26 DECEMBER 1931, Page 17

THE NAZIS AND THE GERMAN JEWS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I trust you will allow me, as an English Jew, a little space to reply quite briefly to Herr Schucht's letter, or, rather, to the penultimate paragraph thereof relating to what he quaintly terms " the persecution of Jewish people." It is quite idle for him to pretend that the present virulent out- break of Anti-Semitism in Germany is " concentrated " only on the " nouveau rich Jews, who came over to Germany in the years 1918-1923 from Poland and the East." The various manifestoes and proclamations of Hitler and his henchmen suffice to give the lie to this allegation. In none of them that I have read has there been the slightest attempt to dis- crintinate between these new arrivals and " Jews who are belonging to old families, living since a long time with us."

Certainly the recently published Hesse manifesto cheerfully laid it down that all Jews in Germany were to be exposed to the peril of slow starvation under the Hitler regime, because they were to be debarred from receiving food tickets and were not to be allowed to work.

A recent letter from a Jewish friend in Germany of British birth informs me that the hateful " llakenkreuz " has IWCI1 chalked on her doors and on those of many other Jewish families settled in Germany for generations.

This is the return that Christian, civilized Germany makes to a race that has contributed so generously and powerfully to its cultural and economic development.—I am, Sir, &e., 13 Holland Villas Road, W. 14.

ERNEST LESSER.