Welcoming President Roosevelt’s action in establishing an emergency refugee shelter in the United States, the American Jewish Conference, in a statement today expressed the hope that Turkey will follow America’s example and will permit refugees from “the Balkan trap” to cross its frontiers and that the British Colonial Office will throw open the doors of Palestine so that as many Jews as possible may enter.
“The establishment of a refuge in this country comes at a late hour, but it may get help to stave off the death sentence which the puppet government of Hungary has decreed for the last surviving Jews of Europe,” the statement said. “It brings a powerful champion to the side of these helpless and hunted people and it will thus encourage hundreds of thousands of decent Hungarians to resist their government’s purpose, to shield Jews, and to assist many to escape. It will relieve congestion in the overcrowded refugee camps in Italy and elsewhere and thus make room for more who can make their way out of the Balkan trap.
“But the obligation to provide sanctuary for refugees must not rest upon our government alone. We trust that Turkey will follow the example which had previously been set by Sweden, Switzerland and Spain and now by our own government and open its frontiers so that those who may reach them will be permitted to cross to safety. And we urge the British Colonial Office to throw open the doors of Palestine so that as many Jews as possible may immediately enter the Jewish National Home.”
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.
