Judge, 1922-03-18 · page 29 of 36
Judge — March 18, 1922 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is not satire but a humanitarian appeal by Nathan Straus for the American Jewish Relief Committee. The silhouette depicts a traumatized child orphaned by post-WWI conflict in Central and Eastern Europe. The text describes 300,000 Jewish war orphans in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia suffering from disease and starvation. Straus appeals to American prosperity and moral obligation, contrasting American children's comfort with European orphans who "have never smiled since they were born." This is a fundraising advertisement placed in *Judge* magazine, with the publishers donating the space. The emotional appeal relies on American exceptionalism ("blessed land") and guilt-by-contrast to motivate donations to the relief committee's New York address. It reflects post-WWI humanitarian concerns and Jewish communal welfare efforts.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Children Who Never Smile In the war-torn countries of Central and Eastern Europe are hundreds of thousands of unfortunate children, who have not smiled since they were born. Three hundred thousand Jewish war orphans in the Ukraine, in Poland, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia, and only God knows how many in Russia—children who were born in the misery of war and who now live in the misery of war's aftermath, are being taken away by the thousands, innocent, helpless, unresisting victims of disease and starvation. , These hungry, unclothed, shelterless kiddies, lean, wan and sad, have never known the joys of comfort and play. They have no fathers or mothers—war, hunger and disease have given them over to the Grim Reaper. It is for these children that the American Jewish Relief Committee appeals to the American people for help. May the children of America never know such misery as has befallen those of Europe. May American fathers and American mothers never know the terror which reigns in those weary, war-torn lands. And may they in gratitude for their own well-being extend the helping hand to those unfortunates, to whom America has ever been the blessed land, where opportunity and liberty have ever reigned, and from whose heart has ever gone forth sympathy and encourage- ment to those in need. May I urge your response, in the form of a contribution, to the American Jewish Relief Committee, 103 Park Avenue, New York City. Sincerely yours, ‘Nathan Straus (The Committee acknowledges with thanks the contribution of this space by the publishers ) i | comicbooks.com