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Leading Frenchmen Issue Declaration Condemning Anti-semitism

June 13, 1955
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A declaration against anti-Semitism has been issued here by a number of leading French political and literary figures, including former President Eduoard Herriot, in connection with today’s observance here of “National Day Against Racism, Anti-Semitism and for Peace.” Their declaration said: “Daily, men suffer because of race, color or religion. Every event morning political or social life is a pretext for anti-Semitic campaigns, either whispered, or well–developed by a certain press, created and supported for this reason.”

At the same time, the Federation of Jewish Societies took the opportunity to call attention to the position of Jews in the Soviet Union. The Federation’s statement said, in part: “Anti-Semitism and racism manifest themselves in various forms, taking colors which vary like regimes. How can one explain that in the USSR, where the constitution protects minorities and anti-Semitism is punishable by law, that all newspapers and books in Yiddish and Hebrew have ceased to appear; that seven years after the establishment of the State of Israel, Zionism is considered seditious and Russian Jews do not have the right to go and settle in Israel. We consider that no reason of state can justify such a policy.”

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