A plea to the nations of the world not to forget the Jewish people,” who as an entity has suffered so deeply,” particularly when the problems of the peace are discussed, was voiced today by Prof. Albert Einstein, addressing a huge mass-meeting at Madison Square Garden.
The occasion was the publication of a Jewish Black Book recording the Nazi crimes against the Jews in Europe. The Black Book was published jointly by the Jewish National Council of Palestine, the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of the USSR, the World Jewish Congress and the American Committee of Jewish Writers and Artists.
“Let justice be done through the fulfillment of the solemn pledges concerning the furtherance of the upbuilding of Palestine,” Prof. Einstein pleaded. “And may all national minorities be assured, on a supernational basis, of that degree of protection which is indispensable for the preservation of peace.”
Prof. Einstein emphasized that “the protection of human being is more important than the sovereignty of states.” Pointing out that in the last decade the Germans had systematically killed off about half of the Jewish people, and that the facts and the methods of this mass murder are presented to the world in the Black Book, the Jewish scientist charged that all nations who witnessed” this collapse of human conscience” could have prevented the catastrophe if they sincerely wished to do so.
Speaking of how similar barbarities may be avoided in the future, Prof. Einstein said: “We must seriously study how man can be protected, made innerly and outwardly free, and educated to united effort. And we must constantly keep in mind the perniciousness and injustice of our prejudices, particularly of racial prejudices. Let the Germans serve as an example and warning to the rest of the world; their fate illustrates what happens to a nation that abandons and despises justice and humanity and yields to vain militarism.”
Other speakers included Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, chairman of the meeting; Dr. Maurice L. Perlzweig, head of the political department of the World Jewish Congress; Judge Anna M. Krose; Albert E. Kahn, author of “Sabotage”; and Reuben Saltzman, author and lecturer. Forty-five cantors from New York’s synagogues chanted prayers for the Jews exterminated by the Nazis.
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.
