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J.D.C. Rejects All Plans Labeling Jews As “surplus”

February 21, 1938
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Any theory which would exile Jews from any country is to be rejected, declared Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, campaign chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, in a letter to Jewish leaders throughout the country.

“We will not cooperate in any plan that labels Jews as ‘surplus population’,” says Dr. Wise’s statement. “We know the degradation and injustice which calumny never hesitates to heap on its victims. No lie is too outrageous, no rumor too filthy for our detractors. We have rarely had a chance to repudiate these indignities other than by acts of individual courage and grace. At least we can try to dig in and stand fast. The Joint Distribution Committee completely rejects any theory of Jewish life which exiles Jews from any country.”

Separate fund-raising campaigns for 1938 have been agreed upon by the J.D.C. and the American ORT Federation, according to a statement issued jointly by their respective presidents, Paul Baerwald for the J.D.C. and B. Charney Vladeck for the ORT.

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