Present address:

Mayflower Hotel

15 Central Park West

New York, N. Y.

November 23, 1938.

To

The President of

the United States

Warm Springs, Georgia

Mr. President:

May I take the liberty of submitting to you a letter which His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, asked to convey to you. His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Gustav Adolph of Sweden, honored me by requesting me to transmit to you an oral message, which I would be most happy to bring to you if you would be kind enough to grant me an audience.

Together with these messages I want to bring to you confidential letters and commissions from the British, the Swedish, the Norwegian and the Danish governments, from the Archbishops of Uppsala and of York, from the Scandinavian Trade Unions, from H. G. Wells and many other distinguished English writers.

When I was in Spain I saw on the one hand the courage and discipline of the Republican army; on the other hand the terrible suffering of the civil population, which is much more involved in modern wars than was the case formerly. The mortality rate of children is growing rapidly. There are many towns where children above one year do not get milk. The situation of women, especially of expectant and nursing mothers, is appalling, not to speak of the situation of sick and old people who lack the most simple medical supplies. I found out that in Madrid alone there were in one month twenty thousand cases of pellagra. The enclosed photograph shows the state of misery of those poor people.

When I saw all this misery I called on Minister Del Vayo to find out how much private committees and organizations have contributed to alleviate this misery, and I found that not even eight percent of the amount which is needed could be sent. I made the decision to devote all my efforts to this work. Minister Del Vayo ordered the military and civil authorities to deliver to me all the confidential material and statistics about the food situation in Spain which I have with me. I collected this material in Catalonia and later in Madrid. From Madrid I made the first attempt to approach you, Mr. President, in a broadcast I sent, as follows:

“The United States is today led by a man whom the whole world respects as one of the greatest democrats of our time, Franklin Roosevelt. May I be allowed from this broadcasting station in Madrid, a few hundred feet from the front-line trenches, hearing as I speak the roar of bursting grenades and shells, which will kill now sleeping civilians, may I be allowed to appeal to you, Mr. President, with deep deference and profound respect, to take the initiative for a national or inter-governmental action to help the civil population in Spain?

What right have I to appeal to you? The right of a human being who has seen the misery of war, who has watched in three weeks seventeen bombings, who has seen in ruined houses and in the morgue the bodies of murdered children who a few hours before were playing and laughing and hoping that the future would bring them that which all of us have a right to expect: ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness’.”

In Spain itself I got the support of the leaders of the Protestant Spanish Church, of the Bishop of Barcelona and more than thirty priests, of Spanish scientists and doctors, of the distinguished Catholic writer, Jose Bergamín and of the painter Pablo Picasso. After my return to England I got the support of trade-union leaders, of the Archbishops of Canterbury and of York, of the British and American Quakers. I went from country to country and was happy to receive the support of the British, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish trade-unions, of the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish governments, and of many outstanding men of good will.

I made this trip with the object in mind, after having collected these reports, of going to America to see you. Many people who have had the honor of knowing you and Mrs. Roosevelt told me that I would find and open heart and understanding which, as Mr. H. G. Wells writes in his letter, will help me to “make my prayers a preachable thing”.

On Saturday I went to Washington and saw Mr. Norman Davis, President of the American Red Cross. I was deeply grateful to find understanding and readiness to help. But I think that my mission would find its moral achievement if I were granted the honor of seeing you.

I can meet wherever you decide it would be convenient for you, either in Washington or in Warm Springs.

Yours very respectfully,

Ernst Toller

ET: ws

Enclosed: Memorandum

Confidential letters

Photograph