Kahn Honored at Paris Banquet on Eve of Departure for U.S.

Leaders in all walks of Jewish life paid tribute last night to Dr. Bernhard Kahn, retired chairman of the European Council of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, on the eve of his departure for the United States. Their tributes were voiced at a banquet to Dr. Kahn tendered jointly by the J.D.C., the Jewish Colonization Association, the HIAS-ICA Emigration Society and the American Foundation, with Morris Troper, new chairman of the European Council presiding.

The principal address was delivered by Louis Oungre, head of the Jewish Colonization Association and dean of Jewish leaders in Paris, who was introduced by David Schweitzer, vice-chairman of the European Council. Other speakers included Prof. William Qualid, of the Alliance Israelite Universelle; Prof. A. Bezredka, of the Pasteur Institute; Prof. Jules Hayim and Meyer Blum, of the Jewish Agency for Palestine; Isaac Naiditch, of the Zionist Organization; Rabbi Eisenstadt, of the Federation of Jewish Organizations; Dr. Mark Wishnitzer, of the Hilfsverein; Madam Van Tyn, of the Dutch Relief Committee; Albert Levi, president of the French Refugee Relief Committee; Edouard Oungre and James Bernstein, directors of the HIAS-ICA; Dr. Ettinger, director of the Jewish Colonization Association, and R. Lambert, editor of the Universe Israelite.

The addresses were delivered in French, English, Hebrew, Yiddish and German A group of guests announced that they would inscribe Dr. Kah’s name in the Golden Book of the Jewish National Fund.

In a speech that was begun in English, continued in German and ended in French, Dr. Kahn declared that he was not bidding a permanent farewell to his connections with European work since he intended often .to bridge the distance between America and Europe He expressed confidence that his successor, Mr. Troper, would follow J.D.C. traditions and principles.

Louis Oungre, expressing the tope that Dr. Kahn would pursue his work on behalf of European Jewry in America, praised his 40 years of activity “which coincided with the most troublesome years in Jewish history.” Be divided Dr. Kahn’s work into three periods, the first that of the Hilfsverein, the second the wartime years when he took over the J.D.C’s wide program, and the third “Germany’s return to barbarism, with the unprecedented Jewish catastrophe.” All three, phases of Dr. Kahn’s work, M. Oungre declared, would, remain unforgettable among European Jewry.

in the United States, Dr. Kahn will take up the office of honorary chairman of the European Council of the J.D.C.