A representative gathering of one thousand men and women in New York City, as well as official representatives of the governments of Russia, Poland and Roumania attended the dinner Sunday night, at the Biltmore Hotel, launching the $1,000,000 Ort Campaign for Industrial Reconstruction of the declassed Jews in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Roumania and Poland. No funds were solicited. The program concerned itself with an explanation of the aims of the Ort to its audience, as well as to the invisible audience listening in on the broadcast of its proceedings through Station WOR. A motion picture series showing Ort activities, explained by Dr. Henry Moskowitz, prefaced the program opened with a review of the aims and purpose of the organization by Howard Cullman, Commissioner of the Port Authority, who is National Chairman of the Drive.
Addresses were made by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lieutenant-Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Professor Stephen Pierce Duggan, Director of the Institute of International Education; Dr. Henry Moskowitz, Chairman of the Ort National Executive Committee; Dr. David Lvovitch, representative of the European Ort; and B. C. Vladeck, Manager of the “Jewish Daily Forward” and Chairman of the People’s Tool Campaign. Among the guests of honor were Albert Ottinger, Judge Edward Lazansky, Paul Felix Warburg and Mrs. Herbert H. Lehman. Mark Eisner, Chairman of the New York City drive, presided.
Greetings of the Comzet, Committee of the Soviet Central Executive Committee for the Settlement of Jews on the Land and for Industrial Work were conveyed by Saul S. Bron, President of the Amtorg. Mr. Bron presented the assurance that the Soviet Government will in the future continue to show to the Ort the sympathy with its efforts already made apparent in its decision to permit duty free into Russia all machinery, as well as to afford special transportation rates.
“The leaders and the participants in the Ort Campaign may be fully assured that the Soviet Government in the future, as well, will extend the utmost cooperation in every constructive plan of the Ort to rehabilitate the Jewish masses through productive activity in the U.S.S.R. I am authorized to declare that the government will do everything necessary in order to help the Ort organization to put these plans into practice.”
Sympathy with the work of the Ort and cooperation with its efforts was peldged in behalf of his Government by Jacob Rosenthal, Technical Counsellor of the Roumanian Legation in Washington. The Polish government signified its interest in the Ort efforts through the presence of Mr. Eugene Jordan Rozwadowski, Consul General of Poland in New York and Mr. Woytkiewiowicz, Financial Counsellor of the Polish Legation in Washington.
Messages of endorsement were read from President Herbert Hoover, Prof. Albert Einstein, and former Governor Alfred E. Smith. The President in his message declared: “I wish to felicitate the Jews of America upon their nationwide and whole-hearted cooperation in the Ort Campaign for the industrial and general economic reconstruction of the distressed Jews of Eastern Europe and to extend my best wishes to those gathered at the Ort Reconstruction Banquet in New York to further this humane program.”
“Fruitful constructive work of the Ort merits universal support, declared Professor Einstein. “I greet with joy American Jewry’s effort to develop the creative forces for the wholesome restoration of Jewish economic life in Eastern Europe.
Regret that Governor Roosevelt was (Continued on Page 5)
Never in the history of the world have so large a number of people in so wide a territory suffered as are suffering the Jews of East Europe, declared Lieutenant-Governor Lehman. “The Jewish problem must be solved, not through emigration, because only relatively few can be taken care of, but within the countries where they live. They must be trained to work on the same basis as their fellow citizens. We have the opportunity to change the whole stream of Jewish productivity in Europe today, if we seize it,” he stated. Next to the work of transferring the Jew to the soil, the Ort is the most important reconstructive endeavor the Jews of the United States have under taken. This work, according to Lieutenant-Governor Lehman, will be a means of combatting anti-Semitism by showing what the Jew can do along the lines of productive labor. “I want to see the possibilities of artisanship, of work with the hands, of producing something from the soil that will make the Jews the same as those of other faiths,” he asserted. Urging that liberal contributions be given the Ort, he said: “You have no idea how far a little money will go in this work. Used in a revolving fund, it does an amount of work of which you can have no conception.” The Soviet Government, he stated, will given an amount in excess of the sum raised in the United States.
The money raised in the United States will be used for a three-fold purpose, declared Mr. Cullman. “1. For the importation of machinery into Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe, to be assigned to definite individuals and cooperative associations. 2. The establishment of trade schools of which there are now 82 to prepare these individuals for the proper utilization of machinery when received. 3. The distribution of material at cost to individuals and cooperatives for manufacture on the machines supplied to them. The necessity of this development is best exemplified by the over-whelming demand made on the Ort offices all over the world for the shipment of machinery and by the large enrollment and waiting lists in our trade schools,” Mr. Cullman concluded.
The Ort Organization is the one organization which at the very outset of its existence received the support of all classes and all types of Jews, declared B. C. Vladeck, who announced that this Tool Supply Campaign would contribute $100,000 to the Ort before the drive is completed. Mr. Vladeck welcomed the new blood which the Ort has attracted to its leadership in the persons of Howard Cullman, National Campaign Chairman; Paul Felix Warburg, National Treasurer, and Mark Eisner, Chairman of the New York City campaign.
