The recent action of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith in refusing to allow Benjamin J. Buttenweiser, Assistant U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, to deliver at its Chicago convention an apologetic report on the failure of carrying out an effective denazification program among the Germans was defended here last night by Frank Goldman, national president of B’nai B’rith.
Speaking at the 98th annual convention of B’nai B’rith District No. 1, at the Waldorf-Astoria, Mr. Goldman told the 1,500 guests and delegates that Mr. Buttenweiser’s report was a "calculated insult" to the Jewish people. He revealed that the Anti-Defamation League had not invited Mr. Buttenweiser to address its Chicago parley but had acceded to a request received from members of Mr. Buttenweiser’s family.
Declaring that "it would have been an insult to his audience to let Mr. Buttenweiser speak," the B’nai B’rith president said that there was no denial of free speech, since the doctrine of free speech does not compel one to provide a platform "for someone who has requested that platform through his family." The United States, he insisted, must impose denazification "on American terms, not on German terms."
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