Contending that past denazification procedures have failed to accomplish their objectives, the American Jewish Conference today urged that denazification in the American zone in Germany be prosecuted with increased vigor, in communications to Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson.
The charge was based on the killing of Samuel Danziger, 37-year-old survivor of the Oswiecim concentration camp who was shot on Friday morning, March, 29, by German police in a mass raid on the Stuttgart displaced persons settlement. Three other Jews were wounded and twenty-six were arrested.
Henry Monsky, chairman of the Interim Committee of the Conference, declared that the incident “compromised the fair name of the United States and the democratic principles for which we, as Americans, fought in World War II. He emphasized that the fact that German police were permitted to raid a Jewish camp, in the company of American military personnel, gives courage to the Nazi underground, whose existence AMG admits.
Expressing its gratification at the fact that Lt. General Joseph T. McNarney, U.S. commander in the European Theater, promptly suspended the right of German police to enter Jewish displaced persons centers, the communication of the American Jewish conference stated: “We are confident that the investigation now being conducted will result in punishment of those guilty. However, the Jewish people of the United States were very much concerned that the causes of this outrage shall be attacked at the roots and shall be eliminated.”
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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.
