DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Le el Chronicle
'TA N'T FUNNY !
July 21 1944
Humor That's Dangerous
Air Force who was with the
"A compilation of anti-Sem
• • . We suffer
Canadian Air Force before Pearl itic literature circulated in the
severely
from sabotage . . .
sion, there is a recital of a Harbor. $ And
Cirpt.
Alfred Metropolitan area has been
(which is
Fri end ly scollection
well
organized,
effective
and
interesting
col
number
of
heroic
exploits
of
prepared by the Anti-Defama
Director of the New England
punishing. But it
known American heroes in the of ane cdotes entitled "Where tion League, Bnai Brith, 73
is not car-
ried
Regional Office of the Anti- present war to whom may be There's a Yank, There's a Way," Tremont St., Boston, in the
out with bomb and in-
Defamation League of Bnai Brith given credit as "The First." But in the Saturday Evening Post of form of five exhibits and is
cendiary. It is mental sabo.
tage, psychological or divisive
In defense
fense plants, military in _ whatever the version, the last May 27, 1944.
attached for your information
Toward the end of July, 1933, . . . the widespread dissemina-
warfare and it is progressing
irst
stallations, municipal buildings, line invariably reads: : "The e First
exactly as planned beforehand
American to get four new tires t he propaganda line took a new tion of anti-Semitic literature,
in the strongholds of
schools
and colleges,
transporta- —Able Cohen." Often the name twist and degenerated into ob- I believe is organized and
tion
facilities,
and in bars
our
, rein- Cohen is substituted by some famous
enemy.
in-
should be dealt with immedi-
taurants and barber shops, there
am
cloak of the smutty joke ately."
"What
are
the
evidences
other
obvious
patronymic,
usual-
been spread the shameless iy
which has captivating powers
These propaganda pieces wit h and effects of this sabotage?
canards: "Jews are responsible -- Finkelstein or Goldstein.
Luther Conant ably exposed N wi th a certain type of mind. 1-he comic tones are shoddy , They are in the suspicions,
for the war," "Jews are shirking
confusions and divisions in the
military duty,
" and "Jews are the doggerel in a full-page arti- There are two versions and both snide and insidious libels. Bu t nation. They are the sorry
cle in the Dec. 23, 1942, issue appeared in printed and otl
ot he r with the elements of crud
profiteering
Gentiles spill of PM, which contained state- duplicating forms. One obscene- humor the propagandist is as e fruit of seeds sown by N azi
their
blood." while Coupled
propaganda.
They tar n ot
ments by John C. Cullen, whose 1Y, ridiculous
and industrial war sured the help of countless thou
.
these charges is deliberate with
'
name appears in almost every e ff ort with the thought that it sands of innocent dupes who necessarily the result of Nazi
citement of soldiers and civilians version, and by Mrs. John J. is futile for the worker to app ly laugh and pass the "joke" on gold paid to a traitor, o f a
alike to revenge themselves on Powers, mother of John Powers his fullest effort in his job, f or without thinking of its poisonous printing-press bought or a
the Jews when the Germans and also f
demagogue bribed. It has not
Both all he can gain will be to "so ye intent.
reqlpent 1 y named
the J
e ca e( Mrs. Powers and John Cullen the country for the God-Damned
To proceed from propaganda been necessary to do the job
Though couched in the vein of severely castigated the doggerel Jews." The quotation is the last to the factual situation, one need in that crude fashion. Instead
humor, it is humor with a brazen as scurrilous material and dis- line of this vile writing.
only turn to Quentin Reynolds' our Nazi and Japanese enemies
and dangerous sting; the humor ruptive propaganda.
