Page 195 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

182 The American Diplomats

turned more antagonistic toward each other, but in the Protestant regions
relations between the Christians and Jews had deteriorated only “in the
slightest degree.” in stuttgart, for example, streets still carried the names of
“Jewish philanthropists,” and there were still a few societies and clubs that
“welcome Jews, a situation almost inconceivable in the state of Baden.”
Honaker described in considerable detail the restrictions—economic
and cultural—that the Nazis had imposed on Jews, most of which have
already been mentioned in this study. But there were two restrictions that
94
especially hurt Jews in Württemberg and Baden, the prohibitions against
their buying agricultural land and against their membership in any organi-
zation of farmers. determined to be precise on the subject of Jewish perse-
cution, Honaker noted that thus far, that is, until the summer of 1935, the
authorities had not prevented Jews from practicing their religion, although
he indicated that a few synagogues in smaller towns had been damaged and
sacred objects such as “Bible rolls” (torah scrolls) had been “polluted.”
the tone of Honaker’s dispatch was dispassionate, but no reader could
fail to notice the message he sought to convey. in a separate dispatch of au-
gust 23, he reiterated that “many responsible people in the stuttgart area”
opposed the “anti-Jewish agitation,” but in the last sentence he warned that
the “situation” was nevertheless “likely to develop along dangerous lines.”
and in the foreword to the report itself, he stressed that the “Jewish ques-
tion . . . affects the foreign and domestic policies of Germany” and “inspires
the attitude of a large group of foreigners towards Germany.” He warned
that “out of the complications arising from these [anti-semitic] policies and
attitudes much unhappiness and distress and even bitterness is springing
up, with an ever increasing tendency to envelop more and more people.”
in what can only be interpreted as advice to his superiors in Washington to
react to these developments in a forceful way, he insisted that the “United
states must be reckoned as one of the countries interested in this dire
trend.” 95

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ironically, despite Hitler’s crudeness and cruelty, he evinced a high de-
gree of sensitivity to any perceived slight. He could not tolerate criticism
and invariably blamed the Jews for any unkind words about him. When
in early 1934 the american Jewish Committee and the american Federa-
tion of labor announced that on March 7 a mock trial of Hitler would be
held in Madison square Garden in New York City, the news drove German
diplomats into a frenzy of activity. On at least seven occasions, the Ger-