One of the greatest crimes in history, the
slaughter of the Jewish people in Europe,
is continuing unabated.
This Government has for a long time maintained that
its policy is to work out programs to serve those
Jews of Europe who could be saved.
I am convinced on the basis of the information which
is available to me that certain officials in our
State Department, which is charged with carrying
out this policy, have been guilty not only of gross
procrastination and wilful failure to act, but even
of wilful attempts to prevent action from being taken
to rescue Jews from Hitler.
I fully recognize the graveness of this statement
and I make it only after having most carefully weighed
the shocking facts which have come to my attention
during the last several months.
Unless remedial steps of a drastic nature are taken,
and taken immediately, I am certain that no effective
action will be taken by this government to prevent
the complete extermination of the Jews in German
controlled Europe, and that this Government will
have to share for all time responsibility for this
extermination.
The tragic history of the Government's handling of
this matter reveals that certain State Department
officials are guilty of the following:
(1) They have not only failed to use the Governmental
machinery at their disposal to rescue Jews from Hitler,
but have even gone so far as to use this Government
machinery to prevent the rescue of these Jews.
(2) They have not only failed to cooperate with private
organizations in the efforts of these organizations
to work out individual programs of their own, but
have taken steps designed to prevent these programs
from being put into effect.
(3) They not only have failed to facilitate the obtaining
of information concerning Hitler's plans to exterminate
the Jews of Europe but in their official capacity
have gone so far as to surreptitiously attempt to
stop the obtaining of information concerning the
murder of the Jewish population of Europe.
(4) The have tried to cover up their guilt by:
(a) concealment and misrepresentation;
(b) the giving of false and misleading explanations
for their failures to act and their attempts
to prevent action; and
(c) the issuance of false and misleading
statements concerning the "action" which
they have taken to date.
Although only part of the facts relating
to the activities of the State Department
in this field are available to us, sufficient
facts have come to my attention from
various sources during the last several months
to fully support the conclusions at which
I have arrived.
(1) State Department officials have not only failed
to use the Governmental machinery at their disposal
to rescue the Jews from Hitler, but have even gone
so far as to use this Governmental machinery to prevent
the rescue of these Jews.
The public record, let alone the facts which have
not as yet been made pubic, reveals the gross procrastination
and wilful failure to act of those officials actively
representing this Government in this field.
(a) A long time has passed since it became clear
that Hitler was determined to carry out a policy
of exterminating the Jews in Europe.
(b) Over a year has elapsed since this Government
and other members of the United Nations publicly
acknowledged and denounced this policy of extermination;
and since the President gave assurances that the
United States would make every effort together with
the United Nations to save those who could be saved.
(c) Despite the fact that time is most precious in
this matter, State Department officials have been
kicking the matter around for over a year without
producing results; giving all sorts of excuses for
delays upon delays; advancing no specific proposals
designed to rescue Jews, at the same time proposing
that the whole refugee problem be "explored" by this
Government and Intergovernmental Committees. While
the State Department has been thus "exploring" the
whole refugee problem, without distinguishing between
those who are in imminent danger of death and those
who are not, hundreds of thousands of Jews have been
allowed to perish.
As early as August 1942 a message form the Secretary
of the World Jewish Congress in Switzerland (Riegner),
transmitted through the British Foreign Office, reported
that Hitler had under consideration a plan to exterminate
all Jews in German controlled Europe. By November
1942 sufficient evidence had been received, including
substantial documentary evidence transmitted though
our Legation in Switzerland, to confirm that Hitler
had actually adopted and was carrying out his plan
to exterminate the Jews. Sumner Welles accordingly
authorized the Jewish organizations to make the facts
public.
Thereupon, the Jewish organizations took the necessary
steps to bring the shocking facts to the attention
of the public through mass meetings, etc. and to
elicit public support for governmental action. On
December 17, 1942, a joint statement of the United
States and the European members of the United Nations
was issued calling attention to and denouncing the
fact that Hitler was carrying into effect his oft-repeated
intention to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe.
