Committee Organized to Help Rescue European Jews and to Fight Antisemitism in the U.S. Early in 1944 Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy became the chairman of a group of twelve Americans commit ted to help in the effort to rescue European Jews and to combat antisemitism in the United States. He was joined by Vice President Henry A. Wallace and prominent Republican Wendell Wilkie. Justice Murphy's statement, reprinted below, appeared in PM, 31 January 1944. Group Formed to Help Save Jews, Fight Anti-Semitism Justice Murphy Heads Committee Of 12, Including Wallace, Willkie By JAMES A. WESCHSLER PM's National Editor WASHINGTON, Jan. 31.-A committee of 12 outstanding Americans, led by Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy and including Vice President Henry A. Wallace and Wendell Willkie, has been organized to help rescue European Jews from Nazi "extermination" and to combat anti-Semitism in the U. S. A. Formation of the committee was announced by Justice Murphy in a statement released on the 11th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's seizure of power in Germany. Declaring that "our action in respect to the Jews may well be considered a measure of our civilization and a test of our institutions of government." Justice Murphy, who will serve as chairman of the committee, recited four key objectives of the newly created agency: Four Objectives ¶"To rally the full force of the public conscience in America against the persecution and extermination of Jewish men, women and children in Nazi-occupied Europe, and in support of vigorous and sustained action by our government and the United Nations to rescue those who may be saved. ¶"To recognize and combat hateful propaganda against American citizens of Jewish descent as a powerful secret Nazi weaponpowerful because it has been deliberatedly spread to this continent where no invading force has been able to set foot, and secret because victims so inoculated are often unconscious of the source from which it comes. ¶"To bring the power of public opinion to bear in cases where responsible officials condone, commit, or fail to oppose the persecution of Jews, old and young. ¶"To co-operate with like-minded groups in other countries such as the 'National Committee for Rescue from the Nazi Terror' of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is a member in mobilizing the peoples of the United Nations in behalf of such a program for rescue and in warning Hitler and his agents in Axis and satellite countries that they will be punished for their crimes against mankind." 'Shocking Violation' Justice Murphy said "there is no more shocking violation of the human conscience than the persecution and threatened extermination of the Jews" Pointing out that 3,000,000 have already been killed and that "for 4,000,000 the death march as just begun," he added: "Here at home, in a country founded upon the right of every individual to justice, religious The statement issued by Justice Frank Murphy in announcing the formation of “The National Committee: Against the Nazi Persecution and Extermination of the Jew follows: "Today marks one of the blackest anniversaries in human history. Eleven years ago Hitler rose to power to begin the deliberate wrecking of institutions and concepts of justice evolved through centuries of human progress. "While many peoples in many lands have suffered, there is no more shocking violation of the human conscience then the persecution and threatened extermination of the Jews. More than 3,000,000 have been killed. For them the death march is over. For 4,000,000 more the death march has just begun. Germs of Hatred "Here at home, in a country founded upon the right of every individual to justice, religious and personal freedom, Nazi propaganda is breeding the germs of hatred against the Jews. No bacteriological warfare could be more insidious and more destructive to fundamental good will and ideals of religious and racial tolerance which have built a great America. "American citizens of Jewish desecent representing every major Jewish organization and community in the United States and speaking through the American Jewish conference, have voiced not only their own faith in American institutions of justice and freedom, but that of every true American citizen and of millions of oppressed peoples everywhere, in asking that the democracies institute sustained and vigorous action to rescue all who may yet be saved and combat the virus of hatred wherever it appears. Last week the President of the United States responded to the appeal of the Jewish citizens to seize every opportunity to send supplies, provide the means for Jewish selfdefense and co-ordinate and expand the work of rescue by creating through an executive order, the War Refugee Board composed of men of good will; our action in respect to the Jews may well be three department heads of the Federal Government. World Struggle "The struggle in the world today is one between men of ill will and considered a measure of our civilization and a test of our institutions of government. To reaffirm and implement our faith in American principles we are creating "The National Committee Against Nazi Persecution and Extermination of the Jews." "The purposes for which the Committee is organized are as follows: "I. To rally the full