The handicrafts man and the small shop man is the hope of the people in Russia today, according to Professor Duggan who has recently returned from a six months visit to study conditions in Europe. For a long time, he said, Russia is bound to lead an isolated life. It will be a long time before she can do quantity production. The handicrafts man and the small shop man, he declared, is therefore her chief hope. People over there are just as capable of accumulating an abundance as the people over here, if they had an opportunity, he reminded his hearers. The virtue we Americans need to exhibit is not pride but humility. I hope these contributions will be made with a spirit of gratitude for the privilege of being able to assist a whole people to rise to its feet.
“The current of Jewish life is carrying the Jewish masses from petty trade to productive labor in the field and workshop,” declared Dr. Moskowitz, “thus vindicating the 50 year old slogan of the Ort. “The Ort is furthering this development through practical economic and cultural methods. The Ort is not only a philosophy of Jewish regeneration. It is also an organization of practical accomplishments. Decades of experience have found expression in Ort institutions. The working methods of the Ort Union rest on the experience of 91 local Ort organizations and on that of thousands of Ort workers in the respective East European Centers where the Ort work is carried on,” he pointed out.
Praise for the assistance Americans who have relatives in Europe may have rendered the Ort and the plea that the work of the Ort be given a wider reecho among the American Jewish public was expressed by Dr. David Lvovitch, representative of the Central Board of the World Ort Union. The Ort, he pointed out, has already four thousand applications from American relatives who want to send machines, tools and raw material to their brethren abroad, aggregating a total of over one million dollars. He expressed the hope that an equally generous response would be given to the needs of those who are not fortunate enough to have relatives in America, but whose suffering is equally keen.
Government representatives who sent messages were Ambassador F. F. von Prittwitz of Germany, B. K. Balutis, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Lithuania, Dr. Ferdinand Veverka, Minister of Czochoslovakia, George Cretziano, Minister of Roumania, Tytus Filipowicz, Minister of Poland, and Arthur Lule, Consul General of Latvia.
The High Commission of the League of Nations sent a message stating: “Please accept best wishes for success of your meeting and further development of our mutual cooperation.”
Radiograms from distinguished Jewish leaders throughout the world, wishing the movement here success, were received. Otto Schiff, famous English banker and philanthropist and Sir Meyer Spielman, vice-president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, wired: “Please accept our best wishes for the success in your endeavors. Nothing can help better than vocational training, supply of tools and machinery, settlement on land and transferance of declassed to productive occupation. Your efforts will be an inspiration to workers here and Europe generally.”
The immediate carrying out of the Ort program was urged in a cablegram received from Dr. Joseph Rosen, Director of the J. D. C. work in Russia. The cablegram read : “Recently visited number of towns and cities in Kiev, Odessa districts. Situation declassed Jewish population appalling. Local organizations straining every effort in equipping various shops, drawing declassed into productive work, but their means insignificant compared with the magnitude of the problem. Your plans helping Ort activities along these lines have whole-hearted approval and support of all Jewish organizations in Russia. To be of real value these plans must be materialized without delay. Every day counts.”
Others who cabled their endorsement were Edouard Bernstein, leading social economist of Berlin, Baron Joseph Gunzbourg, of Paris. Dr. Leo Baeck, president World Order B’nai Organization, and Senator Grusenberg of Riga, Solomon Poliakoff, Russian journalist, novelist, and dramatist; Prof-Simonsen, Danish Jewish leader; Prof. Ludwig Stein, Prof. Besriedko, famous bacteriologist of the Pasteur Institute; Farbstein, chairman Jewish Deputies of Polish Parliament, Warsaw; Dr. Soloweitschik, former Minister of Lithuania; Dr. Gribeshok, member Latvian Parliament; Rabbi Niemirover of Bucharest, chief Rabbi of Roumania; Zadoc Kahn. of Paris, son of Chief Rabbi of France; Prof. Schorr, of Warsaw, Chief Rabbi of Poland; Rabbi M. A. Nurock, of Riga, Chief Rabbi of Lithuania; Rabbi Gaster, of London, Chief Rabbi of Spanish and Portuguese Synagogues in London; Rabbi Meier Hildersheimer, of Berlin, Chief orthodox Rabbi of Germany; Ort Committee in Paris, Ort Reconstruction Fund, Board of Director, of Berlin; Ort Verband, Moscow; Wilhelm Graetz, President. Ort Committee of Germany; Leonard Rosenthal, of Paris, chairman of Council of the International Ort Fund; Central Board of Ort, Berlin; Executive Committee of Ort in France, Ort Committee of Riga. Central Committe of Polish Ort, Bessarabian Committee of the Ort. Julius Brodmitz, of Berlin, Chief Justice and President of Central Organization of German Citizens of Jewish Faith; Julius Stern, Chairman, Board of Representatives of Berlin Jewish Community; Professor Mintz, of Riga, Latvian lawyer.
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