ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE USA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400180022-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 1999
• Sequence Number: 22
• Content Type: OPEN

POLITICAL AFFAIRS
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CPYRGHT
There is much talk in the Jewish community about the growing
danger of anti-Semitism in the United States. Studies are being
made, books are being published, statements are being issued. We
do not wish to underestimate the importance of studying this ques-
tion and Publishing material about it. This is, in itself, very impor-
tai:t. I-Iowever, at times one gets the impression: that the researchers
arc trying to minimize the danger, Recently, two separate studies
have appeared. Both of them point to the same tendency.
The Two Investigations
In December 1934 the American Jewish Committee published the
results of an investigation into anti-Semitism in the U.S., conducted
during the years 1937-1962. The results showed:
-ti:at attitudes to Jews and Judaism have changed drastically
during the last quarter century;
-that the majority of Americans look-upon Jews as individuals
rather than as members of a racial group;
-that Judaism is widely regarded as one of the principal reli-
gions in the country;
-that many hostile stereotypes "have almost completely Mp-
peared";
-that open anti-Semitism has experienced a "massive decline";
-that most Americans are against a quota system for Jews in
the colleges (25 years ago a majority were for it);
-that most non-Jews displayed a willingness that their children
have Jewish friends;
-that a majority of Americans in business and industry are ready
to work and deal with Jews.
The percentage of those ready to accept "Jews as marriage part-
ners increased to the same degree as those ready to hire Jews as em-
ployees, admit them to colleges and be their neighbors." At the
same time, however, the investigation warned that there is a hidden
prejudice which can be aroused in times of upheaval and crisis in
American society. .
The University of California's Research Center also conducted
a broad survey for the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith on
anti-Semitism in the U.S. It is due to be completed this year. The
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suits of the study:
-64 per cent of those interviewed stated that they like Jews bet-
ter after they get to know them more intimately;
-'16 per cent said that Jcws are warm and friendly people;
-74 per cent said that Jews arc becoming more and more like
other Americans;
-83 per cent said they slid not mind Jews as neighbors;
-87 per cent said that business firms should hire the best quali-
fied people whether they are Jews or not.
Schary also said, however, that the survey shows that even though
anti-Jewish discrimination has diminished, old lies against Jews "are
deeply rooted in the maids of too many Americans."
Another ADL leader, Samuel Dclsimer, brought out several other
points revealed by the survey.
-10 per cent of those questioned believe that Jews have too
much power in the United States;
-26 per cent believe that Jews are too powerful in business;
-27 per cent of those who believe that Jews are too powerful
think that steps must be taken to remove this power, In the deep
South this figure rises to a majority of those questioned;
-42 per cent of those questioned believe that Jews, more than
others, are ready to adopt unsavory methods to attain their ends.
Another 12 per cent stated that they are not sure;
-35 per cent said that Jews are so smart and deceitful that other
people don't have a chance against them (11 per cent had no defi-
nite opinion on this question).
One of the questions was: "If a Congressional candidate said he
was against Jews, would you vote for or against him?" Some 57 per
cent replied that they would vote against him; 5 per cent that they
would vote for him, and 38 per cent that it would make no difference
to them or that they were not sure how they would vote. In some
southern states, a majority said they would vote for the candidate,
or that his anti-Semitism would not bother them.
On the statement: "Jews should stop complaining about what hap-
pened to them in Nazi Germany," 43 per cent agreed and 17 per cent
said they didn't know, The other 40 per cent did not agree.
The two investigations agree that there is a great measure of
prejudice against Jews among large sections of Americans and this
prejudice is greater in certain parts of the country. At the same time,
both reports underscore the fact that in recent years discrimination
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Arncric:u; s prejudice against Jcws has dun:mshecl.
Neither report, however, says anything about the reasons for the
decline of prejudice. We believe that one of the reasons is the fact
that in World War II thousands of Jcwvish young men fought side by
side with thousands of non-Jews on the battlefields of Europe and
Asia, lived together with them, and this helped to rid many non-Jews
of some of their prejudices. The war helped, too, to bring many
Jews into certain industries where they were previously not present,
or present only in small numbers, such as auto, transportation, com-
munication, machine building, etc. After the war, Jews remained in
those industries. This also led to the diminution of prejudice among
some of the non-Jews with whom they worked. The anti-discrimina-
tion laws, of course, did not come of themselves, but were due to the
struggles of Negro, Jewish and other groups and organizations.
