The United States Government today condemned the mass arrests of Jewish leaders in Rumania and termed the arrests not only a violation of the provisions of the peace treaty with Rumania but also a crime against “the dictates of justice and humanity.”
A statement to this effect was issued by Deputy Undersecretary of State Robert Murphy following a visit to the State Department by a delegation of the American Jewish Committee headed by Jacob Blaustein and Prof. Herman A. Gray. It reads:
“In recent months the Rumanian Communist regime has brought to trial and sentenced to long prison terms scores of Rumanian Jews. Many of these recently sentenced have been held in prison without trial for several years, their only crime being that the regime considers them undesirable. The fate of the victims of this widespread persecution is cause for deep concern on the part of the Department of State as well as the American Jewish Committee.
“The conduct of the Rumanian Government in this instance is but one more example of its callous disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms. In order to instill fear in the hearts of the 250,000 Jews in Rumania that government has found it necessary to sentence leaders of the Jewish community so that they might be held as hostages. Such conduct is not only in violation of the provisions of the treaty of peace with Rumania but also ignores the dictates of justice and humanity.
“I am deeply moved by the tragic plight of these unfortunate Jewish leaders and sympathize with the feelings expressed by members of the delegation from the American Jewish Committee.”
JEWISH COMMITTEE HAILS STATE DEPARTMENT’S STATEMENT
The American Jewish Committee hailed the State Department’s condemnation of recent Communist trials of Rumanian Jews “as a beacon of hope to Jews and other minorities trapped behind the Iron Curtain signalling that the free world is gravely concerned over their plight.”
“The U.S. Government’s action today,” the AJC declared, “strips away the Communist propaganda facade to reveal the ugly reality of persecution for any group in Russia and its satellites that refuses to conform to the Communist mold.” It pointed out that the recent Rumanian trials were the culmination of “a systematic attempt to destroy the Jewish community that began with a large scale deportation and disappearance, probably to Siberia, of tens of thousands of Rumanian Jews in September, 1949.”
“Only the sharpest protests from democratic nations can possibly check the continued savagery of the Communist rulers,” the AJC stated. “These Hitler-like actions are part of the Communist master plan to crush all minorities and all possible centers of dissidence. Just as under Hitler, the pitiless treatment of the Jewish scapegoat is exploited as a deterrent against the very idea of a non-conformism or resistance.”
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