“The people of Europe are speaking of Hitler and his associates as the Dillingers of Europe,” said Estelle Sternberger, executive director of World Peaceways, returning from a seven weeks’ tour abroad on the Aquitania Friday.
“Sober-minded leaders emphatically resent his gunman-like methods,” she declared. “On Hitler’s head lies the responsibility for stirring up the hysteria of Europe with the consequent armament race. The public now realizes that he is only a tool, and cannot remain in power as long as he ignores the economic bearings of his policies. I expect that he will lose his power within a comparatively short period, perhaps six months. Germany will probably see a Hohenzollern as his successor, which may mean a relaxation of the measures against the Jews of Germany.”
Mrs. Sternberger, who made the trip primarily in an effort to introduce the methods of World Peaceways abroad, asserts that while there is general unrest and a rush of armament on the Continent, there is no definite imminence of war. This is, however, hardly the time for peace workers to relax. The overwhelming reception accorded her propaganda is proof of the will to avert further bloodshed. Sufficient evidence of the fact is that during her short visit four new branches of World Peaceways were organized in England, France, Holland and Switzerland.
Germany, too, came in for its share of pacifist influence. Although Mrs. Sternberger was prevented—forcibly, she intimated, from actually going there because of the fear of her associates that propaganda by a Jewess in that biased territory would defeat its own purpose, her contacts in other lands procured the desired effect. She is justifiably proud of the conversion of a German woman she met in London whose parents are on the top rung of the precarious ladder of Hitler favoritism. After a few conversations, the good Teuton departed for the Fatherland fully determined to spread the good word there.
“We have finally succeeded in ridding the peace movement of the stigma of doves and women that used to accompany it,” said Mrs. Sternberger. “It had to be taken out of the shallow realm of idealism and put in terms of good, hard business. With our practical advertising campaign and the cooperation of industrialists as well as editors, publishers and educators, we have succeeded in doing that. A significant fact is that during travels abroad I worked with men almost exclusively.”
The League of Nations is particularly interested in establishing a world bureau for peace in Geneva. To that end Mrs. Sternberger has been invited to return on September 7 to act as official commentator for the opening week of the League sessions. Her proposed task is to present a colorful day by day presentation of all that is reviewed during that time. European leaders in the group feel that the United States must be the stabilizing influence for world peace, she said, and in their opinion work that Roosevelt has already done justifies their hopes.
CALLS RELIEF WORK HEROIC
American Jews may very well profit by the example of the Europeans in their treatment of the German refugees, according to the observations of Mrs. Sternberger, who described the relief work of her continental friends as heroic. It is not enough simply to send them money, and let their destinies abide by its distribution. They should be considered as individuals so that the demoralization resulting from the present treatment, particularly in cases where families are broken up, will be avoided. As an example she spoke of certain English friends of hers who divided their home into small apartments, each with its own elevator, telephone and kitchen, and placed them at the disposal of refugees.
The dissemination of victims of Nazism presents a problem more serious than of simply providing sustenance for them in any case. Wherever they go they carry the marks of persecution and an overpowering fear of their past and potential inquisitors. Even in Holland, where there is absolutely no anti-Semitism, they are in constant dread. And that fear, according to Mrs. Sternberger, is an ill omen for peace.
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.
