ASSOCIATE JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 285845

FELIX FRANKFURTER
The Supreme Court Justice signs an extraordinary rare, handwritten letter to Herbert Hoover, who was administering food aid to Europe after World War I: "I am more sorry than you can possibly realize to have provoked you about Poland. … I know what you did and how you feel about the Polish Jewish situation …"
Autograph Letter Signed: "Felix Frankfurter," 1p, 8¼x10½. No place or date but London, post World War I. On stationery of the American Relief Administration. To Herbert Hoover, who served as Chairman of the American Relief Committee in London. In full: "I am more sorry than you can possibly realize to have provoked you about Poland, for I feel a deeper devotion and gratitude for your services and your wise humanity than you probably appreciate. It's just because I know what you did and how you feel about the Polish Jewish situation that I spoke as briefly as I did. You may be sure that I shall not in the slightest seek to do anything but that which may help towards healing. The first step towards remedy is, of course, the truth of the situation. And on there I think - in all honesty - I can now speak." Vienna-born Jewish jurist Frankfurter (1882-1965) had served as an assistant to New York lawyer Henry L. Stimson from 1906-1909 and to Secretary of War Stimson (1911-1913). He taught at Harvard Law School from 1914 until 1939, when he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In this letter, he is likely referring to remarks he made regarding food aid to Germany or Russia, both of whom persecuted Polish Jews before and during World War I. After the war, future President Herbert Hoover was sent by President Woodrow Wilson to co-ordinate efforts to feed Europe's starving. The American Relief Administration fed over 300 million people in 21 countries in Europe and the Middle East until it was officially dissolved on June 30, 1919. Considerable controversy arose when Hoover wanted to extend aid to Germany, and it was months before food was sent there. In 1919, Russia also asked for aid in the wake of a severe famine that left thousands starving. The Polish Jews, who had first experienced persecution in Poland in 1399, had suffered considerably under the Russians. They were placed in ghettos, deprived of their livelihoods and faced deportation and even death. Lamentably, Poland's Jews were to suffer even more catastrophically in WW II. Lightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.