some slight degree to mitigate their distress. It is the duty of all right-thinking men and women, regardless of faith, to lessen so far as lies within their power, the hardships of which a persecuted pople have been made the victims. It is heartening to know that so many of our fellow-Americans of other faiths, have militantly rallied to their support, and have expressed their abhorrence of actions which threaten the very basis of civilization.”
THOUSANDS NEEDING HELP
In failing to come forward generously in this campaign, the Jews will indict themselves in their own eyes, declared Rabbi Wise, in his address. Thousands of destitute Jews are besieging the office of the committee in Berlin and other German cities asking for food and shelter and the necessities of life, he said. Other thousands are pleading for help to leave Germany and migrate to other lands, and the present flight of the Jews from the Reich is just the beginning of a great exodus which will continue for some time, he asserted. The remainder of German Jewry is facing the necessity of re-establishing themselves in new fields and training their children for a new way of life.
“NATIONAL DEMENTIA”
Hendrik Willem Van Loon, author and historian, said that the persecution of the Jews in Germany is an outstanding example of “national dementia”, of an unreasoning and blind hatred that had swept over an entire nation. He pointed out that, given the power possessed by the Nazis and with their means of propaganda, any nation could be taught to hate whatever the ruling group wantde them to. He pleaded not only for consideration of the immediate necessity for helping the Jewish victims of the Nazi rule, but also for a more far-sighted understanding and the creation of conditions in the world that will make a Hitler an impossibility.
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.
