A merica lavish Periodical &ter

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Personal Greeting Seetion

Detroit Jewish Chronick

and The Legal Chronicle_

SECTION FOUR

DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, OCTOBER

VOL. 42, NO. 40

10 Cents Single Copy; $3.00 per Year

4, 1940

Resettling New Americans LOUIS GOLDING'S Lillian Wald-Refreshing
FAREWELL TO
Shade in the Wilderness
By WILLIAM HABER

V.

Resettlement—Retrospect and Prospect

PASSING WORLD

By ARTHUR ZUCKERMAN
(Lansing, Mich.)

"The war has come. Or it has
Editor's Note: This is the last of five articles by Dr. William Haber, come again. It is not going to be Editor's Note: The Passing of Lillian Wald, one of America's most
Executive Director of the National Refugee Service, dealing the same world any more. Before
beloved characters, is mourned by the meek and the mighty
with the problem of local restttlement.
alike. These personal glimpses, based in part on R. L. Duffus'
its aspect is wholly changed, I
"Lillian Wald, Neighbor and Crusader," gives insight into the
Nearly a hundred years ago ugee is a human being, each suc- wish to make sonic sort of pic-
life and personality of one whose work stands as a permanent
a group of refugees came to this cessful resettlement is a life re- ture of the world I knew, putting
monument to her greatness.
country from Germany. Thou- built. Although we have to deal in the light and shade as I re-
sands and thousands of them with thousands, we cannot lose member them."
On the East Side of New York heartless for not complying at
poured into the young United sight of the individual, the indi-
This is the opening paragraph is a street no different from any once, even though Lillian ex-
States, fleeing the oppression, vidual's needs, the individual's of Louis Golding's new book, of its neighbors. There are the plained arrangements had been
persecution and executions that happiness.
same tenements, the innumer- made to take care of them.
We keep a bulging file in the
followed the failure of the Revo-
able scampering children, the
At 22, when Lillian Wald first
lution of 1848. These men, known offices of the National Refugee
noises and the smells of the low- entered nursing school, she was
to American history as the Service. It is called the "Thank-
er East Side. Yet that street's an independent, impulsive, high-
"Forty-Eighters" exercised a tre- you-letter" file and it is the index
name has taken its place along- spirited girl, about to have her
mendous influence on the growing of our individual successes. Sta-
side the most famous avenues first contact with hospital dis-
tistics of so many thousand units
republic.
of history. It has echoed round cipline and regimentation. The
resettled each year are cold, but
Names like Carl Schurz
the world. In every civilized na- crisis came after only two days
Senator, Ambassador, Cabinet this file brings resettlement to
tion its mention causes an im- in the institution. It was a Sun-
Member, soldier; Franz Siegel, the human level. Here are a few
mediate stirring of interest. It day when the recently arrived
distinguished Civil War General; excerpts:
is Henry Street and its fame de- trainee heard fearful shrieks and
A
resettled
refugee
writes
from
and Gustave Struve, one of the
rives from a young Jewish wo- howls emanating from the base-
founders of the Republican Party, a Midwestern city :
man, by name Lillian Wald, who ment. In great anxiety Lillian
". . . I am very happy that
are ensconced in American his-
made her home there at No. 265 Wald dashed down the steps.
I
am
here.
I
don't
have
the
tory. Known only in their spe-
about 45 years ago. Like the There behind a locked door,
cialized fields were other men like worries that I had in the past
forest which her name signifies which she opened unhesitatingly,
Frederick Genth, who became and I have all that is required
she transplanted herself to the was a violent man in a padded
for
a
living.
Therefore
the
emp-
president of the American Chem-
wilderness that was the East cell. He was recovering from de-
ical Society and one of the great tiness of my wallet doesn't
Side half a century ago and lirium tremens, had in fact been
chemists of his time, and Abra- bother me . . . I am sure that
brought refreshment and healing locked up for his own safety, but
ham Jacobi, distinguished chil- many a Nazi would envy the
to the people she made her neigh- that did not deter the breathless
dren's surgeon, hailed as the Jew he drove out of Germany
bors. These neighbors were al- girl who listened sympathetically
"father of American pediatrics." if he could see how much bet-
most all Jews, but it was suffer- to his tale of woe.
ter
it
is
here
than
in
his
coun-
But with these came thousands
ing humanity to whom the young
"Look here," he shouted. "I'm
of the rank-and-file — among try ; here we enjoy liberty and
woman in her middle twenties hungry! Nobody's given me any-
them the ancestors of Wendell can say what we think . . . "
LOUIS GOLDING
responded.
thing to eat!"
From one of the Prairie States
Willkie and Herbert Lehman.
At the start of a new era in
Struggle for Justice
These thousands flooded into the another refugee writes:
"The World I Knew," which the American life, in 1867, Lillian
