Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota originated in Minneapolis in the 1930s as a response to a number of contemporaneous events. The presecution of Jews in Nazi Germany; the activities of the Silver Shirts, the German-American Bund, and similar organizations in Minnesota; and the antisemitic overtones of the 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign all encouraged the formation of an organization to monitor and protest those activities. From 1936 to 1939 an informal organization, the Anti-Defamation Council of Minnesota, was the vehicle of Jewish protest against all forms of antisemitism. Members included Arthur Brin, Charles I. Cooper, and 21 other Jewish leaders in Minneapolis. A sister organization was established in St. Paul.

After the 1938 gubernatorial campaign, the Council realized the need for a more formal, activist organization. An attempt was made to enlist the aid of the national Anti-Defamation League headquarters in Chicago, but the Minnesota group's intent to function as a local, grassroots organization precluded this. The Anti-Defamation Council, as organized in 1938, included individual Jews in Minneapolis and St. Paul and representatives from the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Labor Committee.

On May 15, 1939 the Council was reorganized as the Minnesota Jewish Council, with Samuel L. Scheiner as its executive director. Scheiner held this post from 1939 to 1974, except for the years 1944-1946 and 1951-1953. The Council consists of about 45 members. Chairmen serving since 1939 have included Milton Firestone, Louis Gross, Albert Heller, Meyer Dorfman, and Jack Mackay. In the 1950s the name of the organization was changed to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota.

The aims and activities of the Council have undergone a number of changes since the 1930s. Its initial purpose was investigative, with Samuel Scheiner and others spending much time investigating the activities of alleged fascist and communist organizations in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Groups like the German-American Bund, the Silver Shirts, Father Charles E. Coughlin's organizations, and the sermons and speeches of fundamentalist religious leaders like W. B. Riley, Paul and Luke Rader, C. O. Stadsklev, and W. D. Herrstrom were investgated and the antisemitic content of their communications was publicized.

During World War II the Council's attention turned to overt antisemitic activities: discrimination against Jews in the armed forces with regard to housing, hotels, resorts, and restaurants, and related matters. Reports of discrimination were investigated and reforms attempted. At this time, the Council also worked for passage of fair employment practices acts locally and statewide. The organization's wartime appeal was patriotic in nature, stressing national unity during a time of crisis and likening fascism abroad to racial and religious prejudice at home.

After 1946 the Council broadened its activities, still investigating discrimination but from a less defensive posture. It became involved in more wide-ranging community and national activities, supporting more liberal immigration policies, the Civil Rights struggle and civil liberties, separation of church and state, and interreligious cooperation.

From the guide to the Council records., 1922-1974 (bulk 1945-1970)., (Minnesota Historical Society)