The Transfer Agreement (75 page)

Stephen Wise had promised the world that he would lead an international boycott organized by the established Jewish organizations of Europe and North America. Furthermore, the American Jewish Congress had promised that the structure conceived in Geneva would be placed at the disposal of Samuel Untermyer. With the Third Reich announcing ever more barbarous anti-Semitic measures in spite of the Transfer Agreement, and precious few days before winter to effect the death blow, the Geneva delegates were determined to do what they could not do in Prague: create a worldwide boycott organization and stop the Transfer Agreement.

The Second World Jewish Conference would be brief.
It
was agreed in advance that what was needed was not speeches, but organizing. Whereas the delegates who attended the Amsterdam conference all represented homespun boycott groups, the one-hundred delegates from twenty-four countries assembled on September 5 in Geneva's Salle Centrale did indeed represent a substantial sector of establishment Jewry. The list included: the Committee of Jewish Delegations, Paris; the Central Union of Bulgarian Jews, Sofia; the Federation of Polish Jews, Warsaw; the League of Jewish Women, Geneva; the Board of Deputies of Rumanian Jews, Bucharest; the Yugoslavian Association of Synagogues, Belgrade; the American Jewish Congress, New York City; and Jewish umbrella groups from Copenhagen, Vilna, Geneva, Florence, Warsaw, and Madrid. Attending as Mussolini's personal envoy was Rabbi Angelo Sacerdoti, the chief rabbi of Rome. Even Zionist officials were there, including delegates from the Zionist Federation of Switzerland, Dr. B. Mossinson of the Vaad Leumi, and Leo Motzkin of the Actions Committee.
⁸
The absence of the British Board of Deputies was especially noted, but Anglo-Jewry was ably represented by the British Federation of Jewish Relief Organizations, the Federation of Synagogues, and the Inter-University Jewish Federation.
⁹

At about
8:00 P.M.,
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise walked onto the stage to a standing ovation and proclaimed the conference officially convened. After telegrams of encouragement from Jewish communities all over the world were read, Wise stepped up to the lectern. This was his moment.
¹⁰

"Ladies and gentlemen .... Jews the world over are agreed that the overshadowing problem throughout Jewish life today is bound up with the situation of the German Jews ....
It
is no less true, ladies and gentlemen, that the German Jewish problem is itself overshadowed and dominated by
one question,
which must be answered by the World Jewish Congress .... That question is: Shall there be a world boycott of all ... products manufactured in Germany?"
¹¹

The crowd erupted in loud applause. Then, without mentioning the Zionist Organization by name, Wise broadened his question to include the negotiated agreements on everybody's mind. "Put even more simply, shall Jews have any relation whatever, industrial or economic, with a nation which has declared war ... against the Jewish people everywhere?"
¹²

He then described the difference between the initial boycott and what he now had in mind. "The Jewish boycott movement from the beginning has been absolutely
spontaneous .
..
not imposed from above. It grew out of the anguish of the Jewish masses, who inevitably reacted to the declaration of war against them by taking in hand the only weapon accessible to the Jewish masses." The question, said Wise, was
organization.

"I have no apologies to offer for the failure of the American Jewish Congress up to this time to declare a boycott .... It is easy enough for the unorganized and the irresponsible to make threats against Germany. . .. Throughout six months we have waited and waited, hoping against hope that it would not become necessary.
¹³

"Today, we who are responsible and authorized representatives of millions of Jewish people in many lands, face a grave question .... Can we ... wait any longer?" In his best oratorical style, Wise answered his own question. "We can no longer expect the Jewish people to stand by our side and to place their faith in us unless we declare before this conference that the time has come for an organized,
organized,
ORGANIZED
boycott-tuchtig und grundlich
[total and efficient] against Germany!"
¹⁴

Those assembled were not a valiant band of grass-roots leaders with plenty of energy but no organization. Rather they were the directors of established Jewish organizations with budgets, field offices, printing facilities, and paid staffs. What they could accomplish in a week would take an Untermyer months to achieve. They commanded resources not only in the major cities but in the smaller cities and villages. Waiting to gather these men and women under one roof to pool their combined international resources was worthwhile. These people could make the boycott victorious. They accepted Wise's explanation of delay.

