Saturday, November 29, 2008

Jewish Movement Restricted

Jews are hearby restricted from moving from one locality to another. After being stripped of the passports preventing them from leaving the country they are now not allowed to move about within their own country.

The Nazi authorities left it to the local municipal Presidents to establish curfews and locations that are off-limits for Jews.

This came down yesterday.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Jewish Protests against Kristallnacht

Last night, in four large cities of the USSR, there were rallies in protest of the pogroms of last month in Germany and Austria as well as growing violence against Jews in France and Poland.

The Rallies were held in Odessa, Kiev, Leningrad and Moscow itself. The Soviet Police did not interfere with the protests.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Schutzstaffel for a Jewish State

On November 24th, Das Schwarze Korps, a Schutzstaffel periodical, claims that it would welcome the founding of a Jewish state.

"The German people are not in the least inclined to tolerate in their country hundreds of thousands of criminals, who not only secure their existence through crime, but also want to exact revenge... In such a situation we would be faced with the hard necessity of exterminating the Jewish underworld... The result would be the actual and final end of Jewry in Germany, its absolute annihilation."

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Nuremberg Laws in Danzig

Yesterday, the Free City of Danzig was officially dominated by the Nazi Party from Germany. This was enacted by a vote of the Danzig Senate. This does not include the eastern neighbor Poland.

The Nuremberg Laws passed by the Nazis in the fall of 1935 are now in force in Danzig and applies to Jews regardless of nationality. The Nazi organ Vorposten, commenting on the action, ironically hopes that the Poles will be grateful to the Danzig government for its efforts to secure "racial purity" for the Free City's inhabitants.

Warsaw, however, does not see the situation in that light. It is understood that the Poles are preparing to protest this new discrimination.

The anti-Semitic drive, which began with the German excesses, continues unabated. Several Jewish-owned stores, which had reopened, closed again after the police had indicated that their reopening was a "provocation".

More than 100 Jews have been arrested during the last three days. Those who seemingly were Polish citizens were sent across the frontier. Many of them were arrested on the Polish side as deserters from the Army.

Danzig's great synagogue, damaged in the recent rioting, now is being torn down to enable the extension of the police station.

The adoption of the Nuremberg Laws is a violation of the Free City's constitution guaranteed by the League of Nations, but Commissioner Carl J. Burckhardt de Reynold is not expected to take any action. in fact, he is understood to be disillusioned and wishes to resign. The Nazis, naturally, would welcome the event.

One month ago there were widespread pogroms against Jews throughout the city-state.

Freemasonry Dissolved in Poland

A decree was issued yesterday dissolving Freemasonry in Poland. Its properties were confiscated and the proceeds of the sale will be handed over to charity.

Attempts to revive the masonic movement, the establishment of clandestine lodges, and so forth, will make those involved liable to five years' imprisonment and heavy fine.

Dissolution of the ladges was ordered by the Masonic leaders themselves a few moths ago when a violent anti-Masonic campaign was launched in the Sejm. The Government issued a decree to silence persons form all ranks who would probably have raised the Masonic issue again the new Parliament.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Seven Americans get Awards by Hitler

Seven Americans, including four University Professors and one lawyer, were awarded the merit cross of the Order of the German Eagle today by Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

Three of the professors, William Alpha Cooper, Karl Frederick Geiser and Frederick K. Krueger, received the order in the first degree. Professor Ralph Haswell Lutz, Fritz Hailer, a lawyer amd F.W. Elven received it in the second degree and E.C. Miller in the third.

Dr. William Alpha Cooper is professor Emeritus of Germanic Languages of Stanford University, California, having retired in 1934. He was born in Batesville, Ohio, in 1868. He studied at some point at the University of Bonn in Germany, the University of Leipzig and the University of Berlin. In 1934 he received an honorary degree from the University of Cologne.

He was for many years on the Stanford faculty and is a member of a number of American and German philological associations. In 1908 he translated Bielschowky's "Life of Goethe".

Dr Karl Frederick Geiser, a native of Iowa, has been a Professor of Political Science at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, where he resides since 1908. He has been teaching since 1893. He was a lecturer in Berlin, Marburg, Goettingen, Muenster, Danzig and Koenigsberg Universities in Germany during 1936 and 1937.

His "Democracy Versus Autocracy" was published in 1918 and in 1934 he published "American political ideals" in the German language.

Dr. Frederick Konrad Krueger, Professor of Political Science since 1923 at Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio, was born in Kottbus, Germany, in 1887. He studied at the University of Berlin and Tubingen University in Germany. He was naturalized as an American citizen in 1930.

