The Old Jew Who Fought Hitler

By Steve Rodan

A century ago, Samuel Untermyer was the poster child for the American Jewish dream. The son of German Jews and a millionaire attorney by the time he was 40, Untermyer was wooed by the Zionists to raise money from his rich friends as well as the masses of poor and middle-income Jews. He became president of the powerful Keren Hayesod, a fund that raised money for Jewish settlement in Palestine. Until 1926, he was a vice president of the rapidly-growing American Jewish Congress.

At age 75, Untermyer threw away his respectability to fight Hitler. For more than five years, this little Jew was engaged in a cat fight with Germany that restrained Berlin from its genocidal policy against the Jews.

In April 1933, weeks after Hitler's takeover of Germany, Untermyer told U.S. supporters of Hebrew University that Hitler was serious about destroying the Jews, although he sought to conceal his intentions.

Untermyer unveiled what he said was the solution to counter Germany -- boycott. Stop trading with Germany, stop selling German goods, he said, and the new Hitler regime would be driven to its knees. The Germans would be denied food and fuel, and next winter the country would be starving and freezing.

"Our next act should be to see to it that nowhere in the world and under no circumstances should a Jew, from this day forth, buy or use merchandise manufactured in Germany or support German industry in any form," Untermyer said.

The boycott weapon was not unfamiliar to the American Jewish community. At the turn of the century there had been a boycott of Czarist Russia and its pogroms against the Jews. In New York City, Jewish women boycotted and attacked kosher butchers in 1902 after a 50 percent increase in the price of meat. Both boycotts were deemed successful.

This time, however, Untermyer, who had advised everybody from the White House to New York City, faced powerful opponents. Among them were the American Jewish leadership and the Zionist movement. The American Jewish elite had become rich trading with Berlin and did not want to stop. The Zionist leadership were negotiating with Hitler to share in the Nazi confiscation of Jewish assets that would provide trade with and immigration to Palestine.

Untermyer was fighting on several fronts. The American Jewish Committee said he had no authority to act without the organization's permission. In turn, Untermyer's criticism of Chaim Weizmann and the World Zionist Organization, which in August signed the so-called Transfer Agreement with Germany, was withering. That agreement committed the Zionists to torpedo any boycott.

"The Zionist Organization has no business to enter upon such negotiation," Untermyer said. "Why sell our birthright for a mess of pottage?" [1]

Untermyer's battle with the Jewish leadership was no less vicious. Virtually every major Jewish organization -- the exception being the Jewish War Veterans -- opposed the boycott of Hitler. Most used their influence to block Untermyer's campaign -- whether his attempt to publish full-page ads in New York daily newspapers or limiting his access to the new administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who did not want to anger Berlin. Others sought to coopt Untermyer. They included Rabbi Stephen Wise who replaced Untermyer as head of Keren Hayesod, and, after talks with Roosevelt, came out against the boycott. [2]

Still, the boycott was wildly popular with ordinary Jews. Untermyer was also gaining support from Christians who saw Hitler as a threat. In a letter to Weizmann on Sept. 10, 1933, Morris Rothenberg, president of the Zionist Organization of America and founder of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, warned that the Transfer Agreement could not be justified in grassroots America.

"The agreement which the Anglo-Palestine Bank made with the Germans authorities has made a terrible impression everywhere, particularly in America, where Untermyer is playing havoc with the Zionists for it," Rothenberg wrote. "The sentiment of the public is entirely with his point of view, and I am inclined to believe that the instinct of the Jewish masses is correct. You cannot in one breath call upon Jews and the friends of Jews to help us boycott German goods and at the same time violate the boycott ourselves. They cannot and will not understand the argument in favor of the transaction [Transfer Agreement]."

Berlin was highly concerned over the boycott. In late June 1933, Untermyer, together with New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, announced a nationwide boycott of Germany. Prominent Americans joined, including former President Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's cousin.

Similar efforts were launched throughout Europe, particularly Britain, the Netherlands and Poland. In 1935, the campaign was joined by Winston Churchill and British Labor Party leader Clement Attlee. The German Embassy and consulate closely monitored Untermyer, and intelligence agents periodically visited his offices in the guise of journalists.

At one point, Untermyer said he had been approached by one of Hitler's henchmen who proposed negotiations to end the boycott. Untermyer said he refused. Later, pro-Nazi rallies were held to denounce Untermyer and his campaign. At one point, Untermyer received 24-hour police protection.

"I have no intention of going to see Hitler, although asked by his friends to do so," Untermyer said. "It is an essential part of the Hitler policy that the Jew shall be persecuted to the point of extermination." [3]

The German fear of Untermyer was compounded by warnings within the Roosevelt administration that it might be unable to stop the boycott. Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Cordell Hull, relayed this to German diplomats. In September 1933, Hull told German ambassador Hans Luther of increasing pressure to act against Germany. He said the pressure could increase when Congress returned to session in January 1934. [4]

In June 1934, U.S. ambassador to Berlin, William Dodd, asked German Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath to ease anti-Semitic propaganda. Dodd was said to have been assured that this would take place. Weeks later, however, the Nazi regime launched another campaign against the Jews.

Eventually, the war by the American Jewish and Zionist leaderships took its toll. Media coverage of Untermyer's campaign dwindled. Meanwhile, Wise's American Jewish Congress raised five times more money than Untermyer for what it claimed was boycott activities.

Behind the scenes were the White House and State Department, which promoted brisk trade with Berlin, the headquarters of subsidiaries of major U.S. corporations, including IBM. The administration and most of Congress looked away as Berlin took over German organizations in the the United States and made them subservient to Hitler's agenda.

Despite Washington's defense of Germany, Untermyer remained a threat. His calls to boycott the 1936 Olympics in Berlin led to a significant relaxation of anti-Jewish measures before and during the games. Hitler himself repeatedly overcame opposition by government officials and extended the Transfer Agreement. His fear was that cutting off funds to the Zionists would prompt the movement to support the boycott.

Slowly, Untermyer saw his boycott network crumble. Many of his supporters, particularly Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, one of the leading Zionists in America, either left or stopped being active. His dealings with colleagues turned harsh.

On Dec. 19, 1937, Untermyer gave his last speech on the boycott. He was ill, and within four months would end his activities. At that point, Hitler would give the green light for the bloodiest pogrom in the Reich, which also contained Austria. The pogrom, called Kristallnacht, would be accompanied by the first deportations of Jews from Germany.

In his final speech, Untermyer blamed many for the failure of the boycott. But he reserved his harshest words for the Zionist and Jewish leaderships, which worked to divide and betray American Jews in the face of Hitler's genocidal mission.

"There are still too many turn-coats, hyphenated Jews and apostates in our ranks," Untermyer, who died in 1940, said. "The sooner we expose them and root them out the better it will be for our welfare and self-respect. They are an undiluted liability." [5]

Notes

1. "Hitler's Bitterest Foe": Samuel Untermyer and the Boycott of Nazi Germany, 1933–1938" Richard Hawkins. American Jewish History. Vol. 93, No. 1. March 2007

2. In the Arena: An Autobiographical Memoir. Emannuel Neumann. Page 86. Herzl Press, 1976.

3. "A Jew who comes to lead all Jews against Hitler" Sunday Express [London], July 16, 1933.

4. "Hitler's Bitterest Foe"

5. ibid

Below: Samuel Untermyer