The Paris Assassination The murder of the German, diplomat, Herr
von Rath, in Paris by a 17-year-old Polish Jew is deplored by all reasonable men. Political assassination is a crime, and a futile crime ; but the Nazis, with the assassinations of June, 19343 on their consciences, have no justification for finding in it proof either of an international Jewish conspiracy or of Jewish depravity. The 17-year-old assassin had a father and mother among the thousands of Polish Jews recently expelled from Germany under the most abominable con- ditions; no one can be surprised if'the hatred and indignation inspired in a son by such acts find an outlet in the assassination of an official representative of the system responsible for them ; Herr Grynsban's guilt is less than that of the German Government. Nevertheless, the consequences for his race are likely to be appalling and out of all proportion to the ci.-ime for which, in any case, other Jews are not responsible. Already there have been anti-semitic riots in Hesse, the entire Jewish Press has been banned, and all Jewish children expelled from German schools. Not satisfied with such reprisals, the German Government is believed to be medi- tating a revival of the ghetto system in Germany, with wholesale confiscations and imprisonment. Today, the entire Jewish community in Germany lives under a terrible fear, for it is almost beyond hope that Herr Hitler will refrain from avenging on an innocent and tortured people the crime of a boy maddened by the maltreatment not merely of his race but of his own parents.
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