Jewish organizations in the United States today denounced the amended Dicplaced Persons Bill as adopted last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee. In a statement issued through the National Community Relations Advisory Council, the coordinating body of these organizations, it was emphasized that the bill in its amended form “would defeat and subvert the very purpose of displaced persons legislation.”
In identical letters to all members of the U.S. Senate, the members of the Upper House were urged to vote against the bill as reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 25. The letter was signed by Jacob Blanstein, president of the American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Irving Miller, president of the American Jewish Congress; Meier Steinbrink, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith; Adolph Held, chairman of the Jewish Labor Committee; Jackson J. Holtz, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States; Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Yebrow Congregations; Irving Kane, chairman of the National Community Relations Advisory Council; and Mrs. Irving M. Engel, president of the National Council of Jewish Women.
The Senators were urged to take the following actions to meet the major objections in the Committee’s bill: 1. Retain the definition of displaced persons contained in the existing Act; 2. Eliminate all provisions for mortgaging of future quotas; 3. Join the House of Representatives in eliminating the 40 percent priority to displaced persons from areas which have been de facto annexed by a foreign power; 4. Eliminate all provisions for special benefits to particular groups of displaced persons, which are not extended to the entire body of displaced persons.
Also, 5. Eliminate the inferential endorsement of racism implicit in the socalled “volksdeutche” provision; 6. Join the House of Representatives in eliminating from the existing Act the 30 percent preference for agriculturists; 7. Retain in the Displaced Persons Commission the responsibility for selection and authority for determination of eligibility; and 8. Retain the language of the existing Act with regard to exclusion of undemocratic elements.
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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.
