Proceeds from the New York presentation of the Jewish pageant, “Romance of a People,” which has been brought from Chicago, will go toward the eight-million-dollar fund being raised for the purpose of settling German Jews in Palestine during the next four years. The New York presentation will take place at the Polo Grounds on Sept. 14. The use of the proceeds was announced by Harry L. Glucksman, treasurer of the American Palestine Campaign and head of the Jewish Welfare Board.
The nature and extent of the four-year plan for the settlement of German Jews in Palestine will be decided upon at Prague toward the end of this month when the World Zionist Congress meets. The presentation of the pageant here is under the sponsorship of a committee which is headed by Governor Herbert H. Lehman.
In a statement announcing the launching of the campaign, Mr. Glucksman said:
“Having realized that there is no prospect, unfortunately, of the abatement of the persecution of the Jews in Germany for a long time to come, we have therefore resolved to carry through a large-scale program for the settlement in Palestine of a maximum number of Jews of Germany who can find no place in their native land as a result of the Nazi program. Our goal is the placement of 250,000 Jews over a four-year period.
“It is our plan to raise $8,000,000 in the United States during the next four years. The amount of $25,000,000 will be obtained throughout the world. Action toward that end will be considered at the forthcoming sessions of the Council of the Jewish Agency for Palestine at Prague the latter part of this month.
“We feel that the national campaign for $2,000,000 this year will be most effectively started and the need of the German Jews most vividly portrayed through the presentation at the Polo Grounds on September 14 of the great Jewish pageant, “The Romance of a People’, which describes four thousand years of Jewish struggle and suffering. The scope of the pageant, which requires some 7,000 people, should attract tens of thousands of people who will thus be able to help German Jews. The pageant, shown on Jewish Day at the Century of Progress Exposition, is being brought to New York by us through the suggestion of Dr. Chaim Weizmann before his departure after his recent visit to America.”
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