Plea for Organizational Unity to Cope with Crisis Voiced by Goldman at ZOA Parley

A call to American Jews to lay aside their organizational differences and a warning that anti-Semitism was the "universal fifth column of Hitlerism" were sounded this afternoon by Dr. Solomon Goldman, president of the Zionist Organization of America, in an address at the Syria Mosque here opening the organization’s forty-third annual convention. More than 1,000 delegates from all parts of the country are attending the meeting.

Detailing the rise of Hitlerism in proportion to the world’s consistent disregard of anti-Semitism, Dr. Goldman asserted that the responsibility for world Jewry and for the defense of democracy now rested with American Jews, who were "both orphans and the heads of a family."

Dr. Goldman appealed for coordination of American Jewish organizations to cope with the new world crisis "lest they and Jewry cease to exist."

"Slogans and techniques of yesterday, differing from organization to organization, are outlived. We must learn to think fast in new terms if we are to be effective. We will confess that the growth of separatist, isolationist organizations has fostered selfishness and vested interests.

"But now it is no longer a question whether the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the B’nai B’rith and the Zionist Organization want to coordinate their activities. They must, lest they and Jewry cease to exist. It is dictated by necessity and we must derive strength from the necessity by recognizing it and making our will responsible to its dictates. We, the Zionists, issue and accept the challenge for the coordination of American Jewry."

Discussing the world situation as it affected Jews, Dr. Goldmann charged that the rise of Hitler had been made possible by the world’s "complacency to his anti-Semitism." "Hitler," he added, "found the world receptive because Jew-baiting had long since achieved the status of a respectable social and political activity. The world failed to understand the problem of anti-Semitism and the nature of its roots. They could not see that we suffered because we were an obstinate minority that would neither cease to exist nor forfeit its spiritual freedom."

"Hitlerism," Dr. Goldman continued, "is the successful reversion to primitivism. It is man in the raw. It is the jungle swallowing up again the clearing which men have made in it…. Let us put energy and courage into the task of proclaiming to America that anti-Semitism is the universal fifth column of Hitlerism."

Dr. Goldman predicted that the day would come when anti-Semitism would "no longer be regarded as a domestic issue. It will be recognized as the forerunner of aggression."

Delegates and guests cheered the determination expressed by all speakers to stand by Palestine to the very end for the preservation of all that the Jews have built there.

Vice-President Louis Lipsky, declaring that the Palestine Jews had offered their services to Britain, urged that the British Government give them the right to arm in defense of Palestine and voiced assurance that "all that is humanly possible for us to do in support of that great defensive effort, we are prepared to do."

Judge Morris Rothenberg commended American defensive measures designed to keep this country out of the war. Treasurer Eliezer Kaplan of the Jewish Agency for Palestine told of assurances given by the British Government that immigration would continue despite the war, with transit provided through Russia. Secretary Morris Margulies reported a record increase in membership in the past eight years, with each year exceeding the past. Other scheduled speakers were Pierre Van Paassen, the author, and Dr. Stephen S. Wise.

With business sessions scheduled to start tomorrow, the election of a president held the center of interest, district and regional caucus meetings seeking to prevent political dissension from rending the convention. The projected candidacy of Edmund I. Kaufmann, Washington merchant and philanthropist, has been countered with a plan for a collegium or praesidium composed of five or seven members.

On the eve of the convention’s opening, the National Executive Committee yesterday approved in detail a proposed reorganization plan for the Z.O.A. and enlarged the existing "peace committee" to smooth out differences between groups of delegates. The peace committee was making efforts to avert a contest for the presidency on the floor when the elections are held Monday night.

A Hebrew institute and a closed meeting of the Z.O.A. Administrative Council were held last nigh.