NOAH'S ARK AND AMERICA
Pat, Jacob
Noah's Ark AND America By Jacob Pat Executive-Secretary. Jewish Labor Committee ADOVE flew out of Noah's Ark into the world which was covered by the flood. From the Ark, which is the United...
...Of course, tha Jewish workers in America granted his request...
...In recent years, the Committee haa performed yeoman work relieving the plight of European refugees and the hordes of displaced persons who atill are suffering from the upheavals of Nazism...
...So we look fot those tiny flames in the night, because we don't want to forget them, and express our feelings for them in the usual way—through an American pafcel...
...a third, Meyer Sornmer...
...He received a parcel from the Jewish Labor Committee and expressed his gratitude movingly...
...Here is a letter from Adolf Ludwig, one of the founders of the trade union movement in Neustadt...
...One child is called Kmil Knepel...
...But they not only thank us...
...And the same thing happens as with Noah's dove...
...There are letters from all countries, from people of all nations and classes...
...We know how much anti-Semitism is still poisoning Poland...
...Generations will pass, but the sorrow and the bitterness will not be wiped away...
...Heart-rending letters of thanks for these books are received from th* ruined Jews...
...Antonini was in Italy as emissary of the American Federation of Labor...
...That day there was great joy among us...
...to people who have risked their lives to save tbe iroorest of the poor—the Jewish children...
...I don't know how I deserve this...
...There were people with courage...
...Represented also are delegation* from Poland and from the DP camps In Germany...
...anot'.ier one, Ruta Rebscheid...
...I am already so old that I can no longer hope for enough years to fight against capitalism the enemy of human progress...
...We heartily thank you for your gift...
...I consider it a great honor...
...In grateful recognition of all that he has done, the Jewish Labor Committee sent him a parcel from America...
...One address at which hundreds of such letters are received is that of the Jewish Labor Committee...
...You are the first to heed our appeal, and we hope that the others will follow your example...
...Nothing could more deeply move me than this, your sign, coming from the other side of the Atlantic at a time when the world has known, more than ever before, hatred between nations and races which has taken the gruesome form not only of war, but of the lowest persecutions...
...It gave us a chance to alleviate the suffering of some of our nost badly hit comrades...
...No one knows about her...
...Let us look at a few lines from this letter: "I received today the three packages you sent me on my 85th birthday...
...A Note on the Jewish Labor Committee W ITII the calling of its tenth convention, the Jewish Labor Committee celebrates its thirteenth year of existence...
...The same feelings are expressed in other letters from Czechoslovakia, as from France, Italy and Poland...
...It is a mountain of sorrow and joy, misery and hope...
...His experience waa identical with that of our other friends when he received our package, and he writes, among other things, that "it is great comfort to know that our American friends think of us and help us in our time of need...
...Paul Olberg, spokesman for the humanistic farce* of Sweden...
...He has only recently returned from exile...
...Long live international Socialism...
...man sat at my table...
...But there were exceptions...
...Josef Fielbach writes: "I received the package yesterday with much joy...
...Old Comrsde Ellenbogen begged the Jews to help in this small but very important undertaking, to give a helping hand in the rebuilding of Austria...
...General Secretary Dr...
...And this is what she writes in her letter: "You, our warmhearted friends, have come to us with your help even during the occupation...
...time, that the flood was over...
...I beg you to accept my profound gratitude and my sincere appreciation...
...Signed) L. Garfinkel, chairman of the central committee...
...To such, also, the Jewish Labor Committee has sent packages of American food...
...On his return he brought us greetings from the most outstanding freedom-loving Italians...
...Some are surprised that strangers in America think of them and send them presents...
...Your gift proves that you know me as a brother in battle, in all the battles for the liberation of the working class...
...Let us look at just a few...
...But from that sea of murder and hatred we must rescue the rare exceptions who didn't renounce their humanity, who themselves suffered in Nazi concentration camps...
...Unfortunately, their numbers were small...
...One is from Alessandro Baccanl...
...First organized after the rise of Hitler and Nazism to power, the Committee has served the cause of social progress well with its activities in support of the European underground during the dark daya of Nazi occupation...
...Of course, most of the letters are from Jews in Poland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, China, Yugoslavia, Greece, Rumania, Hungary, Morocco, Russia, Sweden, Not all the world is churlish...
...They are letters from the hearts of European men and wome^r, and their fragrance is as sweet as that of Noah's dove's olive branch...
...R. Jerushalmi, leader of th* cultural section...
...I thank you in my name, and in the name of my family, for this dear present, which is a symbol of international solidarity...
...Here are some samples of such letters...
...The aged Kllenbogen came with an urgent request: tried and true Austrian Socialists have made up a list of .100 families to whom it was imperative to send New Year's presents — American food parcels...
...It is a •letter signed by 18 poor, orphaned children...