Since the time when this government knew that the
Jews were being murdered, our State Department has
failed to take any positive steps reasonably calculated
to save any of these people. Although State has used
the device of setting up intergovernmental organizations
to survey the whole refugee problem, and calling
conferences such as the Bermuda Conference to explore
the whole refugee problem, making it appear that
positive action could be expected, in fact nothing
has been accomplished.
Before the outcome of the Bermuda conference, which
was held in April 1943, was made public, Senator
Langer prophetically stated in an address in the
Senate on October 6, 1943:
"As yet we have had no report from the Bermuda Refugee
Conference. With the best good will in the world and
with all latitude that could and should be accorded
to diplomatic negotiations in time of war, I may be
permitted to voice the bitter suspicion that the absence
of a report indicates only one thing--the lack of action.
"Probably in all 5703 years, Jews have hardly had a
time as tragic and hopeless as the one which they are
undergoing now. One of the most tragic factors about
the situation is that while singled out for suffering
and martyrdom by their enemies, they seem to have been
forgotten by the nations which claim to fight for the
cause of humanity. WE should remember the Jewish slaughterhouse
of Europe and ask what is being done--and I emphasize
the word 'done'--to get some of these suffering human
beings out of the slaughter while yet alive.
"*** Perhaps it would be necessary to introduce a formal
resolution or to ask the Secretary of State t report
to an appropriate congressional committee on the steps
being taken in this connection. Normally it would have
been the job of the Government to show itself alert
to this tragedy; but when a government neglects a duty
it is the job of the legislature in a democracy to
remind it of that duty. *** It is not important who
voices a call for action, and it is not important what
procedure is being used in order to get action. It
is important that action be undertaken."
Similar fears were voiced be Representatives Cellar,
Dickstein, and Klein. Senator Wagner and Representative
Sadowski also issued calls for action.
The widespread fears concerning the failure of the
Bermuda Conference were fully confirmed when Breckinridge
Long finally revealed some of the things that had
happened at that Conference in his statement before
the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the House on
November 26, 1942.
After Long's "disclosure" Representative Cellar stated
in the House on December 20, 1943:
"He discloses some of the things that happened at the
so called Bermuda Conference. He thought he was telling
us something heretofore unknown and secret. What happened
at the Bermuda Conference could not be kept executive.
All the recommendations and findings of the Bermuda
Conference were made known to the Intergovernmental
Committee of Refugees in 938 and which has been functioning
all this time in London. How much has that Committee
accomplished in the years of its being. It will be
remembered that the Intergovernmental Committee functions
through an executive committee composed of six countries,
the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands,
France, Brazil, and Argentina. True, no report of the
Bermuda Conference was made public. But a strangely
ironical fact will be noted in the presence of Argentina
on this most trusted of committees, Argentina that
provoked the official reprimand of President Roosevelt
by its banning of the Jewish Press, and within whose
borders Nazi propagandists and falangists now enjoy
a Roman holiday. I contend that by the very nature
of its composition the Intergovernmental Committee
on Refugees cannot function successfully as the instrumentality
to rescue the Jewish people of Europe. The benefits
to be derived from the Bermuda Conference like those
of the previous Evian Conference can fit into a tiny
capsule."
One of the best summaries of the whole situation
is contained in one sentence of a report submitted
on December 20, 1943, by the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate, recommending the passage
of a Resolution (S.R. 203) favoring the appointment
of a commission to formulate plans to save the Jews
of Europe from extinction by Nazi Germany. The Committee
stated:
"We have talked; we have sympathized; we have expressed
our horror; the time to act is long past due."
The Senate Resolution had been introduced be Senator
Guy M. Gillettte in behalf of himself and eleven
colleagues, Senators Taft, Thomas, Radcliffe, Murray,
Johnson, Guffey, Ferguson, Clark, Van Nuys, Downey
and Ellender.
The House Resolutions (H.R.'s 350 and 352), identical
with the Senate Resolution, were introduced by Representatives
Baldwin and Rogers.
