Arrangements for fifteen German Jewish students to pursue their interrupted education in American universities under the auspices of Phi Sigma Delta fraternity, which is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this month, rapidly approached completion yesterday.
The students will be housed at Phi Sigma Delta chapters in the East, Midwest, South and Rocky Mountain regions and receive tuition without charge, according to the anniversary issue of the Deltan, quarterly publication of the fraternity. They will arrive in time for the semester beginning in February.
The International Student Service has been enlisted to make contact with the young men abroad. It will facilitate their obtaining visas. Upon their arrival, the fraternity will take charge.
The newcomers will be distributed among the University of Chicago, Cornell, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Universities of Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Alabama and West Virginia.
In a letter printed in the Deltan, Professor Albert Einstein writes that “in all probability, your greatest difficulty will be the selection of these young people, inasmuch as you are perhaps forced to rely upon information which, under the prevailing circumstances, can hardly be objective.”
A statement by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise says:
“It rejoices my heart to know that your fraternity has made such a program of reality.”
BIRTH OF SCHEME
The scheme of assistance was born at a convention of the fraternity in Cleveland a year ago, where it was determined that the organization “would definitely identify itself with a program of Jewish education and aid,” Joseph Kruger of the Michigan chapter relates in a two-page article.
“Although pioneering in this program,” he writes, “it is the fervent wish and hope of Phi Sigma Delta that other college fraternities, Jewish and Gentile, will soon see in this program a chance to aid the cause of education, and will adopt a similar course for other German students, Jewish and Gentile, now marooned from both their homeland and their studies.”
Outstanding Jewish and non-Jewish leaders in education, religion, philanthropy and other fields have given their endorsement to the project.
EINSTEIN’S LETTER
Dr. Einstein’s letter, addressed to Leonard Einstein, editor of the Deltan, was sent from Watch Hill, R. I., and was written in German. In translation it reads as follows:
“Your letter gave me the greatest of pleasure. Without a doubt, the most valuable service that can be done for the Jewish race is the offering of opportunities for sound development to the most worthy of its young people now living in lands of oppression and persecution. In all probability, your greatest difficulty will be the selection of these young people, inasmuch as you are perhaps forced to rely upon information which, under the prevailing circumstances, can hardly be objective. If I may advise you I would suggest that you rely upon the judgment of the instructors of these young people wherever possible.
“You would be undertaking a work of great importance if you could also bring here young people not intending to study in colleges. Their potential productiveness could be judged from this country.”
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.