Concentration
of
distribution
latest
book "The Curtain Rises." have emitted lies into the
which brutally exploits existing
Nevertheless,
many
innocent
of
this
vilification
was
in
the
In his book, at page 351, Quen- world. They have sprayed
tirejudices and carefully nur-
persons, and even newspaeprs defense plants all over the na- tin Reynolds describes a conver- forth falsehoods, like poison
tured rumors.
and publications enjoying nation- tion. The printed word was sup- sation with a new acquaintance gas. Some of it has clung • . ,
The "Merchants of Hate," wide circulation, including o •_ plemented by oral repitition and he had made at a quiet resort When will we wake up?"
There will not be an awaken.
since the summer of 1942, have cial organs of reputable business by scribbling upon walls, especi- where he had gone to rest after
ing until all of us understand
been
using
the
joke,
the
funny
establishments
and
labor
unions,
ally
in
the
head
houses
of
these
his
harrowing
experiences
abroad:
poem, the humorous ditty, the and
even of training schools for plants.
At the resort a man asked that defamation—the strategy of
jingle and the song, published military service, were deceived.
Still another screed in the me where I lived. I told him hatred—is a major weapon used
anonymously and distributed sure- Because of the number of official form of an ode began to be cir- I lived in New York City. by the Nazis in their struggle
reptitiously, as a divisive weap- naval publications that carried culated in October, 1943. In "How awful !" he said, look- with the democracies.
on. These supplant in influence "The First American," the Navy mimeographer form, this propa-
ing at me sympathetically. All
the publications
of the
subver- Department issued a directive on panda piece made its appearance
sive
organizations,
native
a ndJune 21, 1943, condemning "ma- in the Navy Yard in Boston. you see there are Jews."
Saul R. Levin Named
"I'm used to being with
foreign—the hate groups, the
terial which, whether humorous- Behind a comic mask there is a Jews," I told him. "Where Delegate to Inter-
native little fuehrers, and the ly or not, disparages or belittles lengthy reiteration of the das-
I've been lately the place is
Nazi-Fascist
importations
— a any American or Allied racial or tardly lies of slackerism and full of them."
American Bar Assn.
number
of which
ceased publica-
profiteering by Jews recited in
"Where have you been?" he
tion with the cessation of activ- religious group."
With the coming of Spring all the previous libels. In addi- asked.
Saul R. Levin, Detroit attor-
ity due to the war or because the propaganda drive burst into tion, the libel maliciously ridi-
"I've been with the First ney, has been notified by Charles
of the loss of mailing privileges song with a malevolent parody cules the intgrity
e
of an hon. Division in Sicily," I said. "Full M. Humphrey, president of the
by Government action.
of
the
well-loved,
patriotic or ed and respected Christian of Jews. It'll please you to State Bar Assn. of Michigan,
Every conceivable duplicating "Marine Song," variously titled gentleman from Massachusetts.
know a hell of a lot of them that he has been designated an
form — mimeographed sheets, "The Marine Hymn," "Jewish In December of last year, a were killed."
official delegate of that organi-
printed cards, blueprinted and National Anthem," "The Marine comic poem appropriate to the
He looked at me and blinked, zation to the Third Conference
multigraphed leaflets, typewrit- Song," "Kosher Air Wardens," holiday season, with its osten- not understanding, and I of the Inter-American Bar Assn.
ten statements, and handwritten and "Onward Christian Draftee's.. sible theme of good will distorted walked away because I was a to be held at Mexico City, Aug.
copies—distributed by the mil-
The parody made its appearance to impart a message of hate, was litle afraid that I might get 1 to 8. Mr. Levin expects to
lions since Pearl Harbor, has in March of 1943, and spread utilized. While the pattern of sick or slug him.
spend about three weeks in Mex-
been used to spread, everywhere like a conflagration throughout distribution in defense plants
This was the America I re- ico, Guatemala and Honduras.
in hate,
the United
States, of
messages
Mr. Levin has been active in
of
of suspicion,
distrust, the nation. The opening lines go was followed, copies were also turned to. Our men abroad
like this: "From the shores of studiously scattered in the busi- deserve something better than Latin American affairs in this
of dissension.
