863.4016/172
The Chargé in Austria (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 5, 1938.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a memorandum10 which the Commercial Attaché, Mr. Richardson, has kindly compiled at my request. It contains most of the authentic information which has been collected by members of the staff in respect of action taken, against Jews and their property since the overthrow of the Schuschnigg Government.11
[Page 359]According to a report today received from a reliable Jewish source, three of the most prominent Jewish leaders who have been arrested are in great danger. They are to be charged with high treason.
The premises of the leading Jewish associations, such as the Jewish Community, Jewish Union, Zionist headquarters, etc., have all been closed. The Jewish hospital, the Jewish old people’s home, several Jewish schools and three Jewish soup kitchens are open. All Jewish welfare funds in Vienna have, however, been blocked. There is already a condition of great distress.
The aspect of the situation here which makes it more tragic than that which has existed in Berlin is the suddenness of the blow and the fact that relatively few Jews were able to flee the country. The percentage of “non-Aryans” in Vienna is very high, but Jewish wealth here is not comparable with that which existed in Berlin.
There has been a campaign of indignity inflicted upon the Jews. One eminent rabbi had his beard cut off. Hundreds, if not thousands, have been obliged to perform degrading and menial tasks, and practically all of the Jewish population is in a state of acute anxiety and depression. They feel as though they were living in a state of legalized lawlessness without rights or the possibility of appeal to any higher authority. Suicides have been numerous. So far as I know there have been no Jewish deaths by violence.
It has been “suggested” to American companies, such as the Vacuum Oil Company, Czeija, Nissl & Co. (a subsidiary of the International Telephone & Telegraph), etc., to dismiss their “non-Aryan” employees. The Vacuum Oil Company was told, however, to make the dismissals gradually and to keep certain more important Jewish employees for six or eight months so that they could break in their successors.
There are indications that the economic pogrom is somewhat abating. The S. A.12 is beginning to remove the Jewish boycott signs which were placed on Jewish shops all over the city. There are also signs that exit visas may be more readily forthcoming in the future.
One obvious and tragic feature of the situation is the economic difficulty for many hundreds of thousands of “non-Aryans” to remain in Austria. At the same time there seems to be an equally great difficulty for the vast majority of them to find a haven of refuge abroad.
Attached to the enclosed memorandum are certain self-explanatory exhibits.13
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
- See vol. i, pp. 384 ff.↩
- Sturmabteilung.↩
- Not printed.↩