Alarmed at the decision of the British Government to send the Exodus refugees to the British zone of Germany and of the repercussions that may follow in Palestine, leading American Jewish organizations today telegraphed appeals to President Truman to use the influence of the United States to convince Britain to withdraw the decision.
The American Jewish Conference in an appeal to the President signed by Louis Lipsky, chairman, asked him to act immediately in order “to avert a new tragedy which threatens the Jewish people.”
The American Jewish Committee, in a statement signed jointly by Jacob Blaustein and Federal Judge Phillip Forman, appealed to the British Government to reconsider the “ill-advised and inhuman” decision. The statement termed the decision “a brutal and insulting act of reprisal” and declared that “the American Jewish Committee is unable to pass over in silence” such an act.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, in a telegram to President Truman on behalf of the American and World Jewish Congress, recalled that he was one of the supporters of last year’s American financial loan to Britain, and declared: “It is unthinkable that Britain, again seeking our country’s financial aid, should commit the moral crime of sending Jews, about to enter Palestine, back to Hitler’s Germany.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
