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“A Refugee’s Prayer”
Representative James, J. Davis, Penn. entered the prayer of Martin Marden, a 16-
year-old German refugee, which had been “recommended for reading by every American
by the superintendent of New York City Schools, Harold G. Campbell. We may all be
proud that we live in a land where, as this lad says, ‘the youth of all races have a
tomorrow.’ Despite the unemployment here, the problems of the depression, the
difficulties of the stock market, and the war clouds which loom ever closer, who among
us does not respond enthusiastically to these radiant words?”
One day in the year should be reserved for prayers of thanksgiving in which we
give thanks for something that has been granted us; for having been saved from
some great destruction caused by nature or
man.
I am thankful that I have been given an opportunity to be educated in the United
States of America.
I am thankful that I live in a land where, regardless of race, everyone may take
part in national ceremonies.
I am thankful that I live in a land where a person may sing the National Anthem
without having someone tell him that he may not because of his race.
I am thankful that I live in a country governed by democracy rather than force.
I am thankful that I live in a country where one is not persecuted.
I am thankful that I live in a land where there are people who have real
sympathy for refugees from European countries who have gone through horrible
experiences.
I am thankful that I have been given the opportunity to enjoy the many
privileges that are unheard of in European countries.
I am thankful that I shall be able to realize my ambitions, which would have
been impossible had I remained in my native land.
I am thankful that I live in a land where the future seems bright and hopeful
rather than dark and hopeless.
I am thankful that I live in a land where the youth of all races have a tomorrow,
rather than in my native
land, where the youth of the race is without a tomorrow.
I am thankful that I have been permitted to tell you of the troubles in European
lands in order that you may develop a real sympathy for the oppressed of the
earth. I am thankful that I am happy and free. 1
1 Martin Mardin, “A Refugee’s Prayer,” Washington Herald, March 31, 1938 cited in Congressional
Record Appendix, Seventy-Fifth Congress, 3 rd sess., vol. 10, April 1, 1938 (Washington, D.C.: GPO,
1938), 1269. He left Germany during 1935 with his sister and rejoined his widowed mother, Mrs. Betty
Mardin, who had emigrated to the U.S. a year earlier.
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