Unpublished video of the Rabbis’ March on Washington, 1943
On the Capitol steps, Rabbi Wolf Gold reads into a microphone beside Dr. J.H. Gordon. The unpublished part, from the view down the steps, has never been seen.
Published video of the Rabbis’ March, then the unpublished video. Washington, D.C., October 6, 1943 (7 Tishrei 5704). The unpublished part is silent and has never been seen.
On the Capitol steps
Rabbi Wolf Gold reads a folded sheet into a microphone. Rabbis stand shoulder to shoulder behind him. Dr. J.H. Gordon, National Commander of the Jewish Legion of Veterans (veterans of the World War I Jewish Legion), stands at his side in uniform.
The camera looks down the steps. Black hats fill the staircase and the sidewalk. Cameramen film from below. Beyond the crowd are trees, cars, and the Washington Monument. A rabbi walking to the crowd is Rabbi Yitzchok (Isaac) Horowitz, the Melitzer Rebbe. In the crowd are Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz and many other rabbis and rebbes.
Published is the microphone passage, with sound. Unpublished starts at the view down the steps. It is silent, and it has never been seen. The dope sheet is stamped “NOT TO BE USED.”
Rabbi Eliezer Silver speaks later, from a thick folder of papers, the Capitol columns behind him. Vice President Henry Wallace stands on the left and listens, with congressional leaders around him. Behind Vice President Wallace, second from the left, is Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. To Rabbi Silver’s right, Rabbi Aaron Burack holds the papers.
The petition
It was 7 Tishrei 5704, during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. The Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe had sponsored the march. The rabbis brought a petition for Jews still under Nazi rule.
The next morning the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported a delegation of 300. Rabbi Eliezer Silver read the petition in Hebrew, and Rabbi Aaron Burack read it in English. It asked that refugees be admitted to the United Nations (the wartime Allies), to neutral countries, and to Palestine (British-ruled Palestine), and that a special agency be created to rescue them.
The rabbis went on to the Lincoln Memorial, where the Melitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchok Horowitz, led a memorial prayer for the Jews murdered in Europe. They sang the Star-Spangled Banner in Hebrew.
Four of the delegation carried the petition to the White House. Presidential secretary Marvin McIntyre received Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, Rabbi Wolf Gold, Rabbi B.L. Levinthal, and Solomon N. Friedman.
Timeline
- October 6, 1943
- 7 Tishrei 5704, during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. Rabbis gather on the Capitol steps. The petition is read in Hebrew and in English. Vice President Wallace and members of Congress greet them. At the Lincoln Memorial, the Melitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchok Horowitz, leads a memorial prayer. Marvin McIntyre receives four of the delegation at the White House.
- October 7, 1943
- The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports the delegation and the petition.
- October 9, 1943
- Yom Kippur.