A solemn Day of Mourning for the Jews killed by the Germans in Europe was observed throughout the world today as tens of thousands of Jews in the United States, Palestine, England, Canada, France, the Latin-American countries and in North Africa crowded into synagogues, praying for the fallen and honoring their memory by contributing to relief for those who survived Nazi annihilation. Special services were also held in Russia, arranged by the Moscow Jewish Community.
In New York, services were held at many of the city’s 1,200 Jewish congregations. Many Jewish offices and business enterprises closed at noon for one hour while Jewish workers in factories interrupted their work for fifteen minutes during which they listened to addresses on the German massacres of Jews and on the great need for aid for surviving Jews.
The mourning was culminated at a large meeting at Manhattan Plaza at which rabbis and lay leaders broke the fast in an impressive ceremony. Each person who entered the meeting paid $100 as a contribution to the rescue of Jews who are still in German-held territory.
Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee National Campaign, issued a statement pointing out that in addition to the many millions of Jews massacred by the Germans, there are a million Jews who have been liberated by the advancing Allied armies and half a million who cling to life in Nazi concentration camps hoping for deliverance. “It is our duty – a first duty – to see that not one of these shall lack all the help that we can give them,” he said.
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.