ness sections of small communi- a country which is still stupid area for many years. He is legal
The preliminary shot in this Coney Island looking Eastward to ties
Hl
Humorously,
though insi d- with reaction and prejudice.
adviser to the Mexican Consul-
propaganda barrage began in the the sea, stands a Kosher Air iously, the poetic effort
implied-
Raid Warden, wearing V for
There are no Democrats, no ate for the jurisdiction of Mich-
Greater Boston area in Septem- Victory." During the rendition, 1,, urges a boycott of merchants Republicans at the front. igan and Ohio, and is consul
ber, 1942, with the appearance
such lines as these are heard: of Jewish faith. The last line There are no Protestants, no for the Republic of Honduras in
of an allegedly
humorous poem "Only Christian boys are draft- ends with an approval of Hitler- Catholics, no Jews at the this state. He is a member of
entitled
:
"America's
reading: "Damned if I don't front. There are men in uni- the American Society of Inter-
Jew," an evil
travesty Fighting
on the ed" , and "They will find us Jews ism,
selling
li ng States
form who, at the very best, national Law, Pan - American
boots Marines."
and shoes to the think Hitler is right."
poem of the same title by Damon United
It is true that all the state- are giving up a year or two Lawyers Assn. of New York,
Runyan, honoring Sam Dreben
ments in the seven pieces re-
Trade Club of Detroit,
of World War I fame. This in- 04 The
has final
these stanza of the par- couned are gross lies, and call n of their lives to serve a coun- Foreign
try they believe in. To para- and the board of directors of the
lyrics:
flammatory piece charges that 4, so
when peace has come to us be proved lies, as all vicious gen- phrase Tolstoy again, those Detroit Inter-American Center.
the Jews fight only for bargains,
eralizations about any group can maggots who continually gnaw
He is a member of the law
again
cheer the Gentiles on to war;
And we lick Hitler that louse be proved lies. But Hitler never at the healthy body of Amer- firm of Levin, Levin, Garvett
and ends:.
had any compunctions
about
the ica perhaps can do no per- and Dill.
.
.
"For when he's through with You will find a Jew is ruling use of lies.
He
recognized
that
you
manent harm, but we would
Hitler,
In Washington's Great White "even from the most impudent be fools to allow them to go
The Japs and Dagoes too,
DIRTe WORN,
lie something will always stick." too far.
House."
Johnny Doughboy has a (late
WARM
What we are experiencing is
Erwin
D.
Canham
in
an
arti-
Distribution
of
this
piece
of
•t; ROKEN
With America's Fighting Jew."
scurrility,
throughout
the
Spring
an
improvisation
of
a
cleverly
cle
entitled:
"American
Losses
Copies in mimeographed form
‘..--
developed, carefully planned, well by Sabotage," which appeared on
., .: '
un
first appeared in Lynn, Mass., and Summer of 1943, was con-
propaganda drive. In the editorial page of the Chris-
immediately after Labor Day, centrated upon the personnel of organized
ittr,t
o
"Nazi
Conquest
of
RE MADELIKENEW
1942. By the end of that month, war plants and military installa- the book, y Hans Leonhardt, pub- tian Science Monitor of October
tions.
The
impressionableness
of
Danzig
12,
1943,
wrote—commenting
on
24-HOUR SERVICE
printed copies in abundance
fished in September, 1942, Chap-
COMPLETEET CLEANED
were given out free as a joke youth certainly was taken into ter 9 is entitled "The End of the F.B.I. report that not a
REPAINTED—REPAINED
NEW TAPES—NEW CORDS
'card in a joke shop in Boston. consideration, for with the ar- Danzig Opposition," and gives a single sabotage crime since Pearl
SLATS— AAAAA REPLACED
rival
of
September
and
the
open-
Harbor
on
American
soil
could
Most important, copies appeared
in a number of defense plants ing of school, children of school vivid picture of the Nazi use of be traced to foreign origins.
