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176  The American Diplomats

              from all parts of the country urging the government to issue formal and
              strong protests against Germany’s mistreatment of Jews. in addition, many
              appeals were sent to senators and congressmen, who often called on the
              government to take action.
                it would be tedious to summarize all of these appeals, but reference to
              a few of them will indicate that many americans understood the serious-
              ness of the anti-semitic campaign by the Nazis. On March 23, 1933, only
              weeks after Hitler came to power, the louis Marshall Club of the Young
              Men’s Hebrew association of Mount Vernon, New York, wrote to Hull to
              express its horror at the “conditions of barbarism” in Germany and to press
              for diplomatic protests against the persecution of the Jews. “With bowed
              heads and prayers upon our lips, we urge you to stop this ‘madman’ before
              he becomes a Frankenstein to the world.” the letter continued with a warn-
              ing that the “lesson of history is that the black brigade of anti-semitism and
              religious discrimination does not limit the attack against any one people or
              any one creed.” it ended with an appeal to the secretary of state to break off
              relations, not with the German people, “but with the band of Nazi slaugh-
              terers who are controlling Germany.” 81
                Over the next few weeks, various organizations and political leaders ap-
              pealed to the government to take the Nazis to task. For example, the Miz-
              rachi Organization of Baltimore, which represented Orthodox Jews, sent
              a message to Hull pleading that he “take immediate steps” to “prevent the
              reversion to barbarism.” the protests were not limited to Jews. On March
              21, 1933, the president of the international Catholic truth society asked
              the U.s. government to “assume leadership in a worldwide humanitarian
              protest and demand that the Hitler regime . . . cease its inhuman and un-
              nationalistic [sic] furies.” in May, senator royal s. Copeland, a conservative
              democrat representing New York, asked Hull for “details of the latest in-
              formation you have on the situation in Germany with regard to the Jewish
              people.” 82
                Generally, the state department or the president’s subordinates answered
              the appeals with letters that expressed sympathy for the persecuted, but
              beyond that they tended to be noncommittal. Occasionally, if the protests
              came from especially influential or prominent citizens, state department
              officials were more forthcoming. thus, when Charles H. strong together
              with nine other lawyers protested the Nazi dismissal of Jewish judges and
              the imposition of severe restrictions on Jewish lawyers in practicing their
              profession, Phillips replied that although normally the state department
              avoided transmitting private messages to foreign governments, in this case
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