Nahum Goldmann Hopes Jews of Russia Will Join World Jewish Congress After War

The hope that the Jews of Russia will be permitted after the war to join the World Jewish Congress was expressed here today by Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the administrative committee of the Congress, addressing a public meeting presided over by Lady Reading.

The meeting was called for the purpose of counteracting the opposition of the Anglo-Jewish Association to the panned cooperation between the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the British section of the World Jewish Congress. Dr. Goldmann strongly attacked those sections of British Jewry which “have fantastic notions about the activities of the World Jewish Congress.”

“The issue,” he said , “is very simple. We, Jews, are being attacked on an international basis by Fascism and Nazism. It is, therefore, our duty to defend ourselves on an international basis. Relief for Jews may be necessary, but it cannot be substituted for political action. A large portion of Jews in the democratic countries are behind the World Jewish Congress and I hope that Russian Jewry, too, will join in the Jewish efforts on the basis of the World Jewish Congress.”

Dr. Goldmann indicated that the World Jewish Congress will “in the near future” address a message to the democratic nations of the world stating that “the democratic federation has responsibility toward the Jews and cannot waive its responsibility for calamity.” He demanded financial aid for the Jews in liberated Europe to help to restore them to their pre-war economic position “or to take to Palestine those who will wish to go there.”