Speedy action by the national headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Affairs resulted in cancellation of an agreement by a Georgia VFW post to allow use of its facilities for a rally called by a group of anti-Semitic agitators, it was disclosed here today.
A post at Stone Mountain, Ga. rented its facilities to a group calling itself "The Defensive Legion of Registered Americans, Inc.", for a rally at which some of the announced themes were to have been "The American Jew Communist Conspiracy" and similar topics.
Elliot Goldberg, commander of the Atlanta Jewish War Veterans, Post 112, said that officers of the local VFW group had made the facilities available without knowing the nature of the group. The JWV national commander, Robert E. Hanson, moved promptly and sent a telegram to the Georgia Department Commander, directing him "to take all steps necessary" to prevent the meeting from being held at Stone Mountain VFW facilities under penalty of canceling of its post charter.
The VFW commander also expressed "sincere apologies" to the Jewish War Veterans "and through them to all Jewish people" for the incident, and added that "neither the national organization nor the Department of Georgia, VFW, condone use of VFW meeting halls for such purposes."
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.
