Kristallnacht; and a bed to honour the PM
Germany: the toll of destruction
The sum total of the destruction wrought by the Nazis during the excesses of last week and by the anti-Jewish laws which accompanied them cannot be assessed alone in pounds, shillings, and pence, or in details of the number of deaths, suicides, and arrests. At one stroke, German Jewry has been reduced to a community of beggars, their meagre resources snatched away, their lives broken up, the threat of the ghetto hanging over them. Their shops have been smashed, their synagogues burnt, their children terrorised, and menfolk imprisoned — all to make a Nazi holiday.
MPs demand practical assistance
Mr JC Wedgwood (Lab, Newcastle-under-Lyme): Can we do nothing for the refugees by allowing them to come either into this country of into Palestine? Mr D L Lipson (Ind. Cheltenham): Will the right hon. gentleman call an urgent and immediate meeting of the committee…in order to see whether more vigorous and prompt measures could not be taken to find a home for these persecuted Jews? Mr Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister: I do not think that is necessary. I think the whole matter is receiving the attention of the committee. Mr. Wedgwood: Cannot His Majesty’s Government show the feeling of this country by attempting to do something for the victims of this oppression in Germany? Mr Chamberlain: That is really a question which could not be answered without notice.
Chamberlain ‘peace bed’ unveiled
The “Bed of Peace” endowed by an anonymous Jewish donor at the Manchester Home for Aged and Needy Jews, was unveiled on Sunday afternoon by Sir William Clare Lees. At a subsequent reception, Mr. Lawrence Kostoris, President of the Homes, read a letter from the Prime Minister expressing his appreciation of the compliment paid to him. Mr. Kostoris announced that Mrs. Neville Chamberlain had sent a signed photograph of herself to be hung over the “Peace Bed.”