A fighting challenge to resurgent Nazism in this country was sounded here this weekend as 20,000 persons jammed the largest stadium in Buenos Aires in a rally commemorating the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
The rally had been arranged by DAIA, the central body of organized Argentine Jewry, and the Jewish Community of Buenos Aires. A message was sent to the mass meeting by Argentine Vise-President Hamberto Perette, who declared: “Today, new Nazi groups are emerging, trying to sow hate among the people. But, on Argentine soil, they will not prosper.”
The extent of neo-Nazism in Argentina was spelled out in a militant address by Dr. Isaac Goldenberg, president of DAIA. “We say to the lazis and anti-Semites who are reorganizing,” he declared, “that they shall not pass. The Jewish people have learned the lesson of the Warsaw Ghetto. We shall not be eternal candidates for assassination. One of the lessons of the Waraaw Ghetto uprising is that the victims must start the fight, and not wait until it is too late.”
“We know,” he continued, “of the Government’s efforts to sustain democracy. But we also know that there are 10 anti-Semitic groups in Argentina and 12 regular, poisonous periodicals. We also know that none of the Nazi war criminals was detained in our country. We feel integrated in the Argentine nation, but we are proud of our historic singularity.”
Other speakers included Rabbi Jacob Avigdor, of Mexico; Abba Geffen, Israel’s charge d’affaires here; and Yitzhak Zukerman, known as “Antek” when he was one of the commanders of the Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto rebellion. Mr. Geffen told the rally that it is important to bear in mind that resurgent Nazism “is assuming the form of anti-Zionism, which is the same as anti-Judaism.”
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