American Jewish Committee Asks Action on Soviet Anti-semitism

The American Jewish Committee today concluded its three-day annual meeting with the adoption of a declaration appealing to all free men of the world to denounce Soviet anti-Semitism as a “new threat to humanity.”

“Anti-Semitism has long been present in the internal policies of Moscow and its subjugated countries.” the declaration stated. “The injection of anti-Semitism into the trial of renegade Jews who had espoused Communism, is renewed evidence that the anti-Semitism of Stalin is similar to the anti-Semitism of Hitler.

“The Jews are not the first to suffer. The doctrine of group guilt and group annihilation has long been ruthlessly applied by the Soviet master to social classes, ethnic minorities and religious groups. Members of all religious groups have been persecuted and their churches destroyed. The Catholic Church has been the object of special persecution, culminating in the recent infamous imprisonment and execution of Catholic priests.

“Communism has long done its utmost to destroy the spiritual life of all groups, like the Jews, who by reason of their religious belief or cultural heritage do not yield to its total domination. Now, the Jews, like others, face the threat of imprisonment, starvation, exposure and execution.

“Anti-Semitism is for the Communist rulers not an end in itself, but a tactic. It is not the Jews only they seek to destroy. Stalin’s attack on the Jews is a bid for support from all Fascist forces in Germany, in Western Europe, in the Near East and Latin America, looking ultimately to the conquest of America and the entire free world. As with Hitler, anti-Semitism is again being used to unite the enemies of democracy. The American Jewish Committee appeals to free men the world over to denounce this new threat to humanity,” the declaration concluded.

BLAUSTEIN, MCCLOY WARN AGAINST KREMLIN’S ANTI-JEWISH DRIVE

Jacob Blaustein, who was re-elected president of the American Jewish Committee, told the 500 Jewish leaders who attended the annual meeting that the United States is the real target of the Kremlin’s anti-Semitic policy. “By openly adopting the vicious device of anti-Semitism,” he stated, “the Red leaders are trying to lure extreme neo-Nazi and neo-Fascist groups into an anti-American bloc. The insecure Moscow leaders hope that this tactic will frustrate the American policy of welding a democratic coalition strong enough to thwart Red aggression.”

John J. McCloy, former U.S. High Commissioner to Germany, told the meeting that “the present anti-Semitic drive the Kremlin is staging is an attempt to gain friends, not only among the Arabs but also among those Germans that are unregenerate.” He pointed out that “the world suffered in 1939 when the Nazis made their deal,” he recalled. “The world would suffer terribly if it ever occurred again.”

Irving M. Engel, chairman of the AJC executive committee, said that anti-Semites and racist rabble rousers in the United States are giving aid and comfort to the Kremlin in the latest Moscow hate campaign. “Only by recognizing Communist and Fascist strategy,” Mr. Engel said, “by condemning anti-religious, anti-Semitic and other bigoted appeals, and by maintaining the unshakable unity of the democratic nations can we meet this new totalitarian challenge to world peace and freedom,” he declared.

Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president of the AJC, warned that although Communism was the greatest evil facing mankind today, “nevertheless we must be on our guard against the exploiters and the irresponsible in our midst who would take advantage of this menacing situation to spread suspicion, indulge in false accusations and pit each man against his neighbor.” He urged creation of “high prestige” boards composed of outstanding Americans of unquestionable integrity and objectivity who would devise and carry out standards of precedure for getting at the truth about people accused of subversive activity.

The United States of America must clarify its foreign policy objectives so as to remove all doubts of America’s motives in the minds of Europeans, Zachariah Shuster, director of the European office of the American Jewish Committee, told the closing session. “Some of our actions are causing confusion and dismay among our staunchest friends in Europe,” Mr. Shuster maintained. “Passage of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, for example, played directly into the hands of Communists, fellow travellers and neutralists, who used this measure to ‘prove’ that we are not really concerned with democratic ideals and practices.”