darkness, imbues us with the conviction that in this struggle also those who use the weapon of spirit will triumph against those who wish to revive ignorance and prejudice and are turning against intellectualism and the very spirit of humanity and peace.”
EXCEPTIONAL BRAVERY
Mr. Vladeck, manager of the Jewish Daily Forward, described Dr. Eddy’s “carrying the truth into the camp of the enemy and defying him with it to his face” as “an act of exceptional bravery.”
“That Dr. Eddy should be the one to burst the bubble of Nazi conceit and hypocrisy in their own quarters, is a matter of particular pride to me, who like Dr. Eddy, is a socialist, he declared. The speech delivered in Berlin reminded him of “the speech of Socrates before the Jury of Athens,” he declared.
PLEADS FOR UNDERSTANDING
In an eloquent plea for understanding of the German people and justice for Germany, Dr. Eddy warned of “the very real danger of misinterpreting the situation there and of descending to the level of the Nazis “in combatting Hitlerism.”
Giving credit to Hitler as the greatest unifier of Germany, he warned that Hitler was pathological and neurotic and the “most dangerous man today.”
“I am afraid as long as he lives this poison of anti-Semitism will never leave his heart,” he stated.
He recounted instances of intolerable cruelty he had investigated while in Germany. “It is hard to discuss these cases without descending to the spirit of the Nazis,” he declared.
Dr. Eddy concluded his address with a plea for a universal fight against racial prejudice wherever it exists.
“This should teach us here a lesson,” he declared. “It should teach us the danger of the viciousness of race prejudice and that every trace of this must be torn from our hearts.”
JUDGE LEHMAN’S MESSAGE
Judge Irving Lehman, an honorary chairman of the dinner committee, who was unexpectedly unable to attend the dinner, sent the following message:
“I regret exceedingly that my judicial work will keep me in Albany tonight and prevent me from hearing Dr. Eddy. Hitlerism in practice and in theory is an inhuman fanatical attack not only on the Jews of Germany but on all civilization. It must be exposed so that all may see it in its full ugliness. Falsehood must be overcome by spreading the truth. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is doing a great service by its reports on what is going on in Germany. Dr. Eddy and others in whose fairness all have confidence are spreading the truth.”
The following telegram was received from Col. Theodore Roosevelt:
“Regret exceedingly but already have date in Washington otherwise would have been happy to be present and pay my tribute to Dr. Eddy for his courage. Please congratulate him for me.”
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.
