Assailing Hitler and Nazism for policies which have been enforced by Nazi officials at the expense of Jews and labor organizations in Germany and avowing his condemnation of these policies, William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, speaking at a testimonial dinner in his honor at the Aldine Club, 200 Fifth avenue, last night, echoed the stand taken by the A.F. of L. and asked that the anti-German boycott be vigorously pursued.
The dinner was held under the auspices of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League to Champion Human Fights. About 1,000 persons, including prominent public officials and civic leaders, attended.
“It is because of the devotion of working people to the doctrine of human rights and human freedom that we were shocked when they learned of the atrocious treatment which, under the Hitler regime,” said Mr. Green, “has been accorded working people and the Jewish residents of Germany.
“The aroused feeling which was created in the minds of working people throughout the world was reflected in the action taken by the British Trade- Union Congress, the Trade- Union organizations of Holland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Spain, France, the International Federation of Trade Unions and the American Federation of Labor, representing the working people of the United States and Canada.
“These trade Union organizations are the accredited instrumentalities through which the voice of Labor is given expression. Their feelings were aroused, their sensibilities shocked when they learned that through a seizure of political power in Germany the Hitler regime had launched a campaign of brutal persecution against the Jewish people and had destroyed the democratic Trade Unions of Germany, imprisoned the officers of these trade unions, confiscated their property and raided their offices and headquarters.”
FACTS INDICT GERMANY
Mr. Green cited facts which he said make “an indictment against Germany both direct and amazing.” He called the “New German Labor Code” an annihilation” of the rights of labor. He scored the rigorous persecution of the Jews in Germany and recalled the contributions of the Jews in Germany and recalled the contrubutions made by the race to the cultural and intellectual wealth of the country.
“The action of the central figure,” he continued, “who shaped and directed the destinies of the German government, made it clear hat any appeal to his heart, conscience and judgment would have no effect.
“The opinion of labor must of necessity be brought home to him in some more definite and convincing way. For this reason the Amerincan Federation of Labor decided to support the boycott of German made products.”
Former United States Ambassador to Germany, James W. Gerard, presided.
The honorary committee of arrangements included Mayor La-Guardia, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Cahan, Senator Royal S. Copsland, George Gordon Battlle and others.
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.
