A campaign to bring mass pressure upon the Nazi authorities in Holland to halt the deportation of Jews from the country has been started by the Netherland underground press, the Dutch news agency Aneta reported here today.
The clandestine papers published the text of a letter urging that the greatest possible number of Dutchmen write to General Friedrich Christiansen. German military commander in Holland, calling upon him to discontinue “the pitiless deportations” of Jews for the sake of preventing “an unbridgeable chasm between your nation and ours.” The letter reads:
“The deportation of our Jewish compatriots to Silesia and the Polish protectorate threatens to create an unbridgeable chasm between your nation and ours. Therefore, and still more because we feel violently assailed in our human dignity, traditions, honor and Christian faith, we ask you to respect this honor and faith and to use your influence to prevent these pitiless deportations.
“The torture of our Jewish compatriots we experience personally, but pain will not break us. To the contrary. Though we were beaten on the field of battle, you know from the history of your own nation that military defeat is insufficient to subjugate a nation forever. Therefore we adjure you not to disappoint us. If, after the conclusion of a peace, you wish to live together with us like humans, then do not allow hatred to burn so deeply in the hearts of our people that thoughts of revenge will dominate all other considerations.
“We therefore appeal to you in the name of justice and charity, on behalf of our Jewish compatriots and for the future of our two peoples and of Europe. The fact that we write anonymously is not our shame, but is on the heads of those who punish every utterance of injured humanity and wounded national dignity with death, concentration camp or prison.”
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.
