A request that President Roosevelt and Sec. Hull support the pending Congressional resolution for establishment of a commission to effect the rescue of persecuted European Jews was made last night by Dean Alfange, vice chairman of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. Deploring “the inertia of the U. S. Government in the face of appalling revelations” of mass murder, the 1942 gubernatorial candidate of the American Labor Party declared in a radio broadcast:
“Up to this moment neither the President nor Mr. Hull have indicated publicly their approval of this resolution, though one word, one nod from either, would assure its passage.” Alfange called the resolution in Congress the only American action to foil a “diabolical plot which was planned, studied, proclaimed and executed with blueprint precision” in the German determination to exterminate the Jews.
The New York Herald-Tribune today carries an editorial supporting the resolution, stating that “if anything can be done to stop the mass murder of a people, surely the American people must be willing to take the lead in doing so.” The editorial continues: “Certain it is that nothing will be accomplished to save Nazi-Europe’s surviving Jews from methodical extermination by doing nothing. The resolution calls for affirmation of the American position, assumption by America of leadership in doing whatever may be done to save lives now. We should not hesitate to lead in so imperative a humanitarian cause.”
The Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, which is sponsoring the resolution, issued a statement here today pointing out that the resolution asks the establishment of an agency to deal with the situation of the trapped Jews in Europe and not with the problems of refugees who have already escaped from occupied countries. The statement also stressed that the resolution has nothing to do with any political implications as far as Palestine or any other United Nations territory is concerned and is aimed exclusively at helping Jews to escape without any preconceived idea as to their post-war settlement.
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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.