"We of the American Jewish Congress," Wise shouted, "could not, would not, did not seek to organize and proclaim a
world
Jewish boycott .... Throughout six months, I have maintained this because I believed that such a boycott could be declared
only
by a body such as meets tonight in Geneva and speaks on behalf of millions of Jews. Whatever decision may be reached by the World Jewish Congress will be supported to the limit by the American Jewish Congress, indeed by all America's Jewry, the largest Jewry on earth, consisting of more than a quarter of the world's Jewish population."
¹⁵

If
there were voices of question about Stephen Wise's place in the boycott movement, those voices now seemed stilled. Nothing would stop this assembly from pooling resources to economically strangle Hitler's Germany. The delegates knew they would have to stop the Transfer Agreement as well. And they had every intention of forcing the Zionist Organization to abandon it.

Those who had made it to Geneva, including Wise, were badly in need of sleep. So the conference adjourned after Wise's opening address. But as the delegates filed out of Salle Centrale late that September
5, 1933,
they were united in their determination to spend the next two days planning to force Germany to crack that winter.

Under the unwritten code of the boycotters, Jews found handling German goods were to be branded as traitors and blacklisted. So in the first days of September, spontaneous calls went out in various countries to compel the Zionist Organization to stop its deals with Germany.
¹⁶
If
not?
Cherem.

For centuries, the cherem had been the curse of untouchability imposed against the Jewish people's greatest enemies and most reprehensible sinners. Once pronounced by a rabbi against a non-Jew or inanimate object, the person or object became untouchable for Jews. Once pronounced against a Jew, the Jew was either excommunicated or shunned or both. Anyone breaching the cherem would himself fall under the cherem. Obedience to this concept varied from community to community. Modern Jews would literally ignore a cherem. Orthodox Jews, however, considered the cherem as inviolable as the Sabbath itself. Moreover, the collective effect of numerous rabbis joining in a cherem decree could sway even a non-Orthodox Jew into obedience.
In
1933,
when deep religious traditions were ingrained in the large majority of Jewish households, the concept of cherem was powerful for a large part of the world Jewish population, especially in Europe
¹⁷

On September 6, the Assembly of Hebrew Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada was concluding its annual convention in New York. Two honored speakers addressed the group. The first was William Sweet, representing FDR's National Recovery Administration. Sweet flew in from Washington to urge the rabbis' influence for the NRA, which was advocating a boycott against companies not cooperating with the national recovery effort. The second speaker was Untermyer, who denounced those bargaining with Adolf Hitler to salvage "a few possessions" belonging to German Jews. Untermyer told the rabbis that a cherem was the only answer to such traitors. And it should be cast at once if Germany was to crack that winter.
¹⁸

Once pronounced, the decree would be binding upon hundreds of orthodox congregations under the Assembly's authority. Synagogue members would be ordered not to handle any German merchandise. They would be obligated to extend the cherem of untouchability to those who did.
If
the Zionist Organization became untouchable, Orthodox Jews, including the Mizrachi, would literally have to separate themselves from the movement.

