Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1935. PERSECUTION OF JEWS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 227, 23 August 1935, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1935. PERSECUTION OF JEWS.

A new drive by Hitlerism against the Jews of Germany is likely to have serious repercussions in the quarrel which has been precipitated between Ur. Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, and Ur. Shaolit, Minister of ' Economies, according to an unofficial report supplied by the Berlin representative of a London journal. A Nazi of extreme convictions, Herr Streicher is the henchman of Ur. Goebbels in pursuing- a new drive against German Jews which was launched as the climax to a day of propaganda on August 15. To give colour to the proceedings, the former residence of the Kaiser in Berlin was bedecked with banners bearing sentiments in accord with the occasion, and a Jewish confectioner was so manhandled as to be rendered almost, unconscious. Herr Streielier’s speech denounced the Press of other countries for criticism of this aspect of Nazi policy, and made blasphemous references to Jewish religion. The baiting of Jews was surprisingly and severely attacked a few days later by Ur. Schacht, who holds a high position in the German Cabinet. The essence of liis argument was that, while the Nazi programme debarred Jews from comradeship and citizenship, it admitted them to the operation of laws which were now being framed, and therefore the Jews could not bo arbitrarily victimised. The same, he added, applied to the religious question. The speech was heavily censored before its publication, but the fact that Ur. Schacht was impelled to deliver it is overwhelming evidence of the manner in which Germany’s recovery has been retarded by a vindictive policy of driving Jews from Germany and of persecuting those unable to leave the coun- | try. The Government itself has been seriously concerned with the feeling of unpopularity these measures against a defenceless people have arous_ed in other countries.

Last month the German liner Bremen was the scene of an antiNazi riot at New York, the vessel’s Hag- being thrown into the Hudson River. Berlin at once demanded the punishment of the men responsible, thoug-h it was not so foolish as to seek an apology. The Note was forwarded to the Administration of the State concerned as its own business, but this did not prevent the authorities at Washington from expressing sympathy with Jews undergoing persecution in Germany. Eight leaders of Jewry in tiie United States sought official intervention, and the actingSecretary of State, in his reply, pointed to the fact that “concepts of religious freedom and liberty constituted the most fundamental principles of our civilisation and political faith. This being so American people are always sympathetic to the maintenance of these concepts in the United States as well as in other countries.” Another happening ol note in the United States is a motion proposing investigation of the Nazis’ alleged persecution of religious and other minorities recently introduced into the Senate, and referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, its terms haying in view the severing of diplomatic intercourse "with Germany. Jewish and Catholic organisations have also urged the cancellation of American participation in the Olympic Games at Berlin next vear. None more than Ur. Schacht knows better the injurious effects upon Germany’s economic strength of the alienation of Jewish trade with the Reich. The famous Leipzig Fair has alarmingly shrunk in size, mostly on account of its desertion by Jewish interests as a reprisal for

the treatment of their countrymen. Nazi extremism has brought into being a permanent international organisation to defend the rights of Jews everywhere, and at Geneva a year ago arrangements were made to hold the congress which was opened at Lucerne on Tuesday, with a declaration urging that international action be taken against Jewish persecution, for equality of rights throughout the world, and for freedom to rebuild Palestine as their national home. It will be a good thing for Germany if Ur. Schacht has proved to Nazism the foolishness of its crime against a minority people.