00N. [A Call to Action for Massive Madison Square Park Anti-Nazi Rally] Jewish Labor Committee

[FLYER] JOIN THE MASS DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE SLAUGHTER OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE OF EUROPE

No Place [New York], No Publisher [United Hebrew Trades], 1944. Item #43413

1st edition, broadside (single-sided flyer) 4to.

“JOIN THE MASS DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE SLAUGHTER OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE OF EUROPE

Sisters and Brothers:

We call upon you to participate in a giant peoples' demonstration against the slaughter of European Jewry.
Date: Monday, July 31, 1944
Time: 4:45 P.M.
Place: Madison Square Park, 24th Street and Madison Avenue

Millions of Jews have been slaughtered by the Nazis in all parts of Europe. Millions of men and women, young and old, have been rounded up and transported to death camps where they were ruthlessly put to death. At this very moment, millions of European Jews are threatened with complete extinction.
The Hitler beast which has raped and annihilated numerous countries, and has massacred millions of innocent human beings, is now in its last hours, trying to slay and gas the surviving Jewish people. Hundreds of thousands of Jews in Hungary, and tens of thousands of Jews in Poland, France, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia, face a horrible fate at the hands of the Hitler barbarians.

TO GIVE EXPRESSION TO OUR HORROR AND GRIEF, TO APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS FOR MOST URGENT MEASURES, AND TO HALT THE DEATH MARCH, THE RESCUE COMMISSION OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONFERENCE IS CALLING UPON THE MASSES OF NEW YORK CITIZENS TO PARTICIPATE IN A PEOPLES' DEMONSTRATION.

We cannot remain silent! We must not fail the surviving Jews who are eagerly and anxiously awaiting our assistance. You should not fail to come and express your indignation at the Hitler atrocities. You must not forget your duty to the European survivors. Be present to demand that the United Nations halt the butchery of the Jewish people, and that those responsible for these inhuman crimes are speedily brought to justice.
Let the victims of the Nazis know that you are with them in the darkest hour of their existence.

At a conference of the representatives of the trade unions called by the Jewish Labor Committee, it was unanimously decided to actively participate in this tremendous national demonstration. We MUST do everything in our power to make this protest as big and as effective as possible.
We call upon you, brothers and sisters in the shops and factories, as well as your friends and acquaintances, to participate.

Leave your shops not later than 4:00 P.M. Do not work overtime.

MARCH TO THE DEMONSTRATION.

Fraternally,

UNITED HEBREW TRADES

RUBIN GUSKIN, President
MORRIS TIGEL, Vice-President
WILLIAM WOLPERT, Exec. Sec'y.”


The rally was covered by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) the next day:

“Tens of thousands of Jews and non-Jews crowded Madison Square Park today at an open-air mass-demonstration in behalf of the Jews of Hungary and other parts of Nazi Europe sponsored by the 64 affiliated agencies of the American Jewish Conference with the cooperation of the American Jewish Committee and other national organizations.
Speakers at the demonstration included Assistant U. S. Attorney General Norman M. Littell, who is secretary of the National Committee Against Persecution of Jews; Dr. Stephen S.Wise, president of the American Jewish Congress and co-chairman of the American Jewish Conference; Judge Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee; Henry Monsky, president of B’nai B’rith and co-chairman of the American Jewish Conference; Adolph Held, president of the Jewish Labor Committee, and many other noted Jewish and Christian leaders.
The huge mass-meeting in which Jews from all walks of life participated adopted a declaration stating that it is not yet too late ‘to save thousands upon thousands’ of Jews for the day of liberation. The meeting appealed in the first instance to President Roosevelt and the Government of the United States, and through them to the United Nations and to the neutral states…”

The original JTA covers, including a full list of the demands from the rally and other details, can be viewed at www.jta.org/archive/huge-open-air-demonstration-in-new-york-demands-rescue-of-jews-from-europe

Leading national Jewish organizations organized this July 31, 1944, Madison Square Park mass rally to demand Allied action against the Nazi slaughter of European Jews.
New York had at the time the world’s biggest Jewish population, with a Jewish community of around 2 million. The city had hosted numerous similar rallies over the previous decade, all focused on building opposition to Hitler and support for the struggling Jews of Europe.

Beginning on March 4, 1934, “One year after Hitler’s ascension to power in Germany, tens of thousands of New Yorkers gathered at Madison Square Garden to hear the words of Rabbi Stephen Wise. 'Despite the oceanic tragedy which has befallen us,' Wise pronounced, 'we Jews tonight, joining in the chorus of civilization, indict Hitlerism as humans, as members of civilized society before the high court of human judgment.'
Wise’s words resonated for audience members attending the rally that March night. Over the course of the evening, they heard from a chorus of voices representing the American public, self-identifying across different racial, religious, and ideological lines. Framed as a 'court,' the speakers at the rally gathered to indict Hitler for his crimes against civilization, an intentionally pointed term that would offend Nazi ideologues claiming to protect civilization through Aryan supremacy. This mock trial was part of a larger trend of American Jewish protest performances staged during the Third Reich that intended to garner support for the rescue of European Jews….
On March 27, the AJCongress [American Jewish Congress] successfully staged a rally titled Stop Hitler Now to an audience of twenty thousand Jews in Madison Square Garden. Outside of the Garden, thirty-five thousand people stood protesting and ten thousand more marched through Brooklyn in solidarity. Simultaneous protests also occurred in major cities across the country. The United Press estimated that one million protesters participated in the nationwide demonstration that day.
In retaliation to the American uproar, Hitler threatened a one-day boycott against German Jewish businesses, to be resumed three days later if ‘international protests’ did not cease. Wise, after speaking with Undersecretary William Phillips at the State Department, agreed to a brief silence on the matter” (Gonzalez, Maya. Imagining the “Day of Reckoning”: AmericanJewish Performance Activism during the Holocaust. Masters Thesis, UMass-Amherst, 2023. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/33069)
We could locate no recorded examples of this flyer anywhere using OCLC, ArchiveGrid, or a google search.

Toning, some marks, and light edgewear, about Very Good- Condition. Rare and displayable (B/BK5) (Holo2-163-29B).

Price: $450.00