The suggestion that Premier Josef Stalin meet Jewish religious leaders in Russia as he did with the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church there “in order to give official recognition to the legalization of Jewish religious life in the W.S.S.R.,” was made here last night by Chief Rabbi Hertz addressing a gathering of 2,500 at the Stoll Theatre called by the Jewish Fund to Aid Russia.
Declaring that “Russia has done more than all the democratic countries together to save Jews,” the Chief Rabbi expressed regret at the fact that the world is silent on the massacres of Jews in German-held territories. “Since the Bermuda Conference there is again silence concerning the fate of the Jews,” he said.
Chief Rabbi Hertz lauded the governments of Switzerland and of Sweden for the hospitality which they are giving to Jewish refugees escaping from Nazi hands, Emanuel Shinwell, a leader of the British Labor Party, demanded retribution for the crimes which the Germans are committing against Jews. He denounced the “arms trial” in Palestine and compared the mild sentences of Arabs with the unprecedented heavy sentences imposed upon Jews. “I am proud of the men who tried to get arms to defend themselves, and I say to the Jews; ‘Be proud and don’t apologize to anyone for being a Jew.'” The meeting was presided over by Dr. Redcliffe Salaman.
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