Declaring that “nothing has been done to make colorable the existence of 270,000 Rumanian Jews who escaped extermination and survived internment in concentration camps,” and that the “Rumanian authorities stand in the way, even when temporary makeshifts can be devised,” the American Jewish Committee asked Secretary of State Cordell Hull “to make representations to the Rumanian authorities and to instruct its representatives on the Allied Control Commission to do everything in their power toward removing discriminations still existing against Jews and restoring to them the rights and possessions of which they were stripped by the Nazi regime.”
Copies of the letter sent to Secretary Hull over the signature of Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, were also sent to Lord Halifax, British Ambassador to the United States, and Andrei Gromyko, Soviet Ambassador to the United States.
The letter said that the hope that “victory by the United Nations would do away with the cruelties of fascism and racism in Rumania has not been fulfilled.” It urges the Allied Control Commission in Bucharest “to supervise the fulfillment of the armistice terms, including Rumania’s obligation to ‘repeal all discriminatory legislation and restrictions.'”
Recalling that the armistice with Rumania was concluded more than a month ago, on September 12th, the statement said that “no move has been made to restore property of which Jews were despoiled; even the basic things most necessary for life, like clothing and shelter, have not been returned to their desperately needy rightful owners. When temporary makeshifts can be devised, the Rumanian authorities stand in the way.”
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.
