An appeal to the democratic world to raise its voice against the “Nazi extermination of Jews from the Norwegian fiords to Gibraltar and from the Rhein to the Don river” was issued here today by a special conference of more than 200 Jewish writers held on the premises of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
“We are turning to the great world with the question: ‘Don’t you see what is being done to a great historic people? Don’t you see how a strong and armed nation extinguishes us? If you cannot do anything to help us at present, let us at least hear your voice. Let us feel that you are with us!” Dr. Saul Tchernichovsky, principal speaker at the conference, pleaded.
The noted Hebrew poet simultaneously appealed to the Jews in America and other democratic countries “not to spare efforts and sacrifice for the benefit of the entire humanitarian task which is also a Jewish task.” He assured the world that the memory of the Jews massacred by the Nazis “will never be removed from our hearts” and he called upon the Jews of Russia to continue their brave fight against the Nazi invader.
“For many years,” he said, “you, brethren of Russia, were remote in distance but near to our hearts. Now we hear your voice calling to us. As if by a miracle, the dividing boundaries fell. Again we are one soul, one heart, one aim, one will and one hope.”
The conference was called for the purpose of stimulating the Jewish war effort in Palestine. The speakers, who included many prominent writers, appealed to the Jews of Palestine for maximum effort and unity, emphasizing that the country is facing “extreme danger.” Prof. Joseph Klausner demanded that the Jews be given a “free Jewish State in Palestine as compensation for the thousand years of anti-Jewish oppressions, of pogroms and shedding of Jewish blood as well as for Jewish contributions to the world in religious, moral, ethical and humanitarian values.”
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.