Cutting religious Jewry off from Zionism was a radical step, but many endorsed it. On the day of the ceremony, the convention even received a radiogram of encouragement from Rabbi A. J. Kook, chief rabbi of Palestine. But Untermyer believed excommunication would isolate too many Jews and instill the boycott with a religious character that non-Jews could not relate to. He therefore urged a cherem confined to German goods alone. This prompted several rabbis to protest disruptively. But the majority deferred to Untermyer, voting for a cherem of untouchability, but not excommunication.
¹⁹

The solemn ritual began when two tall black candles were set on a table several feet apart, then lit. A rabbi wearing the traditional
talis
or prayer shawl, blew three times on the
shofar,
the twisted ram's horn traditionally sounded on the Day of Atonement. Following the shofar blasts, the chief rabbi of Newark, Rabbi B. A. Mendelson, chanted the decree in Hebrew: "In the name of the Assembly of Hebrew Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and other rabbinical organizations that join us in our beliefs, we take upon ourselves ... as leaders of Israel, to decree a cherem on everything manufactured in Hitler's Germany. From today on we are to refrain from dealing in all basic materials such as metals, textiles, and other things ... which come to us from the Nazis .... We urge all to not knowingly violate this boycott which we have this day decreed."
²⁰

Rabbi Mendelson then took his gavel and ritually extinguished the candle flames. As the flames turned to smoke, many in the room were heard to mutter softly, "Like this, for Hitler."
²¹

The spirit of the cherem was developing among the conferees in Geneva.The first working session on September 6 revolved around creating a viable worldwide boycott and the ultimate form of the World Jewish Congress. Leading off the deliberations was Nahum Goldmann, one of Zionism's most respected figures. He began with a confession: "What I could not say at Prague, I am stating from this platform as a good Zionist and a member of the Action Committee: Zionism is not in a position to handle the problem of Jewish rights in the Diaspora and can only handle the work of upbuilding Palestine .... Palestine is no solution. The solution must come from within Germany in order to avoid shattering Jewish rights in other countries."
²²

Goldmann told the delegates, "There must be two separate Jewish organizations-one for Palestine upbuilding and another to conduct the fight for Jewish rights. The latter should be proclaimed at this conference." He acknowledged that such a world body would be incomplete without the Board of Deputies. "Of all the Western European groups, the most difficult one for us to include is the English one .... [But] I am convinced that eventually we will succeed in winning the Board of Deputies ... None of us underestimates their importance."
²³

The Deputies had in fact been close to joining Wise in sponsoring the Geneva conference. But the Zionist hierarchy in London had persuaded the Deputies to abandon all projects not in harmony with Zionist poticy. This Goldmann knew, but was reluctant to verbalize. "I do not wish to go into detail as to why the Board of Deputies has so far remained aloof from taking a positive stand," Goldmann said. But, he added, when the World Jewish Congress became a reality, the Deputies would be unable to resist joining. Therefore, the first task of the conference, urged Goldmann, was to create the organization needed to conduct a "bitter," well-planned war against Nazi Germany.
²⁴

In the afternoon session, delegates debated whether their organization should be appointive or democratically elected. Dr. Henryk Rosmarin, a Polish General Zionist who had just arrived from Prague, bitterly argued, "A few days ago an agreement was signed between Germany and Palestine which brings shame upon the Jewish people. ... This was possible [because] there is no ... democratically elected representation of the Jewish people. [Zionist elections elected parties, not individuals.]
If
such a [democratically elected] authority were in existence," Rosmarin assured, "no Jew would dare ... enter into negotiation with the Hitler government."
²⁵

Stephen Wise later that night spoke of Zionist-Nazi deals during a formal address. He had intended to review the threat to international law posed by the Nazi regime, this for the benefit of the local press, which carried some influence over the Geneva-based League of Nations. The boycott was not really part of the address. But just a few minutes into his speech, Wise suddenly stopped to issue an unexpected public warning to the Zionist Organization: "I do not believe that the boycott has been ruthlessly trampled upon and violated by our fellow Jews or their representatives in Palestine," Wise said. "[But] if it be proved to me that any Jew in or out of Palestine, or any representative of any group of Jews, has been so base as to attempt to do business with Germany for the sake of profit and gain, I attest that life will not be bearable for any such man .... We are not rebuilding a Holy Land, out of which the Law and the Prophets came, in order to make a land of profits for some by their dealings with the German government."
²⁶