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lunily.
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tory when humanity gave voice to
its conscience and shouted its
horror and indignation.
Headlines flared in America’s
press. “Russia Admits The Awful
Facts" one newspaper bannered. On
the same page, a relief appeal:
“Help Us. Is The Cry of The Survi
vors of The Kishinev Massacre.’’
William Randolph Hearst’s New
York American rushed into print
with a cabled story by Israel Zang-
will: “The Terror of Kishinev
Graphically Set Down By England’s
Great Jewish Writer and Sociolog
ist." The publisher organized a re
lief fund which promptly achieved
international support. One of the
first contributions, a check for $200
not an inconsiderable sum in
those days came from John Hay.
the U. S. Secretary of State.
Mass meetings were held
throughout the country at which
government officials, churchmen
and civic leaders denounced the
Russian government. In a report,
The Voice of America on Kishinev,
Cyrus Adler recorded that 77 pro
test meetings had been held in 50
cities in 27 states; that sermons
had been preached on the massacre
in 14 states; that 80 newspapers in
40 cities had published 151 editor
ials.
The most spectacular protest of
all was a petition to the Czar writ
ten by Leo Napoleon Levi, Texas-
born president of B’nai B’rith. It
was signed by 13,000 Americans.
As soon as news of the Kishinev
outrages became known, Levi called
a meeting of the B’nai B’rith execu
tive committee, representing the
largest Jewish organization in the
country with more than 43,000
members. Levi anticipated a wave
of protest meetings. He and other
B’nai B’rith leaders agreed to dis
courage “exclusively Jewish meet
ings" in favor of mass protests
which would include Americans of
all races and creeds. This policy has
been followed by B’nai B’rith in
successive emergencies down to the
present day.
Levi urged B’nai B’rith lodges to
raise relief funds and prepare for
the increased immigration from
Russia that would be a “certain re
sult" of the Kishinev pogrom. He
also asked the government for an
official report listing the names
of victims, the amount of relief
needed for the survivors, and the
authorization needed to get relief
funds to Kishinev without offending
the Russian government.
On June 15, 1903, a B’nai B’rith
delegation headed by Levi was re
ceived at the State Department by
Secretary Hay. Levi provided Hay
with a memorandum on the Kishi
nev atrocities together w'ith a draft
of the petition. Levi suggested the
government transmit it to the Czar
after all the signatures had been
gathered. Hay informally discussed
the situation with the delegation
for about 40 minutes, after which
he personally escorted them to the
White House and introduced them
to President Roosevelt.
The President read the draft of
the petition, then thanked the de
legation for the wisdom and con
servatism of its language. With deep
sincerity he told Levi and the group
how much he appreciated “the op
portunity which had been offered
him to express his views on the
Kishinev outrage without being
guilty of any impropriety in doing
so." A few days later the President
informed Levi that an attempt
would be made to transmit the
petition to the Russian government.
Within 10 days B’nai B’rith obtained
the 13,000 signatures representative
of all the American people. Almost
300 pages were filled with the
names of government officials, dip
lomats, clergymen, lawyers, doctors,
scientists, editors and publishers,
businessmen and other prominent
citizens.
When the Russian government
learned of the petition, it indicated
unofficially that it would not re
ceive the document. Nevertheless,
on July 14, Secretary Hay, acting
on instructions from President
Roosevelt, cabled the text to the
American charge d’affaires at St.
Petersburg with orders to inform
the Russian Minister of Foreign
Affairs about the petition received
by President Roosevelt.
This and similar pleas from all
parts of the world fell on deaf
Czarist ears. The government, more
concerned with the growing bold
ness of the revolutionary move
ment. was committed to a program
of anti-Semitism. In the next two
years Russian Jewry felt the lash
and steel of more than 600 pogroms!
Even the survivors of Kishinev
were not spared. A second mas
sacre in 1905 killed 29 of them and
injured 56.
The government did not hide its
part in the conspiracy to murder
Jews. Mark Vishniak, in a definite
study of Russian anti-Semitism,
quotes this statement by a province
governor on the need for pogroms:
“The Jews have now become the
leaders and instigators in all move
ments directed against the govern
ment. This entire Bund and the So
cial-Democrats — they are all
Jews. You are yourselves to blame
for all that happened. You do not
educate your children properly.
You have no influence over them.
But at least you can surrender
them, pointing them out to the gov
ernment, whereas you conceal
them.”
Thus, writes Vishniak, “only at
the price of surrender by Jewish
parents of their ill-educated and re
volutionary children was the gov
ernment willing to give up the
pogrom as a new method of ruling
and controlling the stubborn Jews.’’
Inevitably — as it has been since
the dawn of history — anti-Semit
ism neither cured nor conquered.
The Czar could not protect his auto
cracy with it. Nor Hitler in a later
era his dictatorship.
A present-day question is: How'
well does the Kremlin remember its
Russian history? •
(18)
The Southern Israelite