The efforts which are being made by the Jewish representatives in an attempt to bring about a modification of the Compulsory Sunday Closing Law which has been enforced in Bratislava (Pressburg), seem to have encountered the determined opposition of the German Social Democratic Party. The leader of the Party, Dr. Ludwig Czech, the Minister of Social Welfare, who is himself a Jew, is stated to have informed the Jewish Party, that he is definitely against its demand for exempting Jewish merchants in Bratislava from the provisions of the Sunday Closing Law.
The Jewish Party stated its case in a memorandum which it submitted to the Government on July 1st, drawn up by Deputy Dr. Ludwig Singer (who has died since) and Deputy Dr. Julius Reisz, who drew attention to the serious difficulties which the new law creates for the more than 400 Jewish shopkeepers in Bratislava who keep the Sabbath. Exemption is given to shopkeepers in the Czecho-Slovakian health resorts for the convenience of visitors, they pointed out, and religious convictions are at least as important as the convenience of health resort visitors. There is no danger of the exemption placing the Jewish shopkeepers in a privileged position, they added, since they would still be keeping their shops closed for 62 hours, from Friday afternoon till Monday morning, except for a two-hours’ break on Sunday, which is all that the Jewish representatives ask in the way of exemption.
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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.
