Efforts by the Nazi authorities in Denmark to force anti-Jewish laws upon the population there are meeting with stiff resistance on the part of the Danish press and church leaders there, according to reports reaching here today.
Indicative of the pro-Jewish attitude of the Danish people is an article in the Skydebjerg-Asrup Church Gazette which arrived here today from Denmark. The article compares the present anti-Jewish drive to medieval anti-Jewish legends. “Fourteenth century Jew-haters,” the article says, “firmly believed that Jews poisoned wells and caused the black plague and they persecuted and massacred them. It is the same today, when Jew-haters believe that Jews are the cause of war. They believe if only the scapegoat could be expelled and slaughtered then all difficulties would be solved. Anti-Semitism is an expression of the inability to overcome difficulties by one’s own efforts.”
Declaring that the Danish people will not tolerate anti-Semitism, the article continues: “Our Danish minds will not let themselves become infected by this disease. We have been vaccinated against it by popular education. We have no use for a scapegoat. We do not seek to circumvent our own difficulties and faults in this cheap way. Anti-Jewish legislation is tantamount to lawlessness and if we forsake justice then we will be submitted to a degradation worse than war and suppression.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
