The American Jewish Committee ###d the B’nai B’rith have joined in a ###tement discouraging mass demon###tions as a form of public agita### against the persecution of Jews ### Germany. The statement was ###iven as reiteration of the attitude taken by the Committee on March 20, in conformity with the “known wishes of the Jews of Germany.”
While pledging itself to work through authorized channels, and not to “rest content until the elemental human rights of our German brethren shall be fully restored,” the organization expressed the belief that “boycotts, parades, mass meetings, and other similar demonstrations are futile. They furnish the persecutors with a pretext to justify the wrongs they perpetuate.”
Issued at the present time, the statement was regarded as an effort to discourage the protest parade to take place on May 10, the day set in Germany for the burning of books of Jewish authorship.
The statement from the committee is here given in full:
PREVIOUS PROTEST ISSUED
“The tragic experiences suffered {SPAN}###{/SPAN} Jews of Germany since {SPAN}###{/SPAN} following increasingly {SPAN}hos###{/SPAN} paganda against them for ten {SPAN}###r{/SPAN} more, have shocked and {SPAN}###dly{/SPAN} stirred countless {SPAN}mil-###{/SPAN} men and women throughout {SPAN}###orld{/SPAN}. Their feelings found {SPAN}###{/SPAN} a number of directions some {SPAN}###ich{/SPAN}, unhappily, only served as {SPAN}###ext{/SPAN} for new acts of hostility {SPAN}###{/SPAN} threaten to annihilate the {SPAN}###{/SPAN} than half million Jews of that {SPAN}###ry{/SPAN} by depriving them of {SPAN}legiti-###{/SPAN} means of livelihood.
###e American Jewish Committee ###he B’nai B’rith felt impelled to issue, on March 20, a public protest against the attacks upon Jews of Germany and expressed the hope that ‘the enlightened opinion of the German people can be made aware of the gross injustice of these anti-Jewish actions and that they will demand the restoration of civilized standards in their own great nation.’
“That this hope is far from being realized is evident from the uncontested daily reports of the many shocking restrictions which have been introduced in Germany against its Jewish citizens, with bewildering rapidity and relentless cruelty. The details are too well known to be repeated here.
RETURN TO MEDIEVAL PRACTICES
“Many responsible bodies and distinguished men and women in all parts of the world have publicly expressed their feelings of horror at what appears to be a return to medieval practices, and their sorrow over the effect on Germany herself of the measures taken to degrade the Jews to an inferior civil status, and to eliminate them from the economic, artistic, professional, and scientific life of that country, to which they have made such notable contributions.
“It is evident that the civilized world is loath to believe that the policies of the Government of Germany reflect the spirit of the majority of the German people but regards them only as an exaggerated and distorted manifestation of national consciousness, at which a disapproving world might have been silent were it not accompanied by consistent policies and acts which violate and outrage the sentiments of humanity and seek to destroy the universally rec-
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