U.J.A. Sets April As “freedom Month” for Intensified Drive; 3,500 Cities Participate

Close to 3,500 Jewish communities throughout the United States will mark April as “Freedom Month” during which intensified efforts on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal’s 1948 drive for $250,000,000 will be launched, it was announced here today at U.J.A. national headquarters.

In a statement designating “Freedom Month,” which will officially open next Sunday on the Eternal Light radio program, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., U.J.A. General Chairman, said: “It is particularly fitting that April be observed as ‘Freedom Month.’ April and freedom have a long and historic association in the history of the Jewish people and the American nation.

“April is the month of Passover which celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from enslavement. It is the month that heard the first shot in the American revolution — which sounded the tocsin of freedom for men throughout the world. April of 1789 saw the convening of the first U.S. Congress and April of 1943 — five short years ago — witnessed the heroic struggle of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto against the might of the German Army,” he stated.

Meanwhile, it was announced here that eight Jewish communities have “added a brilliant chapter to Jewish history with contributions unparalleled in generosity in the history of fund-raising in the United States.” The communities, which led in the U.J.A.’s emergency drive for $50,000,000 last month, are: Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, Indianapolis, Des Moines and Dallas. At a “Big Gifts” meeting in Philadelphia, 240 persons pledged a total of $2,650,000 to the U.J.A., with Walter H, Annenberg, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, making the largest single pledge of $350,000. The city’s “Big Gifts” pled is approximately double the amount contributed last year by the same group.

At a similar Pittsburgh meeting a total of $1,122,000 was raised with the Kaufman Department Store pledging $150,000 and the Charles J. Rosenbloom family $100,000. In Des Moines, an initial “Big Gifts” meeting realized a total of $352, 850 in pledges, as compared with $190,025 last year. The Des Moines drive is under the leadership of three young World War II veterans, Frank B. Sanders, Morton S. Bookey and Harold A. Goldman.