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March 27, 1942 - Image 21

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Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle and the Legal Chronicle, 1942-03-27

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A merica ,fewisk Periodical &Hier

CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110

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Detroit Jewish Chronicle

and The Legal Chronicle

SECTION TWO

10c Single Copy: $3.00 Per Yeai

DETROIT, MICHIGAN. FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1942

VOL. 44, NO. 13

When Mexico Had a Jewish President tir innlit ralin s; 'Enemy Aliens' as America's Friends

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A Marginal Note on Don Francisco Madero

By LUDWIG LORE

By HAROLD U. RIBALOW
Editor's Note—With hemispheric war having bound all the Ameri-
can republics even more closely together, the story of Don
Francisco Madero becomes especially interesting as citizens
of the United States familiarize themselves with the history
and traditions of our neighbors to the south.

The question of creating a Jew-
ish army to defend Palestine was
raised at the very beginning of
the Second World War by Jews in
all parts of the world who wanted
to make a recognizable military
contribution to the fight against
Fascist in Palestine because they
wished to be organibed for self-
defense in case of invasion.
The British government was re-
luctant from the start. It required
a great deal of persuasive argu-
ment before it would permit the
recruiting of a small number of
Palestine units, and thos only for
non-combatant service. Later these
units were inducted into the regu-
lar combatant forces, but with the
proviso that their number must
at no time exceed that of the en-
listed Arabs which set very defin-
ite limits, since the enthusiasm of
the Jews was incomparably great-
er than that of their Arabian com-
patriots. When by the end of 1941
this rule, also, was relaxed, the
young Jews of Palestine volun-
teered in such numbers that they
now have a force of some 12,000
men. But these units are still
not allowed to display their own
flag, or call themselves by their
rightful name. If referred to at
all in dispatches from the Near
East when they have done such
splendid service, they are called
simply "Palestinians."

A common danger has cement-
ed between the republics of the
Western Hemisphere a friendship
fostered originally in peacetime
by the "good neighbor" policy
initiated by President Roosevelt.
The culture, the traditions, the
history of the sister republics
to the south have become a
storehouse for which the Ameri-
can Government is providing
guides. Mexico, which leans
against the southwestern flank
of the United States, is espe-
cially fascinating to the United
States because of its exotic past
and its romantic present—and
important because of the need
to defend joint frontiers.
For American Jews trying to
familiarize themselves with the
antecedents and activities of
their fellow Jews of the West-
ern Hemisphere, Mexico has
much to intrigue them—and per-
haps also to shame them. Today,
some 10,000 Jews live in Mexico,
as isolated from the Jews of the
United States as though they
lived in some impenetratble jun-
gle fastness. A self-sufficient
American Jewry, perched on its
mountain peak of self-preoccu-
pation, overlooks a community
which needs the friendship and
the guidance of its more experi-

Passover Greetings to All!

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enced sister to the north.
Although most of the Jews in
Mexico today are of compara-
tively recent origin, there are
many whose antecedents are as
glorious as those of any Jew in
America. Mexico, indeed, has
had a president through whose
veins Jewish blood has coursed.
He was the ill-starred Don Fran-
cisco Indalecio Madero, third
President of the Mexico Repub-
lic, who traced his ancestry back
to the Jews of the Spanish In-
quisitioa. His reign, short,
stormy and sad, was typical of
the early years of the Republic
when Mexico was feeling her own
strength.
Born on October 4, 1873, Ma-
dero was a cosmopolitan in the
full meaning of the term. He
was born in the State of Coa-
huila, Mexico, was educated at
the University of California and
spent six years in France—
when the Third Republic was in
its glory.
In 1900 Madero felt that he
should take an interest in the
politics of the land. He organ-
ized the Club Democratico Ben-
ito Juarez, after the great Mexi-
can fighter for liberty, and pro-
ceeded to do battle against the
Diaz regime, which was a cor-
rupt and well-oiled political ma-
chine, the type responsible for
the countless Mexican revolu-
tions.
In 1905 Madero boldly op-
posed the powerful Diaz. To no
avail. He could not lick the ma-
chine. But he did win his spurs
as leader of the independent
voters of the young republic.
Heartened, he began to prepare
for the presidential elections of
1910. He issued a statement
proving that Diaz was practicing
unconstitutional methods. He
fought brilliantly and fiercely.
His book condemning the Diaz
government was suppressed. By
this time he was the No. 1 op-
ponent of Diaz.
Madero soon felt the sting of

See PRESIDENT—Page 12

Passover

Greetings

ER

To You and to Those

V

Whose Happiness Is

Yours, a Very Joyous

Holiday.



