Barnett Zumoff, newly re-elected president of the Workmen’s Circle, said Sunday that he “deeply deplores the intemperate attack of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal on a respected Jewish organization, the World Jewish Congress, for its efforts to expose to the world the disgraceful wartime activities of Kurt Waldheim,” the former UN Secretary General who is running for the Presidency of Austria.
Zumoff, speaking at the closing session of the Workmen’s Circle’s four-day national convention here, said, “Wiesenthal’s actions represent a worst example of the type of internecine warfare within the Jewish community that seriously endangers that community and diverts our energies from dealing with the real problems that threaten all Jews.” Zumoff said Waldheim’s war record merits the outrage of “all freedom-loving and democratic people — not just the Jewish people — and should disqualify him from high office in Austria.”
Zumoff added that “to blame the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Austria, with its long and inglorious history of both covert and open anti-Semitism, on the campaign against Waldheim, is an example of blaming the victim for the crime.” He called for “all Jews to stand together to combat openly if necessary, their real enemies and not attack each other.”
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.
