Christians Protest Nazi Jewish Persecution, American Jewish Congress Parade Today

While final preparations were being made by the American Jewish Congress yesterday for the parade in protest against continued degradation of the Jews in Germany and the burning of books by Jewish authors which will take place throughout the Reich today, plans for an impressive protest by leaders of the Christian ministry against “the ruthless persecution of Jews under Herr Hitler’s regime” were revealed by the National Conference of Jews and Christians. Newton D. Baker, Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes and Roger W. Straus are co-chairmen of the conference.

Signatures of one thousand ministers of all denominations are now being gathered, it was disclosed, for a statement prepared by the Rev. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of Riverside Church, and a group of outstanding churchmen. Following collection of the signatures, the statement will be sent to Christian leaders in Germany.

A similar document bearing the signatures of five hundred social scientists in colleges and universities throughout the country, is in preparation and will be sent to German social scientists and university leaders, it was learned.

The signers of the church statement, in addition to Dr. Fosdick, are: W. Russell Bowie, S. Parkes Cadman, Bernard C. Clausen, Harry E. Fosdick, Lynn Harold Hough, Mordecai Johnson, Bishop William Scarlett, Charles E. Burton, Allen K. Chalmers, Everett R. Clinchy, John Haynes Holmes, Ray Freeman Jenney, Norman V. Peale and Ralph W. Sockman.

The signers of the scientists’ statement follow: Prof. Emory S. Bogardus, Prof. George A. Counts, Prof. Charles A. Ellwood, Prof. Francis J. Haas, Prof. Ralph S. Harlow, Prof. Frank H. Hankins, Prof. Hornell Hart, Prof. William H. Kilpatrick, Prof. Robert Lynd, Prof. Reinhold Neibuhr and Prof. Donald Young.

DEMONSTRATION PLANS

Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Wilson, will be the principal speaker at the meeting this afternoon at Battery Park, which will conclude the mass demonstration planned for the day by the American Jewish Congress. General John F. O’Ryan, grand marshal of the parade which will leave Madison Square and march to Battery Park, will also speak, as will former Congressman Fiorella LaGuardia, George Gordon Battle and the Rev. Dr. John Haynes Holmes.

Over two hundred thousand marchers are expected to follow General O’Ryan including a number of non-Jewish groups, according to the Congress. The parade will follow Fifth Avenue to Washington Square, go on to Lafayette Street, proceed to Park Row, cross City Hall Park to Broadway and go down Broadway to Battery Park where it will be reviewed by prominent Jews and non-Jews. Because of the size the demonstration march is expected to reach, it will be assembled in five divisions.

THE CHURCH STATEMENT

The statement being prepared for transmission to German Christian leaders by Dr. Fosdick and his associates points out that “the endeavor of the German Nazis to humiliate a whole section of the human family threatens the civilized world with the return of mediaeval barbarity.” It follows in full.

“We, a group of Christian ministers, are profoundly disturbed by the plight of our Jewish brethren in Germany. That no doubt may exist anywhere concerning our Christian conscience in the matter we are constrained, alike with sorrow and indignation, to voice our protests against the present ruthless persecution of the Jews under Herr Hitler’s regime.

“We acknowledge the grievous provocations which have led to the German revolution: especially the condemnation of unborn generations of German children to economic servitude by the terms of the peace. Our nation shares part of the blame for this situation. We understand the accumulated resentment which has led German youth to undertake at all costs the reconstruction of the nation and its reestablishment in unity and power. We claim no right to censor the methods by which this shall be accomplished simply because they are not our own.

“We acknowledge, also, the existence of racial and religious prejudice in America, against which we have repeatedly taken our stand, but all the more on that account do we deplore a retreat from gains once made in Germany while we continue to struggle for human rights in the United States.

“For weks we waited patiently, refusing to believe stories of a state policy against the Jews. Now, however, having in our possession testimony to the facts which seems to us unimpeachable, we cannot forbear speaking. Herr Hitler for years has preached relentless hatred against Jews. One of the fundamental doctrines of the Nazis, explicitly acknowledged by them, is that the Jews are poisonous bacilli in the blood of Germany to be stamped out like a plague. What the followers of Herr Hitler have proclaimed they now practice. Systematically they are prosecuting a “cold pogrom” of inconceivable cruelty against our Jewish brethren, driving them from positions of trust and leadership, depriving them of civil and economic rights, deliberately condemning them, if they survive at all, to survive as an outlawed and excommunicated people, and threatening Jews with massacre if they so much as protest. It is our considered judgment that the endeavor of the German Nazis to humiliate a whole section of the human family threatens the civilized world with the return of mediaeval barbarity.

“We deplore the consequences that must fall upon the Jews, upon Christendom which permits this ruthless persecution, and in particular upon Germany itself. For protesting thus against Hitler’s cruel anti-Semitism, we conceive ourselves to be speaking as the sincere friends of Germany.”

THE SCIENTISTS’ STATEMENT

The statement of the scientists follows in full:

“In making public the following opinion on the situation in Germany, those who sign are fully aware that the recent happenings in that country are in large part the result ### the lack of fair play to Germany and the short-sighted slighting ### German rights and needs by ### nations, including our own ###