open spaces of the midwest, made
"I have only been a few Viking Press issued last week.
"Why,
that's terrible! You poor
Wald- was born into a well-to-do man." And off went the novice
St. Louis a thriving industrial weeks but I have a job and my
It
is
a
magnificent
book—and
German-Jewish
family
in
Cincin-
city, helped to build Chicago, cre- future looks secure. Eevery day
to raid the ice-box of the deli-
ated the dairy industry in Wis- I grow to like this America it is a touching farewell to a natti. Rochester was the scene of cacies reserved for special pa-
world
he
knew
well.
her
early
education
until
she
consin, filled the farms of Iowa more and more — its friendly
tients. Early on Monday morn-
Louis Golding not only writes came to New York City to under- ing a furious young trainee
and Illinois. They brought with people, its freedom, its cheer-
them from Germany the most vi- fulness. Everybody here tries brilliantly. He also speaks well take training as a nurse at the marched into the superintendent's
tal elements of its culture — hard to make me feel at home." —especially in describing the age of 22. Her mother was a office to tell her what she thought
world he has toured with under- trustful, kindly soul who saw on- of a hospital management that
music and art, orderly cleanliness
A letter from the South:
ly good in people and suffered would leave a patient to starve.
and best of all, "gemuetlichkeit",
"I like it here. I am working standing and observed keenly.
love of family and friendship.
very hard but I like it — it
It is natural that his farewell for the pain of others. One day The struggle for justice to the
Today the refugee immigration makes me feel once again that to a world that is passing should while her girls were still young, underprivileged was on.
from Europe offers a close paral- there is sense in working and assume the aspect of an auto- Mrs. Wald needed a laundress
After graduation in 1891,
lel to this influx of the "Forty- that I have a good chance . . . biography. "The World I Knew" and called in a woman passing Tian Wald entered medical school
on
the
street
with
a
bundle
of
Eighters." There is little value in I do not feel lost anymore; I IS an autobiography. It is the
but was never to become a phy-
an analogy pressed too far, but feel marvelously secure."
story of his childhood, in the clothes. She took the stranger sician. A single incident changed
upstairs
and
made
ready
a
batch
it is worth while pointing out
From a Northwestern state an- home of a very learned and pious
the course of her entire career.
that once again the best of a other letter says:
Jew. It is the tale of his studies, of dresses that needed launder-
She was asked to go down to
ing. The girls, in concern for the
culture is being transported to
of
his
abandonment
of
his
Jew-
East Side, to a Sabbath
"In New York they told me
their
pretty
clothes,
intimated
America. A precious heritage,
America is beautiful."
But ish home, of his travels, of the their doubts of the woman's school for immigrants, and con-
In
Germany
because
banned today-
duct a class in home nursing.
that was only half the truth. books he wrote, of the lands
it does not contribute to the I do not know enough of the where he penned his great works trustworthiness.
The school met in a house on
greater glory of the Nazi ma- language to really tell you how which have brought him to pub-
Studies Nursing
Henry Street. Into that class
chine, has immigrated to our wonderful the country is here lic notice as the creator of out-
"She ought to know better there came one day a frightened
shores. American universities have — the mountains, the sea, the standing best sellers.
than anyone." retorted the child, daughter of an absent pu-
.
been enriched by the addition of rivers.
Some day soon when I
We meet in this story the mother, and turning to the stran- pil, who sobbed out a story of
such world figures as Thomas have learned more English I Arabs who came across the path ger she asked, "Are you honest?" a mother dangerously ill. Through
•,.
Mann, Albert Einstein, Eduard IN Id
try to write a poem about of Golding when he retraced the
Years later, when Mrs. Wald dirty streets and dark alleys, the
Benes, Edward Gropius, and ma- it. "
came to live with her daughter young nurse followed the child
steps
of
Moses;
of
the
Jewish
ny others. Medicine, history, dra-
Even in these gloomy (lays we Lotus-Eaters in Djerba ; of the on Henry Street, she saw a fam- until they entered a dark door-
ma, art — scarcely a field of in-
rest assured that America Nazis in Germany; of Jewish pio- ily being evicted for non-pay- way. Inside she found a flat of
tellectual endeavor has not gained can
faces no perpetual blackout. There neers in Palestine.
ment of rent. She demanded of two rooms inhabited by a family
by the access of the refugees. But will always be cities to be built,
It is a book for readers of all Lillian that the family be brought of seven who made a living by
today, too, the rank-and-file are work to be done, new roads to
into their home, furniture and renting "space" to boarders. On
important, the little people whose be hewn through physical and
See GOLDING—Page 16
