NEI DETROIT jEWISIt NEWS American patriot Pat- rick Henry of Virginia •was quoting Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 when he said, "Gentlemen, cry" peace, peace, but there is no peace." The Protection of the U.S. Government Was Required for an American Jewish Journalist on Assignment in Nazi Germany • By BORIS SMOLAR (Editor-in-chief Emeritus, JTA) (copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.) (Editor's note: This is a chapter from Mr. Smolar's book, "In the Service of My People," soon to appear.) The American Embassy Berlin gave me specia ntion during my stay in Nazi Germany as corre- spondent of the Jewish Tele- graphic Agency. It was clear at the embassy that as a Jewish journalist I would need special pro- tection—even though I was an American citizen. — Every time I left the States, I would get a person- al letter from the State De- partment, signed by the Sec- . retary of State and ad- dressed to American diplo- - matic representatives abroad, asking them to as- sist me in my work as a journalist.. Such a letter signed by Secretary, of State Kellogg helped me in the Soviet - Union in the 1920s when I came into - ► sharp conflict with the GPU—even though the United States did not recog- nize Soviet Russia at the time and there was con- sequently no American rep- resentative in Moscow. ... ► I also had such a letter signed by Secretary of ► State Stimson when I set out for Berlin in the very first days of the Nazi re- gime, where I was to liv e ■ in utter fear. William Dodd, the Ameri- J. can ambassador in Berlin, ' made me feel at home in il the embassy soon after my arrival in Nazi Germany. ' So too did Raymond Geist, the American consul gener- al. Both were liberals and both made no secret of their hatred of Nazis—even • though they always . ob- served strict diplomatic courtesy towards the Nazi government. Both warned me that I would be in con- stant danger in Berlin. I used to get my mail at the American Consulate. 0 This gave Consul General Geist an excuse to call me every day to see whether everything was all right. His secretary would call e e each morning at my I and tell me whether e was any mail for me at the consulate. But mail was not uppermost in our minds then. The object of the calls was really to find out whether I was in my ► room and whether anything had happened to me since the last call. I would get an- other call in the evening— under another pretext. The point of all these calls was to show the -Nazi govern- ment—which was undoubt- edly tapping my tele- phone—that the American ► embassy and consulate were taking a personal -in- terest in my welfare. During the ' day I would visit the embassy and con- sulate, which were in differ- OP il ent parts of . the city, and I Jew-baiting. Every day the felt at home in both places. entire German press and I would share my news on radio was filled with anti- Nazi acts of terror against Jewish poison. Groups of Jews with the consul gener- uniformed Nazis would al, who would use my infor-, march in the streets every mation in his reports to day singing anti-Jewish Washington from time to songs. Anti-Jewish slogans time. I also had a chance to could be seen on every wall see reports on acts of ter- in the city. Provocative ror against Jews in other anti-Jewish posters had cities, sent by the Ameri- been hung up in public can consuls in Hamburg, places. The anti-Jewish Nu- Munich, Dusseldorf and remberg Laws had not yet elsewhere. - ' been issued, but new de- crees came out every day depriving Jews of basic human rights, thus keeping them in constant terror over their future. In such circumstances I felt I . should not leave Ger- many. I was the only for- eign correspondent in which Jewish leaders in Berlin confided information on what was happening among them and to them. I was the only contact between them and the outside Jew- ish world. I was also the only Jewish contact be- BORIS SMOLAR tween them and the outside Both the State Department non-Jevvish world. They had and the White House were no confidence in the other keenly interested in the foreign correspondents, anti-Jewish developments none of whom was Jewish. in .Germany. President I would share my news Roosevelt and the State De- with these correspondents partment were then liter- because it was important ally being flooded by ap- for 'them to know as much peals from Jewish organiza- as possible about the fate of tions and both Jewish and German Jewry too. My de- non-Jewish individuals to in-_ parture from Germany in tervene on behalf of Ger- such circumstances would man Jewry. The American have meant complete isola- embassy in Berlin was tion for German Jewry under instructions from from the rest of the world— Washington to keep a sharp at a time when it was ex- lookout and send frequent tremely important for the reports on the fate of Ger- world to know more and man Jewry. In some of more about the tragic fate these reports the embassy of the Jews in Germany. would use information con- Correspondents for the fidentially given to me by large American papers also Jewish leaders. began to feel endangered be- cause of their anti-German In the National Archives in Washington one can now reports. I was in constant find quite a number of touch , with the New York State Department docu- Times office in Berlin ments in which my name is which was heavily pad- mentioned. These reports locked. No one could get in were from the American unless he first telephoned from\ Outside. The staff of embassy in Berlin to the Secretary of State. Consid- the Berlin office of the New ered secret documents for York Times feared attack/ more than 30 years, they by Nazi hooligans as did can now be examined at the New York Herald Trib- the Archives with - special une staff. -Every Herald permission. Tribune staff member had The Nazi Propaganda a key to the locked head- Ministry as well as the For- quarters of its Berlin office. eign Ministry (where I was The Gestapo (which was openly registered as an following me from the first American Jewish journal- day of my stay in Berlin) ist) had the impression that knew that I was getting spe- • I had come to Germany for cial attention from the only a few weeks. I had the American Embassy. This same impression—but it was also known to the Nazi was becoming clearer and.. Foreign and Propaganda clearer that Nazi brutalities Ministries. Under the im- against German Jewry in pression that I would appar- the first weeks after their ently not be in Germany for takeover signalled only the too long, they did not both- beginning of even harder er me during the first few times for German Jewry. weeks, but when they saw I I began to feel as if I was not even thinking of were on a battlefield, meet- leaving, they began to ing the enemy face to face. make my stay uncomfort- able. I was in danger every day, but the situation of German Things went so far that Jewry kept worsening. The the. Gestapo even searched air was filled with wild my apartment, tried to ar- friday, ?April, 1, 49717 54 ph ot o gl u tt o n s : A fresh idea for your party Pins, keychains and mirrors e( GARY KARP 353-9617 FREE! Printed Matches r rest me, and even threat- ened my life. Each time I would let the American Em- bassy know about what had happened to me. 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