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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Friday, September 15, 1944
On the Threshold of Peace
By MICHAEL FREEMAN
For Jews throughout the world,
the traditional sounding of the
ram's horn will usher in the be-
ginning of a New Year which
will, we hope, bring the end of
war and the beginning of peace.
No New Year in recent history
has marked such a fundamentally
important turning point in the
life of the Jewish people.
Just as it has been difficult for
us to comprehend the vastness of
the tragedy which struck the
very foundation of Jewish life in
Europe, so is it difficult today to
grasp the tremendous significance
of the coming of the day of peace
and the deliverance of millions
of our fellow-Jews from brutal
e xtermination.
Large sections of our people
have lived with death and des-
truction for more than a decade.
In days of sorrow and suffering,
the Jews of the United States
have been the arsenal of hope
for the survival of millions caught
BUY MORE
WAR BONDS
New Years
Greetings
I. S. RAIDER
CHAS. HERMAN
S. F. BARBAS
DEROY
JEWELRY CO.
in the vise of Nazi oppression.
Now as the dawn of victory be-
gins to light up the darkness en-
gulfing the remnants of the Jew-
ish people, we must assume the
role of the builders of a new
life for those who have survived
the tortures and the attacks of
Hitlerism.
As we look back on five years
of total war, American Jews can
feel that they have more than
adequately faced the challenge
of the period of greatest destruc-
tion in Jewish life. The fact that
they contributed a total of near-
ly $100,000,000 to the United
Jewish Appeal for Refugees,
Overseas Needs and Palestine
since 1939 constitutes the most
forceful evidence that we stood
by the side of stricken European
Jewry in the years of gravest
crisis. That the channels of relief
and rehabilitation for the Jews
of Europe, of reconstruction in
the Jewish homeland in Pales-
tine and of aid to the newcomers
in the United States have been
kept open in the midst of the
widespread disruption of a glob-
al conflict represents a truly his-
toric achievement.
Now that we are in the midst
of a great transition and the rap-
idly changing scene of the final
chapter of the war dictates a
new outlook, we find ourselves
confronted with the problem of
converting from a program of
rescue in war to a program of
reconstruction in peace. During
the past year the rescue efforts
carried on by American Jews
through three major agencies—
the Joint Distribution Committee,
the United Palestine Appeal, and
the National Refugee Service--
have reflected the beginnings of
the new approach to the prob-
lems of helping Jews in the pro-
cess of liberation.
But in the very hour of liber-
ation the tragedy of the war
years has been revealed in all its
starkness. The veil of doubt and
uncertainty has been torn from
the graveyards of Eastern Eur-
ope by the advance of the Rus-
sian armies. The ghost cities re-
captured from the Nazis, the
pitifully small numbers of sur-
vivors who have emerged from
hiding in the forests—these re-
mind us of the grief of irrepar-
able loss on the eve of victory
and salvation.
But where many have perished,
others have been saved. A re-
view of the achievements of
American Jews in the field of
rescue and reconstruction would
require long lists and figures and
so-called "hard facts." Let us
leave the figures to the statis-
tical-minded and examine the
human equation. What does it
really mean when thousands or
hundreds of human beings are
saved? Who are the men and
women behind the facade of the
"facts"?
Not so long ago Marshal Tito's
stout-hearted partisans swooped
down on the Island of Raab and
captured it from the Nazis.
When the Partisans took control
of the small island in the Ad-
riatic they found 1,500 Jewish
refugees living there in the most
miserable circumstances. T h e
Yugoslays immediately released
them and gave them their free-
dom. But though the Nazis had
been expelled, there was no as-
surance that the fortunes of war
GREETINGS
the Adriatic to safety. Shortly
thereafter the Nazis invaded the
Island and recaptured it. They
retook the Island, but the Jews
had been rescued.
