Claims that American Jewry remained silent while German Jews suffered Nazi persecution are untrue and constitute a “sacrilege and a defamation of good human beings,” Dr. Daniel Thursz, B’nai B’rith International executive vice president, said. He refuted those claims at a breakfast held here to mark B’nai B’rith’s 140th Anniversary.
He said more research is needed to refute charges regarding American Jewish conduct during the Holocaust. “Obviously we all agree that more should have been done, but in the context of the American society at the time, there were many courageous efforts,” Thursz said.
“Today you hear over and over again that the American Jewish community was asleep at the switch, that it did nothing during the Nazi years and during the Holocaust. You hear it over and over again, and if you repeat something enough, people will believe it.”
Nevertheless, Thursz said, B’nai B’rith records of this period reveal “a very different picture.” They document “hundreds of meetings between the B’nai B’rith leaders in the United States and the United States government, pleading for intervention on behalf of German Jews. Our files indicate frequent meetings and correspondence with Cordell Hull, then Secretary of State.”
‘ANGUISH AND ACTION’
The correspondence he said, indicates both “anguish and action.” When the German government began confiscating Jewish property, B’nai B’rith members held mass rallies and signed hundreds of petitions, Thursz recalled. All told, he said, 1.5 million signatures were obtained asking for American intervention.
Whether the U.S. government did enough, he said, is open to question, but one point is clear: “B’nai B’rith records reveal the existence of a consistent, enormous effort to try to get action on behalf of our bretheren.”
President Reagan and the First Lady, as well as New York State Governor Mario Cuomo, and New York Mayor Edward Koch sent letters congratulating B’nai B’rith on its many accomplishments.
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