Anti-Semitic Acts on the Rise
We do not have as yet a full analysis of the University of California
report. But in what has been made public so far, there is no men-
tion of anti-Semitic acts. Yet the fact is obvious that anti-Semitism
in the U.S. has become more active and more aggressive than it was
in the 1930s and 1940s. This impression is gained merely from read-
ing the newspapers, from observing what goes on around us, and from
various partial and incomplete s lics.
In February 1966, Rabbi Israel Movsovitch appealed to Attorney
General Katzenbach to investigate whether a "central organization"
of anti-Semites exists in the U.S. which is responsible for the great
number of outbreaks of fires and vandalization of synagogues in vari-
ous parts of the country. Rabbi Movsovitch is past president of the
New York Board of Rabbis and present Chairman of the Interna-
tional Synagogue at Kennedy Airport.
That the alatm raised by Rabbi Movsovitch and also by the
American Jewish Committee in a recent report is well founded can
be seen from a number of recent news accounts.
On October 7, 1965, vandrls broke into the Congregation Bikur
Cholim of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They, carved a swastika into
the altar and slashed five sefer Torahs (Torah, scrolls). Three weeks
later someone hurled two home-made bombs into the same synagogue.
In Trumbull, a town near Bridgeport, someone painted the word
JEW on two buildings.
Rabbi Alexander Schuch of Congregation Bikur Cholim said, after
the incidents: "I thought that this kind of behavior existed only
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ing the war."
During the IIigh Holy Days in October 1955, so many attacks
too?: place against Jews on the East Side of New York that those who
attended synagogue in the evenings had to ask for police protection.
Jewish youngsters, children and old nun were attacked with stones
and bottles accompanied by anti-Semitic epithets.
At the end of October, anti-Semites set fire to' a synagogue in
Brooklyn and burned up 18 Torah scrolls. In the early part of No-
vember, anti-Semites painted s\vasiil,-s on the Shaarci Tfila Syna-
gogue in Queens and smashed the entrance-steps. Rabbi Shmuel
Shefflcr said that this was the third such incident in two months.
At about the same time, on November 3, in Holyoke, Massachusetts,
anti-Semites broke into Roclphci Sholem Synagogue, painted swas-
tikas on the walls and tried to set the place on fire. The Torah scrolls
were scattered over the floor. A few weeks previously Temple Beth
El in Springfield, Massachusetts, had been burned to the ground.
On November 6, an editorial in the Ilolyoke Transcript-Telegram
condemned the anti-Semitic attack on the synagogue. That same
night, hoodlums broke into the home of William Dwight, editor of the
paper (Mr. and Mrs. Dwight were out of the city) and smeared big
swastikas on the walls. Police Lieutenant Adrian Monte, who is re-
sponsible for the investigation of anti-Semitic acts, said that there was
no evidence that anti-Semitism was involved.
In early January 1966, young hoodlums set fire to a Jewish center
i , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, causing heavy damage.
On January 4, 1966, a Jewish father told a meeting of parents
of Bronx High School of Science that a Nazi gang was active in the
school, terrorizing Jewish children. He reported that in October
they had attacked his 14-year-old son who was wearing an armband
reading "Peace Is The Only Defense." The young Nazis beat the
boy and spit on him. Another 14. year-old boy, at the same meeting,
confirmed the existence of this gang in the school.
Early in January this year Nazis set up three huge swastikas near
the home of Simon Barfam in Oakland, California. Barfam, a Jew,
came to the U.S. in 1945 after having spent nine years in Nazi con-
centration camps.
At the end of January came the scandal with the "Rat Finks" in
New Jersey. This is an organization of young middle-class, wealthy
"activists" in the Young Republican organization of New Jersey. They
made their appearance after the 1964 Republican Convention in San
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n nlbers o the Rat Finics.
Last May this group conducted a songfest at the state convention
of the Young Republicans in Wildwood. The songs were nastily anti-
Semitic and anti-Negro. They handed Out song sheets to the dele-
gates, many of whom sang along with their. A month later, the
same kind of racist songfest vas condu; tcd at the national conven-
tion of the Young Republicans in Miami.
