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The German Situation
Sidelights of Jewish Life in Berlin
By Our Special Correspondent
B KRI-1N, June 1933—Of all the tragedies in
ti« many, that of the Jewish school children
j s probably the most poignant. The mental
• h ( ,j the young children who have been sud-
subjected to so much indignity and suffering
n ,,nl\ be conjectured, but not known. In the
rintime it is only the unfortunate parents who
• md teel the pain of their children and suiter
ith them.
\ new institution has been introduced into the
rrman schoolroom with the advent of the Nazi
. me. This is a so-called “Judenbank”—a few
caches, usually at the end of the room, where all
r Jewish children of the class are segregated
m their schoolfellows, thus forming a new
k »i, H )l-(ihetto. During the intervals, the Jewish
lildrrn are insulted by their school fellows, and
uin^ the lessons the insults are heaped upon
nu In the teachers. These latter have proved
hr a terrible disappointment not only to the
irrnt> of the Jewish children, but to all liberal-
inilrd persons in Germany. Instead of tact-
iilv helping their young Jewish charges in their
Mchological crisis, they, as a rule, increase the
rment of the children, by lecturing in their pres-
•Kf about race purity, the superiority of the
Aryans, and the rest of the anti-Semite “science”
t the Nazis. Some of the teachers increase still
e the self-consciousness of their Jewish pupils
h affixing the name “Jude” when they call upon
them to recite their lessons.
\s a result of this, the movement for the estah-
i'hnient of special schools for Jewish children in
iermany, which was hitherto fought tooth and
nail b\ most German Jews, is now rapidly gaming
popularity. Not only do Zionists and other
luionalist Jews favor such separate schools now,
• even the most rabid Assimilationists are turn-
Ij\: to this as to the only relief for their mentally
<rturetl children. The few existing Jewish schools
*pt up by the “Gemeindes” are filled to over
ling and a strong movement is on foot to re-
uest the Government to withdraw all Jewish
Idren from the Nazi schools and establish
rparate Nchools for them.
\ inner us Xullus in the Teaching Profession
Next to the children, it is the Jewish teachers
( iermany who suffer most from the new regime,
much has been written about the discrimina-
Bns against the Jewish lawyers and medical men
the fate of the Jewish teachers has been en-
rriv overlooked. In reality, these men and wom-
n are now in a worse position than any other
"»h professionals or xvorkers. While in the
and other professions the Nazis, formally at
' *'t, allow a certain percentage of Jew’s to go
n "ith their work, in the teaching profession the
j "' are entirely eliminated. Even the so-called
rxcni i ‘ions” of the Aryan clause, which operate
n the ;ther professions, do not apply to Jewish
^'her-. The teaching profession in Germany
■ nou entirely “Judenrein.” Jewish teachers are
to teach only Jewish religion, and that
Jewish children.
^ week the arch-anti-Semite, Kube, the Presi-
Brandenburg (which includes the city of
in has decreed that Jew ish teachers are to be
11 ted also from private schools, and even to
rived the privilege of teaching private
ithin six weeks, all qualified teachers in
n ijr must submit a certificate of their Aryan
e! • These who cannot supply such a cer-
"ALL QUIET" ON THE JEWISH
FRONT
By Pierre Van Paassen
Hitlerism can persecute poor Jews today, be
cause among other reasons, rich Jews and mid
dle-class Jews think more of their class-position
in German society than of standing together
with the downtrodden of their own people and
with the non-Jewish masses who are ground
under the heel of Fascism.
We can see it clearly now that the same lines
cut across Jewish life as divide the non-Jewish
world into a handful of privileged creatures on
the one hand and a countless mass of miserable,
struggling, destitute and at best economically
insecure human beings on the other hand. The
name of the Jewish unknown soldier on the
German economic front, the Jew who bears the
brunt of the battle is not Rothschild, and it
never was. The mass of the Jews are poor,
utterly destitute.
As to the other Jews. Hear what Herr
Oscar Wassermann had to sav in the Nazi-con
trolled “Berliner Tageblatt" two days after the
application of the anti-Jcwish boycott: “I am
not disquieted in the least,'' he said, “in a gen
eral way I can say that I have not noticed any
change at all neither in my business relations
nor in my worldly relations." No change! Herr
Wassermann was member of the directorate of
the Deutsche Hank and Disconto Gesellschaft
before Hitler’s advent to power—and he still is.
