A bill “to promote and extend the opportunities for citizenship to Jews residing outside the British Empire” was introduced at today’s session of the House of Commons by Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson. His stirring speech gained in significance by the presence in the visitors’ gallery of the House of Commons of Professor Albert Einstein.
When Commander Locker-Lampson referred to Professor Einstein the doctor, dressed in a white summer suit, was given a great ovation by members of Parliament.
Explaining the bill, Commander Locker-Lampson said that it proposed to extend citizenship in Palestine to all Jews deprived of their citizenship elsewhere.
The bill would prove a practical extension and a confirmation of British duties, he declared. “We must stand by persecuted minorities,” he asserted.
JEWS STOOD BY BRITAIN
Commander Locker-Lampson pointed out that the Jews in the British Empire stood by England during the World War in Britain’s fight for freedom. “We must be on the Jews’ side in their fight for freedom, too,” he said.
He continued his address by giving a number of instances of Jewish patriotism and by pointing out that the only parliamentarian holding the Victoria Cross is a Jew.
“If there ever was a time,” he said, “when the League of Nations ought to have relaxed its rigid interpretation of its narrow laws and adjusted itself to the true spirit of its purpose it was today. But the League has not acted, and if the League does not act then the British Empire should. We are the real League of Nations, and we should stand by Jewry in its troubles.”
Referring to Professor Einstein, Commander Locker-Lampson described him as the most eminent living man in the realm of science, yet homeless today.
“When Professor Einstein arrived in England,” he stated, “he was asked to write in a visitors’ book his permanent residence. And he put down: ‘Without any.’ The Huns have stolen his savings and even his violin, and the man who more than any other man approximated being the true citizen of the world is now houseless.”
Commander Locker-Lampson prophesied in his speech that the Jews will win through in their fight with Germany, aided by the support of the civilized world.
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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.