At the end of January, racists burned crosses near a Catholic
church in Baltimore. The same day, anti-Semitic slogans were
scrawled on a Jewish center in the same city. Rabbi Jacob Max said
this was not the first time such things had happened at the center.
At about the same time, in Dallas, Texas, George Lincoln Rock-
well, "fuehrer" of the American Nazi Party, picketed the offices of
the ADL, carrying anti-Semitic placards with slogans such as: "Mix-
ing of the races is carried on and financed by Jews. Ninety per cent
of the condemned Communist traitors and spies are Jews."
All the above-mentioned incidents, and many more, have been re-
ported in the press during the past few months. Attacks on Jews and
Jewish institutions are becoming more frequent and more widespread.
In February 1966, at a basketball game between Georgetown U.
and NYU, a student in a Nazi uniform led the cheers. Many students
at NYU were horrified. The Georgetown students apologized. They
said that although the incident began innocently enough, they real-
ized it had possible insulting implications. Accepting the apology,
the NYU students said they understood the incident was not pre-
meditated nor malicious and was not clone with anti-Semitic intent.
We have our doubts about the "innocent" intent of this incident.
But innocent or otherwise, it is characteristic of the atmosphere in our
country today that the cheer leader of a large university like George-
town would even think of putting on a Nazi uniform.
111is is not the only case where men have put on Nazi uniforms
and paraded through the streets of America. Usually the American
would-be storm troopers do not content themselves with the uni-
fornls. They threaten to kill Jews and they spread hatred against
Negroes. Such incidents have happened in New York, New Jersey,
Indiana, Arizona, California, Ohio and' other states. Often the storm-
troopers are high school boys. Superficially, these incidents seem iso-
lated and unrelated. But they are all very much alike. If the parti-
cipants are not organizationally connected, they are certainly all "in-
spired" by the widespread Nazi and racist propaganda now being
disseminated by radio, telephone, books, pamphlets and leaflets.
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GHT , Anti-Seinitic Literature
Before me is one of the oldest anti-Semitic publications in the U.S.
-The Cross and the Flag. This monthly periodical, founded by Ger-
ald L. K. Smith, is the organ of the Christian Nationalist Crusade.
It is in its 25th year. Here are a few gems from the October 1965
issue: "A Jew started Communism, it is organized by Jews, it is fin-
anced by Jews. The most important Jewish journals have boasted
that the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was the work of Jewish
money, Jewish brains and Jewish organizations.... The Jews and the
professional spreaders of brotherhood in the U.S. are always talking
about hate. Their definition of hate is personified by anybody who
wants to maintain the tradition of a Christian America and is against
the mixing of races. No Christian I know wants to harm a Jew or a
Negro; but must they condemn us for carrying on a campaign for
racial purity?"
Here is a mimeographed publication, a caricature of the' Diary of
Ann Frank. It is called The Diary of Ann Fink and it contains a nasty
picture of the martyred girl. But the picture of the death camps are
real, and under each picture is a "humorous" description. The last
page has this "dedication": "This booklet is disrespectfully dedi-
cated to those reds, pinks, punks, sobsisters, leftwingers, moderates,
Jews, nigger-loving sellout artists and all others of their ilk who would
undermine and destroy our great Republic." On the same page, is the
number of a Post Office box in Birmingham, Alabama where copies
may be obtained. .
Another mimeographed brochure issued by the National Renais-
sance Party is full of racist propaganda against Negroes and .Jews.
One page contains the following inscription in large type: "Commu-
nism and race-mixing is Jewish."
It is characteristic of all the ultra-Right and neo-Nazi organiza-
tions that they hate both Negroes and Jews and at the same time are
dead-set not only against Communism but against anything progres-
sive in the broadest sense of the word. And although the John Birch
Society denies it is anti-Semitic, the ADL nevertheless has docu-
mented beyond doubt that the Society is both thoroughly anti-Semitic
and anti-Negro. (See Arnold Forster and Benjamin K. Epstein,
Danger on the Right, Random House, New York, 19M.)
A good example of this is the magazine Counterattack, founded
in 1947 to "fight Communism." The magazine has been widely used
by various firms to put people on the blacklist. "American Business
Consultants, Inc." acquired the copyright of Counterattack at its in-
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ception. This is the same organization which in 1950 published the
infamous Red Channels, the book which provided a long list of per-
sons accused of being Communists or fellow-travelers. Most of the
names were of film, TV or stage artists, hundreds of whom lost their
jobs.