age were cultivated. And it the technique of anti-Semitism.
in the Greater Boston area.
page 324 the author states:
A columnist, non-Jewish, on caught on ! The tune is catchy. At
This sort of propaganda (anti-
one of Boston's newspapers, re- The boys and girls sing the Semitic) went on day after day
ceived a leter dated Roxbury, parody. And printed and hand- in all varieties of bad taste, in
Mass., March 15, 1943, signed written versions have been found
and in poetry." Last
"Anti-Semite," with one of the in the possession of school chil- 'songs
March, a witness, testifying for
dren,
even
of
grammar
school
paragraphs reading: "Just wait
the Government in denaturaliza-
until our boys come back—you age.
The implication is obvious. tion proceedings brought against
perhaps have heard some of the
a former German-American Bund
remarks that have been made However, merely a cursory read- member, charged that the de-
about getting the Nazis, the ing of daily newspapers and cur- fendant whenever he travelled
Japs, and coaling home and get- rent magazines and the lie evap- carried small cards containing
orates. To cite just a few items:
ting the Jews."
anti-Semitic literature which he
This was followed by the in- The article by Richard Wilcox left in public places.
"Landing
on
Engobi"
in
the
sidious doggerel: "The First
But it must be clearly under-
American" inundated the nation March 13, 1944, issue of LIFE, stood that in the main, American
reporting
the
exploits
of
Leon
around Thanksgiving in 1942.
citizens were responsible for
Within a period of several days Goldbem, a captain of a com- transmitting the propaganda, un-
copies were found circulating in pany of the 22nd Marines; and doubtedly in most instances inno-
such communities as Rutland, Burris Jenkins' article "Back cently and as a joke. This was
Vt.; Columbus, 0.; Duluth, from Hell" in the Boston Eve- according to a plan ; a plan that
Minn.; Chicago, Philadelphia, ning American of the same date, utilizes the Nazi-developed tech-
New York City and Boston. Col- recounting sonic harrowing ex- nique of modern anti-Semitism
'umnists in mid-western news- periences in the South Pacific which Edmond Taylor describes
papers promptly attacked the of Marine Captain Arnie Edel- as "Goebbels' main weapon ; (so)
stein. There is the fascinating
doggerel as Nazi propaganda.
that anyone who has an anti-
The doggerel goes like this: story in the Taunton (Mass.) Semitic prejudice unconsciously
Daily
Gazette
of
May
31,
1944,
"The first American killed in
can be made conscious of it and
Pearl Harbor—John J. Jennes- recounting the amazing exploits thus become an open anti-Semite;
sey," and depending on the ver- of Lt. David Besbris of the U.S when he does he invariably be-
comes a pro-Nazi or at least can-
"THE GRAINS ARE GREAT FOODS ?'
, not be a real anti-Nazi. In this
Our New Location
way anti-Semitic propaganda cre-
ates a 'fifth column' for Hitler
all around the world."
If there is any doubt of or-
Between Webb and Tuxedo
ganization in distribution, such
Next Door to Levine's Grocery
doubt has been dissipated by Mr.
John F. Stokes. Commissioner of
QUALITY MEATS — ALWAYS FRESH
Public Safety for the Common- •
Kellogg's Rice Krispies equal the
wealth of Massachusetts, who, in
his report to Governor Salton- whole ripe grain in nearly all the
stall, dated Nov. 9, 1943, and protective food elements declared
Kosher Meat & Poultry Market
published the following day in essential to human nutrition.
the Boston press, stated :
By FRANCIS L. HURWITZ
!.1
VENETIAN
4 1 T i WII li A' t, BLINDS
0
C
C
ti
sl
DECO co. az,.
Hear 'ern Crackle!
I
E
KRISPI ES
11738 DEXTER BLVD.
Aaron B. Margolis
d.
rt
iC
n.
ti
I
a
a
3