A joint statement by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin warning German occupational authorities in Hungary that the United Nations will punish “all those guilty of initiating or participating in inhuman treatment of civilians” was urged by the American Jewish Committee in a telegram, sent today to Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
Signed by Joseph M. Proskauer, president, and Georga Z. Medalie, chairman of the overseas committee, the American Jewish Committee statement warned that the “only available method of preventing or lessening the Nazi mass murders” of the almost one million Jews in Hungary was “to instill among the Nazis and their collaborators the fear of post-war retribution from the victorious United Nations.”
“The recent and continuing Nazi invasion activities in Hungary have put almost one million Jews in imminent danger of extermination,” the statement reads. “The most immediately available method of preventing or lessening typical Nazi mass murders is to instill among the Nazis and their collaborators the fear of post-war retribution from the victorious United Nations. We therefore respectfully and urgently advise the issuance of a joint statement by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin emphatically reaffirming previous pledges of full punishment for all those guilty of initiating or participating in inhuman treatment of civilians. We earnestly feel that such a statement may save many human lives in Hungary, last remaining large center of Jewish population in Europe.”
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