After the murder of President Kennedy, Counterattack adopted the
"line" that Communists had committed the crime. It claimed "a Jack
Rubinstein was active from 1938 to 1940 in the Young Communist
League and the Young Student League of Chicago." In this case,
Counterattack is pulling several dirty tricks at one and the same time.
They found a Jack Rubinstein who had been a Communist in Chi-
cago. Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Oswald, is also originally from
Chicago and his name was Rubinstein. Here you have the complete
frameup made to order-A Communist Jew mixed up in the murder
of the President.
The Ultra-Right Is Growing
The ultra-Right is growing in the number of organizations springing
up in all corners of the land. It is growing in the number of members
and in its "respectability." It is no longer a matter only of the
American Nazi Party-now we have the National Renaissance Party,
the Christian Anti-Communist Crusade, the Christian Crusade, the
Minutemen, American Patriots, Inc. But most important is the John
Birch Society.
It has long been known that policemen in many states are mem-
bers of the Society. But it was a shock for many New Yorkers when
they learned that the Police Department in their city too has a large
number of Birch Society members. The leader of the Society him-
self boasted that the number was 500. It is not hard to imagine bow
such policemen carry out their duties in Harlem and Bedford-Stuy-
vesant, and in the Jewish neighborhoods of the Bronx, Manhattan and
Brooklyn. At the recent hearing in New York concerning the police
and the Birch Society, open fascist demonstrations took place. Two
Brooklyn assemblymen, who began an investigation of the Birch So-
ciety, received a stream of anti-Semitic letters and other hate litera-
ture, as well as many threatening phone calls.
The National Renaissance Party too has grown stronger in New
York. The Board of Education in February decided that this neo-
Nazi and anti-Semitic group may use public school bu'1dings for its
meetings. On March 18 the group held an open meeting in a junior
high school in Yorkville, replete with uniforms and hate slogans.
The ultras own not only their own radio stations, newspapers, a-
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have also penetrated the text books used in our public schools. '"'hey
are "lecturing" at universities, They are getting more and more time
on leading radio networks. They operate with tremendous funds,
which they receive from tax-free, foundations. They arc liberally
supported by millionaires and large business firms. (See Forster and
Epstein, Danger on the fli(,ht,) In the 1964 elections the ultras pub-
lished many books in hundreds of thousands of copies. Leaflets were
spread in the millions-containing slogans such as these: "If you want
a Negro living next door, all you have to do is vote the Democratic
ticket. It is better to be extremely right than extremely w%rong." The
leaflets listed names and addresses of various ultra-Right publications
such as Thunderbolt in Birmingham, Common Sense-in Union, New
Jersey and The Cross and the Flag in Los Angeles.
Barry Coldwater, standard-bearer of the ultra-Right and militant
advocate of war in the Far East, was soundly trounced in the 1964
popular vote, but the ultras made important gains nevertheless. They
captured one of the nation's two big parties. They used the elec-
tions for bringing many new members into their organizations. They
broadened their influence and their activity. They distributed 30
million pieces of propaganda literature.
In addition to the nco-Nazi parties and the ultra-Right movement,
there are a large number of war criminals in our country who dur-
ing World War II helped the Nazis "rid Europe of Communists and
Jews." They come from Lithuania, Latvia, the Ukraine, Russia, Yugo-
slavia, Estonia and other countries, and they are here by the hun-
dreds. Some of them had been sentenced to death for their crimes
in the countries where they committed them. The mass murders
which they committed are well-documental. The Soviet government
has in many cases requested our government to deliver these crimi-
nals so that they could be tried or so that the verdicts already de-
creed could be carried out. A similar request was made by the Yugo-
slav government in the case of one Andreo Artucovic, who now lives
in Long Beach, California. But our government refuses to turn them
over, although international agreements Vroviding for this were made
at Potsdam and Yalta.
