A draft bill outlawing the encouragement and public advocacy of genocide was under consideration here today by the State Assembly’s Criminal Procedures Committee, after a public hearing at which testimony favoring the measure was heard from representatives of political, civic, religious and other groups, including Jews and non-Jews, from various sections of California.
The bill had been introduced by Assemblyman Lester A. McMillan, Los Angeles Democrat. In addition to making public advocacy of genocide a felony, the measure would classify as misdemeanors, slander or defamation of “citizens of any race, color, religion or ethnic origin” and the wearing of the uniforms of Nazi storm troopers or Ku Klux Klan.
Heading the witnesses favoring the bill at the hearing were Leonard Horwin, former mayor of Beverly Hills, who represented the Jewish War Veterans. Mr. Horwin, by agreement with Mr. McMillan, presented amendments to strengthen the McMillan draft. The witnesses included Henry Birnbaum and Rudy Waxman, representing the Survivors of Nazi Concentration Camps. Appearing against the draft were five men associated with various anti-Semitic groups such as the American Nazi Party, the Klan and the Christian National Alliance.
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.