nc -

1124

5224

1426 Woodward Ave.

• A History of the Plan

In principles the idea of a Jew-
ish division was approvevd by the
British cabinet in September,
1940. Six months later, on March
4th, 1941, action was postponed
with the assurance that this was
"in no sense a reversal" of the
already adopted policy. At first it
was intended that the recruits
should be trained in England.
Then, since there might obviously
be difficulties of shipping, it was
suggested that they should be
trained in this country. In fact,
Washington had agreed to a train-
ing camp under British control.
But this plan was also postponed
"because of new technical diffi-
culties." When Dr. Weizmann, the
Zionist leader, suspecting that the
day when there would be no tech-
nical" difficulties would never
come, asked for a definite decis-
ion he received an answer which
in substance went back altogether
on the promises of September,
1940, and the reassurances of
March, 1941.
Prime Minister Winston Church-
ill intimated during his recent
visit to Washington that his gov-
ernment favored a greater partici-
pation by the Jews in the war
in the Middle East and that he
believed Jewish units should be
allowed to fight under their own
flag, but that he held the time
inopportune.

By GEORG BERNHARD
Distinguished German-Jewish Editor

Editor's Note—Once editor of the Vossiche Zeitung, the Berlin
daily which exercised great influence in German public life,
Georg Bernhard has been an exile from his native land from
the beginning of the Hitler regime. For a time he edited the
refugee daily in Paris. He here gives the reaction of refugees
in America to legislation affecting so-culled "enemy aliens".

It is readily understandable that
most German refugees, particu-
larly Jews, should feel a strong
sense of discomfort at now being
regarded us "enemy aliens" in the
United States. This discomfiture
is even more understandable in
the light of the experiences these
refugees have known. Many of
them arrived in America by way
of France.
That was the way it started
in France, too. For the younger
men war meant military service
in the Foreign Legion or service
in the labor battalions. Many of
them were subsequently again
dragged into concentration camps,
straight from their service under
the French colors. For the older
people it meant confinement in
concentration camps soon after
the declaration of war — unless
they could prove that they had
sons serving under the French
flag.
Small wonder that many such
refugees, severely buffeted by
fate, believe that the same pro-
grain faces then in the United
States. Nor are their suspicions
allayed when it is pointed out to
them that actually only visitors to
the United States are aliens, while
every immigrant arriving under
the regular quota is looked on as
a future American citizen and is
treated with due consideration
based on democratic traditions.
This information meets with dis-
belief, since even Germans whose
final petitions for naturalization
are about to be acted on are offi-
cially designated as "enemy
aliens." The term includes even
those to whose naturalization no
objections can be humanely ex-
pected. The facts ought to help
dispel the suspicions of the over-
anxious; for if the American au-
thorities class even the men and
women in this last category under
the designation of "enemy aliens,"
it should serve as indisputable
proof as such as defamatory.
True, it would unquestionably
have been preferable had another
term, less unequivocal in corn-

inon usage, been chosen. I um in
no position to decide that ques-
tion. But such is the situation
and it ought to be accepted with-
out too much quibbling.
As a matter of principle, enemy
aliens are sbject to restrictions
that are far from pleasant. Un-
like other non-American residents,
they are deprived of freedom of
movement and must abide by
othe substantial restraints. But
crediting even the gloomiest pros-
pects—underscored by the meas-
ures against enemy aliens at pres-
ent being taken on the West
Coast—German refugees, of all
people, must realize clearly that
whatever they may face, it will
not bear comparison with their
experiences in France, nor with
the trials and tribulations they
would have to bear if they were
still in Germany. Reports dealing
with the shipment of Jews into
Poland are so terrible that even
American concentration camps at
their worst would seem like hea-
ven compared to confinement in a
Polish ghetto.
But such things are hardly to
be expected According to all avail-
able information and from a study
of the questions involved in alien
registration it appears likely that

See ENEMY—Page 11

A Joyous Pesach to All!

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CATERING CO.

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Greetings

41 The Need for Manpower

Britain needs manpower so bad-
ly that she is stripping her indus-
tires of the last available man
and unquestionably there are im-
portant reasons for her refusal to
act on the Jewish proposals. The
British fear that recognizing a
Jewish Army would produce an
unfavorable impression among the
Arabs who would regard it as an
official recognition of Palestine as
the Jewish Homeland, with every-
thing this would imply.
That a part of the Arab popu-
lation of Palestine would oppose
an agreement between the British
government and the Jews is cer-
tain.
Whether the Churchill govern-
ment is strengthening its position
among the Arabs by hiding its
•head in the sand and refusing to
see the Jewish problem, is an-
other question. It made the same
mistake when it refused to recog-
nize India's right to self-govern-
ment and by so doing prevented
the formation of India's millions
into an enthusiastic army to sup-
port the Allied cause. Now, in this
critical moment, London is making
concessions to Delhi which is could
and should have made two years
ago. But the harm it has done to
its own cause by its procrastina-
tion cannot be undone.
Instead of trying to find an
acceptable formula under which
the interests of both Arab and

See ARMY—Page 2

and

Best Wishes

for a

- Joyous

Passover - - -

#tholuirit's

WASHINGTON BLVD. AND GRAND RIVER

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