Resolutions directing the Governing Council of the American Jewish Congress to take steps to secure the creation of a united Jewish delegation to the post-war peace conference and "to work in the direction of democratic reconstitution of Jewish life in America," was adopted here today at the concluding session of the three-day conference of the American Jewish Congress.
Other resolutions deplore the existing conflict among Jewish agencies operating in the field of civic defense and recommend that efforts be made to achieve unity. They provide for the organization, in collaboration with other Jewish agencies, of a public relations committee for the purpose of keeping the general public informed regarding the danger which this country may face as a result of anti-Semitic propaganda and other anti-American activities. The organization of community councils in communities where such do not exist and the "coordination and democratization" of those already in existence is also recommended in the resolutions.
The session urged the Government to extend to all citizens, regardless of color, race or creed, the opportunity to serve in the arms forces. It called upon the branches of the American Jewish Congress to cooperate with the local offices of civilian defense activities. The leaders of the American Jewish Congress were instructed to cooperate with various religious, civic, racial and national groups in promoting democratic institutions and in coordinating war-relief fund-raising activities among Jews for Britain, Russia and China.
AMERICAN JEWS MUST TAKE OVER LEADERSHIP OF JEWISH LIFE, DR. GOLDMANN SAYS
Addressing the conference, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the administrative committee of the World Jewish Congress, pointed out that as long as Europe is under the heel of Hitler, the Jews of America must take over the leadership of Jewish life. He warned, however, that American Jewry must understand that the Jewish problem is not a philanthropic one, and that it must be settled by political methods.
Dr. Goldmann took issue with the opposition to the World Jewish Congress expressed in certain American Jewish circles Perming opponents of the World Congress as "American Jewish isolationists, " Dr. Goldmann said that "all the talk of the World Jewish Congress as a World Jewish Parliament and a world Jewish Government is either a silly misunderstanding or a malicious calumny." The World Jewish Congress, he stated, is based on voluntary cooperation of different Jewish communities. It took its program from the Committee of Jewish Delegations of which Louis Marshall was one of the founders and vice-president.
"Neither Zionism nor the world Jewish Congress Movement," Mr. Goldmann declared, "has ever considered the idea of a Jewish nation in the Diasporas, with full and real nationhood, with state, government and political allegiance to any international Jewish authority. Cooperation of Jews in the Diaspora is only possible on a purely voluntary basis for the defense of human rights and the realization of common aspirations. Only in Palestine, and that is the meaning of Zionism, can the Jewish people achieve full nationhood by establishing its own state to which its Jewish citizens, those living there, will owe political allegiance. We Jews in the Diaspora countries are citizens of our given countries, to these countries and to them alone we owe political allegiance. But, can this elementary truth, this natural state of affairs mean that Jews are not allowed to cooperate with other Jews? It is an insult to America to imply that loyalty to this great country, the freest and most democratic in the world, is incompatible with loyalty and solidarity with our Jewish brothers."
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.
