America Called Bulwark of Hope for War Victims in UJA Broadcast

The entire civilized world looks to the United States to hold aloft the banner of human compassion and help preserve the hope of the peoples who have borne the brunt of the Nazi assault upon democracy and freedom, it was asserted by speakers in a nationwide broadcast of the United Jewish Appeal tonight on the NRC Red network. Chief Rabbi I. H. Herzog of Palestine, Pierre Van Passan, the author, Jascha Heifetz, the violinist, and Paul Lukas and Raymond Massey, the actors, participated in the program.

Rabbi Herzog said the Jews in Palestine were prepared to fight the menace of Hitlerism to their homeland and to uphold the principles of justice and freedom which the prophets of Israel preached thousands of years ago and the principles on which American democracy is based.

Massey praised U.J.A.’s humanitarian work and declared that “no group, no people can be abandoned in this critical hour without serious injury to humanity as a whole.” Lukas read Emma Lazarus, poem, “The New Colossus,” which is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Speaking yesterday at a meeting of the Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal, Governor Lehman declared that “just as it is our government’s destined role to help save friendly nations, so it is our role to help oppressed and relentlessly persecuted individuals, bringing them relief, helping them to emigrate, keeping hope alive in their hearts.”

“We defend and strengthen our own democracy,” the Governor asserted, “by the very act of saving the lives of people who are the victims of anti-democratic forces. In helping these people, we revitalize ourselves–reinforce the foundations of our own democracy and, by example, inspire a doubting and frightened world to see it through.”