“It is Hitler versus the world; not simply Hitler versus Jews. If unchecked the outcome of that fight can only be the complete degradation of the soul of the German people.”
So declared Dr. Cyrus Adler of Philadelphia, president of the American Jewish Committee, on his arrival here.
“That the situation is grave, that it has become worse in recent months, is apparent,” he declared. “That help will come, if not by material means, then by moral means, is my sincere belief.”
He voiced the belief that Germany is at war with world principles of fair play and free thought—that the fight is a far wider issue than that which concerns Jewry.
“The world,” said Dr. Adler, “has worshipped a theory—a theory that we were building for a finer world—better machines, higher ideals and better education. In some of these things theory has failed and Germany, most machine-like of all, took its fall hardest.
“Germany is enslaved to mechanical ideals and her reaction to her failure in those ideals is already making her a brute. Her treatment of the Jews and others, I believe, is a result of that failure.”
Dr. Adler, who is accompanied here by his wife, plans to remain in San Francisco until September 1.
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.