The most glaring example of the use of the machinery
of this Government to actually prevent the rescue
of Jews is the administrative restrictions which
have been placed upon the granting of visas to the
United States. In the note which the State Department
sent to the British on February 25, 1943 it was stated:
"Since the entry of the United States into the war
there have been no new restrictions placed by the Government
of the United States upon the number of aliens of any
nationality permitted to proceed to this country under
existing laws, except for the more intensive examination
of aliens required for security reasons."
The exception "for security reason" mentioned in
this note is the joker. Under the pretext of security
reasons so many difficulties have been placed in
the way of refugees obtaining visas that it is no
wonder that the admission of refugees to this country
does not come anywhere near the quote, despite Long's
statement designed to create the impression to the
contrary. The following administrative restrictions
which have been applied to the issuance of visas
since the beginning of the war are typical.
(a) Many applications for visas have been denied
on the grounds that the applications have close relatives
in Axis controlled Europe. The theory of this is
that the enemy would be able to put pressure on the
applicant as a result of the fact that the enemy
has the power of life or death over his immediate
family.
(b) Another restriction greatly increases the red
tape and delay involved in getting the visa and requires
among other things two affidavits of support and
sponsorship to be furnished with each application
for a visa. To each affidavit of support and sponsorship
there must be attached two letters of reference from
two reputable American citizens.
If anyone were to attempt to work out a set of restrictions
specifically designed to prevent Jewish refugees
from entering this country it is difficult to conceive
of how more effective restrictions could have been
imposed than have already been imposed on grounds
of "security".
It is obvious of course that these restrictions are
not essential for security reasons. Thus refugees
upon arriving in this country could be placed in
internment camps similar to those used for the Japanese
on the West Coast and released only after a satisfactory
investigation. Furthermore, even if we took these
refugees and treated then as prisoners of war it
would be better than letting them die.
Representative Dickstein stated in the House on December
15:
"If we consider the fact that the average admission
would then be at the rate of less than 50,000 per year,
it is clear that the organs of our Government have
not done their duty. The existing quotas call for the
admission of more than 150,000 every year, so that
if the quotas themselves had been filled there would
have been a total of one-half million and not 500,000
during the period mentioned.
"But that is not the whole story. There was no effect
of any kind made to save from death many of the refugees
who could have been saved during the rime that transportation
lines were available and there was no obstacle to their
admission to the United States. But the obstructive
policy of our organs of Government, particularly the
State Department, which saw fit to hedge itself about
with rules and regulations, instead of lifting rules
and regulations, brought about a condition so that
not even the existing immigration quotas are filled."
Representative Celler stated in the House on June
30:
"Mr. Speaker, nations have declared war on Germany,
and their high-ranking officials have issued pious
protestations against the Nazi massacre of Jewish victims,
but not one of these countries thus far has said they
would be willing to accept these refugees either permanently
or as visitors, or any of the minority peoples trying
to escape the Hitler prison and slaughterhouse.
"Goebbels says: 'The United Nations won't take any
Jews. We don't want them. Let's kill them.' And so
he and Hitler are marking Europe Judentun.
"Without any change in our immigration statutes we
could receive a reasonable number of those who are
fortunate enough to escape the Nazi hellhole, receive
them as visitors, the immigration quotas notwithstanding.
They could be placed in camps or cantonments and held
there in such havens until after the war. Private charitable
agencies would be willing to pay the entire cost thereof.
They would be no expense to the Government whatsoever.
These agencies would even pay for transportation by
ships to and from this country.
"We house and maintain Nazi prisoners, many of them
undoubtedly responsible for Nazi atrocities. We should
do no less for the victims of the rage of the Huns."
Again, on December 20, he stated:
"According to Earl G. Harrison, Commissioner of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, not since 1862
have there been fewer aliens entering the country.
"Frankly, Breckinridge Long, in my humble opinion,
is least sympathetic to refugees in all the State Department.
I attribute to him the tragic bottleneck in the granting
of visas.
"The Interdepartmental Review Committees which review
the applications for visas are composed of one official,
respectively, from each of the following Departments:
War, Navy, F.B.I. State, and Immigration. That committee
has been glacier-like in its slowness and coldbloodedness.
