The Rector and the Senate of the University of Breslau have openly joined the Nazi opposition to the continued membership on the law faculty of the Jewish professor, Ernst Cohn, who has been the target of agitation and attack since the opening of his lecture series on November 10th.
Rector Brockelmann and the University Senate have issued a joint statement declaring that “the continuation of Professor Cohn’s lectures cannot be tolerated since Professor Cohn has not maintained the necessary political reserve.”
Professor Cohn is believed to have fallen into a trap set for him in the course of a newspaper interview. Asked by a newspaperman whether or not in his view Leon Trotsky, the exiled Soviet leader, merits asylum in Germany, Professor Cohn replied: “Spiritual workers always deserve protection if they avoid agitation as politicians of whom we have plenty ourselves.”
The reactionary press caught up this statement and denounced Professor Cohn as a Trotskyist.
At the same time a number of professors and students announced a determined fight to bring about Cohn’s ouster.
Disturbances have been recurrent at the University of Breslau since Professor Cohn opened his lecture series. Several times the University was closed because the situation reached such a stage where it could no longer be controlled by the authorities.
The statement issued by the University Senate and the Rector is occasioning surprise inasmuch as in the past they appeared determined not to be intimidated by the threats of the Nazis.
The Law Faculty of the University on November 15th, issued an appeal to the Nazis to stop their agitation and called upon Professor Cohn to resume his lecturs which had been interrupted.
On December 6th, the University Senate reprimanded four students who demonstrated against Professor Cohn.
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.
