James G. MacDonald, chairman of President Roosevelt’s Advisory Committee on Refugees, declared today that Nazism contained the seeds of its own destruction and assured the Jews that they would soon stand “by the open graves of their persecutors.”
“If I were a Jew,” Mr. MacDonald told an eastern conference of Hadassah business and professional women’s divisions at the Park Central Hotel, “I should be more sure this year than I have been for the last five years that my people would soon stand, as they have so often in the past, by the open graves of their persecutors.” Predicting the decline of Nazi power, he asserted that “inherent seeds of destruction are always to be found in this sort of blind, savage tyranny.”
Chancellor Hitler’s Reichstag speech, he said, was the most threatening the Fuehrer had yet delivered regarding the Jews and the international situation. Mr. MacDonald interpreted it as marking the end of Nazism’s first phase, which had resulted in the complete destruction of the Jewish commun- ity, and the beginning of the second in which the Jews would serve as “a whipping boy to hide the real intents” of the Nazis. He said it was intended from now on to blame the Jews for international developments and say they controlled the world press.
Mrs. Moses P. Epstein and Miss Susan Brandeis, who presided at luncheon and afternoon sessions, were among the other speakers.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
