Tuesday, July 29, 1930

Bucharest:  Authorities claim that 72 people have been found to have connections with both communism and the recent outbreak of anti-Semitic violence, including one city’s police chief and three postal clerks.  This would appear to confirm the government’s contention that communists are behind at least some of the anti-Semitism.

London:  More bad economic news -- the Ministry of Labor announces that unemployment in Great Britain is approaching 2 million, an increase of more than 850,000 in just one year. 

Monday, July 28, 1930

Bucharest: Authorities arrest 7 Macedonian students in connection with the anti-Semitic violence that has wracked portions of the country lately.  The students have reportedly been distributing posters encouraging the violence.  Police additionally announce the capture of a courier at the border carrying materials which they say prove soviet involvement in the unrest, as well as in the assassination attempt on Acting Interior Minister Constantin Angelescu.  Likewise, police arrest Corneliu Codreanu, leader of the Iron Guard, whom they say was planning to lead a march into Bessarabia to “save Romania for the Romanians.”  The government announces that cabinet ministers will remain in the capital for the summer to deal with the crisis. 

Berlin: Another new political party forms, this one for liberals.  The Staatspartei forms from a union of Democrats and the Young German Order.  The party’s initial platform features a middle class disposition, but also opposition to Germany’s peace treaties from the World War.  Party leaders hope to attract some of the former nationalists (who also oppose Germany’s war treaties) who have left that party. 

New York:  More evidence of the Depression -- reports from 643 department stores around the country show retail trade down 10% from a year ago.  Wholesale trade is reported down 21%. 

Sunday, July 27, 1930

Germany:

Chemnitz: Communists attack a hall where nazis are meeting, injuring three nazis and the police commissioner of the town.

 

Berlin: Communists, nazis and police battle in the streets in several parts of the city, with 100 communists arrested.  Meanwhile, new economic reports show unemployment among laborers increased by 16,000 over the first half of July, and continued depression in the cotton industry -- nearly 1 in 6 spindles in the Rhenish cotton district are idle.  Total unemployment is now at 2.7 million, up 125% from a year ago.

Paris:  Police arrest 61 Spanish anarchists and other agitators on the banks of the River Seine near the suburb of Villeneuve-Saint Georges.  They are holding a meeting of an organization known as The Federation of the Spanish Tongue, reportedly discussing ways to stir up unrest in Spain.  Five of the arrested turn out to be people already expelled from France, and police seize a large quantity of anarchist literature. 

Saturday, July 26, 1930

Bucharest:  A reporter traveling through the region of Bukovina reports that even the Jews there admit the recent anti-Semitic unrest has been partly fueled by the Depression.  The government has arrested leaders of the agitation, including members of the fascist Iron Guard, but the Jews still live in fear.  Government sources claim communists are also involved in the unrest. 

Berlin: As they said they would, Chancellor Heinrich Bruening and President Paul von Hindenburg, operating under the emergency powers article of the German constitution, promulgate by decree the financial reform measures that the Reichstag wouldn’t approve.  The package calls for cutting $40 million in spending from the budget and raising income taxes 5% (10% for unmarried men).  It also calls for the federal government to stop funding the deficit between what cities pay in unemployment benefits and what they can afford to pay. 

Friday, July 25, 1930

Berlin: President Paul von Hindenburg signs a decree prohibiting people participating in political gatherings from carrying weapons.  His purpose, he says, is a peaceful election in September.

 

Meanwhile, reports reveal that, as expected, some 200 lawsuits and other charges are pending against former Reichstag members, which can be prosecuted now that the legislators’ diplomatic immunity has ended with the Reichstag’s dissolution.  Or some of them can.  It also comes to light that Chancellor Heinrich Bruening offered the communists an ongoing guarantee of personal immunity from criminal charges in exchange for their support of a political amnesty bill.  Among the charges pending against some of the communists: high treason.  Many still face libel or slander charges.

Heading the list of former legislators facing charges, however, is Joseph Goebbels, a leader in the nazi party.  He’s loaded with libel lawsuits.  Most such charges, against communists and nazis alike, stem from inflammatory articles which the legislators signed.

 

Bereshty, Romania: Jews here ask the government for protection as reports say the Iron Guard is converging on the town by the hundreds, armed with rifles.  The Ministry of the Interior is said to be in contact with authorities in Bereshty and monitoring the situation. 

Thursday, July 24, 1930

Bucharest:  The ministerial cabinet, presided over by King Carol II, warns that the government will institute martial law in the necessary districts if the recent spate of anti-Semitic violence doesn’t stop.  Carol appeals for mutual understanding between all citizens and nationalities, and expresses regret that the authorities haven’t taken a firmer hand against the violence. 

