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Jewish Organizations Appeal to U.S. High Commissioner to Check Anti-semitism in Germany

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The American Jewish Committee and the World Jewish Congress today sent telegrams to John J. McCloy, United States High Commissioner-designate for Germany, expressing apprehension over the anti-Jewish propaganda among Germans which found its expression yesterday in the publication of a letter in a Munich paper expressing regret that the Nazis did not gas all the Jews.

Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, in a telegram to Mr. McCloy, said the rioting caused by the anti-Semitic letter, “reemphasized the need for safeguards and controls in the implementation by a military government of the recently-adopted occupation policy.” Mr. Blaustein characterized the publishing of “this inflammatory anti-Semitic letter” as the misuse of the freedom of the press. He charged that it was done for the purpose of “inciting conflicts of this nature in a Germany still laboring under the Nazi impact.”

Dr. Robert S. Marcus, political director of the World Jewish Congress, voiced appreciation in his telegram to Mr. McCloy for the prompt and efficient intervention of the United States military police who restored order but appealed that measures be taken to prevent the use of German police forces in any case where Jewish displaced persons are involved. Pointing out that anti-Semitism is clearly coming to the fore again in Germany and is being used to aggravate existing tensions, Dr. Marcus urged the High Commissioner to introduce appropriate safeguards against the misuse of the freedom of the press for the purpose of spreading racial and religious hatred.

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