Judge Simon H. Rifkind, advisor on Jewish affairs to the United States military command in Germany, today branded as “poppycock” the allegation by Lieut. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan that Jews are being brought out of Poland by a secret Jewish organization.
Rifkind told a press conference that the “idea of some world-wide conspiratorial organization of Jews is just so much poppycock.” He said that he had “examined and cross-examined” hundreds of the fleeing Polish Jews in Berlin. Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and Frankfurt and all of them “are, or believe they are, fleeing for their lives.
“No propaganda organization,” Judge Rifkind continued, “could bring out the women and children, the young and the old, the strong and the weak, the orthodox and the non-religious, the well-off and the poor, such as I have seen. Inspired by one of the great basic needs of mankind–freedom from fear–the fleeing Jews seek security.
“The Jews who have returned to their homes in Poland find an attitude of intenses hostility on the part of the native population,” he added. Judge Rifkind expressed the belief that the Polish Government was opposed to the persecution, and was attempting to eliminate it, but “to date it has been powerless in the face of the anti-Semitism of the population.”
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.
