Hitler and Hitlerism were convicted of perpetrating crimes against civilization by a jury of notables here last night. “The Case of Civilization Against Hitlerism” was in substance a replica of the trial held in Madison Square Garden in New York recently.
Speakers presented five counts against the Reich chancellor, who was accused by persons representing the Christian church, womanhood. democratic institutions, Jewish people and civilization itself. The trial was sponsored by Rabbi-Israel Goldman, of Temple Emanu-El. Justice Philip C. Joslin, of the Rhode Island Superior Court, pronounced sentence.
An audience which crowded the vestry hall of Temple Emanu-El listened to addresses assailing in scathing terms the persecutions against minorities practiced by the Nazi power in Germany, and what speakers described as violations of the rules of civilization. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Clifton, president of the Rhode Island Ministers Union, presenting the point of view of the clergy. asserted his conviction that the non-Jewish world must bear much of the burden of warring on Hitlerism.
PROMINENT SPEAKERS
He said that every pulpit must be made the forum for expressing contrary opinion to Nazi principles.
Other speakers, including Professor Sharon O. Brown, chairman of the English department at Brown University and president of the Providence Community Forum; Alice W. Hunt, president of the Consumers’ League of Rhode Island; former Attorney General Fred B. Perkins, secretary of the Rhode Island Bar Association, and Rabbi Goldman, echoed the view that similar “trials” against Hitlerism should be held throughout the United States and that public opinion should be trained on what they called the “menace to civilization.”
There were no speakers in defense of Hitlerism.
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.
