Adler, upon whom he placed the responsibility for the refusal of a number of Jewish bodies to take part in the conference.
The failure of Jewish organizations to participate is due either to an imaginary fear of international Jewish cooperation or fear of democratic representation, he asserted.
Dr. Goldmann, it is understood, was referring to the Joint Foreign Committee of London, whose opposition to the conference led the Board of Jewish Deputies to decline participation as well. Dr. Goldmann had several conferences with the representatives of the Joint Foreign Committee, in an effort to induce the latter to change their position.
AUSPICIOUS MOMENT FOR CONFERENCE
Mr. Deutsch in his opening address stated: “We are met in an auspicious moment when the floodgates of Jewish misery are near to bursting. Momentous changes are being wrought daily in the life of the people of the world and especially in the life of our own people.
“It is fitting that we meet in this city which is the seat of that great instrumentality for international unity and friendship projected by that immortal leader and statesman Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations,” Mr. Deutsch said.
Discussing conditions in the United States, Mr. Deutsch stated that “American democracy has prospered our people. Parity of Jewish citizens which applies to all walks of life makes it possible for us to occupy positions of honor and trust.”
The increase of anti-Semitism in Europe, he stated, has had an interesting effect on Christian public opinion in America. He pointed to the rise of the Good Will movement of Jews and Christians who are seeking to eliminate race hatred and misunderstanding. “Leading American Christians have excoriated in no uncertain terms that hydra-headed dragon of evil anti-Semitism,” he said.
He referred to the radio address delivered by Senator Borah, condemning anti-Semitism.
The keynote sounded by Dr. Kareski was that while a world Jewish congress would be of less aid to the Jews of Germany than to the Jews of Eastern Europe, nevertheless German Jewry may soon find itself in a position where a common Jewish platform may be the only place from which the voice of Jewry may be heard.
Even the present campaign conducted by Jewish “assimilators” for the purpose of enlightenment may be suppressed one day.
If the Nazis come to power the question will be: “Whose influence will prevail?” Will the mass hatred prevail or will the Nazi intellectuals of the Keyserling type who came to the Nazi movement from purely idealistic motives prevail.
The greatest danger with which German Jewry is confronted is the systematic process being conducted for the exclusion of Jews from the economic life of German Jewry, he pointed out. The middle class in particular has been completely ruined.
No solution, in the viewpoint of Dr. Kareski, can save the Jewish masses from this economic ruination, although efforts must be made to save as many as possible by organizing the Jews in co-operative organizations.
Dr. Kareski drew an analogy between the declassed Jewish class created following the Communist revolution and the present status of the Jews in Germany.
Whatever the future of the Nazi movement, a considerable proportionate improvement of the Jewish situation in Germany must not be expected. German life in its entirety is becoming saturated with hatred for the Jews.
This hatred of the Jews is so deeply rooted in the growing generation, that its potentialities may reach their fullest development only ten or twenty years hence.
SITUATION UNBEARABLE IN ROUMANIA AND POLAND
Anti-Semitism combined with the extreme poverty of the Jews, turns the Jewish position into a hell, it was stressed by Deputy Meyer Ebner, speaking of the situation of the Jews in Roumania and by Mr. Schmorak, discussing the Jewish position in Poland.
In combination these two factors contrive to make Jewish life unbearable, both speakers declared.
They complained of laws which, although not directed specifically at the Jews, nevertheless have resulted in the complete and specific ruination of the Jews.
The governments of Roumania and Poland, both speakers said, should be expected, when formulating laws, to bear in mind the interests of the Jewish population since they form a large proportion of the population as a whole.
Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum of New York, chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Congress, scored the Nazi campaign against the Jews.
“I do not know how much Teuton blood the Saviour had, but surely the Lord Himself would have been banned in Germany for the capital offense of choosing a Jewish mother,” Dr. Tenenbaum said. “Anti-Semitism is an international menace containing the yeast of revolution and the germ of social upheaval. It will lead to war,” he predicted.
Robert Stricker asserted that there is great danger involved should the congress idea, once started with, fail to be consummated.
SENATOR BORAH’S STATEMENT
Senator Borah’s statement declared:
“I hope that progress may be made in the great ideals you have so long cherished for your people, ideals which are founded upon the plainest principles of tolerance and justice and human progress. You have a cause which ought to appeal, and I believe is coming more and more to effectively appeal, to the conscience of the world.
“No nation can long retain the respect of the world generally which fails to recognize the principles for which you and your people are contending.”
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.
