SUFFERING AMONG THE JEWS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 70, 15 December 1928, Page 11

SUFFERING AMONG THE JEWS

WORLD-WIDE APPEAL FOR HELI’ MR. JACOBI’S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND Without means of support, without economic basis, ami physically ami morally shattered, tlie Jews of Eastern Europe are suffering untold miseries, according to Mr. 8. Y. Jacobi, a London civil engineer, who is at present in 'Wellington enlisting interest anil help in a worldwide appeal to alleviate the troubles of tlie Jews in Eastern Europe. His story of their sufferings, of tlie terrors of massacres, the ravages of disease, and humiliation and pain which his people have undergone is pathetic and moving. Mr. Jacobi has already visited India and the various Australian States. He comes as the representative of the World Union for the Preservation of the Health of the Jews, the Society for the Protection of Trades and Agriculture among the Jews, and tlie Society for tlie Directing and Facilitating of Jewish Immigration. All three organisations have banded into one united body, called tlie United Jewish World Relief Organisation, and of its central committee he is a member. The aim is the salvation of the Jewish race in Eastern Europe. The three organisations mentioned control over 600 institutions, which include hospitals, clinics, infant welfare centres, vocational training schools, and immigration offices. Death From Starvation. In the course of an interview with a “Dominion” representative yesterday afternoon, Mr. Jacobi stated that the total number of Jews killed, or who died of starvation in Eastern Europe during the past eight years was nearly 400,000. Tlie Jewish population of these countries was 7,500,000, half of the whole Jewish race. Of these, nearly 2,000,000 were in need of help. The economic' situation in Eastern Europe was such that the Governments were too busy assisting their

own people to attend to the Jews,’ who were helpless, lu Russia, particularly, the Soviet Government had announced tliat only workmen and peasants had tlie right to exist in the Socialistic State. Although that policy was directed against the whole of the people of Russia, it had been especially detrimental to the Jews, since the great majority of the native population of Russia were peasants and workmen. On the other hand, the Jews had practically all been engaged in commerce and trade, and accordingly they were the heaviest sufferers from this edict. Lost Means of Livelihood. “People who used to be shopkeepers, manufacturers, and professional men,” added Mr. Jacobi, "cannot make a living to-day, and their salvation lies in the reconstruction of their economic life. The Jewish World Relief Organisation aims at making them artisans, workmen, and agriculturalists. They are taught trades; we furnish them with machines and implements, and instruct them in primary production, as well as supplying stock. In this way nearly 450,000 have been assisted to become artisans, and 125,000 have been developed into peasants. They are self-supporting, or nearly so, to-day. But there are 1,500,000 still to be cared for, and unless help is forthcoming speedily, they will disappear. Other Eastern countries, like Poland and Lithuania, before the war, were manufacturers for Russia. Now they are separate, and have lost the Russian market, and the Jews, who were the manufacturers, have lost their means of livelihood.” No Jewish Government. In conclusion Mr. Jacobi said that since the Jewish people had no Government of their owu and since the Governments of the countries iu Eastern Europe were faced witli the necessity of helping a great number of their native citizens, and racial hatred was too great in the countries to permit of equal dealing with all citizens irrespective of race, the Jewish people were in a worse position than the general population. Therefore it was necessary to appeal for help in other parts of the world. Mr. Jacobi carries with him messages from the Right Hon. David Lloyd George, M.P., and from Mr. Herbert Hoover, the President-elect of the United States of America. The message from the English statesman is as follows: “The tragic economic and physical condition of the Jews in Eastern Europe has reached a point where every difference of creed, party and nationality should be set aside in the work of human rescue. I have every confidence that British Jews will rally once more to ease the terrible lot of the sorely tried Jewish masses, ns they have often done in the past, in the presence of groat danger threatening tlie preservation of their race. It is probably impossible to save them all, but the infants, orphans, the sick and the disabled, whose lives are dependent on the mercy of others, must be taken care of first and helped, at once. Every delay

means utter misery and despair and loss of human lives.” An extract from the message from slr. Hoover is as follows: “There is no greater contribution than cau be made to the economic and social problem of Europe than that the Jewish masses in the towns should be instructed and enabled to return to tillage of the soil, and to enter productive labour of shop and factory as trained artisans. This enlargement of their social purpose will give to them a greater welcome as immigrants to other lands, for the middlemen’s professions of the world are already overcrowded.”

Mr. Jacobi can lay claim to an interesting career. He was an officer of the Russian Army before the revolution. Later he held a command in one of the regiments formed ns a defence force among the Jews, when the chaotic conditions resulting from the revolution left them unprotected and the victims o*f ghastly massacres. A public meeting will be addressed by Mr. Jacobi on Monday evening. The first contribution to Mr. Jacobi’s appeal received in New Zealand was from a Gentile shortly after his arrival in Auckland.