Declaration of Human Rights. Submitted by The American Jewish Committee, 386 Fourth Avenue, New York City.

[New York, NY : The American Jewish Committee, 1944]. Broadsheet, 280 x 215 mm, printed recto only; used as a form for individuals to register their name and address as willing signatories to the Declaration; in very good condition.

‘With the inevitable end of Hitler, the struggle begins, not of tank and plane, but of heart and soul and brain to forge a world in which humanity may live in peace.

This new world must be based on the recognition that the individual human being is the cornerstone of our culture and our civilisation. All that we cherish must rest on the dignity and inviolability of the person of his sacred right to live and to develop under God, in whose image he was created….‘

There follow six points, of which the fifth reads:

‘To those who have been driven from the land of their birth there shall be given the opportunity to return, unaffected in their rights by the Nazi despotism.’

For a discussion of this document, see:

Loeffler, James. The Particularist Pursuit of American Universalism: The American Jewish Committee’s 1944 ‘Declaration on Human Rights’. Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 50, No. 2 (April 2015), pp. 274-29.

Loeffler observes:

‘With an unprecedented media campaign and endorsements from “1300 distinguished Americans of all faiths”, the 1944 ‘Declaration’ at first glance appears to be a prime example of wartime pluralist consensus and liberal internationalism in the USA. Yet as a closer examination of the document’s genesis and reception reveal, the document actually generated a striking array of polar-opposite reactions, including support from conservative isolationists, criticism from civil libertarians, and sharply split reactions from fellow Jewish groups and Catholic organizations.’