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and Americas War Aims
A Study About American Jewry's Duties Toward
Palestine, Now and After the War
IIy I i»\\ mid \. Norman
■* INCH our country has become involved in war.
question* have sometimes heen asked even hv
Jews, ineluding some Zionists, concerning tin*
wisdom and propriety of the continuance of fund
raising efforts in America on hehalf of various Jew
ish activities abroad, including several aspects of
Jewish work in or in connection with Palestine.
In preface, it must lx* said that there cannot he
the slightest doubt that the first ilutv of Jewish
Americans as of all Americans in this most se
rious crisis and time of danger, is to America it
self. Whatever we Jews of America can do, in an\
wav whatsoever, to help our countrv to emerge \ ic-
torious from this greatest of all wars, we not onlv
must do but we, like all Americans, want to do.
However, victory in battle is not our country’s
sole aim. As President Hoosevelt proclaimed in his
radio speech on December II. “Our true goal is
far above and beyond tin* ugly field of battle." We
are now, lie said, in the midst of a war for a world
in which this nation, and all that this nation repre
sents. will b<* safe for our children. And so we are
not only going to win this war, but we are going
to win the peace that will follow it. It is in connec
tion with this latter aim that tin 1 American Jewish
community's second duty, scarcely less urg« nt than
the first, lies.
Freedom Is b has been proven now. Iieyond all
/ A' ‘ 'hi possibilitv of question, that in this
n ivisi e mpc |||,„j ra | age which has reduced the
entire world to one compact community, no people
in am land can be safe in its freedom if all men
are not free, and if all the world does not follow
the principles that we sum up under the term de-
moeracy. I ndouhtedlv, in any reorganization of
Europe following a defeat of the \\is. all the tenets
of democraev will be written into the fundamental
laws of all Europe. However, as every experienecd
person knows, it is possible to conform abso lutelv
to the letter of laws and vet at the same time coin-
pletelv to violate their spirit. Legal democracy in
Kurope will amount to little, and will lx* hut a weak
foundation for the structure of human freedom on
earth, if Kuropeans are not fuliv imbued with the
spirit of democracy, which spirit includes as one
of its most essential features the according of equal
opportunitv. economic a* well a- legal or political
or religious, to all.
It is in connection with this point that certain un
pleasant practical facts force themselves to atten
tion. |{e|iellent as these facts muv be, we cannot
make them any less real hv refusing to recognize
them. It is our duty, in the name and for the sake
of the freedom and democracy for which \merica
is struggling, bravely to acknowledge the existence
of certain deplorable conditions, and to formulate
and lx* prepared effectively to cam out intelligent
and courageous plans for correcting them.
Europe Is Being I he first sad point that must
Impoverished !?' fa, ' ,, ‘ l ia,hal a,,er ,hl ‘ " ar
Kurope will he an impover
ished continent. Its entire economic life has heen
been dissipated in the wasteful business of war. Its
means of production have been destroyed or
abused. Life in Europe will be difficult, and the
struggle for existence will be grim for every one.
It can be taken for granted that the recovery of Eu
rope will be slow, and that in all probability old
methods as well as old social and economic forms
w ill not meet the needs of the future.
It requires no prophet to see that every oppor
tunitv for paid employment will be sought hv a
multitude of applicants: every profitable possibility
will be exploited to its full extent; every resource
will he worked to its utmost; every hit of land will
be cultivated as much as it can be. As a result of
such intensive competition, many Europeans will
lx* able to maintain hut a meager standard of liv
ing. if that. Low price levels existed in world mar
kets for many years before the war. and undoubted
ly these markets will not he sources of wealth for
post-war Europe. In all probability, Europe will
h ive to reconstruct itself as best it can on the basis
of its own resources. (lonqietition never is wel
comed, but under circumstances such as these, it
i» hound to lx* resented severely and competitors
are hound to he abhorred, esjiecially if thev are
considered as “outsiders.”’
Why Anti-Semitism Ibis leads to a second dis-
Will Last maying fact. The Jews of
Europe, due to the Nazi and
other persecutions. have heen forced into the po
sition of being “outsiders" from an economic
stand|>oint. It can lx* argued, with full truth, that
in fact the Jews in Kurope are Europeans, ami not
outsiders, and that if Europe is to he democratic
the Jews in Europe must have the same opportuni
ties as the balance of the population. However, the
actual situation is that, as a result of tin* occur
rences of tin* past nine years, the Jews in Europe are
almost entirelv divorced from tin* economic life of
that continent. It can do little good to depend solely
upon the legal rights that European Jews will pre
sumably have after the political reconstruction of
Kurope. If the populace, in its struggle against odds
to earn a living, chooses to regard the Jews as out
siders. it w ill d o so. and no laws or constitutions
will he able to prevent it from doing so.
If. therefore, for want of anv other alternative.
European Jews should he compelled to attempt to
reinsert themselves, on a full scale, into the eco
nomic life of the continent, there is verv grave dan
ger that they may stir up so much feeling against
themselves that it will lx* impossible for the basic
democratic principle of equal opportunitv for all
to gain any substantial support among the popu
lace of Europe. W ithout authentic public accept
ance of this principle. European democracy will he
a hollow sham, absolutism will forever be on the
brink of asserting and reasserting itself, and in the
end it will turn out that this world war, like the
first one. will have heen fought in vain. Hv recog
nizing this strong probability, and hv seeing to it
that the hulk of the Jews of Europe are afforded
t Please turn to [Hige 25 l
The Southern Israelite