Brazilian Jewish Leaders, Alarmed at Rise of Anti-semitism, See U.S. Jews As Only Hope

DEEPLY CONCERNED AT THE RISING TIDE OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN BRAZIL, JEWISH LEADERS HERE ARE CONVINCED THAT ONLY INTERVENTION OF AMERICAN JEWRY CAN SAVE BRAZIL’S 40,000 JEWS FROM DISASTER.

WITH THE COUNTRY UNDER MARTIAL LAW, THEY DARE NOT, HOWEVER, GIVE VOICE TO THEIR FEARS, PROTEST TO THE AUTHORITIES OR EVEN MAKE THE SITUATION KNOWN TO THE JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE ANTI-SEMITISM THAT NOT LONG AGO WAS RIDICULED IN LIBERAL QUARTERS, REGARDED LIGHTLY BY THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULACE, AND DISMISSED AS UNIMPORTANT EVEN BY THE JEWISH LEADERS THEMSELVES, WHO THOUGHT IT BEST TO IGNORE IT, APPEARS NOW TO HAVE ATTAINED DANGEROUS PROPORTIONS.

WHERE FORMERLY ONLY INTEGRALIST (FASCIST) NEWSPAPERS ASSAILED THE JEWS, NEWSPAPERS REPRESENTING OTHER FACTIONS HAVE TAKEN UP THE CAMPAIGN AND A LARGE SECTION OF THE PRESS IS NOW IN FULL CRY AGAINST THEM.

THE PRESS CAMPAIGN ALONE, HOWEVER, WOULD NOT HAVE CAUSED THE JEWISH LEADERS TO CHANGE THEIR OPINION ON THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE FACT THAT IT HAS BEEN ACCOMPANIED BY A NOTICEABLE CHANGE IN THE ATTITUDE TOWARD JEWS OF CERTAIN HIGH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND MILITARY LEADERS.

FOR SOME TIME THIS CHANGED ATTITUDE HAS BEEN GROWING MORE MARKED, SO MUCH SO AS TO GIVE STRONG GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEF THAT THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF IS SEEING EYE TO EYE WITH THE ANTI-SEMITES. BRAZILIAN POLICE OFFICIALS HAVE LONG BEEN REFUSING TO ISSUE “JAMADAS,” OR PERMITS FOR JEWISH RESIDENTS TO BRING OVER RELATIVES FROM ABROAD. LATELY, BRAZILIAN CONSULS HAVE STOPPED GRANTING VISAS TO JEWISH APPLICANTS. IN SOME COUNTRIES, THE CONSULS HAVE BEEN ISSUING VISAS ONLY TO PERSONS WHO COULD PRODUCE CERTIFICATES OF BAPTISM.

OF MORE SERIOUS IMPORT THAN EVEN THESE ACTS ARE STATEMENTS RECENTLY MADE OPENLY BY TWO IMPORTANT MILITARY LEADERS, GENERAL NEWTON CAVALCANTI AND COLONEL AZAMBUJA VILANOVA. THE FORMER, ONE OF THE THREE MILITARY RULERS OF THE COUNTRY, PUBLICLY STATED THAT COMMUNISM IS JEWISH AND THAT JEWS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL REVOLUTION. HIS STATEMENT WAS HEAVILY CAPITALIZED BY ALL SECTIONS OF THE ANTI-SEMITIC PRESS.

COL. VILANOVA, COMMANDANT IN THE PERNAMBUECO AREA, CHARGED PUBLICLY THAT MASONRY AND COMMUNISM (BOTH OF WHICH ARE PROSCRIBED IN BRAZIL) ARE “SUPPORTED BY ZIONISM, WHICH IS THE EXPRESSION OF THE WILL OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE FOR THE LAST 2,000 YEARS TO RULE THE WORLD.”

THE EFFECT OF BOTH THESE STATEMENTS BY TWO SUCH IMPORTANT PERSONAGES HAS BEEN TO STIMULATE THE ANTI-SEMITIC CAMPAIGN IN THE PRESS AND TO GIVE ANTI-JEWISH SENTIMENTS A REAL FOOTHOLD AMONG A PUBLIC WHICH HAD HITHERTO BEEN APATHETIC.

BECAUSE OF THE RIGOR OF THE MARTIAL LAW, ALL PROTEST AGAINST BOTH PROPAGANDA, WHICH IS OF THE UNMISTAKABLE STREICHER VARIETY IN ITS UNRESTRAINED VIOLENCE AND VULGARITY, AND ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIONS, HAS BEEN STILLED. EVEN THE MOST LIBERAL OF POLITICIANS, WHO FORMERLY DEFENDED THE JEWS WARMLY, DARE NOT SPEAK ON THEIR BEHALF BECAUSE TO DO SO WOULD EXPOSE THEM TO THE CHARGE OF COMMUNISM.