The letter deals with the persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union.

The signatories of the letter comment that they hope "... the Jews will be permitted full cultural lives, religious freedom and the rights of a national group, in practice as well as in law."

Those that have signed the letter include: BR, Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians, Max Born, BR. Martin Buber, Ricardo Lombardi, François Mauriac, Otto Nathan (Trustee, Estate of Albert Einstein), Lord Boyd Orr, Linus Pauling, Albert Schweitzer, Norman Thomas, and Giuseppe Ungaretti.