Resistance to the “attempted invasion of Nazi-Fascist and Communist propaganda in our country” and strengthening of religious institutions as the best answer to racism were stressed today at the 32nd annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee, attended by representatives of 300 affiliated communities, at the Hotel Astor.
The committee’s strong adherence to the principles of American democracy was emphasized in the annual report of the executive committee, read by Secretary Morris D. Waldman, which denounced “the false charge, borrowed from the Nazi propagandists, of a link between Jews and Communists” and said that “as American citizens we reaffirm our faith in the American way of life.”
The report voiced high praise for the courageous stand taken by Pope Pius X1 in condemnation of anti-Semitism and racialism, declaring it had “demonstrated to the world that Christianity is not silent in the face of persecution and falsehood.”
Dr. Cyrus Adler, in his presidential message, appealed “for the strengthening of our Jewish religious institutions and for the instilling of Jewish education and Judaism in the minds and hearts of our youth and older people. If you do not accept the race theory — and we do not — Judaism is first and foremost a religion. In the course of the long years in which I have been living in the world, my conviction on this point has grown stronger and stronger. Men do not live by bread alone.”
Dr. Adler, who presided, was reelected president for the tenth successive year. Other officers, also reelected, are Abram I. Elkus, New York, honorary vice-president; Judge Irving Lehman, New York, and Louis E. Kirstein, Boston, vice-presidents; Samuel D. Leidesdorf, New York, treasurer, and Sol M. Stroock, New York, chairman of the executive committee.
Judge Edward Lazansky, Brooklyn, and Joseph Willen, New York, were elected as new members of the executive committee. Members reelected are: Carl J. Austrian, New York; Leon Falk Jr., Pittsburgh; Judge Phillip Forman, Trenton; Sidney Lansburgh, Baltimore; James Marshall, New York; Joseph M. Proskauer, New York; James N. Rosenberg, New York; Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, New York; William Rosenwald, Greenwich, Conn.; Roger W. Straus, New York; Lewis L. Strauss, New York, and Henry Wineman, Detroit.
A resolution was adopted paying tribute to Mr. Waldman for his ten years’ service to the committee and to Harry Schneiderman, editor of the American Jewish Yearbook for his 20 years’ service.
The annual report said:
“In the united struggle of all men for the preservation of the principles of democracy, some problems are sometimes lost sight of in the larger problems of society as a whole. Our efforts to better the situation of Jews abroad and to foster better understanding at home have not been from a narrow sectarian viewpoint. We have been moved by a deep faith in the sacredness of of human personality, symbolized and fostered by our religion; indeed by all religion. We have vigorously supported the basic principles of American democracy — freedom of thought and speech and freedom of conscience.
“In the present struggle for justice and decency these are the things that we stress — individual liberty, equality and civil rights, freedom of conscience, mutual respect and understanding. All men should be engaged in a struggle for these ideals. We are encouraged to keep on because we are confident that by common effort, by friendly and earnest cooperation, the world can be saved for justice and peace. We are all the more encouraged because in these years of persecution we have seen rallying to the common standards of religion and democracy Christian and Jew alike, Catholic and Protestant, liberal and conservative, men and women of all races, creeds and shades of opinion. In these we ultimately put our trust.”
Referring to those who persist in reiterating the “false charge, borrowed from the Nazi propagandists, of a link between Jews and Communism,” the report said: “Your Committee, along with other responsible Jewish organizations, has on several occasions exposed the falsity of this canard. The facts are accessible to all who seek the truth. As American citizens we reaffirm our faith in the American way of life and denounce alike the attempted invasion of Nazi-Fascist and Communist propaganda in our country.”
Pointing out that the Nazis are the real cause of world economic depression, unrest and strife, the report went on to review the six-year history of the persecution of Jews in Germany. “These events,” it declared, “have proved to the world that the crisis now facing Jews is but a part of a wider crisis threatening. Christians and Jews alike. Today the world is learning that Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews, Catholics and Protestants is an integral part of the Nazi internal and foreign policy.”
POPE’S STAND HAILED
The Jews of Italy were described as being used as a means of diverting public attention from Italy’s pressing domestic problems. Particular attention was called to the fact that Mussolini himself had declared that “anti-Semitism is a product of barbarism.” The report said:
“Generally regarded as expressive of the real views of the Italian people were the statements by the venerable head of the Catholic Church, Pope Pius XI. Time and again the Pope has condemned anti-Semitism and racialism as inimical to the basic principles of Christianity. His courage, together with the many outspoken declarations of Protestant church leaders, has demonstrated to the world that Christianity is not silent in the face of persecution and falsehood.”
Commenting on the abandonment by Great Britain of its plans for the partition of Palestine — a plan which the Committee opposed at its annual meeting in 1938 — and the recent violent outbreaks in Palestine, the report expressed the hope that the forthcoming conferences in London would succeed in creation of a formula for peace and cooperation between the Arabs and the Jews. It stated that “the large majority of the Arabs, as well as the Jews, are opposed to the methods of the extremists and that many are in favor of arriving at a modus vivendi with the Jews and the British.”
The report recognized the economic and social problems of Poland which, it declared, cannot be minimized. At the same time, it pointed out that the Polish proposal for mass emigration is unsound.
In its comment on refugees, the report called special attention to the fact that in the seven years from 1931 the number of persons who permanently left the United States exceeded by 80,000 those who arrived as immigrants. It was also pointed out that a number of official and unofficial statements prove that the new immigrants are a direct economic asset to their countries of settlement. Lord Winterton, chairman of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee, the report declares, pointed out in an address only this week that in Great Britain, alone, refugees from Germany had within a short period established factories giving employment to 15,000 British workers and had introduced designs, inventions and processes of the greatest value to British trade.
“There is every reason to believe,” the report concluded, “that the present immigration to our shores within our legislative restrictions will prove of equally great benefit to our own country.”
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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.
