World Tension May Lead to Increased Anti-semitism, W. J. C. is Told

A warning that anti-Semitism is likely to arise during periods of deep, global stress, when some forces try to use the Jew as a scapegoat, was voiced here last night by Israel Sieff, of England, chairman of the European executive committee of the World Jewish Congress. Mr. Sieff addressed the opening session of a two-day executive meeting, during which plans are being finalized for the WJC world meeting to be held in Stockholm this summer.

When world statesmen are pre-occupied with issues arising during the atomic age, Mr. Sieff stated, other elements veer toward anti-Semitism in their search for relief from world problems. In such a period, he declared, anti-Semitism does not meet the resistance it would find in a period of lesser anxiety. Such is the situation, Mr. Sieff said, in the American South, in Germany and in France. In other areas, like Morocco and Tunisia, a newly emerging nationalism is creating problems for the Jewish population.

In regard to attendance at the Stockholm congress, Mr. Sieff said, there were no new developments as to whether Soviet Jewry will be represented. Earlier reports that Russia would allow Soviet Jews to attend the Stockholm meeting were denied later by the Soviet Union. Mr. Sieff stated there was reason to hope that Polish and other East European Jewish communities would be represented at Stockholm.

The delegates to the sessions here were greeted by Dr. Emil Maurer, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Austria, who pointed out that the Jews in this country number only 10, 000, against a Jewish population of 200, 000 before World War II. Dr. A. Steinberg, director of the WJC cultural department, told the executive committee of the need to place before the Stockholm congress plans for solidifying the Jewish people as a spiritual and cultural entity.