It takes months and months to grant the visas and then
it usually applies to a corpse.
"I brought this difficulty to the attention of the
President. He asked Long to investigate at once. No,
there has been no change in conditions. The gruesome
bottleneck still exists."
(2) State Department officials have not only failed
to cooperate with private organizations in the efforts
of these organizations to work out individuals programs
of their own, but have taken steps designed to prevent
these programs from behind out into effect.
The best evidence in support of this charge are the
facts relating to the proposal of the World Jewish
Congress to evacuate thousands of Jews from Rumania
and France. The highlights relating to the efforts
of State Department officials to prevent this proposal
from being put into effect are the following:
(a) On March 13, 1942, a cable was received from
the World Jewish Congress representatives in London
stating that information reaching London indicated
the possibility of rescuing Jews provided funds were
put at the disposal of the world Jewish Congress
representation in Switzerland.
(b) On April 10, 1943, Sumner Welles cabled our Legation
in Bern and requested them to get in touch with the
World Jewish Congress representative in Switzerland,
whom Welles had been informed was in possession of
important information regarding the situation of
the Jews.
(c) On April 20, 1943, a cable was received from
Bern relating to the proposed financial arrangements
in connection with the evacuation of the Jews from
Rumania and France.
(d) On May 25, 1943, State Department cabled for
a clarification of these proposed financial arrangements.
This matter was not called to the attention of the
Treasury Department at this time.
(e) This whole question of financing the evacuation
of the Jews from Rumania and France was first called
to the attention of the Treasury Department on June
25, 1943.
(f) A conference was held with the State Department
relating to this matter on July 15, 1943.
(g) One day after this conference, on July 16, 1943,
the Treasury Department advised the State Department
that it was prepared to issue in this matter.
(h) The license was not issued until December 13,
1943.
During this five months period between the time that
the Treasury stated that it was prepared to issue
a license and the time when the license was actually
issued delays and objections of all sorts were forthcoming
from officials in the State Department, our Legation
in Bern, and finally the British. The real significance
of these delays and objections was brought home to
the State Department in letters which you sent to
Secretary Hull on November 24, 1943, and December
17, 1943, which completely devastated the "excuses" which
State Department officials had been advancing . On
December 10 you made an appointment to discuss the
matter with Secretary Hull on December 20. And then
an amazing bu t understandable thing happened. On
December 13, the day after you sent your letter and
the day on which you requested an appointment with
Secretary Hull, the State Department sent a telegram
to the British Foreign Office expressing astonishment
with the British point of view and stating that the
Department was unable to agree with that pint of
view (in simple terms, the British point of view
referred to by the State Department is that they
are apparently prepared to accept the possible--even
probable-- death of thousands of Jews in enemy territory
because of the difficulties of disposing of any considerable
number of Jews should they be rescued.) On the same
day, the State Department issued a license notwithstanding
the fact that the objections of our Legation in Bern
were still outstanding and that British disapproved
had already been expressed. State Department officials
were in such a hurry to issue this license that they
not only did not ask the Treasury to draft the license
(which would have been the normal procedure) but
they drafted the license themselves and issued it
without even consulting the Treasury as to its terms.
Informal discussions with certain State Department
officials have confirmed what is obvious from the
above mentioned facts.
Breckinridge Long knew that his position was so indefensible
that he was unwilling to even try to defend it at
your pending conference with Secretary Hull on December
20. Accordingly, he took such action as he felt was
necessary to "cover up" his previous position in
this matter. It is, of course, clear that if we had
not made the record against the State Department
followed by your request to see Secretary Hull, the
action which the State Department officials took
on December [ill.] could either never have been taken
at all or would have been delayed so long that any
benefits which it might have had would have been
lost.
(3) State Department officials not only have failed
to facilitate the obtaining of in formation concerning
Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews of Europe
but in their official capacity have gone so far as
to surreptitiously attempt to stop the obtaining
of information concerning the murder fo the Jewish
population in Europe.