force of the public conscience in America against the persecution and extermination of Jewish men, women and children in Nazi-occupied Europe, and in support of sustained and vigorous action by our government and the United Nations to rescue those who may jet be saved. "II. To recognize and combat hateful propaganda against American citizens of Jewish descent as a powerful secret Nazi weaponpowerful because it has been deliberately spread to this continent where no Nazi invading force has been able to set foot, and secret because victims so inoculated are often unconscious of the source from which it comes. "III. To bring the power of public opinion to bear in cases where responsible officials condone, commit, or fail to oppose the persecution of Jews, old and young. "IV. To co-operate with likeminded groups in other countries such as the 'National Committee For Rescue From The Nazi Terror.' of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is a member, in mobilizing the peoples of the United Nations in behalf of such a program for rescue and in warning Hitler and his agents in Axis and satellite countries that they will be punished for their crimes against mankind.” In our analysis of opinion and criticism in regard to the refugee problem we find that (a) You will recall the counter-petition airculated among the municipalities in the 1. that the proponents of refugee immigration wish to bring to Canada all 2. that the proposal for the admission of refugees emanates from Jewish (b) There is a natural misconception to the affect that those refugees who are in areas (a) One frequently hears that it is unjust to the men in the services to admit refugees Doc. 143 313 Mr. Samiel Factor, K.C., M.P. 2 · February 10th, 1944. no refugee will become a public charge. These guarantees cover Jews and nonJewish refugees. In reply to those who state that there will be grave unemployment in this country after the war and that therefore no refugees should be allowed to enter to complicate the problem, a member of the government can state that such view minimizes the plans made by the government for the rehabilitation of the demobilized men and for the maintenance of a prosperous Canada in the post-war world. Those who use this argument wrap in a mantle of patriotim and flag-waving a deep-sosted lack of confidance in the resources of Canada, in the plaming and administrative abilities of the Canadian people. One might go so far as to state that they create distrust and uncertainty in the minds of the men in the services and the Canadian people as a whole in the government and in the departments when they emphasize the difficulties which the presence of a few thousand adult and useful rofugees will create at a time when hundreds of thousands of men will be returned to civilian life. Palestine White Paper of 1939: Great Britain's Although Great Britain had committed itself to the creation of a Jewish national state through the Balfour Declaration, issued 2 November 1917, and the League of Nations Mandate of 25 April 1920, the emerging war with Germany made a review of these commitments imperative. For the British, who held the territory in mandate, Palestine was an overland bridge to India, an indispensable link in the chain of Britain's defenses. Haifa was the terminus of the pipeline from the Arab oil fields and an important fueling station for ships, planes, and armies. Palestine as a whole was an important base for air, naval, and land defense of the Suez Canal. Thus, the British cabinet concluded that Arab support was vital in the upcoming anti-Nazi struggle, and Jewish support was taken for granted. With this assessment a "White Paper," or policy statement, was issued on 17 May 1939 declaring that a total of seventy-five thousand Jews could immigrate to Palestine over the next five years-fifteen thousand per year. Thereafter, any new immigration was contingent upon Arab approval. Moreover, Jewish land-acquisition was severely restricted in over 90 percent of the British-mandated territory. No amount of protest or radical actions could shake the British from this position. As the deadline for Jewish immigration to Palestine drew near in 1944 (31 March), protest arose anew in the United States and in Britain. An example of the public outcry in the United States is found in the following editorial and reports reprinted from the newspaper PM of 30 January 1944. (Information on Palestine from Israel Gutman, ed., Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, vol. 4 [New York: Macmillan, 1990], 1649-50; and Nora Levin, The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry, 1933-1945 [New York: Crowell, 1968], 135-40.) PM, SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 1944 AN EDITORIAL Abrogate the White Paper The provisions of the British White Paper banning forever new Jewish Immigration into Palestine go into effect on Mar. 31. On its face, a piece of paper delineating British policy would seem to be none of America's business, and its application far off in time and space. Actually, it is very much this country's business, and its application is dreadfully imminent. Two months is no more than a breathless moment in which to seek to avert the bitter fruition of more than two decades of British Imperial policy. There are legal ties which bind the U. S. A. to Palestine