PURGE OF JEWS IN VIENNA

Southland Times, Issue 23664, 12 November 1938, Page 7

PURGE OF JEWS IN VIENNA

REPORTS OF THIRTY SUICIDES KINDERGARTEN ATTACKED BY NAZI MOB (United Press Assn—Telegraph Copyright) (Received November 11, 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, November 11. No fewer than 1500 Jews were searched throughout the day in Vienna; about 1000 were released, and the others were imprisoned in concentration camps. The police made a house-to-house search, arresting all male Jews under 60 years of age. Numbers are reported to have fled to the Viennese forests.

Storm Troopers wearing steel helmets protected the central synagogue, in which are records the loss of which would inconvenience the authorities, but this was the only one of 21 synagogues and 71 prayer houses which was not molested. Some were gutted, and others were half destroyed; none can be used for worship. The bombs used for the destruction of some of the synagogues shattered nearby windows.

The Vienna correspondent of the British United Press says that by midnight all Jews were examined at police stations or in their homes. Thirty are believed to have been successful in .attempts at suicide. Even a Jewish kindergarten was attacked. It is announced by the Nazis that the raids revealed a large amount of arms, communist literature and illegal currency possessed by Jews, and it was added that if they wished to avoid justified harshness the Jews must get out as quickly as possible. The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press says that Herr Hitler .will attend and speak at the State funeral of Dr' von Rath at Dusseldorf next Tuesday. “SPONTANEOUS” VIOLENCE? Crowds were still parading the streets in Berlin at 11 p.m., but the police were in complete control. The order by the Minister of Propaganda (Dr Josef Goebbels) to ' cease demonstrations against the Jews was broadcast again tonight. The Propaganda Ministry told Reuters that it assumed responsibility for the occurrences. “The police did not interfere in these spontaneous demonstrations,” it said. The offices of the Jewish agency in Berlin were sacked and papers and files were destroyed, including records of would-be migrants to Palestine.

A mob invaded a Jewish community house and partly destroyed its valuable library. Jews of all ages and both sexes were beaten in the streets and in their homes. Only two are reported to have been killed—one at an emigrants’ training camp. Israel’s store, which is one of the largest in Europe and which was completely sacked, was partly British owned.

In Munich, while squads of Storm Troopers wrecked shops and houses, the police arrested 20 prominent Jews as a renrisal for the shooting of Dr von Rath, including Dr Klar, a famous orthopaedic surgeon. Nazis set fire to the house of Dr Bach, whose family escaped in (heir night clothes.