The Denver Post, one of the leading midwest newspapers, declared in an editorial today that “it is unfortunate, but true, that many of the persons implicated in espionage against the United States have been American citizens of Jewish descent.”
The editorial continued: “Harry Gold, Julius Rosenberg and David Greenglass are three of them. There have been others, both here and elsewhere. Whispers are heard in dark corners that more Communists are of Jewish descent than of any other group. Those whispers are without foundation in fact.” The editorial praised Rabbi Manuel Laderman, of this city, who in a Rosh Hashanah sermon, “blasted Communists of this nation, and particularly Communists of Jewish descent, in a speech from the pulpit.”
The Post added that these whispers “may arise because persons of Jewish descent are inclined to be clannish, and in being clannish give the impression that they will not assimilate into our American population. In too many cases the Jewish people have refused to assimilate,” the editorial continued. Pointing out that when Alger Hiss was arrested, few persons thought of his racial origins, the newspapers said that when Gold, Rosenberg and Greenglass were seized, “their racial identity stuck out like a sore thumb.”
The editorial says that this “is most unfortunate” and is “largely to be blamed upon latent anti-Semitism, perhaps” and also “upon the frequency with which Jewish names pop up in Communism. Part of it can even be blamed upon the refusal of Jews, all over the world, to compromise with the mores of societies that are to them foreign and perhaps even barbarian.” Asserting that “almost always the Communist ‘Jew’ turns out to be a non-religious person of Jewish descent,” the Post declared:
“To honest Jews he is no more of them than any other American. Still, there is always the indefinable tie that seems to link the children of Israel, whether within or without the fold. The tie may exist only in the minds of non-Jews. Yet it does exist. The problems created by the Golds and Greenglasses are serious for our Jewish minority, for that minority has an ingrown sensitivity on the question of loyalty. The problem can be reached only by understanding, and understanding can be fostered only by discussion… The more Denver’s Jewish persons can do to discuss this and other questions openly and publicly, the better service they will be doing to their own cause and to the cause of democracy.”
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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.
