Prof. Albert Einstein and Joseph C. Grew, special assistant to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, today appealed to the United Nations to hasten their efforts to save Nazi victims in occupied Europe.
“Help to save the body, that the spirit may continue to be effective for the highest good of mankind,” Prof. Einstein said in a radio broadcast under the auspices of the United Jewish Appeal. Former Ambassador Grew, speaking from Washington on the same broadcast, emphasized that although the task of rescuing the refugees is the responsibility of the United Nations, governments will need the help of all of the private relief agencies.
Paying special tribute to the achievements of the Joint Distribution Committee, the United Palestine Appeal and the National Refugee Service, the three agencies which are represented in the United Jewish Appeal, the former ambassador said. “Food, clothing and medicine must accompany the forces of the United Nations into Europe not alone in the name of humanity, but for practical military purposes. When that time comes, and it may be soon, the work of the private relief organizations for which I speak today, will be vastly expanded. Meanwhile their work must go on, for it is, quite simply, part of the winning of this war. It is also a concrete expression of the ideals for which this war is fought.” Ambassador Grew added that he was “proud, as an American, of the work of the three organizations represent in the United Jewish Appeal.”
Professor Einstein, whom Ambassador Grew, in his address, characterized as a “great man,” cautioned the world against setting up “the intellect as our god,” pleading for the establishment of “a community of free and happy human beings who, by constant inward endeavor, strive to liberate themselves from the inheritance of anti-social and destructive instincts.”
“Our Jewish people, a small minority everywhere, with no means of defending themselves by force, is exposed to the cruellest suffering, even to complete annihilation, to far greater degrees than any other people in this world,” he said. “The hated raging against us is grounded in the fact that we have upheld the ideal of harmonious partnership and given it expression in word and deed among the best of our people. Exposed to a criminal, ruthless persecution, we are in ourselves aware that we serve mankind’s true ideals. There can be today no higher goal for a Jew than to aid with all his power all those of his fellow-Jews whom our aid can reach. To my great satisfaction I have observed that the rescue work supported by the United Jewish Appeal is excellently organized and most highly important for the salvation of our people.”
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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.