He has been an exchange professor at Goettingen, Germany. He is the author of works in German and English, including "Government and Politics of the German Empire" (1915), and is a contributor to the encyclopedias of articles on Germany.

Dr. Ralph Haswell Lutz, a well-known historian is chairman of the Hoover War Library of Stanford University and dean of graduate study at Stanford. He is a native of Ohio and took his PhD at Heidelberg, Germany in 1910.

He served with the American Forces during the World War as first lieutenant of infantry, and was later in the American Military Mission in Berlin, the Supreme Economic Council in Paris and the special mission to Poland.

In a speech in Berlin in 1934, Dr. Krueger attacked the American press for making "no effort to understnad the new German soul or to play fair". He described the boycott of German goods as "a crime against America". He further went on to say that "[s]ome day America will be forced to deal with the problem presented by the Jew". He was then lecturing at the Nazi Academy for Political Sciences.

Jews taken out of Economic Order

In recent days, the Nazi Party has made things even worse for Jews in Germany and Austria.

On November 21st, German Jews with assets over 5,000 Reichsmarks are required to pay a 20% tax on their registered assets with the Reich treasury. At this point, there are likely few Jews who have that much in assets left.

Two days later, November 23rd, an Administrative order came down that dissolved all Jewish own plants and businesses. The Nazis didn't even bother to transfer the properties to non-Jewish owners. They were just ended. All Jewish owned firms ceased to exist.

With many Jews left with no way to work, no money to support themselves and their families, they are rendered destitute in a land where they are despised, beaten, raped and murdered.

No word yet on the 30,000 to 100,ooo Jews that were arrested during Kristallnacht a fortnight ago.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Czech Jew will not be forced to return home

A Czech Jew here illegally, will not be forced to return home to Nazi-held Czechoslovakia.

Federal Judge Philip L. Sullivan granted a writ of Habeas Corpus to the Jew, Solomon Weinberg and then freed him from custody. His Honor stated that to deport the Jew to Central Europe at the present time would be "cruel and unusual punishment".

Mr. Weinberg, 31, was born in a part of the late Hapsburg Empire that became Czechoslovakia. He immigrated to the United States in August, 1927, while employed on the liner Berlin. After missing the ship, he remained here.

He used another man's identity to acquire a passport to visit his dying mother in Poland in 1931. In May of 1932 he returned without a legal visa. He was married in June of 1936 in California but is now separated from his wife.

He was arrested this past June and deportation hearings were arranged soon after. The Judge who heard his case pointed out that Mr. Weinberg has always supported himself and never required state assistance.

He also stated "I do not believe the immigration laws contemplate and such strict compliance with the letter as would oblige the court to return a Jew to a country where his property would be confiscated and his life might be in jeopardy".

Unless Attorney General Homer S. Cummings decides to appeal the case, Judge Sullivan's decision will permit Mr Weinberg to remain in the this country.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Catholic Priest takes on Jews in Radio Broadcast

Father Charles Coughlin of Michigan has a radio broadcast and he is using it. His broadcasts have increasingly favored Hitler and Mussolini.

Now, two weeks after the pogroms of Germany and Austria, Father Coughlin has been making anti-semitic remarks in his broadcast. In the most recent, November 20th, he said "Jewish persecution only followed after Christians first were persecuted." This was a reference to the many Christians killed by Russian Marxists during the Russian Revolution. He has also said that the Nazi Party is essential to hold the Soviet threat in check.

The Roman Catholic Church has yet to comment.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Synagogue blown up in Romania

Reports have surfaced that the Totul pentru Ţară, the Iron Guard, a rabid ultra nationalist, anti-semitic fascist political party in Romania have blown up a Synagogue on November 18th. The Synagogue in question is in the western Romanian town of Reşiţa.

The Iron Guard did do things thoroughly and dynamited it. This was not a simple case burning and looting.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

German Jewish Visas extended

In reaction to Kristallnacht, the US State Department has decided to extend the visas of German Jews in the United States. This will affect an estimated 15,000 people who have been here for varied lengths of time. This was announced yesterday only eight days since the violence ended and four days since the recall of US Ambassador to Germany, Hugh Wilson.

Political Asylum may also be an option for many of these Germans who may be unable to return to their homes.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

American Virgin islands make offer to Jews

Today, the American Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Ocean made an offer to German and Austrian Jews. They offered up their islands as safe havens from discrimination and the increasingly absurd and draconian laws against Jews. The tropical paradise would be a welcome respite from the poor conditions they find themselves in now.

