as defender of Jewish minority rights, Rabbi Nurok is engaged in studying the Jewish problem in different countries. He was entrusted by the president of Latvia to compose the Latvian Cabinet in 1926 under the democratic regime.
“The situation of the Jews in Europe,” Dr. Nurok told a Jewish Daily Bulletin reporter, “is catastrophic. Since Hitler came to power, many countries have followed his anti-Semitic propaganda and have set their clocks back to the Middle Ages. The Jews are suffering not only politically but also economically. This is especially true with regard to Poland, Lithuania and Austria.”
Asked about anti-Jewish discriminations in his own country, reports of which have been reaching the United States recently, Dr. Nurok said that before sailing for this country he had discussed the Jewish situation in Latvia with the Latvian president, Karl Ulmanis, and has ground to believe that some means would be found to make the Jewish position there more tolerable.
Zionist and other Jewish political organizations are still prohibited in Latvia, but the Jewish National Fund is freely permitted to go on with its campaigns, he declared.
One of the missions of Dr. Nurok’s trip to America is to stimulate more interest in America towards the idea of a World Jewish Congress.
“I come with a message from the Jews of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, who asked me to convey to American Jews that the creation of a world organ for protecting Jewish interests in Europe is an urgent necessity,” he said.
Dr. Nurok intends to remain in the United States for several weeks. He is a long-standing member of the Zionist Actions Committee and of the Jewish Agency. He is also one of the most energetic members of the Committee of Jewish Delegations and is the author of a book, in German, on the Zionist movement.
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.
