862.4016/173
Memorandum of Press Conference of the Secretary of State, March 22, 1933
At the press conference this afternoon Secretary Hull said that the German Ambassador1 at 11:30 this morning handed to Mr. Phillips2 the following statement by Reichs-Minister Goering to the Amsterdam Telegraaf:
“Concerning attacks on Jews, he will maintain law and order under all circumstances. He has just dismissed fifteen SA3 men, has punished them because they attempted to act on their own authority. He does not believe that much will be heard in future concerning unlawful acts in Germany. If one considers that during the last weeks a revolution was witnessed, one will have to admit that it passed with very little bloodshed.”
A correspondent asked if the German Ambassador delivered a copy of the statement to the Department of State on instructions from his Government. The Secretary in reply said that he could not answer the question but that he imagined that the Ambassador’s action was entirely agreeable to the German Government or he would not have brought it [Page 328] to the Department. Asked then if we had made any formal protest to Germany concerning the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, Mr. Hull replied that we had been endeavoring industriously to gather the actual facts about the situation in order that we might understand first of all accurately and authoritatively just what the conditions in Germany are. A correspondent then said that a late news despatch from Germany states that President von Hindenburg has signed a decree freeing the storm troops and the other Nazis who were arrested for making attacks on foreign and German Jews. The correspondent then asked if the Secretary had any comments to make on that report. Mr. Hull replied to the effect that he had not received any despatches on the subject and that therefore he had nothing to say.
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