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...There
is great distress in German Jewry. We German Jews bore our
share in the general distress in Germany. We contributed our
contingent to the great army of people who were without work
and without income, and seemed to be excluded from meaningful
life. New distress has overtaken us. Jewish people are torn
away from their work; the sense and basis of their lives has
been destroyed.
The
purpose of a community reveals itself in times of trouble.
When the individual can no longer see any sense in his
existence, when he is alone, the community can direct him to a
purpose and an aim; when he alone can no longer do anything,
then the community must show its strength. In times of
distress the community must grow anew, gain life and
existence. It is from the community that the individual must
draw the strength to live and be active.
The
task of the community of the German Jews is great today. Need
stands at the doors of our people, and their strength
threatens to break. It is only from us, from the strength of
the community, that relief can come.
We
are faced with new tasks of unknown magnitude. It is not
enough to give bread to those who do not know how they are to
survive the next few days. Of course it is our first task to
make sure that none of our people goes hungry or lacks a roof
over his head. Of course we must make sure that the
institutions remain that we have built for our children, for
our old and our sick, as we have done in the past. They are
more necessary than ever today, even though difficulties may
force us to reduce considerably the demands we have made in
the past concerning facilities in these institutions. But all
that is not enough. We will not, and may not, consider that we
have done enough if we offer charity to our brothers and
sisters and provide for their simplest needs. Our duty is to
help them to find a new basis for their existence, work with
which they may make a living, which gives them once more a
task and sense to their lives! It would of course be pointless
if our people were to rush into various occupations that
appeal to them in some way, without much thought. It will be
the task of those responsible to investigate carefully where
there is room and opportunity for the work of Jewish people,
and then to offer them the opportunity to prepare themselves
for this work.
Great
demands will be made on the ability of our people to readjust,
to find their way into new kinds of work and new
circumstances. But much must also be demanded of the
willingness to make sacrifices of those who are saved the need
to change their lives. Those who are lucky enough to have work
and an income must help those who have lost everything. Anyone
who is still able to give must sacrifice the maximum! The
greatest possible demands must be made on everybody! Whoever
evades this duty is an enemy of the community. Every sacrifice
must be made, every sacrifice in aid for those who are now in
need, but also every sacrifice in contribution to our
communities, on whom innumerable persons now depend. Shame on
those whose lack of willingness for sacrifice, whose criminal
evasion of taxes forces our communities to dismiss officials
or employees! We must not be the cause of making one of
our own people lose his job or his bread!
The
tasks that await us can only be carried out in unity and
cooperation. All our differences of opinion, everything that
divides us, must be put aside. The major organizations and
social institutions of German Jewry have made the first move
in this direction. They have united for joint effort in the
Central Committee of the German Jews for Relief and
Reconstruction. All special interests and personal wishes are
silent there. The people who work together there labor only
with one great common aim before them: The Aid organization of
the German Jews!
This
central organization will see to it that everything is done
that must be done. It will see to it that there will be
neither duplication nor competition but joint effort. The
various organizations and offices will place their financial
means at the disposal of the central organization...German
Jews, show that you are able to rise to the magnitude of your
task! Do not imagine that the problems of German Jewry can be
solved without the greatest of sacrifices, by means of
undirected emigration. There is no honor in leaving Germany in
order to live untroubled on your income abroad, free of the
fate of your brothers in Germany. It will not help anybody to
go abroad aimlessly, with no prospect of making a living, but
only increase the numbers there who are without work and
means. Every prospect will be examined, every possibility
exploited to help those who no longer have a prospect of
earning a living in the German Fatherland to find some means
of settling abroad! But dont leave Germany senselessly! Do
your duty here! Dont push people off blindly to an
uncertain fate.
Let
nobody fail in his duty in this hour of trial! Let everybody
contribute according to his ability, and in his own place, to
the task of helping others! The hour of German Jewry has
arrived, the hour of responsibility, the hour of trial. Let
German Jewry prove itself capable of facing this hour.
C.V.-Zeitung,
No. 17, April 27, 1933.
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Zentralausschuss der deutschen Juden fuer Hilfe und Aufbau. |
