General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, speaking today at the formal launching here of the $170,000,000 United Jewish Appeal campaign, stressed the urgency of voluntary action to alleviate the hardships and sufferings of the victims of persecution in Europe.
He declared that “only one who has seen, as I have, the mental and physical effects of savagery, repression and bigotry upon the persecuted of Europe, can realize the full need for the material help and encouragement you propose to give.”
Honor guest of the UJA conference, General Eisenhower told the 450 Jewish leaders assembled from all parts of the United States, that they “give a demonstration of men united in mercy toward the stricken, an example that invites the world to renew with increased zeal the struggle against injustice, persecution and slavery.”
Stating “there is no word that can exaggerate the urgency,” Eisenhower pointed out that “acute disaster cannot await the functioning” of global action evolved for the eventual elimination of the tragedies alleviated by UJA. “Charity can do much to fill the breach – it can lift them somewhat above the level of mere existence, the limit that perforce controls governmental effort.” He emphasized, over and above the needed material aid, the necessity of “warmth and encouragement from fellow-humans that their confidence can be restored.”
“Mutual confidence among groups, among classes and among nations is a primary need in the world today,” Eisenhower declared. He urged that “Americans can still be thankful we are in a position to give rather than depend for our very existence upon the mercy of others.”
LEHMAN SAYS SURVIVORS CAN EXPECT HELP ONLY FROM U.S. JEWS
Former Governor Herbert H. Lehman, of New York, ex-Director-General of UNRRA, declared that only the “generosity of the Jews of the United States” can help Jewish survivors in Europe through the phase of rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement which marks the second stage in their recovery.
Calling the 1946 accomplishment of the UJA “magnificent,” Lehman urged that in 1947 “we and the task so nobly begun in 1946. For otherwise we shall doom home-less Jews in need to a relief status for an indefinite period. They need more than relief. If we give them the means to rebuild their lives, if we stand by them this year, many of them will be able to stand on their own feet next year.”
Lehman stressed that the need today “is vastly greater than it has ever been before in the history of our people” and declared “there is no help from any other source except the United States.” Recommending greater participation of inter-govern- mental organizations in rehabilitating Jewish lives wrecked by Hitler, Lehman pointed out that “the prospects for immediate action are not encouraging.” He indicated that with the end of UNRRA, “the entire burden for relief of Jews in countries where UNRRA functioned will fall on the JDC.
“The tragic fact is that except for us, the Jews of this country, the survivors stand alone and forgotten. In a world that is preoccupied with other problems, it is our inescapable duty to meet the challenge of the problems of the Jewish people,” Lehman emphasized.
SAYS JEWS MUST BE ALLOWED TO GO TO PALESTINE
Those Jews who wish to go to Palestine should be helped by UJA to go there, Lehman declared. In any program of rehabilitation we must give a place of special importance to the emigration of Jews from Europe to Palestine, the United States and any other countries to which they want to go,” he added. “We cannot hope to solve the problem of the 250,000 Jews in camps and centers in Germany, Austria and Italy unless present restrictions to immigration are removed by international agreement.”
He described the process of recovery of Jews in France, Belgium, Holland and Czechoslovakia as well advanced, but still needing aid. The need for large scale rehabilitation activity is particularly acute, he said, among the Jews in the DP camps. “It is quite apparent,” Lehman declared, “that the JDC is today confronted with a program of greater scope than ever before.” He called for a “firm and loud keynote” to reach “across the ocean to our brothers and sisters in need.”
ROSENWALD FAMILY MAKES $1,000,000 CONTRIBUTION TO CAMPAIGN
It was announced at the meeting today that one $1,000,000 gift, one of $500,000 and several ranging from $75,000 to $100,000 have already been received by the UJA. The $1,000,000 contribution was given by members of the family of the late Julius Rosenwald, including Mr. and Mrs. William Rosenwald, Mrs. David M. Levy, Mrs. Max Ascoli and Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Stern. Edmund I. Kaufmann, of Washington, D.C., gave the $500,000 donation.
The failure of European governments to stamp out anti-Semitism, and their delay in restoring to the owners homes and properties confiscated from the Jews by the Nazis have thwarted the recovery of Europe’s homeless Jewish survivors, Henry Morgenthan Jr., former Secretary of the Treasury and general chairman of the UJA campaign, declared last night at the opening session of the conference.
As a result of inter-governmental indifference, the early and of UNRRA, recurrence of anti-Semitism in Poland and other parts of Europe, and general economic dislocation and unchecked inflation, Morgenthau reported, the position of Europe’s remaining Jews is “more distressing” than a year ago or any time since liberation.
MORGENTHAU REPORTS INCREASE IN NUMBER OF DP’S WAS UNANTICIPATED
Referring to the “mase exodus” of Jews from Poland, Rumania and Czechoslovakia, which raised the number of Jewish DP’s from 85,000 to 250,000 in the last 15 months, Morgenthau pointed out that this increase had not been anticipated. “As a matter of fact, at this time last year we had every hope that emigration to Palestine would thin out the ranks of the Jews in the campe,” he said.
Morgenthau cited the case of Hungary, where over half of the country’s surviving 200,000 Jews must be fed daily by the JDC with funds supplied by the UJA, as typical of the needs in Europe. On the basis of its $170,000,000 campaign, he ex- plained, the UJA would be enabled to provide only $12,000,000 for relief and rehabilitation in Hungary, which would mean a daily food allowance of only 34 cents a day per person.
Contrasting the “bleak and unhappy picture of Europe today” with “the land of hope and promise – Palestine,” Morgenthau told the conference that the Jews of Palestine had given “top priority to the expansion of the country’s industries and agriculture to make room for additional hundreds of thousands of newcomers from Europe.
EMPHASIZES SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF PALESTINE JEWISH COMMUNITY
Morgenthau emphasized that the Jewish community of Palestine is completely self-sustaining and requires no financial aid for itself but he added that “Palestine’s Jews cannot be expected to carry alone the burdens of restoring to health and providing homes and jobs for Europe’s immigrants.” Pointing out that over 26,000 European Jews reached Palestine in 1946 under immigration quotas, he said that the same number, and “we hope many additional thousands,” will enter Palestine this year. He said that about $18,000,000 is needed for the immigration relief and housing of European refugees.
The United Service for New Americans, one of the three UJA agencies, will require $8,000,000 for the reception, retraining and resettlement of refugees and DP’s who enter the United States, Mortenthan reported. A total of 15,000 came here in 1946, and some 2,000 Jews from Europe and Shanghai arrived in American ports in January, 1947. A similar and perhaps higher number is expected in the coming months, according to Morgenthau.
Improved American consular activities overseas and the end of the serious bottleneck in trans-Atlantic shipping have increased the number of refugees reaching the United States in recent weeks, William Rosenwald, national chairman of the UJA and honorary president of the USNA, reported at last night’s session. Jewish war refugees and DP’s may enter this country at the rate of 2,000 a month or more in 1947 “if we are ready to help these tired, beaten people adjust to a strange land and strike new roots,” Rosenwald said.
Other speakers included Dr. Israel Goldstein, Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, Mrs. David M. Levy, Reuven Dafni, a Palestinian war hero, Harold J. Goldenberg of Minn. and Samuel Rothberg of Peoria.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
