The three-day South American conference of the World Jewish Congress closed last night after the delegates from Jewish communities in ten countries called the attention of Latin American Governments to the infiltration of Nazi elements and anti-Semitic propaganda, urged East European Governments to permit Jews to migrate to Israel and warned Jews of the inroads of assimilationism in the Jewish community.
In a series of political resolutions, the delegates to the first South American conference since 1947 reminded the Governments of the Latin American countries that anti-Semitic propaganda was flourishing despite the promises of various of these governments to eliminate it. They also took note of the reparations agreements between West Germany and Israel and world Jewish groups, and expressed the hope that East Germany would follow suit. They appealed to all nations, particularly the occupation powers, to take heed that the punishment of war criminals in Germany was slackening off and that Germany was remilitarizing without guarantees of its eventual conduct.
Special note was taken of the Austrian situation where the government has adopted laws amnestying thousands of former Nazi officials. The conference appealed to the Allied Council to veto these laws, asserting that Austria was as responsible as Germany for the crimes of the Nazis. The delegates urged early adoption of the International Covenant on Human Rights and appealed to governments which have not yet ratified the Genocide Convention to do so.
The delegates, who asked Rumania to release Zionist leaders imprisoned in that country, stressed the solidarity of the Jewish communities of South America with world Jewry, particularly the Jews of Eastern Europe. They also expressed their support of Israel, hailed the World Jewish Congress as the representative of organized Jews throughout the world and decided to establish a joint committee representing the communities of this continent, to handle WJC work in South America.
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.
