Main Synagogue of Nuremberg Destroyed

The Main Synagogue of Nuremberg was burned and damaged beyond use yesterday. The Congregation of the synagogue were given until August 3rd to sell to the City of Nuremberg. After the congregation could not come to a consensus, Mayor Willi Liebel, expropriated the land.

August 10th, there was a gathering of many Nazis in front of the grand synagogue. The Mayor attended and took part in the rally as well as the Gauleiter Julius Streicher. The rally then turned into a demolition and the synagogue was heavily burned and damaged.

The Synagogue has been a fixture in the Nuremberg skyline. No response has been lodged by the displaced congregation.

Lord Runciman meets with German Sudeten Party members

Konrad Henlein, the Sudeten German Führer, sent only subordinates to confer with the Viscount. The consideration with which he treated them was considered spectacular. Lord Runciman's program included 20-minute formal calls on President Eduard Beneš and Premier Milan Hodza; two lengthy conferences with henchmen of Henlein, the second lasting until 2 am; next day lunch with Dr. & Mme Beneš; a short conference at his hotel with non-Nazi Czech Germans.

On the third day the British mediator uncorked his first proposal. He declared that before he could attempt to advise he must understand the problems of Czechoslovakia, must study them for at least a fortnight. Therefore, he proposed that the Government and the Sudetens stop negotiating while he studied. To this provisional Pax Runciman they agreed. Instead of discussing the disputed Minorities Statute, the Czechoslovak Parliament met for only 20 minutes—its first meeting since the war crisis was averted on May 21 —then meekly adjourned indefinitely.

Meanwhile, tourist travel to Prague picked up magically overnight. Tourists wolfed tasty Prager ham and downed it with Pilsner beer, convinced that they were safe so long as The Man With the Wrinkled Brow continues his studies.

When U. S. Ambassador to Germany Hugh Wilson, an ace career diplomat, suddenly flew to Prague on what he carefully described as "just a holiday visit" to his friend U. S. Minister to Czechoslovakia Wilbur J. Carr, Czechs were delighted.

They thought his coming was a friendly gesture by President Roosevelt and the State Department, a nudging reminder from Washington to London that the bulk of U. S. public opinion would not be favorable to a Runciman Report so couched as to sell Czechoslovakia down the river. Private Person Wilson was soon received by President Beneš and Premier Hodza, had a talk with Private Person Runciman, insisted he was only vacationing.

Lord Runciman remains in Prague

---From the New York Times---

While Viscount Runciman’s staff continues to work in close contact with the Henlein party leaders, the British negotiator in the Czech-Sudeten German dispute confined himself today to purely formal visits.

In the morning he received Premier Milan Hodza and Foreign Minister Kamil Krofta, who were returning the calls he paid on them yesterday. At noon he and Lady Runciman lunched with President Eduard Benes and his wife at Hradschin palace. At Lord Runciman’s wish the luncheon was entirely private.

In the afternoon Lord Runciman received a deputation of German Activists – who support the republic – consisting of Wenzel Jakach, Herr Taub and Herr Rehward. The interview lasted only half an hour, in contrast with the hour and a half the Henleinist leaders spent with Lord Runciman yesterday, followed by a late night conference with his staff.

These meetings were held at the Alcron Hotel. Tomorrow the Henleinist leaders again will have long conferences with Lord Runciman’s staff.

Last night they put forward the sensational demands advanced by Konrad Henlein in his Karlsbad speech April 24, when he proclaimed himself and his movement purely Nazi. The Henleinist delegates further explained to Lord Runciman’s staff the meaning of the party’s memorandum embodying most of the Karlsbad demands that was presented to the government June 7.

Incidentally, it is reported that the Committee of Political Ministers is drawing up an answer to the Henlein party’s memorandum.

The German Activist representatives deliberately refrained from bombarding Lord Runciman with documentary propaganda. They left it entirely to the British negotiator to say whether or not he wished further contact with them and advice from them. They told him that if he wished to hear the democratic German viewpoint they would be glad to draw up a memorandum next week and he requested that they do so.

They further offered to show him any industrial center in the Sudeten area that he wished to see, to enable him to “see for himself that the Sudeten Germans can do a good day’s hard work as well as conduct political agitation.”

Lord Runciman thanked them and said that he would consider their suggestion when he drew up his program of visits.

