Speech #740160482

Reich citizenship shall be acquired by the bestowal of a letter of patent of Reich citizenship. "3. A Reich citizen is the sole bearer of full political rights in accordance with the law. SEC. 3. "The Reich Minister of the Interior. in cooperation with the deputy of the leader. shall issue the legal and administrative stipulations for the execution and completion of the law." Even more ominous was the declaration of the German Chancellor to the Reichstag that the new legislation constituted an attempt of the Government at legal regulation of the Jewish problem so as to enable "the German people to find tolerable relations with the Jewish people." Should. however. the attempt at legal regulation fall. the Chancellor continued. then the problem must "be turned over to the National Socialist Party for a final solution." The new legislation has altered the entire complexion of the refugee problem. At least half a million people have been deprived of political rights. their civil status has become that of guests or wards of the state. and a threat of even more drastic action against them has been pronounced before the Reichstag. It is inevitable that these outcasts should seek to emigrate from the land which has disowned them. They have become a reservoir from which more and ever more refugees will flow into neighboring lands. It is therefore imperative to examine the fundamental cause of the refugee problem. namely. the racial policy of the National Socialist Government. A considerable number of persons have suffered persecution or been forced to emigrate for political reasons. They aroused the displeasure of the new rulers of Germany because of hostility to national socialism prior to 1933. when the latter strove to seize power or because they disregarded the doctrines of a strident nationalism and sought to further international cooperation and peace. Far more numerous. however. have been the victims of the racial policy of the new Germanya policy which requires elucidation.