Burning of two synagogues at nearby Trnava today climaxed increasing anti-Semitism in autonomous Slovakia, marked by discriminatory measures by several Government officials and spurred by daily radio broadcasts from Vienna.
The Bratislava municipality distributed to Christian merchants posters bearing the words “Aryan Commerce,” to be displayed in shop windows for protection in the event of demonstrations. The Slovakian Railways Minister dismissed Jewish physicians from the railway health service. The Interior Minister forbade Jews to sell Christmas presents. When elections are held next Sunday for Slovakia’s diet, Jews will be required to go to special polling places.
Daily radio broadcasts in the Slovakian tongue, meanwhile, lend encouragement to the anti-Semitic movement. In a speech last Sunday Karel Sidor, Vice-Premier of the Czechoslovak Government, took a moderate attitude on the Jewish question which contrasted strangely with the Vienna broadcasts, which usually end with the phrase: “Against the Jews! Assemble Behind Sidor!” Financial difficulties of the Bratislava government were believed to be responsible for its moderate official attitude on the Jewish question.
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