The World Jewish Congress has asked the International Red Cross to intervene in the case of the Finally brothers, the two Jewish children converted to Catholicism and spirited out of France to Spain, it was disclosed here today. Dr. G.M. Riegner, head of the WJC office here, submitted a memorandum on the case to the IRC and asked that it seek a humanitarian solution of the problem.
The World Jewish Congress urged the International Red Cross to offer its good offices to the French, Spanish and Vatican authorities to liquidate this affair “which seriously threatens religious peace between different denominations.” The memorandum underlined the anxiety felt at recent reports that one of the brothers is gravely ill and asked the Red Cross to investigate the state of the children’s health as a “matter of urgency.”
(In Paris yesterday the newspaper Combat quoted a “most reliable source” to the effect that one of the two boys had died in April from complications following pleurisy. The report stated that the child was buried under the name of Jaime Alvarez at Saint Sebastian, a Spanish town just across the border from France.)
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.
