British Jewry yesterday launched a $5,000,000, drive for funds to expatriate Jews from Germany with a conference at the Dorchester Hotel at which it was announced that half the quota was already in sight.
Jewish leaders, addressing the 600 delegates, stressed the need for controlled emigration from the Reich as an answer to the “challenge of the Nuremberg anti-Jewish laws. Among the speakers were Sir Herbert Samuel, Viscount Bearsted and Simon Marks, the delegation which proposed the expatriation scheme while visiting the United States, and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
Anthony de Rothschild, who presided, stressed the gravity of the international crisis precipitated by Germany’s renunciation of the Locarno treaties, declaring that it directly affected the Jewish situation. While asserting that plans must be carried out cautiously, he said there must be no delay in removing Jews from the Reich. The delegates were cheered by promises of American cooperation made in an address by Mr. Marks, who is said to have originated the expatriation proposal. He stated that the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the United Palestine Appeal had given him assurances that a satisfactory amount would be forthcoming from the United States.
Referring to the international situation, Sir Herbert Samuel, Liberal leader and former Palestine High Commissioner, declared there was no reason to delay expatriation until the crisis cleared up.
He lauded Jewish development of Palestine, contending that the country’s ability to absorb immigrants was constantly growing. He held that the German Jews who came to Palestine were creating employment opportunities for others.
Dr. Weizmann stressed Palestine’s desire to receive more German Jews quickly, declaring that they were entering the country as a matter of right, not sufferance. He paid tribute to the contributions of the German Jews in the upbuilding of the Holy Land.
Lord Bearsted announced that the first two contributions to the fund had been made by non-Jews.
The $5,000,000 will be the British quota of a $15,000,000 sum estimated as necessary to expatriate about 100,000 Jews between the ages of seventeen and thirty-five from Germany in four years. The remainder is expected to be forthcoming from the United States.
Today’s conference came as the culmination of a series of closed meetings held by Jewish leaders during the week to set up the Council for German Jewry, which will coordinate expatriation plans.
A number of German Jewish leaders have attended the meetings. They include Max Warburg, Hamburg banker; Dr. Siegfried Moses, president of the German Zionist Federation; Dr. Otto Hirsch, head of the executive of the Reich Representation of Jews in Germany, and Dr. S. Adler-Rudel, emigration expert, who was recently deported from Germany.
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