and its fate. This country has signed a treaty with Britain recognizing Palestine as a mandate of the League of Nations. This country has also gone on record officially as approv ing the Balfour Declaration, which in 1917 pledged the British to the formation of a "Jewish National Home in Palestine. The White Paper affects both the treaty and the declaration, as the stories elsewhere on these pages make clear. So much for legality. But primarily the White Paper is a problem not of law but of humanity. America, officially and unofficially, has again and again raised its voice on behalf of the needy, and the oppressed. We have spoken for the people of India, of Poland, of Holland, Norway and Greece. In other times, we have spoken for the Armenians, for the Jews of Czarist Russia and even for the Japanese, when earthquakes and fire ravaged their land. .. The White Paper traps the tortured and starving remnants of European Jewry on the continent which was their undoing. It is as simple as that, for there is no other place for them to go. America? Ask 'Congress. Australia or - Great Britain? Ask the authorities at Canberra or the people on Downing St. Madagascar? That's where Hitler wanted to put them. Russia, Poland, Holland, or other countries ravaged by war? You don't have to ask anyone about these countries; you have but to look at the wrecked land, the empty food larders, the gigantic work of reconstruction that lies ahead. The man without a root cannot share that roof with another. 7 Well, you say, let the Jews go back to their homeland-to Germany, Poland, the Balkans, France. Yes, of course those that want to, must be able to return. But what of those to whom their old homes, the sites of starvation, murder, rape and humiliation of the spirit beyond all human reckoning, are not homes any more but an unbearable nightmare? It is curious how those who frown upon immigration to Palestine as a manifestation of "nationalism" forget to set the setting up of barriers against the free movement of people is in itself national chauvinism of the strongest sort. But why, you ask, shall European Jewry be treated separately from the millions of non-Jews who have suffered the anguish of Hitlerian oppression? There are two simple answers to that. One has been furnished by Hitler himself, who singled out the Jews as his foremost victims. But possibly the best answer comes from the peoples of Europe. Ask the Czech whether be wants to immigrate or to go home, even if his home is the rubble of Lidice. Ask the Dutch, the Poles, the French, the Norwegians... yes, and the Germans. Will the answer of the Jew be always the same as his Gentile brother? PM is not here attempting neither to solve nor to discuss the question of political Zionism. What PM is trying to do is to point out that what is involved in the British White Paper is the doom of a large section of a whole people. It is this humanitarian aspect-Palestine as an asylum-that has united all shades of Jewish opinion in opposition to British Palestine policy, and which has enlisted the sympathy of liberals the world over, including the great mass of peoples in Britain itself. On this and the following two pages is the story, in detail, of the various factors which enter into the problem of the White Paper. And on Page 9 is a message by which you, through your signature, can let the British Government know how you stand on an issue that symbolizes this war for freedom and a better world.-VICTOR H. BERNSTEIN The Jew's Lot Under Hitler-2 Million Graves; Salvation of Millions Hangs on Piece of Paper The extermination policy has been carried out ruthlessly and without pity for pregnant women. children, babies, the sick or the aged. In fact, the only discrimination the Nazis have practised has been in favor of a 'ew healthy JewThis, then, is the modern backish males who have been forced to ground of the Jews' plight in labor for the German war machine. The Archbishop of Canterbury Europe. Throughout their tragic This policy has been stepped up told the House of Lords last March history Europe's Jews have never in recent months. As the Allies beat that a Nazi decree in the Czech suffered more. For them World War their way closer and closer to the provinces of Moravia and Bohemia II is the climax of their persecuheart of German Europe, more and has the effect of sentencing all tion. Those who escape Hitler's more Jews are likely to die in Hit Jews there to death by starvation." wrath and live to see his forces ler's execution chambers. There is He added: "Their ration cards are smashed are not likely to believe even the possiblity that no more to be taken from them, and they they can rebuild their lives on soil of massacres. The Jews who live | France and Spain, to modern time than 2,000,000 Jews will survive. are forbidden to buy unrationed soaked in the blood of their mur- there have known no long period in Poland, Germany and Sout dered families. Wholesale massacres of Jews be-food." of happiness, or security. From the eastern Europe,the Jews have live Europe has a long, black record vear 1290 when England expelled in hopelessness and MORE of anti-Semitism. of pogroms and them, through their persecution in despair. gan in the early Summer of 1942 A report reaching the World The horrible facts slowly kaked Jewish Congress last vear stated: |