May 10 was set aside by the American Jewish Congress for a Protest March through the streets of New York to give expression to the indignation felt by Jews against the “cold pogrom” being practiced in Germany by the Nazis. More than 1,000 delegates of 600 Jewish organizations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut attended the conference held Wednesday night at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, honorary president of the Congress, strongly appealed to the delegates for trust and confidence. He said: “I do not mean to tell you in advance what we are going to do; we are not going to disclose our campaign so that Hitler as well as you will know our next move; I will not be your leader if I cannot be trusted.”
Listing some of the German “brutalities” and reviewing the acts of persecution practiced against the Jews in Germany, Dr. Wise declared that the Jews of America and the world at large would not cease to protest until these acts were ended. He offered explanation to those speakers who expressed disappointment in the fact that the American government had not taken vigorous action in protesting on behalf of the Jews, as did Great Britain.
NO TIME FOR BOYCOTT
“We can’t,” said Dr. Wise, “expect our government to act towards Germany as if we were in a state of war. We do not want to go to war with any people in the world. The fact that no American Ambassador has been sent to Berlin is sufficient in itself,” he concluded.
To those delegates who shouted for a boycott, Dr. Wise replied that the “time has not yet come for an official boycott—we still have other weapons”.
Dr. S. Margoshes, editor of “The Day” introduced the resolution calling for the protest march. This was unanimously adopted. Urging that on May 10, which has been designated by the Nazis as the day on which all books of Jewish authorship and origin shall be publicly burned throughout Germany, similar protest marches will be held in all Jewish communities throughout the United States, Dr. Margoshes made a plea for a demonstration that would be “an act of historical and political significance.” The resolution also requested that all Jewish business establishments, factories and offices close at 4 P.M. on that day to give their employees an opportunity to take part.
TO PETITION WASHINGTON
Mr. Z. Tygel, executive director of the Federation of Polish Jews in America introduced another resolution which was also adopted, to gather signatures for a petition to be presented to the United States Government and to the League of Nations protesting against the inhuman “attempt of the German Government to deny a peaceful and law-abiding element of its population the full civic rights and the elementary right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. It also called for a petition to the American Government and the League of Nations to “use their good offices to the end that justice shall be done the Jews in Germany.”
Stressing the international menace of Hitlerism, Joseph Tenenbaum, chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Congress, declared that “it is pertinent at a time when the representatives of governments are gathering in Washington to deliberate on international affairs, to remind the world that in the heart of Europe there exists a disintegrating force threatening to upset the equilibrium of the world.
“Unless,” continued Dr. Tenenbaum, “Hitlerism is dealt with as an international menace, there looms a catastrophe which will spell the doom of civilization. Hitlerism is a world problem and not merely a Jewish problem.”
THE SPEAKERS
Bernard S. Deutsch, president of the American Jewish Congress, presided at the conference. Among the speakers were Borough President Samuel Levy, Abraham Goldberg, journalist and Zionist leader; former Representative Nathan D. Perlman, Jacob Fishman, editor of the Jewish Morning Journal; Meyer L. Brown, president of the Jewish National Workers’ Alliance; Alexander Kahn, representing the Labor Group; Captain Abraham Tulin, of the Zionist Organization of America; Joseph Weinberg, president of the Workmen’s Circle; Louis Siegel, representative of the National Labor Alliance, and Elias Ginsburg, representative of the Zionist Revisionists.
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