862.4016/227: Telegram
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 29—2:55 p.m.]
52. The New York Times informs me that it cabled the complete text of the Nazi boycott manifesto in time for its appearance in this morning’s edition, so I have not cabled a summary thereof.
[Page 335]This extraordinary action is in my opinion a manifestation of the same mentality as dictated the most ruthless war-time measures. Its evil consequences must be so apparent to the more reasonable members of the Nazi Party and of the Reich Government that when such a manifesto could be promulgated as a party measure and the Reich Government (as official circles are quoted as stated) intends to remain passive—i.e. to maintain the same attitude toward the Nazi boycott that the governments in foreign countries maintain towards anti-German demonstrations—it certainly indicates that in this instance the radical wing of the Nazi Party have been able to crack the whip to full effect.
Yesterday’s incident in Brunswick where the Nazi Minister of the Interior dissolved the local Stahlhelm, to the accompaniment of over 1,000 arrests, on the ground that groups of the Reichsbanner and other Marxist organizations were being incorporated wholesale in the Brunswick Stahlhelm, I also consider very disquieting.
Although it is true that this morning a settlement of the incident was announced the affair seems to have the earmarks of an initial Nazi attempt—perhaps mainly by way of a trial of strength—to rid themselves of their Nationalist partners.
Under existing circumstances these two developments have necessarily changed the picture as presented in my telegrams 43, March 23, 11 a.m.; and 47, March 25, 3 p.m. As one immediate result I imagine that even before Saturday when the boycott is scheduled to begin there may be various molestations of Jews in their business—even if it stop short of physical violence—which will perhaps be played up with new vigor by local foreign correspondents who had recently been reporting in milder vein.