A detailed report on the growing anti-Jewish propaganda in Mexico was presented here last night to the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith by Oscar Cohen, its community service director, following his return from a tour of Mexican Jewish communities where he surveyed conditions.
Mr. Cohen reported that the Jews in Mexico suffer “no discrimination in education, employment, housing or social institutions, but are faced by constant and alarming attacks in the daily press.” He pointed out that the press in Mexico is anti-foreigner and attacks against Jews take place in this context. No week passes without two or three major articles in Mexican dailies attacking Jews, he emphasized.
“Though it considers the actual danger from any important anti-Semitic movement to be small at present, the Mexican Jewish community is made uneasy by an ever-present potential danger with which it feels unable to cope,” Mr. Cohen stated. “In case of real trouble, Mexican Jews believe they do not have effective allies among other elements of the population who could constitute an important bulwark against anti-Semitism. Any major political change can create serious difficulties for the Jewish community, they feel.
“Anti-Semitism as a political weapon is employed by two groups in Mexico, ” the ADL official said. “Both are fascist in concept and their anti-Semitism stems from their basic political direction. The parties are the Gold Shirts and the Sinarquists, with the former taking a more violently anti-Semitic position. The Gold Shirts have enlisted people of influence, particularly among army officers.”
Serious efforts to counteract anti-Semitic propaganda have been undertaken by the Jewish community through the Anti-Defamation Committee which was established in 1944 in conjunction with B’nai B’rith, Mr. Cohen reported.
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.