There is no reason to doubt Herr \Va**cr-
mann’s word. He never had anything in com
mon with the Jewish masses on the Berlin Fast
side and he hasn’t anything in common with
them now. Vet as member of the Agency for
Palestine it was Herr Wassermann who vetoed
the Kvut/ch type of colony—the only hopeful
and forward-looking experiment in the attempt
to rebuild a Jewish national life. It was Herr
Oscar Wassermann who pronounced the ban on
the admittance of more ragged and destitute
Chalutzim from the Polish inferno into the Land
of Israel. He is to this day one of the men who
decide what is to be done and what is not to be
done with the Jewish masses in respect to Eret/
Israel. He and Herren Opnenheimer and
Schroeder and Salomonson and other Jewish
bank directors were included on the list of
financiers to sit with Hitler and I" rick ^and
Goering on Vtav 29 to decide upon the Reich’s
future financial policy. I Hr*e gentlemen have
not noticed any change. I hev are not dis-
ouieted. And whv should thev be? It was
Schroeder k Cie, a Jewish bank, which ad
vanced Hitler the monev—20 million mark*--
to fight the last election. Without that sum Hit
ler would have been beaten.
tificate are automatically barred from the profes
sion. ...
The only hope of these Jewish teachers now is
the establishment of Jewish schools ; and their vital
interest in the matter is an additional factor to
wards a speedy establishment of these institutions.
The Jew is "Treife” But His Money is “Kosher ’
While the discrimination and the persecution,
thus, goes on uninterruptedly, there is a marked
tendency, how’ever, on the part of the higher au
thorities to amend, if not to remove entirely, some
of the difficulties which were imposed on Jewish
business enterprises in the early part of the Nazi
Revolution. The Reichsminister for Industry, Herr
Wagner, has this week issued several official or
ders to local Nazi organizations, forbidding them
to interfere with the management and ownership
of Jewish business enterprises. In one of these
orders the Minister even went so far as to say that
all business enterprises, irrespective of the fact
whether their capital, or even management, is un-
German or not, contribute to the welfare of the
Vaterland and are not to he discriminated against.
The (iovernment is not interested in ruining non-
(ierman industries—he added for this can only
result in the ruin of the country.
In other words, while the Jew personally may
he persecuted and discriminated against, his money
ami enterprise are nevertheless to be used for the
benefit of the State.
The Eattenhofer Is "Judenrein."
And yet, in spite of this pronouncement of the
Reichsminister, the biggest and oldest (ierman
brewery, the Schueltheiss Patzenhofer, which was
founded and owned by Jews, was obliged this
week to follow other Jewish enterprises and be
come “judenrein.” The Jewish directors of the
firm, the well-known hankers Jakob Goldschmidt,
()skar Wassermann, Ludwig Katbenelson, and
others, have announced their “resignation”; and
thus one of the oldest ami biggest Jewish enter
prises in (iermany has passed out of Jewish hands.
The ./. E. G. A pologizet for Its Jewish I'ouruler
In this connection an announcement which ap
peared in the Press this week throws some more
light on the treatment of Jewish business enter
prises in Germany now. It was from the well-
known Allegemeine Elektrizitaets-Gesellschaft (A.
E. G.), which, as is well known, was founded by
the old Rathenau. The announcement states that
in view of the fact that many people are under the
impression that the A. K. (i. is a Jewish firm, the
business of the firm has lately suffered a consid
erable setback ; the directors therefore w ish to make
it public that although the firm was founded by a
Jew, it was no longer owned nor directed by Jews,
and “it should therefore he treated like any other
(ierman non-Jewish firm.”
Separate Bathing Hours in Berlin
In the meantime, the flood of Nazi decrees with
a view’ to persecuting, discriminating, and insult
ing Jews, is continuing without interruption. The
Berlin Municipality is now- considering the estab
lishment of separate hours of bathing for Jews in
the municipal bathing place of VVansee and other
public places. The official reason given for such
a measure is “in the interest of peace and order.”
In practice, this new order, if it comes, will not
affect Jews much, for very few’ Jews in (iermany
now attend public places of this kind. But the
deliberate insult of such an order nevertheless re
mains.
"Not Healthy“ for a Jew to Be Seen in Germany
The Jewish lawyers of the city of Berlin have
just formed an organization of their own, as most
of them are no longer admitted into the existing
German professional organizations. It is charac
teristic of the general mood in the country that
the first act of this new organization was to regu
late strictly the public appearance of Jewish law
yers in courts, in order that too many Jewish
lawyers should not be seen in court on any one
day. I learn on reliable authority that this action
was taken by the Jew's at the suggestion of the
more friendly non-Jewish lawyers, who advised
their Jew’ish colleagues that their appearance in
court in too great numbers was not healthy” for
them.
HE OUTHERN ISRAELITE *
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