Several hundred delegates from Jewish communities and organizations in 45 countries arrived today to participate in the fourth plenary assembly of the World Jewish Congress which opens here Sunday. Participants in the 12-day assembly will include a delegation of Jews from Hungary and observers from the Jewish communities in Poland.
Carl-Albert Anderson, Mayor of Stockholm, will travel more than 500 miles from a vacation spot in northern Sweden to deliver an address of welcome to the opening session Sunday, according to Hillel Storch, Swedish member of the WJC executive. The assembly will be the first international Jewish gathering ever held in Sweden.
Mr. Storch said that the holding of the plenary assembly in Sweden was particularly gratifying because of the record of the Swedish people and leaders in helping the Jewish people during the Hitler period. “Many phases of the heroic rescue of Jews by the Swedish Government and people during the Second World War are still unknown,” he said.
Noting that a Swedish Government White Book on such rescue work had furnished important material for an evaluation of that period, Mr. Storch added that other important phases, particularly in the earlier phases of the war, were still awaiting historical assessment. He said that this applied especially to the efforts of the Swedish Royal family, the Government and the Swedish Red Cross headed by the late Count Folke Bernadotte “which saved many thousands of Jewish lives.”
Issues before the sessions will include that of finding a solution to the problem of the survival of Jewish communities in the variety of political and social conditions in which Jews live throughout the world.
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.
