moment,” the government of Rumania has been stamping out anti-Semitism, but declined to predict what would happen after “this very moment.”
He stated that as middlemen, merchants and professionals, the Jews are forced to bear the brunt of the “terrible economic crisis” in Rumania. The whole country is graft-ridden and “Jews are obliged to pay for every little privilege,” he said.
TAX BURDEN HEAVY
The burden of taxation upon the Jews, he declared, is heavy and merciless tax collectors seize everything, “even the bed you sleep on.”
Mr. Wolfson asserted that although anti-Semitism exists in Rumania, it is personal, not official. “The entire policy of the Rumanian government,” he declared, “is not anti-Semitic. It has done nothing to hamper the Jews.” He pointed out that anti-Semitic, Socialistic and Communistic organizations are all suppressed by the government.
Criticism of the American Jewish Committee came during the course of Mr. Wolfson’s report. He maintained that “the United Rumanian Jews must either dissociate itself from the American Jewish Committee or be ranged by its side in what is tantamount to a betrayal of the equality rights of the Jews of America and an attack on the national aspirations of the Jewish people.”
ENDORSE WORLD PARLEY
The convention adopted a resolution favoring the World Jewish Congress. Other resolutions endorsed the anti-Nazi boycott and the national aspirations of the Jews in Palestine.
Speakers besides Mr. Wolfson were Herman Speier, secretary of the organization, who reported on organizational activities; Dr. Samuel Margoshes, editor of The Day; Rabbi Chaim Perile, of the First Rumanian Congregation, and Abraham Hirsch of Philadelphia.
Mr. Wolfson was reelected president. Other officers elected were: Abraham Hirsch, Bruno Berk, Leon Fischer, Dr. Julius I. Klapper, Charles Sonnenreich, Max Schonfeld and Samuel Lonschein, vice-presidents; Abraham Falick, treasurer; Herman Speier, executive secretary, and Bennett E. Siegelstein, chairman of the Advisory Committee.
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.
