The first anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Jewish Affairs, which is one of the institutions functioning in the field of research with a view to establishing the basis on which rights for Jews may be claimed at the post-war peace conference, was marked here today by a dinner at the Columbia Faculty Club.
The dinner, at which a group of distinguished men who have joined the Institute’s Advisory Council were inducted, took the form of a forum devoted to a discussion of the post-war problems of reconstruction of Jewish life. Participating in this discussion were Professor Joseph P. Chamberlain, Professor Leo Wollman and Professor Jerome Michael, all of Columbia University; Dr. Paul Tillich of Union Theological Seminary; Dr. Jacob Robinson, director of the institute; the Rev. L. M. Birkhead, national director, Friends of Democracy; Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman, administrative committee, World Jewish Congress; Henry Wise of Boston, and Beryl H. Levy, counsel to the institute. The institute was founded in February, 1941, by the American Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress.
All of the speakers expressed the opinion that the recognition given the Jewish problem in post-war reconstruction will be the acid test of the sincerity of the democratic professions by Allied leaders and of their loyalty to the democratic faith. Prof. Kallen urged the right of Jews to fight in a military force of their own.
Messages received from Thomas Mann, Prof, Carl Freidrich of Harvard, and Prof. Max Lerner of Williams College, who were unable to attend, endorsed the work of the Institute and urged support of the efforts to find a just solution to the Jewish problem.
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