French Premier Expresses Sympathy with German Jews As Refugee Problem Grows

Sympathy with the persecuted Jews of Germany was expressed today by Premier Edouard Daladier in an address before a meeting at Apt in southern France during which he discussed the activities of the French Government during the past six months.

“We believe that no Government is entitled to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,” M. Daladier pointed out. “Only, when a purely humane problem arises, the French Government will never hesitate to raise its voice in favor of freedom and justice.”

He voiced approval of the stand taken by the French delegation at Geneva when the petition of Franz Bernheim, an Upper Silesian Jew who appealed to the Council of the League of Nations for redress for Nazi discrimination in the plebiscite area, was taken up.

Despite the attitude taken by M. Daladier, dissatisfaction is being manifested here with the German Jewish refugees, on economic grounds, particularly among physicians who fear that their German Jewish colleagues now in their midst, will compete with them for their practices.

A rumor that the French Government has under contemplation a plan to waive the requirement for special examinations which all foreign doctors are required to pass before gaining permission to practice here, has aroused much protest, particularly in the organization of French medical students which, adopting resolutions of sympathy with the German Jewish refugees, nevertheless demands that there be no relaxation of the laws in favor of German Jewish doctors.

In the city of Metz, in view of the large number of German refugees there, it was decided to limit the number of German Jewish employees permitted to work to five percent of the total number of employees.