The Young Republicans of New Jersey was warned today by senior state Republican officials to “clean house” on Young Republicans “preaching racism and religious intolerance.”
The warning followed charges by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and senior Republicans that some Young Republicans, who call themselves “Rat Finks,” had sung anti-Semitic and racist songs at a state and at a national Young Republican convention last summer. State Sen. Nelson Stamler, of Union County, cited one of the alleged songs as referring to “shooting all the kikes, ” and mowing “the bastards down” and that it was “fun” to “have the Nazis back in town.”
Webster Todd, GOP state chairman, warned Clark Allen, state Young Republicans chairman, that failure to take corrective action would “necessitate remedial action by the senior party organization. ” Rep. Florence Dwyer, New Jersey Republican, said in Washington that the charters of the Young Republican groups in New Jersey and elsewhere, should be suspended or revoked if they could not eliminate anti-Semitic and racist elements.
Richard Flechner, an attorney and admitted member of the “Rat Fink” faction, said he had not seen any copies of the songs. He denied there was any anti-Semitism and racism in the faction. While he would not say how many of the 8, 000 New Jersey Young Republicans were members of the “Rat Fink” faction, some estimates put the membership in hundreds.
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.
