Wjcongress Report Finds No Anti-semitism Behind Last Summer’s Riots in Curacao

An investigation by an official of the World Jewish Congress has confirmed that there was no anti-Semitic intent behind the riots in the Netherlands West Indies colony of Curacao last summer in which the premises of some Jewish merchants were badly damaged. A report on the incidents by Lavy M. Becker, of Montreal, chairman of the Executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, was published in the current issue of “World Jewry,” periodical of the World Jewish Congress here. Mr. Becker is a member of the WJCongress World Executive and of the JTA board of directors. He maintains liaison with smaller Jewish communities in the Western hemisphere and visited Curacao on behalf of the WJCongress.

According to his report, Jews on the island were not singled out for violence although a number of stores owned by Jews were looted and burned. Mr. Becker said that the rioting by blacks was an expression of general dissatisfaction with working conditions directed mainly against well-known international firms, but merchants and shopkeepers were classified as “bosses” by the dissidents. Anti-Semitism itself played no part in these riots, Mr. Becker concluded.