Part 12 (1/2)

A statement of Dr. Edgar De Witt Jones of Detroit, President of the Federal Council, was also quoted in all parts of the country. [217]

On the evening of November 13, 1938, the Federal Council of Churches sponsored a national broadcast over the Columbia Broadcasting System in which Christian sympathy was again expressed and carried to every part of the nation.

There also was a national broadcast under the auspices of the National Conference of Jews and Christians, on November 20, 1938. [218]

On January 9, 1939, a pet.i.tion on behalf of German refugee children was left for President Roosevelt at the White House by a deputation of clergymen. The pet.i.tion was signed by leaders of the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

It read as follows:

”The American people has made clear its reaction to the oppression of all minority groups, religious and racial, throughout Germany. It has been especially moved by the plight of the children.

Every heart has been touched, and the nation has spoken out its sorrow and dismay through the voices of its statesmen, teachers and religious leaders.

Americans have felt that protest, however vigorous and sympathy, however deep, are not enough, and that these must translate themselves into such action as shall justify faith.

We have been stirred by the knowledge that Holland and England have opened their doors and their homes to many of these children. We conceive it to be our duty, in the name of the American tradition and the religious spirit common to our nation to urge the people, by its Congress and Executive, to express sympathy through special treatment of the young, robbed of country, homes and parents.

A heartening token of the mood of America is to be found in the fact that thousands of Americans of all faiths have made known their eagerness to take these young children into their homes, without burden or obligation to the State.

Working within and under the laws of Congress, through special enactment if necessary, the nation can offer sanctuary to a part of these children by united expression of its will to help. <88> To us it seems that the duty of Americans in dealing with the youthful victims of a regime which punishes innocent and tender children as if they were offenders, is to remember the admonition of Him who said, 'Suffer little children to come unto me'. And in that spirit we call on all Americans to join together without regard to race, religion or creed in offering refuge to children as a token of our sympathy and as a symbol of our faith in the ideals of human brotherhood.” [220]

Senator Robert F. Wagner, attempting to implement the clergymen's proposal, introduced a resolution in the Senate. Known as the Child Refugee Bill, it proposed that a maximum of ten thousand children under the age of fourteen be admitted in 1939, and a similar number in 1940. Their entry would be considered apart from and in addition to the regular German quota. [221]

The Executive of the Federal Council supported the Bill:

”In the extraordinary circ.u.mstances which have created the problem of Jewish and Christian refugees from Germany, we feel that it is not enough to call upon other nations to help or to voice our protests but some such practical step as the one here contemplated is imperative and will do much to facilitate a larger approach to the problem of which it is but one part.” [222]

On July 1, 1939, the proposed Bill was modified: the twenty thousand childrens'

visas would be issued against the German quota, not in excess of them.

Senator Wagner, realizing that the twenty thousand children's visas might become twenty thousand death warrants for adults they would replace, withdrew his proposal. [223] <89>

In March 1939, the Federal Council urged the United States to continue to provide asylum for refugees of other countries in the face of any legislative proposals to suspend immigration or curtail existing quotas. Declaring that the Churches were deeply concerned with the refugee problem and that ”as Christians we have responsibility for suffering human beings as children of our common Father wherever they may be”, the Council said:

”We, therefore, urge our government to maintain its historic policy of friendliness to refugees. We oppose legislative proposals, which would suspend immigration at this time or curtail the established quotas.”

In its objection to any change in the immigration policy the Council pointed out that refugees ”would be consumers as well as producers” and added:

”However, even if they were not an economic a.s.set as well as a liability, we would still have a Christian responsibility to them.” [224]

In April 1939, the National Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church issued the following Resolution on behalf of aid to refugees:

”In view of the persecution of minorities now taking place in Europe, we, as Christians and members of the National Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in keeping with the traditional spirit of our country, reaffirm our conviction that the United States should continue to show its spint of generosity and hospitality in opening its doors to afflicted people.

We commend the program, as prepared by the Episcopal Committee on German Refugees, to the interest and support of all members of the Church, reminding ourselves of our Lord's admonition: 'in as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me'.”

The program prepared by the Committee on German Refugees called for co-operation with local refugee committees in helping to obtain employment, in placing children in homes and in obtaining affidavits of support for individual immigrants. [225]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no other country in which Churches and Church leaders in those days so unequivocally demanded asylum for the refugees.

So far we have recorded actions and statements on behalf of the refugees only.

The following statements also denounced anti-Semitism in Germany and/or in the United States. <90>

The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. stated, at the end of 1938:

”... We are deeply shocked at the continuance of persecutions based on race in Germany, Austria, Rumania and other nations.

We sympathize with our Jewish brethren in the United States, many of whose relatives are the innocent victims of fanatical hatred abroad.

We commend the National Conference of Jews and Christians for all its labour to the end that race murders and race discriminations shall not happen here...” [226]

In its Bulletin (February, 1939) the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ published the following article:

The Christian Att.i.tude towards Anti-Semitism

Every thoughtful Christian must gratefully acknowledge his spiritual indebtedness to the Hebrews. We Christians have inherited the ethical and religious insights of Israel. We hold them with a difference - at one point with a momentous difference - but we can never forget that the historic roots of our faith are in the Hebrew people.