Lord Runciman is leaving Prague for a week-end in the Sudeten area and it is understood that he will pay a personal visit to a big German landowner. His staff refused all information tonight as to whom he would visit.

The German press and radio propaganda campaign in connection with the flight of two Czech planes over Glatz in German territory Wednesday is described as the most violent of all those launched against this country, not excepting the campaign in the days preceding May 21, when Czechoslovakia called reserves to the border.

The press reminds Germany that there have been many cases of German pilots flying as far as Pilsen without any Czech press campaign being launched against Germany. It is a fact the there are constant violations of the Czech frontier by German planes, which it is thought wiser here not to make the subject of protests nor even to allow mentioned [sic] in the press.

The extraordinary violence of the present German campaign gives rise to suspicions that there is truth in reports of large military concentrations around Glatz that have been received here in the last week.

Glatz is situated in a German “peninsula” almost entirely surrounded by Czechoslovak territory and it is quite conceivable that pilots flying over Czechoslovakia could make a mistake and cross the German line there.

The Prague radio replied to the German propaganda tonight in the form of an official communiqué giving three cases in which German pilots, giving the same excuse as the Germans refused to accept in the Galtz case – poor visibility – actually landed in Czechoslovak reserved military areas during the last two months.

England sends Lord Runciman to Prague

Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, arrived today in Prague in response to the continuing Sudetenland crisis between Czechoslovakia and Germany. He is hoping to find a mutually beneficial solution to the situation.

His first day has so far involved a meeting with the Czechoslovakian President. He will be meeting with German Sudetens and other involved parties before returning to England and the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.

Italy cracks down on Jews

Italy has passed the Racial Laws against the Jews barring them from studying or teaching in a school of higher learning and revoking the citizenship of all foreign Jews obtained after January, 1919, and decreeing their expulsion within six months.

Japanese & Soviet conflict resolved

The details are not known at this time. However, sources have said that the conflict between the Japanese Empire and the Soviet Union ended on August 1st. The border between Soviet Union's Siberian wilderness and Japan's state of Manchuria, now called Manchukuo, will return to its previous situation on July 29th. This was the day the Japanese entered Siberia unprovoked.

Conflict at Broad Drum Peak

There has been an act of Japanese aggression at a point of disputed territory on the Manchurian and Soviet border. The Japanese attacked border guards and have been able to push some distance into Siberia.

Street names changed in Germany

In Germany, a program has been started to change street names. Some of the streets apparently have Jewish sounding names. Considering the political problems that exist within Germany at this moment, it has become inappropriate to retain the names. So, the names will be changed to sound more German.

ID cards for Jews

The German Government passed a measure yesterday requiring all Jews to carry Identification cards. This comes after Jewish doctors were forbidden to practice medicine on non-Jews.

Évian Conference Concludes

After nine days, the Évian Conference wraps up in southeastern France. No resolution was passed. There was a great deal of official statements of sympathy by nations for the stateless Jews.

Most of attending nations were reluctant to shoulder the burden of the Jewish refugees.

The Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic did offer safe harbor to the refugees. The so-called Sosua Project would have 100,000 Jews settling in the Dominican Republic with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee paying the nation millions of dollars. Costa Rica is also offering the same resolution.

The American delegate noted that the United States has immigration quotas and would be making the German and Austrian quotas fully available. France also claimed it had met "the extreme point of saturation as regards admission of refugees."

The British delegation did not remind the conference attendees of its Palestinian mandate where Jewish settlements have been forming for decades. This may, in fact, have been intentional since there were even Jewish observers from Palestine at the conference such as Mrs. Golda Meyerson. Mrs. Meyerson is Ukrainian-born Jew who was reared and educated in the United States before emigrating to Palestine. She remarked to the press after conference ended, "There is only one thing I hope to see before I die and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore."

An Australian delegate even noted "as we [Australia] have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one."

Yesterday, a Nazi newspaper published an article with a headline stating “JEWS FOR SALE AT A BARGAIN PRICE--WHO WANTS THEM? NO ONE.”

France makes decrees

Whilst the Conference proceeds in Évian, the French Prime Minister has made some announcements in the past two days. First, Prime Minister Édouard Daladier was given the authority to govern by decree in the event of war. This is much like martial law and does not leave the people a representative voice in the creation or implementation of laws.

