Anti-Semitic measures and policies, imposed on the conquered European nations by their Nazi overlords, are meeting brave resistance in many parts of the Continent, according to an article by Hanna Fried and Zachariah Shuster in the current issue of the Contemporary Jewish Record, bi-monthly publication of the American Jewish Committee. Entitled “Conquered Europe Resists Nazi Anti-Semitism,” the article describes how the people of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France have demonstrated their distaste for Nazi-inspired acts against fellow-citizens of the Jewish faith.
While the forms of resistance very in accordance with the national temperaments of the individual countries and the treatment meted out to them by the Nazis, the writers declare enough facts have slipped through the censorship to indicate a uniform hatred for the conquerors. “Defiance,” the article states, “is expressed by lone individuals, by isolated groups, by secret organizations, by distinguished societies and associations as long as they are permitted to exist, and by whole communities.”
Numerous examples showing how the conquered peoples express sympathy for their Jewish fellow-citizens are cited by the authors, who state that Protestant and Catholic leaders have been particularly active in this regard. Such pro-Jewish sentiment, the article states, is primarily an expression of anti-Nazism and “must be recognized as part of the awakening process during which the conquered peoples are at least realizing that anti-Semitism has been used as the spearhead of conquest by the Nazis and that the Jews are nothing more or less than convenient scapegoats for the rulers of the Third Reich.”
Lancelot Hogben, the British scientist, contributes an article, “Biology and Modern Racism,” in the same issue. Other articles are “Released Time for Religious Study” by Morris Fine, “Coordinating the Community” by Rabbi Solomon Fineberg and “Conflict Among Catholics” by George N. Shuster, president of Hunter College.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
