A plea to all Americans to participate in an organized, nationwide boycott against Nazi Germany and to the League of Nations to employ economic sanctions, in order to isolate Germany and prevent a world conflict, was issued last night by outstanding representatives of the Jewish community at a testimonial dinner at the Hotel Commodore to Aldermanic President Bernard S. Deutsch upon his retirement from the presidency of the American Jewish Congress, an office which he held for six years.
One thousand men and women representative of the civic, professional, business and political worlds paid tribute to Mr. Deutsch’s leadership in the movement to combat Hitlerism and pledged themselves to a renewed battle against Nazism.
PLEA NOT PARTISAN
In the addresses of Dr. Stephen S. Wise, new president of the American Jewish Congress and Mr. Deutsch, it was emphasized that isolation of Nazi Germany is imperative because of its threat to engulf the world in war. The speakers declared that theirs was not a partisan appeal in behalf of Jews alone, for the Jews of Germany are doomed whether there is peace or war, as long as Hitlerism remains enthroned in Germany.
Others slated to speak were Harry M. Warner, chairman of the committee of sponsors; George Z. Medalie, former United States Attorney, Henry W. Taft, former president of the New York County Bar Association, and Rebekah Kohut, president of the International Federation of Women’s Organizations.
Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia addressed the guests by long distance wire from Washington.
Louis Naizer, director of the Film Board of Trade, was the toastmaster. The proceedings were broadcast by radio stations WOR and WMCA.
LEADERSHIP PRAISED
Tribute was paid by the speakers for his incisive leadership as president of the American Jewish Congress in bringing “home to the American people the horrors of the Hitler regime and the necessity of defending America against its invasion.”
Dr. Wise, who preceded and succeeded Mr. Deutsch as president of the American Jewish Congress, pledged that the organization would continue the anti-Nazi fight, declaring:
“Whatever others may say and do or fail to say and do, hundreds of thousands of Jews who directly or indirectly are represented within the American Jewish democracy and of the Jewish people.”
URGES SELF DEFENSE
Urging self defense as Jews and as Americans, without force and without violence, Dr. Wise, called “for the intensification of the economic and moral boycott which civilization initiated and has maintained almost since the beginning of the Hitler regime.”
“We do not war upon Germany,” he declared, “for there is no Germany. We do not war upon the German people whom we would liberate, but no man, Christian or Jew, American or European, who chooses to stand within the pale of civilization is morally justified in having any traffic with the Nazi Reich, at a time when the rise of Hitlerism has made Europe an armed camp, comparable to the armed camp in the war in 1914-1918. We who abhor the use of force, we who loathe violence in dealing with human beings offer the world a way out of and away from war. If the boycott were doubled and trebled in vigor and effectiveness, Hitlerism could not wage war upon the nations, and the nations would not find it necessary to respond in terms of war to the Hitler assault upon human values.”
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.
