CREATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL UNITED FRONT AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM AND FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CIVIL RIGHTS WAS URGED TODAY IN A RESOLUTION AT A TWO-DAY EMERGENCY SESSION CALLED BY THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS. MORE THAN 700 DELEGATES FROM 60 LARGE COMMUNITIES ATTENDED THE PARLEY AT THE HOTEL WILLARD.
SENATOR ARTHUR CAPPER OF KANSAS, ADDRESSING THE CONVENTION, URGED A “UNITED FRONT” OF JEWRY TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM AND WENT FURTHER TO ASK FOR A UNITED FRONT OF JEWS AND CHRISTIANS TO FIGHT ANTI-DEMOCRATIC FORCES OF THE WORLD. DR. STEPHEN S. WISE, PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS, CALLED ON JEWRY TO “GIVE ALL, EVEN LIFE,” TO PRESERVE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.
SENATOR CAPPER SAID: “ANTI-DEMOCRATIC FORCES ARE UNITED. DEMOCRATIC FORCES MUST UNITE. WE DARE NOT WAIT. NO CIVILIZED PEOPLE DARE STAND BY AND WATCH HUMAN BEINGS DEGRADED AND OPPRESSED, AS ARE THE JEWS, WITHOUT RISING IN PROTEST. I APPEAL TO MY FELLOW-AMERICANS TO JOIN WITH ME IN HELPING YOU TO PROTECT DEMOCRACY BY PROTECTING YOUR BRETHREN AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM.”
DR. WISE SAID: “THE JEW IS THE PROTAGONIST OF DEMOCRACY NOT BECAUSE DEMOCRACY MEANS HIS SECURITY BUT BECAUSE UNDER DEMOCRACY ALONE THE LOFTIEST VALUES OF LIFE CAN SURVIVE. IN A FASCIST-CRAZED, WAR-RIDDEN WORLD THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THE JEW, NOR WOULD THE JEW CHOOSE TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHICH HAS ANNULLED EVERY HUMAN VALUE AND EVERY HUMAN HOPE.”
PERSECUTION IN RUMANIA, POLAND AND GERMANY, AS WELL AS FASCIST TENDENCIES IN AMERICA, WERE DECRIED BY MOST SPEAKERS. RABBI J. X. COHEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION ON ECONOMIC PROBLEMS; DR. JOSEPH TENENBAUM, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT BOYCOTT COUNCIL; LOUIS LIPSKY, RABBI JOACHIM PRINZ, JUDGE NATHAN D. PERLMAN AND M. MALDWIN FERTIG, PRESIDING, WERE AMONG THE SPEAKERS TODAY AND LAST NIGHT.
A RESOLUTION INTRODUCED BY MR. FERTIG ASKS THE JEWS OF AMERICA TO PARTICIPATE IN AN ELECTION IN 1938 THROUGH DIRECT, INDIVIDUAL BALLOTS TO SELECT 625 DELEGATES TO RECONSTITUTE THE CONGRESS. A CONVENTION IN JUNE, 1938, WOULD THEN LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR A BROAD AND CONTINUING PROGRAM FOR THE REHABILITATION OF JEWISH LIFE.
MESSAGES OF SUPPORT WERE RECEIVED FROM 86 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, INCLUDING 24 SENATORS. MESSAGES WERE ALSO RECEIVED FROM NOTABLES IN PARIS AND LONDON.
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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.
