DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Page Fourteen

Ft

Friday, September 27, 1946

EVENTS JUSTIFY CON ERENCE CREATIO,1 , 5

IV!

By SYLVIA GILMAN

The situation in which the rem-
nant of European Jewry found it-
self on the first Rosh Hashonah af-
ter V-E Day was a living demon-
stration of American Jewry's
foresight in creating the Ameri-
can Jewish Conference. For the
cease fire order did not automa-
tically usher in a new era of
peace and justice for those Jews
who had survived Nazi slaughter.
On the contrary, Earl G. Har-
rison, who during the summer of
1945 surveyed the situation in
Europe as the personal represen-
tative of President Truman, re-
ported "as matters now stand, we
appear to be treating the Jews as
the Nazis treated them, except
that we do not exterminate
them."
Harrison, whose views were
free of the pressures of postwar
power politics, pointed to a posi-
tive solution. His report to the
President stated, "The civilized
world owes it to this handful of
survivors to provide them with a
home where they can again set-
tle down and begin to live as hu-
man beings."
• • •

DISPLACED PERSONS

Harrison's report was made
public on September 29, 1945.
But the American Jewish Confer-
ence had plunged into the work
of rehabilitating the remnant of
European Jewry even before the
booming echo of gunfire had died
away. In the first (lays of May,
the Conference had asked the
U. S. War and State Departments
to permit the dispatch of Jewish
liaison officers to American occu-
pied Germany.
On May 10, two days after
V-E Day, representatives of the
Conference met with Jewish con-
gressmen, UNRRA staff mem-
bers and U. S. Government offi-
cials. The Congressman, upon
whom the Conference urged the
need for immediate action, re-
sponded by cabling Gen. Eisen-
hower, then commander of Al-
lied forces in European theatre,
appealing for his approval of the
project.

•

PUBLIC IS INFORMED

Through press and radio, the
Conference brought the hard
facts of Jewish life in Europe to
the attention of the American
public. Dr. Israel Goldstein, co-
chairman of the Conference In-
terim Committee, had visited the
camps during the summer.
He suggested improvements in
camp administration to Gen. Ei-
senhower, particularly the estab-
lishment of all-Jewish centers. He
presented an eye-witness account
of the situation to the consulta-
tions of Jewish organizations in
London, so that united action
might be taken toward a solu-
tion.
After months long delay, Jew-
ish liaison officers and Jewish re-
lief agencies were permitted to
enter the American zone. They
operated under the supervision
of UNRRA, which assumed re

Interim Head

sponsibility for camp administra-
tion, with AMG supplying basic
food and clothing needs.
The. American Jewish Confer-
ence team arrived in Germany in
October. Speaking to the Jews in
the camps in their own language,
prepared by training and sympa-
thy for the difficult task of set-
ting the victims of Nazi persecu-
tion on the road to rehabilita-
tion, the Conference team worked
indefatigably.

*

* *

ALL CAMPS VISITED

Recommendations were made to
UNRRA administrators and to
the military authorities.
Commenting on the report
made by Conference team mem-
ber Horace Marston, J. II. Whit-
ing, UNRRA zone director in
Germany, stated: "Mr. Marston's
excellent report should stimulate
constructive action by all con-
cerned with providing greater op-
portunities for Jewish displaced
persons in Germany." On his own
initiative, Mr. Whiting submitted
the Marston report to the Anglo-
American Committee of Inquiry
on Palestine during its hearings
in Germany.
While the Conference exerted
itself to better conditions in the
Jewish centers in the American
zone, it never lost sight of the
larger goal — resettlement for
Jews in places where they could
begin new lives.
Foremost among these places
was Palestine. Polls taken among
Jews in the camps by disinterest-
ed agencies showed that 98 per
cent wished to emigrate to Pales-
tine. Outside of the camps, Pal-
estine also ranked high as a
choice for ultimate settlement.

nah after liberation approached.
In the careful language of dip-
lomacy, Jews were also alluded to
as "infiltrees" and "persecutees."
Palestine was screened out of the
United Nations discussions wher-
ever possible, and was referred to
only by inference.
When the Issue finally came
to the fore, after President Tru-
man had requested British Prime
Minister Attlee to permit the en-
try of 100,000 European Jews to
Palestine, the American Jewish
Conference rallied American opin-
ion behind the President's re-
quest.

.0 a

a

had correctly interpreted this as
a delaying maneuver, led the tes.
timony for American Jewry at
the Committee's Washington hear-
ings.
Henry Monsky, chairman of
the Interim Committee, presented
the memorandum outlining Amer.
ican Jewry's position and r I
gave oral testimony. The im,'
mentation of the Committet
short-term recommendations for
the immediate transfer of 100,000
Jews and abrogation of the White
Paper's land purchase restrie.
tions, is the objective of an all
out Conference campaign at
present.

TAKES PART IN INQUIRY

When Great Britain countered
with the proposal to establish the
Anglo-American Inquiry Commit-

♦

Rosh Hashonah Greetings

Ilenry 5Ionsky, who heads tile In-
terim Committee of the American
Jewish Conference.

forged a united front with Jew-
ries from other lands.
The united delegation succeed-
ed in introducing a safeguard
clause in the trusteeship chapter
of the United Nations ' charter
which left tho rights of the Jew-
ish people under the Palestine
Mandate unchanged.

*

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OPINION MOBILIZED

But the positive act of opening
the doors, shut tight by expedien-
a
cy and appeasement while the
Nazis slaughtered Jews during
the war, demanded an unabating
struggle involving the full mobil-
ization of American Jewish opin-
RESTALAANT, BAR,
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REFRIGERATION, AND
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Typifying the dilemma of a
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and played shuttle-cock with the
aspirations of the Jewish people,
was the de-humanizing "DP" tag (r
which the Jews in the camps still

PLEADS FOR FREEDOM
The American Jewish Confer-

ence, which includes non-Zionist
as well as Zionist groups, acted
upon the inescapable logic of the
choice of the European Jews
themselves. These Jews had de-
clared: "Europe has become a
vast cemetery for us. We want to
live as free Jews. We decline the
invitation, extended from some
high places, to 'continue contrib-
uting our genius' to a Europe
which has just repaid us by
exterminating 6,000,000 of our
brothers and sisters. We want to
use our constructive powers to
build the Jewish homeland."
The Conference, therefore, di-
rected its efforts to opening the
doors of Palestine to European
Jewry. At the first United Na-
tions Conference in San Francis-
co, in April 1945, the Conference

•

woro as the second Rosh Ilasho- tee, the Conference, though it

Rosh Hashonah Greetings and

Passover Greetings and
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