Evening star., 1939-12-27
Appeal for Jewish
Homeland Renewed
Says Christmas Season Lends
Emphasis to Plight Of
Persecution Victims

| To the Editor Of The Star:
| My attention has been called to an
article in the Chicago Daily News deal
ing with the Jewish homeland question.
and am submitting the following some
what abridged version as letter to the
editor of The Star:
These are the home coming days Of
the year. 'On Thanksgiving, or Christ
mas, or New Year Day, all over this
God-favored land, in the year 1899, the
grownup boys and girls are going home
to visit the old folks, bringing the kiddies
with them; or grandpa and grandma are
coming from the old home to visit q
john or Bill in the city, and see the
grandchildren. This is home time-and
how precious 1t is to us ALL
There's no sweeter word in the English
language than home!
And yet. 1899 is the year of the home
4Soo PSOPACo, C11OCC WllO 1ldVc 1lO SpOG
left on earth they can call home"
Hitler has made hell of what was
home to the kindly. music loving, gentle
| people of Austria
Czecho-Slovakia is now but q name for
what was once homeland for 1000, 900
| liberty-loving people
Poland is waste, peopled by helpless.
starving women and children, whose men
| folk are killed. or carried off into slavery
in an enemy country.
| Russia is rapidly making a shambles
of the cities and villages that spelled
home" to the Firms.
! Millions upon millions Of helpless,
hopeless, homeless souls! But among
these millions. there is one class more
harmless than all the others-the Jews
What does the future hold for the Jews,
driven from their ancestral homes in
| Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and Poland?
| They flee-but to where?
| Gone are all the chimerical schemes
for settling the outcast Jews, driven like
cattle from the lands that they called
home" in British Guiana, Tanganyika,
Rhodesia or Alaska. There remains only
the dream Of Jewish homeland in
Palestine. Thence they go by the thou
sands, suffering every hardship that men
and women and children can know on
their bitter way-some 500 every week
1t is way of sorrows"; a hegira of
nameless horrors. a new crusade of the
crushed to the Holy Land.
And what sorry story is the current
story OF British official interference to
the fate Of the Jew! As we recount the
tale we cannot believe the action taken
truly represents the sentiment of the
British people.
A little more than year ago Prime
Minister Chamberlain was halted III his
announced purpose to scrap the terms of
the mandate. under which Britain ruled
Palestine. by the outcry that arose, par
ticularly from the United States. He
then decided to call Jewish-Arap con-
ference in London. To this the Jews con-
sented only to discover that this was
but blind to cover the purpose to turn
the Holy Land over to government that
would be two-thirds Arab and one-third
Jewish. Jewish immigration into Fales-
tine was to be limited to $4,000, spread
over period Of five years, at the end of
which all Jewish immigration was to
stop. Just another ghetto, this time in
the Holy Land.
| To Its credit, the League of Nations
Committee to which this plan was sub
mitted. refused approval Despite this
disapproval the British Government at
tempted to put the plan into operation.
The Jews in Palestine resisted, and con-
tinued to receive immigrants and to pur-
chase land for them. Then Britain de-
creed that all immigration should cease
for six months. This was likewise
ignored. Finally the collapse of the plan
was made subject of parliamentary
consideration and it was discovered that
British sentiment was overwhelmingly
opposed to the whole idea
Then came the war. Nowhere under
the Union Jack was the response to the
plea for support of the mother country
more prompt than in Jewish Palestine.
Out of a total population of half million,
35,000-1l0,0O0 men and $4,000 women
registered for war service! With Ger
many driving out the Jews-from Ger
many itself, and from Austria and
Czecho-Slovakia and Poland-this little
community In Palestine alone holds open
the door Of escape. It has voluntarily
assumed the burden of accepting and
assimilating 125,0OO of the homeless an
nually.
| The whole story is an epic, written
in blood and tears-a vast canvas that
comprehends the heights Of stark cour-
age. indomitable resolution, ineffable
kindliness, and the depths Of hate, in
tolerance and bestial cruelty, with mid
die tones Of indefensible indifference and
callousness to human suffering
The voice of America-where in our
citizenship we know neither Jew nor
Gentle, and where an understanding
Congress has approved the setting up at
last of homeland for the disinherited
Jews of the world in Palestine-calls to
England ito do justice and to love kind
ness and to walk humbly with thy God"
as 1t bears the responsibility for the
mandate that gave it control over the
only place in the world where the home
less Jews of the world can CO.
December 26. LOUIS SP1EGLER,