The Canadian Jewish Congress appealed to the Government of Austria to “take energetic and effective steps against the menace of anti-Semitism” in that country.
The appeal was contained in a letter from CJC president Michael Garber to Dr. Franz K. Leitner, Austrian Ambassador to Canada. The letter expressed the concern of Canadian Jewry over “manifestations of anti-Semitism in Austria which indicate that the evil spirit of Nazism and anti-Semitism has not disappeared. “
Mr. Garber cited “the scandalous anti-Jewish demonstrations at a recent trial of two Nasi criminals in Salzburg, provoked by the defense counsel who revived the old Nazi slogan of a ‘Jewish conspiracy’ and the acquittal of the defendants by the jury in spite of unequivocal proof of their participation in acts of individual and mass murder.”
He said that Canadian Jewry had been “appalled at the use of slanderous anti-Semitic allegations” during the recent Austrian Parliamentary election campaign, “the acquittals of and lenient sentences passed on Nazi criminals and at the failure of the Austrian authorities to take energetic action against the propagation of anti-Semitic and Nazi doctrines at universities. “
These developments, the letter said, were “causing grave concern not only to Jews all over the world but to all persons who recall the disturbing record of a section of the Austrian people in the Nazi era. ” Mr. Garber asked the envoy to “apprise the Federal Austrian Government of our deep concern, which reflected itself in a recent resolution of our national executive committee. “
The meeting of the executive committee on March 24 declared in the resolution that “the Federal Austrian Government be urged to take energetic and effective steps against the menace of anti-Semitism in fulfillment of the obligations of the State Treaty of May 15, 1955, to eliminate from Austrian political and cultural life all traces of Nazism and to prevent Nazi activity and propaganda in Austria. “
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.
