No one can deny the gravity of the Jewish situation. Wherever they live in
appreciable number, the Jews are persecuted in greater or lesser measure.
Their equality before the law, granted by statute, has become practically a
dead letter. They are debarred from filling even moderately high offices in
the army, or in any public or private institutions. And attempts are being
made to thrust them out of business also: "Don't buy from Jews!"
Attacks in parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the pulpit, in the street, on journeYs - for example, their exclusion from certain hotels - even in places of recreation are increasing from day to day. The forms of persecution vary according to country and social circle. In Russia, special taxes are levied on Jewish villages; in Romania, a few persons are put to death; in Germany, they get a good beating occasionally; in Austria, anti- Semites exercise their terrorism over all public life; in Algeria, there are traveling agitators; in Paris, the Jews are cut out of the so-called best social circles and excluded from clubs. The varieties of anti-Jewish expression are innumerable. But this is not the occasion to attempt the sorry catalog of Jewish hardships. We shall not dwell on particular cases, however painful.
I do not aim to arouse sympathy on our behalf. All that is nonsense, as futile as it is dishonorable, I shall content myself with putting the following questions to the Jews: Is it not true that, in countries where we live in appreciable numbers, the position of Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and employees of every description becomes daily more intolerable? Is it not true that the Jewish middle classes are seriously threatened? Is it not true that the passions of the mob are incited against our wealthy? I think that this pressure is everywhere present. In our upper economic classes it causes discomfort. In our middle classes, utter despair.
The fact of the matter is, everything tends to one and the same conclusion, which is expressed in the classic Berlin cry: "Juden 'raus!" (Out with the Jews! )
I shall now put the question in the briefest possible form: Shouldn't we "get out" at once, and if so, whither?
Or, may we remain, and if so, how long?
Attacks in parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the pulpit, in the street, on journeYs - for example, their exclusion from certain hotels - even in places of recreation are increasing from day to day. The forms of persecution vary according to country and social circle. In Russia, special taxes are levied on Jewish villages; in Romania, a few persons are put to death; in Germany, they get a good beating occasionally; in Austria, anti- Semites exercise their terrorism over all public life; in Algeria, there are traveling agitators; in Paris, the Jews are cut out of the so-called best social circles and excluded from clubs. The varieties of anti-Jewish expression are innumerable. But this is not the occasion to attempt the sorry catalog of Jewish hardships. We shall not dwell on particular cases, however painful.
I do not aim to arouse sympathy on our behalf. All that is nonsense, as futile as it is dishonorable, I shall content myself with putting the following questions to the Jews: Is it not true that, in countries where we live in appreciable numbers, the position of Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and employees of every description becomes daily more intolerable? Is it not true that the Jewish middle classes are seriously threatened? Is it not true that the passions of the mob are incited against our wealthy? I think that this pressure is everywhere present. In our upper economic classes it causes discomfort. In our middle classes, utter despair.
The fact of the matter is, everything tends to one and the same conclusion, which is expressed in the classic Berlin cry: "Juden 'raus!" (Out with the Jews! )
I shall now put the question in the briefest possible form: Shouldn't we "get out" at once, and if so, whither?
Or, may we remain, and if so, how long?
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