Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 11 November 1938, page 1


NEW CAMPAIGN AGAINST JEWS NAZI OUTBREAKS

SYNAGOGUES BURNT,

SHOPS WRECKED

SEQUEL TO SHOOTING

"The Argus" Independent Cable Service

BERLIN, Thursday.

A campaign against the Jews, almost unparalleled in its

violence, has broken out in all parts of the Reich. It is the sequel to the fatal shooting of Herr von Rath, a secretary at the German Embassy in Paris, by a young

Jew.

Synagogues have been burnt, Jewish shops have been

smashed and set on fire and looted, and several thousand Jews have been arrested. The extent of the damage has been so great that many Germans are said to have expressed their disapproval of it, and to

have described it as senseless.

Most of the damage has been done in Berlin and at

Munich, Hamburg, Hanover, and Leipzig by bands of Nazis, armed with crowbars, who paraded the streets in cars, and then began their attacks on shops and other buildings owned by Jews.

STREETS STREWN WITH GLASS

According to reliable reports from Vienna, Breslau, Nuremberg, and Hamburg, the raids were even more drastic at those places than in Berlin, where all Jews who have not been arrested are remaining behind locked doors.

The United States Consulate at Breslau was evacuated when the synagogue next door was set alight.

The wrecking was carried out with such thoroughness that official statements that it represented the spontaneous expression of the people's indignation and that it was merely a normal reaction to

an outrageous murder must be dis-

counted.

The streets in front of the build-ings were strewn with broken glass and other debris and with materials that had been torn from the shop windows. Scarcely a Jewish shop or restaurant escaped.

After each attack, squads of special police were placed in front of the broken windows to try to prevent looting, but they were not always able to do so.

One band of youths entered a

synagogue in Berlin, and, after wrecking the interior, dragged some of the furnishings out into the street and set fire to them. They then lighted a fire inside the build-ing.

Watched by Crowds

Huge crowds gathered to watch the synagogue burning. Flames and columns of thick smoke were still shooting from the roof at dawn to-day. The flames spread rapidly, and adjacent apartment houses were threatened.

Altogether six synagogues were set on fire in Berlin. Two were set on fire in Vienna, one at Linz, and one at Munich.

They were all destroyed. The firemen merely tried to prevent

the flames from reaching other buildings.

It is believed that the Jews who have been arrested in Vienna num-ber 2,500, and that 1,000 have been

arrested at Munich.

In addition to the Jews who have

been arrested in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna, hundreds of others have been taken into custody at Breslau, Hamburg, and Nuremberg.

In Vienna storm troopers have formed cordons round the Jewish quarter, in which the police are conducting a house-to-house

search.

The attacks at Munich were led by members of the Nazi Old Guard, who were celebrating the anniver-sary of the beer house putsch of 1923. They assaulted many Jews, as well as starting the fire in the synagogue and smashing many shops.

Ban on Arms

The chief of the secret police

(Herr Himmler) has issued a de-cree that makes it an offence for a Jew to possess arms. A penalty of imprisonment for 20 years for offenders is provided.

Herr von Rath died in Paris last night in spite of efforts by Herr Hitler's personal medical attendant and other doctors to save his life after operations had been per-

formed for the removal of bullets, from his throat and stomach.

Herschel Feibel Grenzspan, aged

19 years, who fired the shots at

Herr von Rath as a protest against

the ill-treatment of his Jewish parents and other fellow-Jews, is still being held in custody by the French police, notwithstanding de-mands by the German Government for his extradition.

The German newspapers are clamouring for the imposition of the severest penalty upon Grenz-

span.

Just before Herr von Rath was shot Herr Hitler had decided to promote him to the rank of secre-tary to the Embassy (first class).