A newly opened bookstore, featuring Nazi literature and a large swastika in its front window, was wrecked Friday night by more than 50 angry members of the Jewish community. The Rudolf Hess Bookstore, owned by Nathan Green, a survivor of Auschwitz, was across the street from Temple B’nai Emunah which was established by German Jewish refugees and survivors of Nazi concentration camps. On Friday evening, after the bookstore was wrecked, five stained glass windows of the synagogue were smashed, apparently by pro-Nazi sympathizers.
Two persons were arrested in connection with the attack on the Nazi bookstore: Morris Weiss, a 55-year-old survivor of Auschwitz, and his son, Allen, 24. Both were charged with assault and malicious mischief. Swinging tire irons and axes, the enraged residents of the predominantly Jewish community overturned the shelves in the store, set fire to the literature and painted over the sign outside the store. Three men in storm trooper uniforms were seen fleeing the store from the back door.
Since the bookstore opened five days earlier by a handful of uniformed Nazis, the window of the store was smashed, an arson attempt took place and tomatoes were hurled while the Nazis locked themselves inside the store. Green has served a notice evicting the tenants as of tomorrow. “We will not rest until these people are out of the neighborhood,” one Jewish resident stated. Green said that he had not known the politics of his new tenants.
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.
