Prayers for Persecuted Held Throughout Nation As Anti-nazi Protests Rise

Prayers for Jews and others persecuted in Germany were held in synagogues and churches throughout the United States, as well as in Britain and other countries, this weekend, as sympathy for refugees and protests against the Nazi brutality continued to rise. The prayers in churches today were sponsored by all religious denominations. A special Christian-Jewish prayer had been drawn up in advance, and governors of 12 states had joined in supporting the prayer. The day of prayer was climaxed by radio services on the Mutual network tonight.

Additional prayers for the persecuted on Thanksgiving Day were called for by President Roosevelt who said in a Thanksgiving Day proclamation: “In the time of our fortune it is fitting that we offer prayers for unfortunate people in other lands who are in dire distress at this our Thanksgiving season. Let us remember them in our churches when, on the day appointed, we offer our thanks to almighty God. May we, by our way of living, merit the continuance of his goodness.”

With sympathy for refugees rising, the New York Herald Tribune reported that Joseph B. Kennedy, American Ambassador to Britain, had proposed to President Roosevelt the naming of ex-President Herbert Hoover to head a proposed international organization for resettling refugees. William R. Hearst, the newspaper publisher, in a radio broadcast last night, urged the converting of former German colonies into a Jewish homeland.

Protests and denunciations of Nazi persecution continued in an unabating stream. The American Legion Executive Committee, meeting in Indianapolis, adopted a resolution denouncing the German Government’s persecution policy. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, broadcast an appeal for intensification of the anti-Nazi boycott. Twenty thousand New York retail grocers will close their stores for an hour Wednesday in protest against German persecution. The German consulate was picketed by more than 350 persons. Women’s groups, church and teachers’ organizations and others were among those who issued protests against Nazi oppression. Mayor LaGuardia announced that the United States Conference of Mayors executive committee would be canvassed to obtain approval of action registering the protest of the American people against Nazi terrorism.

The New York Times and Herald Tribune, in editorials today, stressed America’s duty to fight prejudice. The Times declared: “The first assault upon democracy in these times is the spread of irrational prejudice. It is for all of us who believe in free men and free institutions to combat such prejudice whenever and wherever it appears.” The Tribune asserted: “It seems the natural and necessary thing for us to be wrathful over the appalling Jewish persecutions,” and attributed this to the “straightforwardness of the pioneer.” The German daily, New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, expressed the hope that German Ambassador Hans Dieckhoff would succeed in impressing the German Government with the seriousness of the American reaction to German persecution.

One symptom of this reaction has been the flood of letters to newspapers, virtually unanimous in their condemnation of the oppression. The Times, Herald Tribune, Post and World Telegram have published column upon column of such letters. The World-Telegram yesterday published a full page of letters urging immediate and concerted action to relieve German Jews’ distress.