Second, Monsieur Daladier declared that France is recommitting itself to Czechoslovakian independence. This continues the line that France and Britain have maintained since demands from Hitler have come down for possession of the Sudetenland in April.

Secretary Hull meets with German Ambassador Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff

Today, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull talked with the German Ambassador Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff about the European situation. He told the Ambassador that this Government had been earnestly hoping that the German Government would reach a stage where it would decide to support the program of peace and orderly progress which the United States had been striving to keep alive and to advance.

The Secretary said that there was only one alternative course: the course of force, militarism, and territorial aggression with all the accompanying hurtful and destructive practices.

Conference on Jewish Refugees

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for a conference to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of stateless Jews from Central Europe. And that's what he's getting.

Representatives from thirty-two nations and twenty-four volunteer organizations are gathering today in Évian-les-Bains, France. Here on the western banks of Lake Geneva and in the picturesque Rhône-Alpes area of southeastern France, these delegates will discuss a solution to the refugees coming out of central Europe.

In the past few years, laws have been passed down in Germany that have made Jews in that country stateless. With other oppressive laws taking business and property from German Jews, many have left the nation looking elsewhere for hope and prosperity.

Austria takes Jews into custody

Earlier today, the Austrian officials took 40,000 or so Jews in protective custody. It is unknown what protective custody means, the ages or gender of the people arrested or where Austria intends to place the Jews.

State of United States Forces

Yesterday, Secretary of War Harry Woodring was able to report encouraging improvements in the military establishment. He declared, however, that there were still deficiencies in organization, equipment, and personnel that required correction. The Chief of Staff of the Army, General Malin Craig, pointed out at the same time that the Regular Army ranked only eighteenth among the standing armies of the world.

Guerillas in the Fields

After marching from Qingdao (Tsingtao), Japanese forces finally reached the Huang (Yellow) River. Mobile Chinese forces limited Japanese control to the railway zone. Despite their military superiority, the Japanese discovered that they could capture major Chinese urban centers, but that Chinese guerillas controlled the rural areas. As a result, Chinese troops were able to conduct successful operations against the Japanese during the Spring of 1938.

Sinti & Roma elements in Germany & Austria

For the past three days, the German and Austrian authorities have been gathering up members of the Sinti and Roma groups. Sinti and Roma are Gypsies and are found living in almost every nation is Europe. Both groups have lived in Germany since the 15th Century.

The German Government took many rights from the Gypsies with "Protection of Blood and Honour" law passed in 1935. This law strips many non-Aryan groups in Germany and, since Anschluss earlier this year, Austria, of civic rights.

Gypsies have historically been nomadic groups all over Europe. The areas of largest populations are in Central and Eastern Europe. Some have countered that the Gypsies are also Aryan, the supposed race of German people.

Dr. Hans F. K. Günther of the University of Berlin has written on the subject in his 1927 book The Racial Elements of European History. Within its pages he discusses Gypsy Aryan origins that corruptions that have occurred dur to breeding with lower classes. All of this is of course the writings of German racialism and has not been wholly substantiated by other learned men.

Other authorities have noted the asocialism and community hygiene problems that the Gypsies present to the Nazi Government.

Many Gypsies have historically been distrusted due to their refusal to live sedentary lifestyles. Gypsies live a nomadic pattern using their skills in crafts and performance to earn money for food. Gypsies are often referred to as criminals, deceivers and thieves.

It is unclear where the Gypsies are going in this relocation.

Japanese land at Anqing

Today, the Japanese landed Naval forces on the Coast at Anqing. The Chinese 11th Army is nearby. More information as it happens.

Flooding of the Yellow River

Reports have been received that the Yellow River (Huang River) near Huayuankou. In the early morning hours of June 9th, local time, many of the local Chinese were caught unawares. The number of dead, missing and injured are unknown at this time. There has been considerable flooding in the area in the past eight years. The local populations are difficult to ascertain as records of the residents have not been effectively kept.

This flood is certainly coming at a bad time for the Japanese. This will impede their efforts at taking control of China.

Latvia and Estonia sign pact with Germany

Germany signed a pact promising non-aggression with the two Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia. The two nations would likely have presented little to no concern to Germany. This is more of a relief to the tiny poor Baltic nations. It is clear to many that a war in Europe is coming but it will not be Germany that brings it to Latvia and Estonia.