Polish Ambassador Count Jerzy Potocki has denied the authenticity of a document published by the German Government quoting him as having reported to Warsaw on Jan. 12, 1939, that “international Jewry” was influencing President Roosevelt’s anti-Fascist stand and seeking U.S. entry into a war.
“The publication by the German Government of pretended documents from the Polish Foreign Office is obviously for propaganda purposes,” Count Potocki said. “I deny the allegations attributed to me.”
The purported potocki document, one of a series published in German White Book last Friday, represented the Polish Ambassador as having said that American opinion was generally against Fascism and particularly opposed to Hitler. The Ambassador was quoted as having said that propaganda “is above all in Jewish hands, for they own almost 100 per cent of the radio, films, press and periodicals.”
The alleged document declared that influential Jews such as Bernard M. Baruch, Governor Lehman, Justice Felix Frankfurter and Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., who are “close friends” of Roosevelt, wished “that Roosevelt should become a champion of human rights and religious freedom, as well as freedom of speech, and one who in the future would punish those who create disturbances.”
“This group of persons, who have the highest positions in the American Government and who like to join themselves to representatives of ‘real American-ism’ and ‘defenders of democracy,’ is basically bound with unbreakable bonds to international Jewry,” the purported document said. “For those Jewish internationalists, who have the interest of their race above all else to place Roosevelt upon this ‘idealistic’ post as a defender of human rights was a genial chess move.”
The objective of all this, according to the document, was to have the United States rearm for the future war “toward which the Jews in full consciousness are striving.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.