The Cry of the Jews
The statement made by Mr Attlee in the House of Commons on Tuesday regarding the action of the British and Allied Govern- ments in face of Hitler's threats to exterminate the Jews carried matiers no further than previous statements have done, saying merely that " the Government was now engaged on consultations with the other Governments most immediately concerned to see what further measures it was possible to take to assist those refugees who made their way to countries beyond'German control." One obvious measure is to let such refugees into this country, and help them to get here. That would seem to require consultation with no one else at all. As to what more might be done, that whole question is discussed in detail and in a strikingly temperate tone, having regard to the fact that the writer is himself a Jew, by Mr. Victor Gollancz in his recent threepenny pamphlet, Let My People Go. Whether it is of the smallest use to approach Germany through neutral countries or the International Fed Cross may well be doubted, for it seems probable that Hitler in his sadism is deter- mined to destroy Jews, not merely to get rid of them, but the attempt at worst could do no harm. One practical suggestion is that shipping should be provided at Lisbon. so far as any can be spared, to transport from there any who can escape from hell to that free and neutral country. Poignant though it be, the pamphlet is a document which concentrates in some thirty impressive. pages all that needs saying about one of the most terrible happenings of the war. To read and consider it is a painful duty, but a duty.
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