Belief that the League of Nations will be prepared actively and effectively to defend Jewish rights in Germany, and to cooperate in all constructive plans aimed at solving the German-Jewish problem, was expressed tonight by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, addressing the conference now in session here preliminary to the convocation of a world Jewish congress.
Speaking on the subject, “The Nazi Movement as a World Menace,” Rabbi Wise declared that the “racial fanaticism of the Hitler Reich may be the most immediate and deadly peril for us Jews, but it is no less a danger for all races and all nations..
“Only for a time have the Jews been singled out, but once the Hitler Government succeeds in getting its racial theories and dictum accepted by public opinion, the query is which will be the next race to be proclaimed inferior and debased. It may be the Slavic races like Poland and Czechoslovakia. It may also be the Latin, thus spelling utter destruction for all the hard-won human values. Even Britain may not be safe. Some Hitler pundit may find the British to represent an inferior, imperilling sub-division of the Aryan races.
JEWS IN ADVANCE LINE
“The Jews,” he declared, “are seemingly called on now to play a role to make clear to the world this danger. Thus, through Jewry’s suffering, humanity and civilization may endure.
“The appeal of the world Jewish congress,” Rabbi Wise declared, “must and will be directed to the League of Nations, which is the supreme organ of international adjustment. The League’s brave and notable decision regarding the Bern-heim petition has evoked the deepest Jewish satisfaction the world over. We venture to believe that this was only the first step that must be taken by the League to prove itself loyal to the spirit and letter of the Covenant.”
GOLDMAN URGES CENTRAL BODY
A bitter war against Nazi Germany, to be organized, planned and conducted by a central Jewish body uniting all Jewish forces throughout the world was urged by Dr. Nahum Goldman in a powerful address before the conference today. He demanded that there be no peace with Germany unless Jewish rights there are restored.
Dr. Goldman pointed out to the delegates that Hitlerism was a menace not only to the Jews of Germany but to Jews throughout the world and warned that even if every Jew were permitted to leave the Reich, the fight for restoration of Jewish rights would have to be continued in order to save the political rights and position of the Jews in other countries.
“The Jews of Europe, even the Jews of American countries, feel strongly that if our fight with Germany is lost, it will concern them also,” he declared.
“Palestine is no solution. The solution must come from within Germany in order not to shatter Jewish rights in other countries.”
Dr. Goldman, one of the leading figures at the Eighteenth World Zionist Congress recently concluded at Prague, expressed his belief that Zionism would not be able to deal with the situation.
ZIONISM NOT SOLUTION
“What I could not say at Prague, I am stating from this platform as a good Zionist and member of the Zionist Actions Committee, that Zionism is not in a position to handle the problem of Jewish rights in the Diaspora and can only handle the work of upbuilding Palestine,” he declared.
“There must be two separate world Jewish organizations—one for Palestine upbuilding and another to conduct the fight for Jewish rights. The latter should be proclaimed by this conference. A world Jewish congress must be created for coordinating and conducting the fight”
Criticizing the divided front of Jewry, Dr. Goldman declared that if a central Jewish body were organized, all elements which have thus far abstained from joining the movement, would be compelled to join the congress, which would thus represent Jewish solidarity and do most effective work in defense of Jewish rights.
TWENTIETH CENTURY MOST DIFFICULT
“The twentieth century will be most difficult for the Jews,” he declared, “because the anti-Jewish fight in this century is assuming an outspoken, brutal character. In this twentieth century we cannot afford to have a country in Central Europe so daringly annihilating and challenging Jewish rights. We must either declare war on this country or otherwise it would mean that we give up our rights all over the world.
“We are entering a war which may last years, not months. The problem cannot be solved just with the relief of victims. It must be clear that present Germany is the key to the Jewish position in every country of the world. The Jews must concentrate to fight Germany.”
A special detective guard was assigned to the conference today by the Geneva police who feared further acts of provocation by Nazis. Rabbi Wise, Emil Ludwig, Dr. Georg Bernhard, Oscar Cohen and other prominent participants in the conference were each given an escort and three policemen were stationed at each entrance to the conference building.
URGES WORLD-WIDE BOYCOTT
Speaking last night, Rabbi Wise urged that the conference proclaim a world-wide boycott of Germany even if the German Jews must suffer as a result. He declared that, “now, after six months of continued anti-Jewish measures, no other way remains but the boycott and the appeal to the conscience of man-kind.
“The boycott,” he declared, “is not offensive but is self-defense. The final decision does not rest with the German Jews who are not free, but with the Jews of the world who are free.”
Rabbi Wise stated that the American Jewish Congress would support any decision the conference would adopt regarding the boycott.
The Geneva press today united in condemnation of yesterday’s episode when two Nazi agents, whose identity is as yet unknown, but who are known to have spoken German, threw a stench-bomb into the hall two hours before the session was due to start.
Rabbi Wise referred to the inci-
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
