A program of immediate action on behalf of the persecuted Jews of Poland was adopted by 2,462 representatives of Jewish organizations at a conference last night at the Hotel Aster, called by the American Jewish Congress.
The delegates, representing 35 national Jewish organizations and 835 societies, lodges and congregations in New York City and vicinity, planned the following steps:
1. An appeal to “civilized opinion everywhere responsible for the re-establishment of Polish independence” to unite in protesting to the Polish government against its “role of oppressor” and its breach of treaties guaranteeing minority rights.
2. A plea to the United States Government, as one of the chief sponsors of Polish independence, and in view of its “good neighbor” policy, to inform the Polish government of its condemnation of the anti-Jewish campaign. A further request that the American ambassador to Poland make a survey of violations of treaty guarantees of minority rights.
3. Election of a national delegation of 200 to prepare and present to the United States Government a memorandum on Polish oppression of the Jews.
4. A call to the World Jewish Congress to petition the League of Nations, as guarantor of Polish minority rights, to act at once for the protection of the Jews.
The conference elected 75 members of the national delegation and issued a call for similar meetings throughout the country to acquaint the American public with the Jewish plight in Poland and to elect members of the delegation, which will meet in the near future in Washington.
The program was adopted in a resolution which gave a detailed history of recent persecutions in Poland and of the attempt to reduce Jews there to the status of “third class citizens,” to deprive them of livelihood, and to drive them out of the country.
The assemblage received pledges of support from eminent non-Jews, including 13 United States Senators, 26 Representatives and two State Governors. Dr. Stephen S. Wise read a protest addressed to the Polish Government, signed by 86 Christian educators, religious leaders and laymen.
Two non-Jews, Francis Biddle, former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, and Dr. Harry F. Ward, of the Union Theological Seminary, were among the speakers, and both declared the cause of Poland’s Jews to be the cause of human freedom, of democracy and of civilization.
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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.
