How the Jews Came to Us
The scene of the next story is a small German town. School-children stop in the street to observe and comment on three “Eastern Jews.”
“Look at those creatures!” cries Fritz.
“Those sinister Jewish noses! Those lousy beards! Those dirty, standing-out ears! Those bent legs! Those flat feet! Those stained, fatty clothes! Look how they move their hands about! How they haggle! And those are supposed to be men!”
“And what sort of men?” replies Karl. “They are criminals of the worst sort.”
He describes their trafficking in wares and how, when they have money enough they
“get rid of their dirty clothes, cut their beards off, de-louse themselves, put on up-to-date clothes and go about as if they were not Jews. In Germany they speak German and behave as though they were Germans. In France they speak French and act as Frenchmen. In Italy they want to be Italians; in Holland, Dutch; in America, Americans; and so on. So they carry on throughout the whole world.”
Fritz laughs at this and says anyhow they can always be recognized as Jews. Karl nods:
“Naturally, one can tell them if one uses one’s eyes. But unfortunately, there are still many who fall for the Jewish swindle.”
Fritz answers:
“Not me! I know the Jews! I know, too, a verse about them:
'Once they came from the East,
Dirty, lousy, without a cent;
But in a few years
They were well-to-do.'Today they dress very well;
Do not want to be Jews any more
So keep your eyes open and make a note:
Once a Jew, always a Jew!'”