French Socialist criticize Government for inaction

Yesterday, the Chamber of Deputies was filled with criticism. Socialist members of the French Chamber of Deputies criticized the government for not officially protesting the persecution of German Jews. Numerous Jews of Germany and Austria as well as Czechoslovakia are fleeing into France every day. The Nazi Anti-Semitic policies are making it nearly impossible to live as a Jew in those territories.

French, since the days of the French Revolution, have considered themselves a bastion for Civic Rights and Virtues. It is with this view in mind that many have risen to ask why France is not doing anything to stand up for the Jewry of Central Europe.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Anti-Jewish Laws in Italy

The Legislation making it harder for Italian Jews passed the legislature in Italy. The Fascist Government passed several laws resembling the Germany's Nuremberg laws today.

Despite Fascist laws in Italy, there has not been a systemic Anti-Semitic rhetoric in Mussolini's government. This past autumn, Italy has made several changes to its Jewish policies. These laws ban miscegenation between Jews and "Aryans," and placed Jews, defined by racial criteria much as in the Nazi legislation, under further restrictions. Alien Jews have also been expelled from the nation and teachers and students pulled from schools.

Jewish Children expelled from Schools

On the same day British Jewish Leaders pled the case for the welfare of German Jewish children to the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the Nazi-led German Government has decided to expel all Jewish children from schools.

The next day, the British Cabinet met and discussed the issue. It has announced that it will take the British Jewish Community up on its proposal to save the Jewish Youth of Central Europe.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Jewish leaders ask Chamberlain to save Jewish children

British Jewish Leaders have petitioned the British Prime Minister to take on Jewish children from Germany and Austria. In the wake of the horrendous events of Kristallnacht, what the pogroms of November 9th are being 10th are being called. There is a fear that the children will suffer inhumane fates at the hands of the Nazis.

Among other measures, they requested that the British government permit the temporary admission of Jewish children who would later re-emigrate. The Jewish community promised to pay guarantees for the refugee children.

In light of Kristallnacht and the public outrage against the Nazi Party, the Prime Minister has assured the British Jewish Community that he would take their concerns and proposal to the cabinet for discussion today.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

British sever Diplomatic relations with Germany

After the recent widespread pogroms throughout Germany and Austria that led to massive amounts of damage to Jews and Jewish property, the British Empire has severed diplomatic ties to the German nation.

This comes only six weeks after brokering a deal with France and Italy to bring the Sudetenland under Nazi control.

Friday, November 14, 2008

International Reaction to Pogroms

The recent spate of violence in Germany and Austria against Jews there have provoked some criticism elsewhere in the world.

The United States will be recalling its ambassador. President Roosevelt stated that he could "scarcely believe that such things could occur in a twentieth-century civilization". As an expression of the condemnation by the people and Government of the United States, the President ordered Ambassador Hugh Wilson to return from Germany at once.

No word yet on whether diplomatic ties will be severed. France has said it will ending any diplomatic connection with Germany in protest.

There has been talk among some politicians to declare war on Germany just for the atrocities it inflicted upon its own people. In addition, there has been an increase in German Jews trying to flee their homeland.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Jews forced to repay Reich

Yesterday, the German Government ordered the Jewish population of the Reich to pay possibly as much as 1 billion Reichsmark for the damages incurred during Kristallnacht.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Reichskristallnacht

Totals from the destructive progoms against German and Austrian Jews are now known. These may be adjusted slightly but all indications are that these are the figures. Some have been released by Minister Reinhard Heydrich and so come from the Nazi authority.

According to Minister Heydrich, 191 Synagogues were destroyed (constituting nearly all Germany had), with 76 completely demolished; 100,000 Jews were arrested; three foreigners were arrested; 174 people were arrested for looting Jewish shops; and 815 Jewish businesses were destroyed.

It is believed that 7500 Jewish stores and businesses were destroyed by violent Germans. The event has begun to be called Kristallnacht, Reichskristallnacht or Reichspogromnacht.

At this time there may have been a total of 91 deaths due to mob violence. It is unclear how many of these were Jews but it is believed to be all. Many Jews were beaten to death with other Jews being forced to watch on.

Synagogues were not merely damaged and burned but also looted with much of ceremonial treasures stolen and destroyed. Many Temples even had their mezuzot taken from the doorways.

Jewish cemeteries were not spared violence. Tombstones were uprooted and graves violated. Fires were lit, and prayer books, scrolls, artwork and philosophy texts were thrown upon them, and precious buildings were either burned or smashed until unrecognisable. Even the ancestors and the dead were not spared violence and the peace of being dearly departed.

Goebbels ascribed the events to the "healthy instincts" of the German people. He went on to explain: "The German people are anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race."

