Unity in dispersion - A history of the World Jewish Congress

385 Pages·1948·10.988 MB·English

by  Leon Kubowitzki

UNITY
IN DISPERSION

unity
dispersion
a history of the
world gewish congress
NEW YORK
WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS
1 948
w
COPYRIGHT 1948
BY THE WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS
All Rights Reserved
PRINTED IN
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
NEW YORK, N. Y.
P R E F A CE
This volume is an attempt to give a candid answer to the
summons of history.
On June 27, 1948, almost twelve years after its constituent
meeting, the second session of the World Jewish Congress will
bring together in Montreux Jewish community leaders from the
four corners of the earth.
This survey seeks to render an account of what the Congress
has labored to achieve in the momentous interval.
That this chronicle should be the first comprehensive report
on the Congress doings, when stories of lesser organizations crowd
the shelves of libraries, is in itself an illustration of the eventfulness
of the period to which it is dedicated and the relentless pressure of
the events upon the Congress. A time of continual emergency and
inescapable duties left no leisure for the task of the historian.
The obligation to bear witness could not be delayed any
longer. On the eve of a new epoch in Jewish history, it was keenly
felt that the experiences not only of the Congress but also of its
predecessor, the Comité des Délégations Juives, ought to be com-
mitted to print. The realities of Jewish life are rapidly shifting
before our very eyes, and soon a new generation will arise which
knows not our problems and to which many of our controversies
will be incomprehensible. Under the impact of the tragically altered
demographic constitution of our people and its changed and chang-
ing geographic distribution, all components of the Jewish question
in the Diaspora are being reshuffled and reshaped. A new leaf
has been turned over in the relations between the varoius Jewish
ideological camps, while the proclamation of the State of Israël
deeply affects and colors all aspects of Jewish life everywhere. For
the last thirty years the activities of the Comité des Délégations and
the Congress have been woven into the woof and warp of
Jewish history and their record cannot be written down without
Jewish history being written at the same time.
That is why this is a very unequal account. Many endeavors
of the Congress, its branches and affiliates were left out. It was
considered preferable to concentrate on the major trends in the
complex developments of the era as well as on the general phi-
losophy of the Congress and the particular ideas that guided it in
its actions and in its departures from views held by others.
In no other field have the victories of the Congress been so
complete as in the ideological. The fundamental community of
fate of Jews everywhere and the distinctiveness of the Jewish posi-
tion have been universally admitted by all who are active in
Jewish public affairs. The isolationist attitude of leading Jewish
groups, the method of secrecy in dealing with the Jewish question,
the cloak of anonymity thrown over matters specifically Jewish
—all these are essentially things of the past. However, the dif-
ferences of opinion of this recent past had to be told, since they
were the rock on which foundered many efforts to save Jews or
to remedy their distress.
Topics have been expatiated upon which no longer have
any bearing upon the Jewish situation. Still they had to be ex-
pounded since they were for many years the bitter bread of our
daily life. It was felt that this book should essay to be of lasting
service to the student of Jewish problems of the last thirty years.
Were they too sketchily drawn, they would in their complexity
be unintelligible to the public worker of the future.
An attempt was also made to render here and there some of
the feeling of torment and frustration that often accompanied
the uphill fight of the World Jewish Congress amid a Gentile
world frequently callous and deliberately unhelpful, and a Jewish
world assailed with apocalyptic issues of which it sometimes failed
to grasp the profound meaning and implications. However, it was
also emphasized that in the long run the enterprise has been re־
warding.
The organization of a voluntary, legitimate, central authority
in Jewish public life and the elimination of the irresponsiblity
rampant in our midst are still of overriding importance. It does not
depend primarily upon us whether our various aims will be
achieved. Our position is to a large extent contingent upon the
state of humanity and in particular upon the relative strength of
the various powers and ideologies which are at grips in the battle
for a new world order. But our own preparedness, the state of our
leadership, and our ability to muster the necessary forces in times
of emergency, — these depend entirely upon us. No one can give
us these things, and no one can take them away from us.
An excursion even into a cruel past has the paradoxical virtue
of giving one some courage and even comfort. The trials of bygone
days and the manner in which they were overcome yield a message
of hope. We are reminded that there is a time to kill and a time
to heal; that the things that are have been, and the things that
have been will be, and all things are full of labor. Again and
again, during the thirty centuries of Jewish history, Jewish com-
munities have been decimated only to rise again within the life-
time of a generation, with new vigor and creative activity.
* * *
This volume is a composite one. Julius S. Fischer, Dmitri
Gawronsky, Anatole Goldstein, and Gerard Jacoby of the Institute,
and Oscar Karbach and Nehemiah Robinson of the Political De-
partment, have in many ways laid the groundwork for it. Much
is based on reports and papers of the various departments of the
Congress — Cultural, Organizational, Political, and Relief — and
of the Institute of Jewish Affairs. The Congress Digest, edited by
Greta Beigel, has been a precious source of information. Oscar
Karbach, Jacob Lestschinsky and Nehemiah Robinson have, in
addition, contributed their wide knowledge and judicious advice in
connection with various aspects of the book. Maximilian Hurwitz
has been a most competent, sagacious, and indefatigable editor.
Facts spread over such an extended period of time would have been
difficult to gather without the skill of the staff of the Archives Di-
vision, composed of Elizabeth Maier, Erich Maier, and Ida
Tumarkin. Special gratitude for her most valuable aid is due to
my assistant, Marie Levy.
A. LEON KUBOWITZKI

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE, by A. Leon Kubowitzki 1
PART ONE
ORIGINS AND BEGINNINGS
ORIGINS AND BEGINNINGS 9
PART TWO
THE CONSTITUENT SESSION
THE CONSTITUENT SESSION OF THE WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS 45
PART THREE
THE PRE-WAR PERIOD
CHAPTER I
CONSOLIDATION OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK 77
CHAPTER II
THE FIGHT AGAINST THE SPREADING ANTI-JEWISH ONSLAUGHT 83
CHAPTER III
ECONOMIC RESISTANCE 103
CHAPTER IV
THE REFUGEE QUESTION Ill
PART FOUR
THE WAR OF EXTERMINATION
CHAPTER I
THE CONGRESS ADAPTS ITS STRUCTURE TO THE EMERGENCY 121
CHAPTER II
RESEARCH IN CONTEMPORARY JEWISH LIFE 134
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER III
RESCUE ATTEMPTS 155
CHAPTER IV
RELIEF INTEGRATED INTO CONGRESS PROGRAM 197
CHAPTER V
BEGINNINGS OF LEGAL REHABILITATION 210
CHAPTER VI
THE ATLANTIC CITY WAR EMERGENCY CONFERENCE 221
PART FIVE
LIQUIDATION OF THE WAR
CHAPTER I
FIGHT AGAINST ANONYMITY* 239
CHAPTER II
PEACE TREATIES WITH THE SATELLITES 248
CHAPTER III
THE TRIAL OF MAJOR GERMAN WAR CRIMINALS 261
CHAPTER IV
INDEMNIFICATION AND REPARATIONS 268
CHAPTER V
POSTWAR RELIEF ACTIVITIES 291
PART SIX
THE CHANGED JEWISH WORLD
CHAPTER I
THE CONGRESS AND THE UNITED NATIONS 311
CHAPTER II
POLITICAL WATCHFULNESS 335
CHAPTER III
THE CONGRESS ENTERS THE REALM OF CULTURE AND
EDUCATION 355
CHAPTER IV
ENCOMPASSING THE GLOBE 365