A ruse employed by firms in Germany which are hard hit by the boycott in an effort to break its strangle-hold was disclosed yesterday by Theodore Badman, member of the executive committee of B’nai B’rith. Badman announced that Nazi firms are compelling their employes to write letters belittling the reported atrocities in Germany.
One such letter fell into the hands of Badman last week. It was written in German with Hebrew characters. For obvious reasons, Badman withheld mention of all names. The letter follows:
“As co-worker of the firm I have unfortunately suffered for some time since your order is missing. If that has anything to do with political events in Germany I don’t want a misunderstanding to come up. As Jewish co-worker of the firm, to which I belong since the end of the war, I can confirm to you that in my connection with the firm not one iota has changed and I don’t know a more tolerant firm than H.S. As co-worker of the firm I and my family are naturally very much interested in the good orders for this firm but I must give honor to the truth. I have not the slightest difficulty on account of my religion.
“I pray you also from your part not to end our long standing business relations on account of certainly exaggerated reports over German conditions, not only from a personal interest but also for the reason of the tolerance of my firm for which I vouch fully. Hoping to see soon your valued orders which will have my personal good attention, I remain,…”
Captain Hermann Goering, Nazi Premier of Prussia, has just banned “The Death Ship: The Story of an American Sailor,” by B. Traven, although the book had been a best-seller there for eight years. Over 300,000 copies had been sold in Germany and it had run as a serial in more than 150 newspapers.
The book had sold steadily all through Hitler’s regime. The ban came on the day when the first English reviews of it arrived in Berlin. In the London Daily Herald Mr. H. L. Tomlinson had written: “It cannot be doubted that Public Health Committees, and the Gendarmerie, and all what-nots in office and uniform, those hands and eyes of the God-State, would like to do to this story what the Nazis did to any work in which they could find a sign of life.” Mr. Tomlinson’s prediction came true, but apparently not until Goering had been told of the existence of this book more than a year after he came into office.
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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.
