Jews throughout the Union of South Africa today observed a day of mourning and fasting for the hundreds of thousands of Jews who have been massacred by the Nazis in Europe.
In a message addressed to the Board of Deputies of South African Jews, Prime Minister Jan Christian Smuts stressed that the horrors inflicted upon the Jews call for the greatest protest. The Prime Minister’s message read:
“I am filled with a dire foreboding at what may be the harvest from these dragon’s teeth the Nazis are sowing over Central and Eastern Europe. The tragedy which has overtaken Jews, Poles, Yugoslavs and other communities at the hands of their Nazi persecutors calls for a world-wide protest by all who value the principles of our common civilization. Protests today might prove unavailing and the senseless butchery continue, but at any rate, we shall have placed on record the retribution which surely awaits its perpetrators – a retribution which may exceed all recorded limits, just as their crimes have surpassed all previous records.”
A message associating the Polish Government with today’s protest and mourning was received here from Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, vice-premier of the Polish Government-in-Exile in London.
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