all, and through her daughter a mattress lay the woman, fast
names never flash in newspaper spiritual barriers. The refugees
losing blood from a hemorrhage.
headlines but who utilize their want to do their part in these jobs,
The nurse took hold. The sick
skills and training and abilities want to help their adopted land
woman was bathed, her pain re-
to (10 an every-day job well.
to strengthen the heritage that is
lieved. Soft commands, deft fin-
It is true that the United States being dissipated in the Old World.
gers, a few kindly words and the
has undergone vast changes be- America can use their aid in
frightened family began to be re-
tween 1848 and 1940. Free land the days to come. Our task here
lieved, comforted. A change came
has filled up, industrial expan- and now — and it is the task
over that home which left its
•
sion slowed down, mass unem- not only of the National Refugee
deepest impress on Lillian Wald.
ployment appeared. But America Service, not only of American
Zionist forces in Detroit were the organization of which has For when she walked out of that
is still the land of opportunity. Jewry, but of every American
The National Refugee Service sees citizen — is to integrate these consolidated last week with the been propagated for more than tenement into the open air, her
decision was made. Medical school
its task as the job of bringing refugees into the life of the land, formation of a Zionist Council, a year.
Lawrence W. Crohn, who re- and of a physician's career were
refugee and opportunity together, to prepare them to do their full
of giving the refugee a chance to share in the tasks that lie ahead,
tired as president of the Zionist gone from her thoughts. A cove-
make not only a living but t e to make of the•a in the broadest
Organization of Detroit two nant of blood now bound her to
fullest contribution he can to th and deepest sense of the word,
months ago, was elected presi- the East Side. Here was to be
present and the future of this ~ tn ericans.
dent. Benjamin M. Laiken, of her home, the healing of these
United States.
the labor Zionist groups, was people her vocation, the rousing
Resettlement is the road to ful-
elected first vice-president. The of the conscience of men her
OR GIN OF SYNAGOGUE
fillment of this task. We cannot
second vice-presidency went to avocation. What youthful con-
send our thousands of refugees
Isaac Rosenthal of Mizrachi. fidence, naivete, ignorance of real
The first
beginnings
of the
to virgin farming lands to build synagogue
are
buried in obscur-
David Sheraga, labor Zionist, was conditions! But Lillian Wald had
new states. We cannot send them
elected Yiddish secretary, and made up her mind! Single-handed
ity. According to tradition there
Mrs. Albert Feldstein, office sec- she began. Before many years
to pioneer towns rich with the were nearly 500 synagogues, or
retary of the Zionist Organiza- had passed her amazing job of
promise of But
growing
commerce
and Places
assembly,
in C.
Jerusalem
industry.
we can
distribute
in the of year
600 B.
At the
tion of Detroit, was elected Eng- reconstruction won her the adu-
them through still-growing Amer-
lish secretary. Morris Lieber- lation of myriads.
ica. We can send them to regions beginning of the Christian era
In 1893, when Lillian Wald
man was chosen treasurer.
the synagogue was the oldest
struck her covenant with the
Mr. Laikin was chosen to head East Side, there were a million
where friendly hands will greet institution of religion existing
the education committee, and and a half bodies packed into
them new
and life.
help them establish in the Western World. Both Jesus
this
Joseph Haggai was selected on lower Manhattan Island. Men,
The important train that car- and Paul taught in the syna-
the publicity committee. Meyer women and children were crowd-
ried carloads of "Forty-Eighters" gogue. During this period the
Beckman, president of Detroit ed into foul, dark rooms into
to the rolling plains of the Mid- synagogue was noted for being
Mizrachi, heads the finance com- which the sunlight never reached.
west was the symbol of one era. both a "house of prayer" and a
mittee. The speakers' bureau is Underfed, improperly fed, they
If we were to look for such a "house of gathering." The very
headed by William Hordes and suffered from the cold of winter
symbol today it would, I think, act of coming together was con-
be a cross-country bus carrying a sidered a religious act.
the youth committee by Akivah and stifled in the heat of sum-
Drasnin.
refugee and his wife and perhaps
mer. Overwork, insufficient pay
one or two children to a new
Enlighfen the people gener-
Sol Lifsitz has undertaken to was their lot. Their death rate
home. Thus has the scale of set- ally and tyranny and oppression
devise a method of clearing Zion- was twice what it is now. Fur-
tlement been reduced. But, as I of both mind and body will van-
ist meeting and of advising the thermore, 1893 was the year of
have said before (and it cannot ish like evil spirits at the dawn
various groups about them thus
be too often reiterated) each ref- of day. — Thomas Jefferson.
LAWRENCE W. CP.OHN
to avoid conflicts in dates.
See WALD—Page 2

„

DETROIT ZIONIST GROUPS
COORDINATE EFFORTS BY
FORMING ZIONIST COUNCIL

1