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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