A JEWISH REPUBLIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 226, 23 September 1936, Page 16

A JEWISH REPUBLIC.

IN BRAZILIAN STATE. OFFER FROM WEALTHY GROUP. RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil). Morris Melvin Wagner, a Jew and resident of California, recently sent a long letter to President GetUlio Vargas, accompanied by a map showing a huge terrftorial extension located in the State of the Rio Grande do Sul. In his letter Wagner deals a.t length with the Jewish situation all over the world, mentioning the deportation "eta. masse" from Germany by Herr Hitler, and ending with the somewhat extraordinary proposal of purchase ty a group of wealthy Jews, of which he (Wagner) would, of course, be the official representative, of a large stretch of land in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in order to establish there a Jewish republic. Wagner asserts in his missive to President Vargas that well over a million Jews, now scattered all over the world, would constitute the first population of his republic. The land would be acquired and paid for by means of subscriptions collected among millionaire Jews of the whole world. The Jewish republic of South America would naturaljy remain under the protectorate of Brazil, and would have also a treaty of alliance in case of foreign war.

In addition the projected new republic would be willing to accept any other obligation to be established at the moment of the closing of the deal. As extraordinary as this proposal may appear, it was, however, fully confirmed to the Chicago Tribune Press Service correspondent by a high official of the itamaraty (Brazil's foreign office), who added: "This proposal has got to be received with all the respect of our traditional liberalism, which naturally must sympathise with everything having a connection With oppressed and persecuted races. However, Brazil cannot avoid finding in this proposal,a sense of real strangeness, in face of such an absurd pretention to buy. Brazilian territory. All • Jews who may wish to come to Brazil and work here shall find the gates'of the country quite opened, but nobody can seriously think, even for a second, of the possibility of a land bargain, especially when the coveted territory has cost so much Brazilian blood in connection with its incorporation to the motherland." ; ; Naturally Mr. Wagner's letter to President Getulio Vargas has already found its, way, to the "obsolete" collection of sundry papers, whnh do not even justify the trouble of being kept on file.