The evidence supporting this conclusion is so shocking
and so tragic that it is difficult to believe.
The facts are as follows:
(2) Sumner Welles as Acting Secretary of State requests
confirmation of Hitler's plan to exterminate the
Jews. Having already received various reports on
the plight of the Jews, on October 5, 1942, Sumner
Welles as Acting Secretary of State sent a cable
(2314) for the personal attention of Minister Harrison
in Bern stating that leaders of the Jewish Congress
had received reports from their representatives in
Geneva and London to the effect that many thousands
of Jews in Eastern Europe were being slaughtered
pursuant to a policy embarked upon by the German
Government for the complete extermination of the
Jews in Europe. Welles added that he was trying to
obtain further information from the Vatican but that
other than this he was unable to secure confirmation
of these stories. He stated that Rabbi Wise believed
that information was available to his representatives
in Switzerland but that they were in all likelihood
fearful of dispatching any such reports through open
cables or mail. He then stated that Riegner and Lichtheim
were being requested by Wise to call upon Minister
Harrison; and Welles requested Minster Harrison to
advise him by telegram of all the evidence and facts
which he might secure as a result of conference with
Riegner and Lichteim.
(b) State Department receives confirmation and shocking
evidence that the extermination was being rapidly
and effectively carried out. Pursuant to Welles'
cable of October 5 Minister Harrison forwarded documents
from Riegner confirming the fact of extermination
of the Jews (in November 1942), and in a cable of
January 21, 1942 (482) relayed a message from Riegner
and Lichteim which Harrison stated was for the information
of the Under Secretary of State (and was to be transmitted
to Rabbi Stephen Wise if the Under Secretary should
so determine). This message described a horrible
situation concerning the plight of Jews in Europe.
It reported mass executions of Jews in Poland; according
to one source 6,000 Jews were being killed daily;
the Jews were required before execution to strip
themselves of all their clothing which was then sent
to Germany; the remaining Jews in Poland were confined
to ghettos, etc.; in Germany deportations were continuing;
many Jews were in hiding and there had been many
cases of suicide; Jews were being deprived of rationed
foodstuffs; no Jews would be left in Prague or Berlin
by the end of March, etc.; and in Rumania 130,000
Jews were deported to Transnistria; about 60,000
had already died and the remaining 70,000 were starving;
living conditions were indescribable; Jews were deprived
of all their money, foodstuffs and possessions; they
were housed in deserted cellars, and occasionally
twenty to thirty people slept on the floor of one
unheated room; disease was prevalent, particularly
fever; urgent assistance was needed.
(c) Sumner Welles furnishes this information to the
Jewish organizations. Sumner Welles furnished the
documents received in November to the Jewish organizations
in the United States and authorized them to make
the facts public. On February 9, 1943 Welles forwarded
the horrible message contained in cable 432 of January
21 to Rabbi Stephen Wise. In his letter of February
9 Welles stated that he was pleased to be of assistance
in this matter.
Immediately upon the receipt of this message, the
Jewish organizations arranged for a public mass meeting
in Madison Square Garden in a further effort to obtain
effective action.
(d) Certain State Department officials surreptitiously
attempt to stop this Government from obtaining further
information from the very source from which the above
evidence was received. On February 10, the day after
Welles forwarded the message contained in cable 482
of January 21 to Rabbi Wise, and in direct response
to this cable, a most highly significant cable was
dispatched. This cable, 354 of February 10, read
as follows:
"Your 482, January
"In the future we would suggest that you do not accept
reports submitted to you to be transmitted to private
persons in the United States unless such action is
advisable because of extraordinary circumstances. Such
private messages circumvent neutral countries' censorship
and it is felt that by sending them we risk the possibility
that steps would necessarily be taken by the neutral
countries to curtail of forbid our means of communication
for confidential official matter.
Hull (SW)"
Although this cable on its face is most innocent
and innocuous, when read together with the previous
cables, I am forced to conclude it is nothing less
than an attempted suppression of information requested
by this Government concerning the murder of Jews
by Hitler.
