Leading American newspapers, commenting editorially today on the outcome of the Bermuda Conference and on the “Day of Compassion” for the Jews of Europe, which was observed yesterday in many churches throughout the country, voice the demand that the United States admit more Jewish refugees within the existing immigration quota which has not been filled for a number of years.
“Compassion which does not show to each man his own faults and falseness illumines little,” the New York Herald Tribune writes, “Compassion which does not bring forth some act to ease the lot of those suffering and wronged or, if that is not possible, to avert any like suffering, any like wrong against other men and women is empty sentiment, worthless alike to giver and to receiver.”
Pointing out that 144,278 persons could still be admitted into the United States within the next two months under this year’s quota, the New York Post says: “The quota for the countries from which the refugees would come for the year ending July 1, 1943 is 150,275 and only 5,997 have been admitted. Many of the refugees would be technically German citizens, for example. The German quota is 27,370. Thus far only 732 have been admitted. Italy’s recent actions in relaxing its restrictions against refugees as a means of acquiring merit in the eyes of the democracies against the day when peace terms are laid down indicate a willingness to release many of them from bondage. Technically they would be Italian citizens. Italy’s quota is 5,802. Only 39 persons have been admitted, leaving 5,763 vacancies. The Post editorial also demands that the aid of American relief organizations be enlisted by the enlarged Intergovernmental group which the Bermuda Conference has announced will handle the refugee problem.
The Boston Globe, commenting on the protest demonstration against the Nazi extermination of Jews which was held last night in Boston, in which more than 20,000 persons participated, writes: “The mass meeting, one of a series being held throughout the country, coincides with the closing days of the joint British-American Conference on Refugees held in Bermuda. It was hoped that this conference would result in a program of action for those refugees from Hitlerism who so far have escaped the Nazi hangman. But the news from Bermuda is not encouraging, and one can well imagine the disappointment of those who looked to it with great hope.
“Perhaps only by such meetings as that held at the Garden, augmented by such statements as have already been issued by the religious, civic, labor and other groups, will the American State Department and the British Foreing Office come to realize that the rescue of victims of Hitlerism is one of the things for which the people of the United Nations are fighting,” the editorial concludes.
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.
