A defense of Hitler and Hitlerism in the pulpit and over the radio today had stirred the Jewish population of Detroit to indignation.
Dr. Frederick B. Fisher, minister of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, in one of a series of addresses on Germany from his pulpit, which was broadcast over the radio, declared that he refused to become exercised over “Germany’s current excursion into racial extravagance.”
Dr. Fisher said that anti-Semitism had its roots planted in the past and was not the creation of Adolf Hitler. He declared:
“As for my Jewish friends who have written me bitter letters because I find some commendable trends in the new Germany, let me say to them that I see in this awakening of a nation something much bigger than racial bigotry.”
FOLLOWING JEWS’ EXAMPLE
Analyzing the causes of what he called the “weird and unwholesome” antagonism between the Hitlerites and the Jews, Dr. Fisher offered the theory that the Gentiles in Germany are attempting to pattern their lives after the German Jews. He proceeded to state:
“In Munich, only two per cent of the population has been Jews, yet this two per cent, through an intense cooperative effort and by keeping their racial bloodstream pure, managed to gain fifty per cent of the leading positions in the business, professional and artistic life of that city.
“These Jews of Munich became more clever, developed more finesse, educated their young in law, in banking, in music. As a result, they dominated Munich. So, in Munich, the ninety-eight per cent attempting to imitate the highly successful two per cent, has become race conscious and would attempt to develop a bloodstream as pure as that of the Jews.”
URGES CALMNESS
Dr. Fisher said he deplored the “mad movement against Hitler” in which many churchmen are taking part.
“With these men,” he said, “I greatly regret the anti-Jewish policy, but vilification never solved a problem. We must work it out calmly and we must help Germany in its desperate effort to arise out of its difficulties and gain parity with other civilized nations of the world.”
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.
