Immediate Restoration of Jewish Rights in Europe After Allied Victory Demanded

A program providing for the restoration of all rights to European Jews immediately after the successful conclusion of the war even before the peace conference meets – was proposed here today in a resolution adopted by 300 leading Jews from thirteen Axis-occupied European countries, meeting to form an Advisory Council on European-Jewish Affairs.

The demands set forth by the Council, which will be associated with the World Jewish Congress, are: 1. Total abolition of all anti-Jewish measures introduced by the Axis powers; 2. Right of all refugees to return to their homes and the positions from which they were driven; 3. Restoration of all Jewish property confiscated by the Axis powers on the same terms as will apply for non-Jewish property; 4. Insertion of guarantees against anti-Semitism in all agreements providing for the social and economic rehabilitation of the people of Europe. The Council also demanded that “the Jewish people be afforded an opportunity to participate through their accredited and freely chosen representatives” in the deliberations at the peace conference.

The delegates saluted the Jews now fighting in the armies of the United Nations; sent a message of encouragement to the Jews in Axis-held lands and expressed the conviction that after the war the aspirations of the Jews in Palestine “will be realized by the establishment of a Jewish National Home there.” Among the speakers who addressed the two-day session at which the Council was set up were: Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Henri Torres, Dr. Arieh Tartakower and Dr. Leon Koubowitzki; and representatives of several of the governments-in-exile, including J. Alvares del Vayo, former Foreign Minister of the Spanish Republic.