A call to the Catholic Church to take “a forthright stand” against anti-Semitism in South America was voiced here today by Dr. Maurice L. Perlzweig, director of the international affairs department of the World Jewish Congress. He was the principal speaker at the four-day meeting of the WJC’s South American executive. The parley, concerned principally with the recent outbreaks of anti-Semitism in South America, opened yesterday and is being attended by Jewish leaders from 10 Latin American countries.
Praising the stand against anti-Semitism taken in this country by the Catholic hierarchy, he said that a similar “forthright” attitude in behalf of ecclesiastical authorities in other Latin American lands “would encourage both public opinion and security authorities to proceed against hatemongers.”
Dr. Perlzweig pointed out that many former Nazis and European fascists have taken refuge in South American countries, where “they are acting with increasing impunity as the agents of the international movements which they represented.” He stated that these activities “give additional significance and importance” to such steps as are being advocated at the United Nations now “to arrest and ultimately to eradicate the movements organized to undermine and destroy human rights everywhere.”
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