Tokyo: Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi takes the London Naval Treaty to the emperor as expected, and the emperor in turn sends it to the Privy Council for deliberation.  Sources say they expect the treaty to be ratified before September.  Meanwhile in London, the House of Commons ratifies the treaty on the same day.

Wednesday, July 23, 1930

Russia:  Red Army troops in the Amur and Vladivostok districts have clashed with peasants who were revolting as a result of a combination of forces: political exiles of the soviet government had roused some; others either were, or were angered about, ethnic Koreans who have been fleeing into Manchuria as a result of rough treatment at the hands of soviet collectivization; and others were or were supplied by White Russians, who are still operating in Manchuria.  Additionally, reports say some Red Army troops themselves are deserting.

Coblenz, Germany: President Paul von Hindenburg cancels the rest of his Rhineland liberation tour in the wake of the drowning tragedy yesterday.

Tokyo:  The Supreme Military Council, as expected, approves a report calling the London Naval Treaty “defective.”  On the same day, the cabinet of Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi agrees to submit the treaty to the emperor with a request that he submit it to the Privy Council for ratification. 

Tuesday, July 22, 1930

Germany:

Berlin:  Three people are shot in the southern part of the city when nazis start tearing down communist campaign posters.  One communist and two bystanders are wounded.

Coblenz: Tragedy strikes during the nighttime festivities celebrating the liberation of the Rhineland -- a pontoon bridge on which 80 people are standing to watch fireworks gives way, drowning perhaps 70 or more.

 

Tokyo:  The naval representatives on the Supreme Military Council, who have been debating the London Naval Treaty in informal meetings for several days, approve a report which calls the treaty “defective” and inadequate for the defense of Japan.  The council does accept an appeal from Naval Minister Takarabe Takeshi that the treaty’s defects may be remediable by new defense bills, a small government victory.  And the treaty’s ratification by the Privy Council is still expected.  Still, this vote is an embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi.  The full Supreme Military Council, meeting in formal session tomorrow, is expected to agree with the naval members’ view.  The United States approved the treaty today, however, and this is reportedly received as good news in Japan.

Madrid:  The Spanish government increases tariffs on luxury items, including automobiles, in retaliation for the U.S. Smoot-Hawley tariff.

 

Canberra:  More bad economic news -- John Latham, opposition leader in parliament, claims unemployment in Australia has hit 18.5%.

New York:  Still more bad economic news -- steamship lines report that the number of ocean traveler is down 18% from last year, with no foreseeable prospects for improvement.

Monday, July 21, 1930

Romania:  The anti-Semitic troubles worsen.  Now units of the Iron Guard, an ultra-nationalist paramilitary and political organization, are reported to be marching toward Bessarabia to join the farmer uprising that started two days ago.  Jewish members of parliament request an immediate audience with King Carol.  

Meanwhile, an assassination attempt is made on Education Minister Constantin Angelescu.  His assailant, a young student, is believed to be among the ringleaders of the anti-Semitic violence.

Frankfort-on-Oder, Germany:  About 1,700 communists clash with police.  In the midst of a meeting, the communists attempt to surround and disarm the police guarding (and watching) them.  Reinforcements in the form of a riot squad swoop in, but the communists attack them too with clubs and flag poles they tear down.  The mob finally disperses when police open fire.

Tokyo:  The Supreme Military Council, a high-level advisory body to the government, is reported to be deeply divided over whether Japan should ratify the London Naval Treaty.  The naval representatives on the council in particular say the treaty is not adequate for Japan’s defense needs.

 

Moscow:  Maxim Litvinoff is named Commissar for Foreign Affairs.  He’s been acting commissar for some time during his predecessor’s (Georges Chicherin) ill health, and is a long time foreign ministry official.

Sunday, July 20, 1930

Berlin:  A report out today shows Germany’s unemployment holding steady at 19.8%.  Meanwhile, in Wiesbaden and Mainz, President Paul von Hindenburg is in the midst of his tour of the liberated Rhineland.  But newspaper reporters observe that the president seems unusually weary; he cancels his appearance at a children’s pageant, for example.  Nonetheless, in the speaking engagements he does attend, he calls for liberation of the Saar as well, saying it would be the best way to ensure peace in Europe.  There are the usual street brawls between nazis and others in the liberated areas, but they are relatively minor: only one policeman is injured.

 

Romania:  Authorities arrest two Orthodox Christian priests in Bukowina, scene of a 3,000-man anti-Semitic mob yesterday, accusing them of stirring up anti-Jewish sentiment in the town.