The above criminals have not been idle here either, They are ac-
tive in the organizations of the so-called "captive nations," they have
their own press and conduct war-inciting activities througll demon-
strations, picket lines, etc. These organizations are aided by govern-
ment people in Washington and in the state governments. This is
done by addressing their meetings, by supporting their parades, and
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One such "immigrant" is Nicholas
munitions mag,iato in Roumania. and a leader of the lfo;l (It,.t , t1:~`'
fascist organization which organized a sleughter of Jc\rrs in true est in 1941. Malaska came to the U.S. with the help of the tlu?n :1t-
torncy General VVi`am P. Rodgers and Vice President Nixon. Today
he is a prominent l iciness man in New York. There are others, of
varying importance, who entered the U.S., often illegally and by
various machinations. Today Washington is their protector.
hero are a Couple of illustrations which point, on one hand, to the
connection of war criminals with certain emigre organizations and
with the organization of the so-called "captive nations," and to the
connection of the government with the "captive nations."
In March, 1934, there took place a trial in Soviet Lithuania against
seven war criminals, among them the priest, Lionginas Jankauslcas.
This clergy,iian was accused of being the leader of a gang which
murdered twelve hundred pbople in the town of Slaioclas during the
Nazi occupation. The criminals were sentenced to various terms of
prison at hard labor, Janlcausicas to fifteen years.
Six of the murderers arc now paying for their crimes in Soviet
prisons. The seventh, Jankauskas, is free. He resides on Grand
Street in Brooldyn. He is now an American citizen and is known as
Jankus. He is the business manager of the United Lithuanian Relief
Fund of America, Inc. One can well imagine what kind of relief he
is handing out and who are the recipients of this relief.
On .April 21, the New York Times carried a cloak-and-dagger story
about a certain agent of the CIA, one Jure Raus. He is thirty-nine
years old and works in Washington as an "engineer" for the Bureau
of Public Roads, However, this engineering business is only a front.
His real occupation is his work for the CIA. His task is "to spy in
Soviet Estonia and amongst Estonian immigrants in foreign countries
and in the United States." So states an affidavit of the CIA.
Raus is also the past National Commander of the Estonian Legion
of Liberation. These are the same legionnaires who, during the Sec-
ond World War, helped Hitler "liberate" Soviet Estonia where they
left mass graves of murdered men, women and children. These are
the same legionnaires who annihilated practically the whole of tho
Jewish population of Estonia.
Richard Helm, then Deputy Director of the CIA, issued a sworn
statement that the t ngency has "fine, intelligent sources which exist
and are developed" through immigrant groups.
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The New York Times states: 0.0imakes
there are about a hundred thousand members in several hundred ac-
tive immigrant associations in America which are organized by exiles
from countries which are now under Communist rule. Most of them
are strongly nationalistic and anti-Communist and maintain informal
connections with their countrymen who are still behind the Iron
Curtain."
Here is another example which points to the close collaboration
between the American government and the "'Assembly of Captive
European Nations." In the magazine ACEN News of March-April
there is the following item:
A five-man delegation from ACEN conferred on December 14
with top U.S. State Department officials about the current situation
in East-Central Europe.
During the three-hour meeting the ACEN delegation, led by
Chairman Vaclovas Sidzikauskas of Lithuania, spoke with U. Alexis
Johnson, Deputy Under Secretary; Walter J. Stoessel, Jr., Deputy
Assistant Secretary; and Raymond E. Lisle, Director, Office of East-
ern European Affairs.
The other representatives of AC:EN at the conference were Vice
Chairman Stefan Korbonski of Poland, George M. Dimitrov of
Bulgaria, Jozef Lettrich of Czechoslovakia, and Ferenc Nagy of
Hungary....
Te eeting ... brought into sharp focus the fact that the U.S.
Government and ACEN share the same view regarding the long-
range goal for the people of East-Central Europe-freedom and
independence through self-determination.
The "captive nations" organizations are often connected with simi-
lar organizations in other countries in Europe and Latin America. Di-
rectly and indirectly they are connected with various sections of the
Nazi "international." It is no accident that anti-Semitism has recently
been intensified in West Germany, Austria and other countries in
Western Europe; it is being supported by important forces in the U.S.
The important Jewish community organizations and their leaders
are strangely silent about all this. A couple of months ago, to be
sure, the American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Labor
Committee issued statements about the fact that war criminals and
murderers of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people are free in this
country. They said that they had discussed the question with rep-
resentatives of the Department of Justice in Washington, and that
these officials had told them that in order to deport such criminals
back to the countries where they had committed those crimes, they
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