Events in only recently annexed Austria were no less horrendous. Of the entire Kristallnacht only the pogrom in Vienna was completely successful. Most of Vienna's 94 synagogues and prayer-houses were partially or totally destroyed. People were subjected to all manner of humiliations, including being forced to scrub the pavements whilst being tormented by their fellow Austrians, some of whom had been their friends and neighbors.

Thousands were arrested throughout the riots with no word on what the charges are (many were arrested under the pretence of protection as the Nazis call it) or when they will be released. Countless Jews commit suicide during the pogrom as well.

Internationally, the reaction to the extreme violence has been shock. Many foreign papers have printed accounts of the series of events and destruction of Jewish temples.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Riots against German & Austiran Jews subside

Mob law ruled in Berlin throughout the afternoon and evening and hordes of hooligans indulged in an orgy of destruction. There have several anti-Jewish outbreaks in Germany during the last five years, but never anything as nauseating as this. Racial hatred and hysteria seemed to have taken complete hold of otherwise decent people. Even fashionably dressed women were clapping their hands and screaming with glee, while respectable middle-class mothers held up their babies to see the "fun".

Much Jewish property was damaged and destroyed throughout the violence which has now come to an end after Propaganda minister Joseph Geobbels requested it, though it sounds more like an order. They have been accounts of several deaths during the riots. Figures of the actual destruction is still being accumulated. It mat be some days before the total figures are known, including the dead, injured and arrested.

Italian Jews under harder Laws

The Italian Government enacted anti-Jewish legislation. Many of the laws proposed would be similar to the Nuremberg Laws passed three years ago in Germany.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Riots in Germany & Austria

Violence erupted in the late hours last night. The riots and violence was in response to the murder of Nazi Ernst vom Rath in Paris at the hands of German-born Polish Jew Herschel Grynszpan. Rath lost his life last night at a hospital in Paris even with Chancellor Hitler's own personal physician Dr. Brandt tending to his recovery.

Last night was also the fifteenth anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch which the Nazis look back fondly as an important day in the formation and evolution of their controversial political party.

Destruction of Jewish property has been widespread. Many synagogues, large and small, have been damaged and burned by angry German people. Using sledgehammers many shops windows have been shattered leaving glass shards and pieces all over the streets.

Jewish homes have been ransacked all throughout Germany and Austria. Although violence against Jews has not been explicitly condoned by the authorities, there have been cases of Jews being beaten or assaulted. In an interesting twist, foreign Jews have generally been left alone.

The Riots continue. The Police is not interfering with the mobs but many men are being arrested nontheless. A unsubstantiated rumor is the men are Jews being rounded up for further deportations.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Goebbels speaks at Bürgerbräukeller

In the hours after Ernst vom Rath's death in Paris, Minister Joseph Goebbels gave an impassioned speech at Bürgerbräukeller. This was also to commemorate the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. This night is accorded great significance by the Nazi Party as the Tag der Bewegung (Day of the Movement). Those present were many senior Party members who well remember the night fifteen years prior.

The night was set aside for all the Nazis to celebrate this event in the formation of the party. Chancellor Hitler was in attendance and was expected to speak as has been the tradition for numerous years. He was seen discussing a matter with associates and then abruptly left the event.

This left Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to carry on with the event. Goebbels, though in charge of propaganda, lacks the fiery and passionate rhetoric and charisma of the Chancellor. He also has been seen as something of a failure due to his tepid performance during the Sudeten Crisis. Goebbels told those in attendance that "the Führer has decided that… demonstrations should not be prepared or organised by the party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered." Which seemed to say that if violence against Jews began in retaliation for the death of Ernst vom Rath, the Nazi Party would not interfere.

Ernst vom Rath dead from wounds

Ernst vom Rath was unable to recover from five gunshots he sustained from an attempted political assasination. He passed away while being cared for in a Paris hospital moments ago.

Polish Jew Herschel Grynszpan claimed it was in retaliation for 12,000 Polish Jews being treated extremely poorly in the Polish border town of Zbąszyń. The Polish Jews are in Zbąszyń and the German-Polish border due to a decision by the Polish Government to end the citizenship of Poles living outside Poland for longer than five years.

Grynszpan is still in French custody. He has made accusations that the deceased was a homosexual.

The Nazi Party has reacted harshly to the events in Paris.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

German diplomat shot in Paris

Ernst vom Rath, a 29-year-old Nazi who was posted in the German Embassy in Paris, was shot last night.

The perpetrator was a Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan. The 17-year-old used a gun to shoot vom Rath five times in the abdomen. At the time of the shooting, he claimed it was for 12,000 Jews stranded on the German-Polish Border town of Zbąszyń.

The victim is still alive. He is in the hospital and in critical condition.