U.N. Issues Study on Anti-semitic Manifestations; Warns of Effect

The worldwide outbursts of swastika-smearings and other anti-Semitic manifestations a year ago were interpreted in an official United Nations document today as a “fever” which is a symptom of deep-seated illness that could affect all the world “if not cured in time.”

The document, a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was circulated to all UN delegations by Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold. Specifically, the survey was addressed to the Human Rights Commission’s Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

The subcommission had met in January 1960, during the height of the anti-Semitic outbreaks which followed the desecration of the synagogue at Cologne, Germany, on the eve of Christmas 1959. The subcommission had adopted a report severely condemning the current rash of anti-Semitic outbursts, requesting all UN agencies concerned, as well as governments, to re-examine the background of such outbursts and their implications.

Next month, the subcommission will convene again for its annual three week session. Today’s UNESCO report circulated by Mr. Hammarskjold will be only one of a number of documents on anti-Semitism to be placed before the subcommission for further study.

SAYS MANY GOVERNMENTS ACT TO SUPPRESS ANTI-SEMITISM

Many governments, according to the UNESCO report, are doing what they can to curb or suppress anti-Semitism. “Except in a very few countries,” the report states, “racism is condemned both by governments and public opinion.” “Indeed, an anti-racist ethic, solidly based on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, appears to have taken shape in the world since the war.”

Last year’s outbreaks, sparked in Germany and spreading throughout the world, showed latent anti-Semitism but were really, according to the report, “unrelated to anti-Semitism as such.” “In a sense,” UNESCO states, “it would have been better if the incidents had been provoked by openly anti-Semitic groups, and had not been so general in character. The manifestations, whatever their origin, must be interpreted as symptoms of social tensions which cannot be treated lightly.”

Most of the manifestations, the study shows, were the work of “young people” giving “expression to latent frustration and resentment.” The acts showed “sub-conscious racist prejudice,” the study states, and “it would seem more likely that the acts are a gesture of defiance, symbolized by the swastika, which is associated with images of cruelty and violence.”

“The defiance of humanitarian feeling implicit in Nazi anti-Semitism,” UNESCO concludes, “undoubtedly has an attraction for rebels without a cause, who wish to place themselves above conventional sentiments, and who revolt against their society’s values without creating new values.”