Declaring that the recent concessions made by the Government of Hungary affecting the rescue of Jews from that country “will be useless unless immediate action is taken to give effect to the prospects of rescue opened up,” the American Palestine Committee, representing more than 4,000 leaders of American public opinion, today wired President Roosevelt urging “that the Government of the United States use its good offices to secure the immediate grant by Great Britain, irrespective of previous policies, of immigration certificates into Palestine for all Jews who can be rescued from Hungary and other Nazi dominated countries.”
The Committee also urged that “the Government of the United States assume the initiative in formulating forthwith an effective rescue program which will facilitate the removal of Jews from Hungary; also if possible from other Hitler dominated lands, by all available means.” The Committee requested further that our government “assist in financing the transportation of such refugee emigration and provide all facilities as may be in its power to offer.”
“The oppressed Jews of Europe look to you, Mr. President, for salvation,” the appeal said. “They also look to non-Jewish Americans like ourselves for such aid as we may give them in their distress. We are confident that under your leadership a rescue program can be carried out which will provide this tortured people with new life and hope.”
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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.