of imitative hooliganism–and should not be taken as the work of an organized anti-Semitic movement in Canada.”
It warned, however, that “unfortunately, the manifestations of anti-Semitism in Germany cannot be considered in the same light. Canadians have a right to expect drastic action by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany to suppress the current spate of incidents, and to root out ex-Nazis from positions of influence in government and education.”
In Washington, President Eisenhower, at a news conference, said he supported American authorities in West Berlin who clamped a ban on information to the press about the records of former Nazis. The President indicated that the American mission in Berlin was justified in banning information and staying out of “political affairs.” The State Department was reported as feeling that the information about former Nazis might be embarrassing, at this time, to the West German Government.
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.