...My family is very happy about it, together with me...
...A Socialist leader in Czechoslovakia, Francicek Makaun, received a parcel from the Jewish Labor Committee...
...Y'ou got it across the ocean...
...Now we receive thank-you notes...
...We will remain eternally grateful \o them...
...Professor Szimanowski, now in Lodz, received a parcel for himself and his daughter...
...I thank you from the depth of my heart...
...So he asks that we send her a package also...
...I thank you for remembering, for your help, for your solidarity—Sonia Filenka...
...Professor Rraque received the parcel and wrote a letter to the Jewish Labor Committee...
...This one came from Italy, from the organization of uprooted Jews: "We have received the list of books that you are going to send us...
...They come from a variety of backgrounds...
...The people in the ramps and in the kibuzim will really be happy with these books...
...She also received a parcel...
...In a letter from Cracow, from the local "Voevodish Jewish Committee," they write us: "We wish to inform you that the parcels you sent to our committee were distributed at once among the children...
...The Jewish Labor Committee has been, and still is, sending gift packages to many hundreds of Gentile friends, to men of good deeds and spirit, to the surviving victims of concentration camps, to people of many nationalities who have suffered so greatly for taeir opposition to Nazism, for their efforts to keep alive a spark of hope, of humanity...
...We must not forget those who are trying to build small cells of humanity in brutalized Germany...
...Wa ahall never forget your solidarity...
...Signed...
...Now he ia closely connected with the Italian trade unions...
...He has now returned and is helping to rebuild the trade unions in Germany...
...Here is a letter from Franz Begler, in the name of the secretariat of the Social * Democratic Party of Hesse: "Your help was very important to us...
...EvKRY dsy when the postman brings me the msil snd I see all those letters from various countries, from the sons and daughters of many nations, addressed to the Jewish tabor Committee, 1 take them in my hand with mixed feelings with sorrow and thankfulness, with despair and with hope: When tho eovs returned to the Ark with a grvsn leaf, It was a sign, at the...
...they also request something: winter is coming—they write—so could they please have some winter clothes...
...It ia of great help to me, who am suffering from tuberculosis, and for my wife, who has a bad heart...
...Reichman, referent for child care, Magistrate Rubavo...
...He is 86 year* old and has been for many years th* symbol of the struggle for liberty and Socialism in Austria, a leading member of the Austrian parliament many years ago...
...But there is great misery in Italy...
...It U a joy for my sen to get a little help...
...Day by day, thousands of packages go out to the hungry, beaten, ruined peoples of the world...
...As I write these lines, a mountain of letters are on my desk there...
...Hsakon Lie, representative of Norwegian labor...
...He received our parcels, and he says: "I can only thank you, for myself, for my family, and for my collaborators, for the help we have received from you...
...An old Jewish Socialist from Russia has turned up in Brandenburg...
...The greatest number of letters We get are from Jews in the ruined countries...
...Here is a letter in front of me from yet another country, Poland...
...One letter comes from Neu-Sanz, Poland...
...From the Ark, which is the United States, thousands of doves in the form of parcels of food and clothes ily out every day into the miserable world that is covered by a flood of blood and suffering...
...He wandered around the world/ while Hitler ruled Germany...
...Besides gifts of clothes and food, th* Jewish Labor Committee has also sent books...
...Mark Sonerhaaser, progressive leader of Belgium...
...Alessandro Baccani was among them, a member of the Italian constitutional convention who had to live underground during th last few years in Italy...
...FrOM among the letters from Auatria, I take the letter of the Austrian labor leader, Hackenberg...
...The first few parrels, with 68 books, have already arrived...
...ethers are Julia Grosbart, Ruja Amster, Schloime Stef all rereaced gifts from America »nd express their gratitude in a few short lines...
...Guests to the tenth convention from sbroad include Daniel Meyer, French Socialist...
...She returned with a green olive branch in her beak, and day by day thousands of letters off thanks come into American homes...
...This is what he writes: "To our joyful surprise, we have received a parcel from you, fe wonderfully rich parcel...
...But he knows that one single Jew, the widow of the pharmacist Bruck, survived in his town...
...But you may rest assured that, in the years still left me, I shall ever be with you and work for our common goal...
...In France, for instance, there lives a wonderful man—the 85-year-old scientist, a world-famous Socialist, professor at a French university, who showed much courage during the Nazi occupation—Professor Brsque...
...We all know and shall never forget what the Germans have done to the Jewish people...
...He writes: "I thank those whom I do not know...
...Those letters, coming as thsy do, filled with humanity, with gratitude, from ravished, Uood-seskscJ Europe, make you want to believe that brotherhood-has not vanished, that tho light still Jsp'-ns In tho heart* of men...
...a fourth, Irena Riegelhaupt...
Vol. 30 • January 1947 • No. 3
