Bermuda Conference
Rabbi Stephen Wise
When news of the mass murder of the Jews was released, leaders in Britain and the United States were pressured to take action. A meeting between representatives of both governments was convened in Bermuda in April 1943. Jewish organizations were not permitted to attend. Ostensibly, the purpose of the meeting was to develop a plan to save those Jews who had not yet been sent to camps and gas chambers, but the true purpose was to forestall any action. Representatives of both countries decided that any at- tempt to save Jews might result in an unwelcome flood of refugees. After twelve days, they issued a weak statement and referred immigration issues to the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, a nearly defunct organization.
The Bermuda Conference was a victory for State Department opponents of Jewish immigration, and for the British Foreign Office. For Jewish leaders desperately seeking a way to rescue the last remnant of European Jewry, the conference was a disastrous failure.
Rabbi Stephen Wise
Rabbi Stephen Wise, an ardent Zionist and activist, was the first Jewish leader in the U.S. to be officially notified of the “Final Solution.” At the request of the government, he did not disseminate the information immediately. When the news became public, he met with government officials to urge action and planned massive protests that attracted thousands of people. As the head of the American Jewish Congress, he organized the “Stop Hitler Now” demonstration in New York City that attracted 75,000 people to hear speeches by labor leaders and other non-Jewish groups. Although Wise was a tireless advocate for European Jewry, his loyalty to President Roosevelt ultimately inhibited his willingness to take bold positions on critical immigration issues.
The Bergson Group
Peter Bergson, a resident of Jerusalem whose real name was Hillel Kook, came to the United States to raise support for a Jewish army in Palestine to fight with Allied troops against the Nazis. In 1942, when he learned about the extermination of Jews, Bergson redirected his efforts to rescue. Unwilling to work behind the scenes, Bergson and his supporters placed ads in more than 200 newspapers and lobbied Congress for American intervention on behalf of Hitler’s victims. As a result, Congress introduced a resolution recommending the establishment of an agency to rescue refugees fleeing the Nazis. In 1943, in response to a report that the Romanian government was prepared to ship 70,000 Jews to a safe haven as long as the Allies covered the expense, the Bergson group took out an attention- grabbing advertisement. Under the shocking headline FOR SALE TO HUMANITY 70,000 JEWS, GUARANTEED HUMAN BEINGS AT $50 A PIECE, the group demanded that the United Nations “immediately appoint an inter- governmental committee” to devise plans to end the Holocaust.
The Bergson Group staged a pageant in cities across the country. We Will Never Die attracted more than 100,000 people, including some government officials. Bergson drew support from many prominent Americans including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bob Hope, Groucho and Harpo Marx, Paul Robeson, and Walt Disney.
Bergson’s overall strategy to attract public attention aroused strong opposition from the Jewish establishment. Wary of anything that might inflame anti-Semitism or anger Roosevelt, main- stream Jewish leaders tried to discredit Bergson. Discouraged but undeterred, he continued to speak out and attract support from many Americans. His campaign led to the Rabbi’s March on Washington, in October 1943, the only public demonstration held in Washington during the war. Four hundred Orthodox rabbis met on the steps of the Capitol to read a petition imploring the government to save European Jews. Roosevelt declined an invitation to meet with them.
The forceful activities of Bergson’s Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe were partially responsible for Roosevelt’s establishment of the War Refugee Board in 1944. It also influenced the British who agreed to allow The Jewish Brigade in Palestine, a unit of 5,000 Jews, to serve with the British army. After the war, Bergson turned his attention to Jewish statehood, drawing support from both Democratic and Republican leaders. The importance of Bergson’s achievements, unrecognized during his lifetime, is increasingly valued today.