Dean Alfange, vice-chairman of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jews of Europe, said last night that further inaction by American and British governments on the problem of saving the Jews of Axis-occupied Europe would be “tantamount to partnership in crime.” In a radio address over station WABC, Alfange urged passage of a joint Congressional resolution prepared by the committee and scored President Roosevelt for his “tragic inaction.” The resolution provides for establishment by the President of a rescue commission.
“In every speech Hitler has made.” Alfange said, “he never failed to attack the Jews. In no speech made by United Nations statesmen was Hitler ever answered. The tragedy of the Jews has been our own apathy.” Alfange, who was the American Labor Party candidate for Governor in 1942, said that more than 2,000,000 innocent persons of Jewish faith have been slaughtered, with no effective intervention by an United Nations government. “At present we are engaged in a debate to determine whether we shall do something about it. If the decision be negative, I say without hesitation that our professions of a better world, of justice and decency will be so much sham and mockery,” he added.
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