Although this cable was signed for Hull "SW" (Sumner
Welles) it is significant that there is not a word
in the cable that would even suggest to the person
signing it that it was designed to countermand the
Department's specific requests for information on
Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews. The cable
appeared to be a normal routine message which a busy
official would sign without question.
I have been informed that the initialed file copy
of the cable bears the initials of Atherton and Dunn
as well as of Durbrow and Hickerson.
(c) Thereafter Sumner Welles again requested our
Legation on April 10, 1943 (cable 877) for information,
apparently not realizing that in cable 354 (to which
he did not refer) Harrison had been instructed to
cease forwarding reports of this character. Harrison
replied on April 20 (cable 2460) and indicated that
he was in a most confused state of mind as a result
of the conflicting instructions he had received.
Among other things he stated: " May I suggest that
messages of this character should not (repeat not)
be subjected to the restriction imposed by your 354,
February 10, and that I be permitted to transmit
messages from more particularly in view of the helpful
information which they may frequently contain?"
The fact that cable 354 is not the innocent and routine
cable that it appears to be on its face is further
highlighted by the efforts of State Department officials
to prevent this Department from obtaining the cable
and learning its true significance.
The facts relating to this attempted concealment
are as follows:
(i) Several men in our Department had requested States
Department officials for a copy of the cable of February
10 (354). We had been advised that it was a Department
communication; a strictly political communication,
which had nothing to do with economic matters; that
it had only had a very limited distribution within
the Department, the only ones having anything to
do with it being the European Division, the Political
Advisor and Sumner Welles; and that a copy could
not be furnished to the Treasury.
(ii) At the conference in Secretary Hull's
office on December 20 in the presence of
Breckinridge Long you asked Secretary Hull
for a copy of cable 354, which you were told
would be furnished to you.
(iii) By note to you of December 30, Breckinridge
Long enclosed a paraphrase of able 354. This paraphrase
of cable 354 specifically omitted any reference to
cable 482 of January 21--thus destroying the only
tangible clue to the true meaning of the message.
(iv) You would never have learned the true meaning
of cable 354 had it not been for the fact that one
of the men in my office whom I had asked to obtain
al the facts on this matter for me had previously
called one of the men in another Division of the
State Department and requested permission to see
the cable. In view of the Treasury interest in this
matter this State Department representative obtained
cable 354 and the cable of January 21 to which it
referred and showed these cables to my man.
(4) The State Department officials have tried to
cover up their guilt by:
(a) concealment and misrepresentation
In addition to concealing the true facts from and
misrepresenting these facts to the public, State
Department officials have even attempted concealment
and misrepresentation within the government. The
most striking example of this is the above mentioned
action taken by State Department officials to prevent
this Department from obtaining a copy of cable 354
of February 10 (which stopped the obtaining of information
concerning the murder of Jews); and the fact that
after you had requested a copy of this cable, State
Department officials forwarded the cable to us with
its most significant part omitted, thus destroying
the whole meaning of the cable.
(b) the giving of false and misleading explanations
for their failures to act and their attempts to prevent
action.
The outstanding explanation of a false and misleading
nature which the State Department officials have
given for their failures to work out programs to
rescue Jews, and their attempts to prevent action,
are the following:
(i) The nice sounding but vicious theory that the
whole refugee problem must be explored and consideration
given to working out programs for the relief of all
refugees--thus failing to distinguish between those
refugees whose lives are in imminent danger and those
whose lives are not in imminent danger.
(ii) The argument that various proposals cannot be
acted upon promptly by this Government but must be
submitted to the Executive Committee of the Intergovernmental
Committee on Refugees. This Committee has taken no
effective action to actually evacuate refugees from
enemy territory and it is at least open to doubt
whether it has the necessary authority to deal with
the matter.
(iii) The argument that the extreme restrictions
which the State Department has placed on the granting
of visas to refugees is necessary for "security reason." The
falsity of this argument has already been dealt with
in this memorandum.
