Labeling the Steuben Society “the organization which under its present leadership is practicing race hatred contrary to its own constitution,” the Federation of German-Jewsh Societies attacked the Society for its criticism of the part played by Mayor LaGuardia in the “Case of Civilization Against Hitlerism.”
In a letter to the Mayor, Robert Rosenbaum, president of the German-Jewish group, and Fritz Schlesinger, chairman of the excutive committee, ask the Mayor to disregard the Steuben Society protest.
The letter recalls the promotion by the Steuben Society of a German Day celebration under the swastika on December 6, at which Nazi elements led by the Steuben Society, met the protests of New York Jews and liberals with demands for rights of free speech. At this celebration Rosenbaum and Schlesinger, who appeared as good will envoys of German Jews, were manhandled and expelled from the meeting.
PROTEST NOT REPRESENTATIVE
“The leading motive of the German Day celebration, arranged and carried out by the Steuben Society, was based on the right of free speech, a right which the Steuben Society wishes now to deny you,” the letter states.
The Federation of German-Jewish Societies asks the Mayor “not to regard the letter of the Steuben Society as the voice of the Americans of German stock in New York. On the contrary, we assure you that we have the fullest confidence in your office conduct and are firmly convinced that all your acts have been inspired entirely and only by the democratic principles of America,” the letter states.
Shortly before the convention of the “Case of Civilization Against Hitlerism” at the Garden last Wednesday, the Steuben Society wrote the Mayor asking him to take no part in the proceedings in order to subdue the “rising race hate” in New York. “We note with regret that you concern yourself in other fields which do not fall within the domain of the activities of your office,” the Steuben Society letter observed. This protest was made public in the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung.
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