The Jewish War Veterans of the United States has urged the nominating committee of the International Rotary Club to withdraw its nomination of Wolfgang Wick of Austria because of his Nazi past Wick was selected for the presidency of International Rotary and, in the absence of any other candidate, is expected to be elected at the Rotary convention in New Orleans.
Judge Paul Ribner, National Commander of the JWV, wrote to the 11 members of the nominating committee that the “election of Wick to the office of president of International Rotary is totally unacceptable to our organization and American Jewry.” He cited Wick’s membership in the Nazi Party, beginning in 1933, his membership in the SS and his post as Commissar for Nazi industry in Austria during World War II.
The nomination of such a person reflects negatively on the International Rotary and is difficult to understand because the Nazis were always hostile toward the Rotary organization, Ribner wrote. He pointed out that the Rotarians within the JWV, in the U.S. and in Holland. Belgium. Switzerland and Israel have protested vigorously against Wick’s nomination.
The 64-year-old Austrian businessman’s Nazi affiliations were first exposed publicly by Hillel Zeidel, a Knesset member of the Independent Liberal Party, and reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last month.
Meanwhile, the board of directors of the Rotary Club of New York voted unanimously last week to oppose the nomination of Wick. Wick was quoted in news reports from Vienna as saying he was only a “simple member” of the Nazi Party and was drafted into the SS in February. 1945, a few months before the end of the war in Europe. “I did not join in voluntarily and there was no way to avoid it,” Wick told reporters.
(It was reported in Israel that contrary to an earlier account, no invitation was sent to Wick by the Weizmann Institute of Science to participate in dedication ceremonies of the new French House on the Institute’s campus in Rehovoth.)
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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.