The false and misleading explanations which the State
Department officials gave for delaying for over six
months the program of the World Jewish Congress for
the evacuation of thousands of Jews from Rumania
and France, are dealt with in your letter to Secretary
Hull of December 17, 1943.
A striking example is the argument of the
State Department officials that the proposed
financial arrangements might benefit the
enemy. It is of course not surprising that
the same State Department officials who usually
argue that economic considerations are not
important should in this particular case
attempt to rely on economic warfare considerations
to kill the proposed programs.
In this particular case, the State Department officials
attempted to argue that the relief plan might benefit
the enemy by facilitating the acquisition of funds
by the enemy. In addition to the fact that this contention
had no merit whatsoever by virtue of the conditions
under which the local funds were to be acquired,
it is significant that this consideration had not
been regarded as controlling in the past by the State
Department officials, even where no such conditions
had been imposed.
Thus, in cases involving the purchase, by branches
of United States concerns in Switzerland, of substantial
amounts of material in enemy territory, State Department
officials have argued that in view of the generous
credit supplied by the Swiss to the Germans "transactions
of this type cannot be regarded as actually increasing
the enemy's purchasing power in Switzerland which
is already believed to beat a maximum". It is only
when these State Department officials really desire
to prevent a transaction that they advance economic
warfare considerations as a bar.
(c) the issuance of false and misleading
statements concerning the "action" which
they have taken to date.
It is unnecessary to go beyond Long's testimony
to find many examples of misstatements .
His general pious remarks concerning what
this Government has done for the Jews of
Europe; his statement concerning the powers
and functions of the Intergovernmental Committee
on Refugees; his reference to the "screening
process" set up to insure wartime security,
etc., have already been publicly criticized
as misrepresentations.
A statement which is typical of the way Long twists
facts is his remarks concerning the plan of a Jewish
agency to send money to Switzerland to be used through
the International Red Cross to buy food to take care
of Jews in parts of Czechoslovakia and Poland. Long
indicates that the Jewish agency requested that the
money be sent through the instrumentality of the
Intergovernmental Committee. I am informed that the
Jewish agency wished to send the money immediately
to the International Red Cross and it was Long who
took the position that the matter would have to go
through the Intergovernmental Committee, thereby
delaying the matter indefintely. Long speaks of an
application having been filled with the Treasury
to send some of this money and that the State Department
was supporting this application to the Treasury.
The facts are that no application has ever been filed
with the Treasury that it would support any such
application.
The most patent instance of a false and misleading
statement is that part of Breckinridge Long's testimony
before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
(November 26, 1943) relating to the admittance of
refugees into this country. Thus, he stated:
"*** We have taken into this country since the beginning
of the Hitler regime and the persecution of the Jews
, until today, approximately 580,000 refugees. The
whole thing has been under the quota, during the period
of 10 years--all under the quota--except the generous
gesture we made with visitors' and transit visas during
an awful period."
Congressman Emanuel Celler in commenting upon Long's
statement in the House on December 20, 1943, stated:
"***In the first place these 580,000 refugees were
in the main ordinary quota immigrants coming in from
all countries. The majority were not Jews. His statement
drips with sympathy for the persecuted Jews, but the
tears he sheds are crocodile. I would like to ask him
how many Jews were admitted during the last 3 years
in comparison with the number seeking entrance to preserve
life and dignity. *** One gets the impression from
Long's statement that the United States has gone out
of its way to help refugees fleeing death at the hands
of the Nazis. I deny this. On the contrary, the State
Department has turned its back on the time-honored
principle of granting havens to refugees. The tempest-tossed
get little comfort from men like Breckinridge Long.
*** Long says that the door to the oppressed is open
but that it 'has been carefully screened.' What he
should have said is 'barlocked and bolted.' By the
act of 1924, we are permitted to admit approximately
150,000 immigrants each year. During the last fiscal
year only 23,725 came as immigrants. Of these only
4,705 were Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.
"If men of the temperment and philosophy of Long continue
in control of immigration administration, we may as
well take down that plaque from the Statue of Liberty
and bloack out the 'lamp beside the golden door.'"