Moscow’s retreat from the policy of anti-Semitism must be viewed as "tactical, not fundamental," and as an "act of temporary strategy." Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, told 500 Jewish leaders at the opening dinner of the 1953 Joint Defense Appeal campaign at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Warning that Communist history is "replete with discrimination against the Jews and other minorities," Mr. Blaustein said that "under an authoritarian system, Communist, Nazi or Rascist, periodic purges are a necessary instrument of state policy, and the traditional scapegoats for these purges in Russia and in Eastern Europe have for centuries been the Jews." The dinner launched the JDA campaign to raise New York’s share of the $5,000,000 needed to support the programs of the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.
Irving M. Engel, chairman of the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee, and Max J. Schneider, chairman of the Eastern Region Board of the Anti-Defamation League, were guests of honor and received citations for their "outstanding contributions to the welfare of the Jewish community and the cause of human rights everywhere."
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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.
