A direct attempt to influence American opinion by circulation of propaganda material through the mails to the editorial writers of American newspapers is being made by the German government. It is believed to be the first case in which a foreign government has directly circulated American newspapers in an effort to sway public opinion here.
Editorial writers on American newspapers were in receipt this week of a tastefully printed pamphlet, in English, containing the address of Chancellor Hitler before the Reichstag on January 30. The pamphlet, it states, is printed and published by the Reichsdruckerei (German government printing office).
The speech, as reported at the time of its delivery, attacks the refugees and exiles from Germany as “degenerate exiles,” assails the democratic form of government and reasserts the Nazi claims of desire for peace.
“If degenerate exiles,” the pamphlet quotes Hitler as declaring, “most of whom more for criminal than for political reasons, left the country, which as the scene of their former activities had become too dangerous, now try to mobilize a credulous world with the skill of true rogues and a criminal lack of conscience, their lies will be increasingly exposed, as tens of thousands of respectable and honorable men and women in growing numbers come to Germany and are able personally to compare the accounts of these international ‘persecuted persons’ with the actual reality.”
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.
