Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1933, The British Commonwealth, Europe, Near East and Africa, Volume II

362.1113/4½

The Under Secretary of State (Phillips) to President Roosevelt

Washington, August 23, 1933.

Dear Mr. President: At the last meeting of the Cabinet you asked me a question with regard to the number of American citizens in Germany who have been subjected to assault or mistreatment and I promised you a report thereon.

I enclose a brief memorandum showing that there are twelve cases on record of mistreatment by Germans wearing the uniform of the National Socialist party. Of course, this does not mean that there may not have been other cases which have not, as yet, been brought to our attention officially.

Faithfully yours,

William Phillips

[Enclosure—Memorandum]

Instances of Mistreatment of American Citizens in Germany in Recent Months

August 21, 1933.

Since last March there have been a dozen instances where American citizens in Germany have complained of being subjected to physical assault or mistreatment by persons in Germany wearing the uniform of the National Socialist party.

The cases in question and the dates on which they occurred are as follows:

1.	Jaffe, Leon	March	4.
2.	Sattler, Henry H.	March	4.
3.	Dakin, Edwin F.	March	6.
4.	Wollf, Nathaniel S.	March	6.
5.	Friedmann, Salomann	March	7.
6.	Berman, Louis	March	8.
7.	Roseman, Hermann	March	10.
8.	Fuhs, Julian	March	11.
9.	Dahlberg, Edward	March	11.
10.	Schachno, Joseph	June	21.
11.	Zuckerman, Philip	July	16.
12.	Mulvihil, Dr. Daniel	Aug.	15.

Of these cases nine occurred during the period of disorders immediately following the Reichstag elections of March 5 and three have occurred more recently.

In six of the cases the information provided was sufficiently definite to justify the expectation that the assailants might be identified and punished, namely, in the Roseman, Fuhs, Dahlberg, Schachno, Zuckerman and Mulvihil cases.

In the Dahlberg, Fuhs and Mulvihil cases, the German authorities may be said to have taken more or less satisfactory action.

In the case of Mr. Dahlberg his assailant was arrested, but the proceedings against him were allowed to drop on publication of the Amnesty Decree of March 21, 1933.

The five attackers of Mr. Fuhs were taken into custody. The particular National Socialist who threatened him with a revolver, appears later to have been released under the Amnesty Decree. Two other National Socialists who were involved were “sharply reproved”. Another was expelled from the National Socialist party.

The assailant of Dr. Mulvihil has been identified and there appears to be every likelihood that this case will be settled to our entire satisfaction.

The assailants of Zuckerman have not been apprehended. He was attacked by National Socialist Storm Troops in Leipzig in broad daylight but the Leipzig police state that there were over 100,000 Storm Troops from all parts of Germany in Leipzig that day and it has not been practicable to identify the persons responsible for the attack.

The Schachno case is in a special category. While a native-born American citizen Dr. Schachno was educated in Germany, established himself as a practicing physician there and, according to documents presented by the German authorities, held himself out to be a Bavarian. The Consul General in Berlin is accordingly not pursuing his case further, pending instructions from the Department.

In the remaining cases where actual physical assault is alleged to have occurred, the statements made by the various Americans involved were not sufficiently definite to justify the expectation that the assailants would be identified.

There have likewise been a number of instances of intimidation of Americans by persons in the uniform of the National Socialist party, notably:

1. Max Schussler, who was visited on March 7 by a number of National Socialists and forced to sign a document stating he would not insist on eviction or collection of rent from a tenant to whom he had given notice.

2. Isaac Kahn, who left Germany in April as a result of threats of violence from a Mr. Reinecke.

There have furthermore been instances where Americans who have been arrested, claim that they were not allowed to communicate freely with their consular representatives, notably:

1. Herbert Baer, arrested at Karlsruhe on April 19, 1933, and kept in custody three weeks.

2. Samuel Pliskin, arrested in Heidelberg in May, 1931, on a charge of spreading atrocity propaganda.

3. Fanny Gassman, arrested in Stettin for suspected violation of foreign exchange regulations in July, 1933.