Though the name of Colonel William Donovan, Republican candidate for Governor of New York in the last election, is prominently featured on the letterhead of the organization known as the Friends of Germany, of which Edwin C. Emerson is chairman of the executive committee, Mr. Donovan has written to Bernard G. Richards, chairman of the Jewish Council of Greater New York, stating that he is not a mem##r it was learned yesterday. The organization seeks to organize sentiment in favor of Germany.
The letterhead lists Colonel Do#novan as one of the honorary mem#ers. Colonel Donovan wrote to Mr. Richards: “The fact is I have not #ed the organization to which you #fer.”
Last week several prominent per#ons in New York received a letter #rom Emerson, in which was en#losed an application blank. He asked that the persons receiving the letters join his organization, which has its headquarters in his office at 17 Battery Place.
“By reason of your known friendliness toward Germans your name has been proposed as that of a good friend of Germany and therefore a likely member of our society. So we send you the enclosed application blank to be mailed to us with your correct address,” the letter stated in part.
Mr. Richards wrote to Colonel Donovan and to several other persons whose names are listed on the Friends of Germany’s letterhead, asking them whether they were affiliated in any way with Emerson. So far only Colonel Donovan has responded. Other men listed on the letterhead as honorary members of the organization include: Poultney Bigelow, Malden, N. Y.: Professor Robert Morss Lovett, Chicago; the Hon. George B. McLellan, Washington, D. C.; General Herman A. Metz, New York City, and Mr. Jeremiah A. O’Leary, New York City.
The Friends of Germany is a different organization from the Friends of New Germany, the latter being anti-Semitic in character and the organization through which the local Nazi groups work. Emerson however, has been charged at various times with being anti-Semitic following articles which he wrote in the Amerika’s Deutsche Post, Nazi organ in New York.
Though he once made the state-
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.
