Goldmann Warns Jewish Communities Might Be First to Suffer in Countries Hit by Economic Woes

Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, warned today that Jewish communities might be the first to suffer in countries hit by severe economic dislocations.

“The economic tremors in the world compel the World Jewish Congress to prepare for the task of defending the rights of the Jewish communities in countries which will suffer greatly because the Jews are always the first victims of such tremors,” Dr. Goldmann told Israeli editors at a meeting at Bet Sokolow. the journalists’ center. He said that subject would figure prominently on the agenda of the WJC’s general assembly meeting in Jerusalem early next year.

Commenting on the general situation. Dr. Goldmann observed that the guilt feelings that bothered the conscience of the Western democratic nations after World War II and motivated the United Nations to vote for the establishment of a Jewish State, have faded. Now, he warned, the non-Jewish world is tiring of an excess of “Jewish problems,” of too many protests about the situation of Jews In Russia and Syria. There are signs of anti-Semitism in France and the younger generation in Germany does not hold itself responsible for the Hitler era, Dr. Goldmann said.