Throughout the war years Pal-
estine has been the major haven
for the men and women fleeing
from Nazi destruction. In the
early part of the war several
hundred refugees who had failed
to gain admission to the Jewish
homeland were sent to the Island
of Rhodes. When the Axis forces
made a concentrated _attack on
302
W. 7 Mile Rd.
445
FORT
WAYNE
DRUG
Happy
New Year
•
Peace and Freedom
•
H. A. SCHENK
Garage
ABE HERTZBERG
TOWING SERVICE
CLINTON
Day and Night
CA. 0301
•
PHIL BRICKER
Custom Furrier
JACOBY'S
Cleaners
11612 DEXTER BLVD.
S
5545 RIVARD
Greetings . .
Greetings .. .
•
from
ALBERT KANE
Real Estate
12800
DEXTER BLVD.
_11
MR. and MRS. MAX GREENBERG
— extend —
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS
•
2901 CASS
May we, in the very near future, enjoy
For A Happy
New Year
BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL
OUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES
•
L642 BEAUBIEN
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS!
GREETINGS
Prescription Specialist
New Year's
Greetings
•
SISLIN
Printing Co.
See PEACE—Page 14
•
Harry A Niemeyer
GREETINGS
M. C. Roofing
Hardware Co.
shared their rations and gave up
a substantial part of their pay
•
BOOK-CADILLAC HOTEL
9
•
gees at Ferramonti were Jewish
soldiers from Palestine who had
been in the van of the British
attack.
The Palestinians some among
them were former refugees,
•
UNITED ARTIST BLDG.
UNiversity 2-9781
Hearty
Greeting
Army liberated them. The first
to bring help to the Jewish refu-
GREETINGS
7720 W. McNichols Road
7720 W. CHICAGO BLVD.
day the light of freedom broke
through and the British Eighth
To My Many Friends
THOMAS H.
COTTER
AL MILLER
DELICATESSEN
PETROLEUM
SERVICE
For almost three years they
languished in the primitive bar-
racks of Ferramonti until one
at an Eastern port. She seemed
normal in every respect except
for the shadow of fear which
clouded her face. Yet that little
girl symbolized the suffering and
wandering of millions. When the
Nazis invaded Belgium her fam-
ily fled to France. Shortly there-
after, with the fall of France,
her father went into hiding to
escape deportation to Poland.
Joining the underground, he
worked to help prepare France
for the day of liberation. In the
meantime, the little girl and her
mother were sheltered by Chris-
tians who befriended them. One
day the Nazis began a system-
atic search for all Jewish refu-
gees. Determined to save his
family, the father decided to
bring them to safety and help
them escape over the border to
Spain. They could travel only
at night to avoid detection. In
the daytime they had to remain
in hiding in the woods. After
a weary journey of many days
7610 W. McNICHOLS
UN. 2-2338
•
•
his toils again.
There was a little girl of 10
on a ship which docked recently
GREETINGS
Best Wishes for a Very Happy
New Year Are Extended to
All Our Fellow-Men
Everywhere
9
and promptly put all of the refu-
gees in chains. The Jews were
placed on prison ships and sent
to Italy where they were thrown
into concentration camps. There
was great despair among the
refugees who had escaped the
oppressor only to be caught in
to help their fellow Jews taste
the meaning of liberation.
A short time later the agen-
might not bring their return. cies of the United Jewish Appeal
It would be a cruel trick of fate stepped in to provide new homes
refugees.
if the liberated refugees were for the liberated
to fall into the hands of the Through the combined action of
the Joint Distribution Commit-
Nazi oppressor a second time.
It was therefore decided that tee and the United Palestine Ap-
the refugees must be removed to peal. 570 of them were brought
the mainland, out of reach of the to Palestine—the first refugees
enemy. Through the interven- to reach the Jewish homeland
tion of the President's War Ref- from territory liberated by the
ugee Board and with the aid Allies. The Jews who had been
of funds provided by the United retaken at Rhodes saw at last
Jewish Appeal the systematic the ancient land of their fath-
evacuation was accomplished. A
minor Dunkirk was enacted on
the Island of Raab on that mo
mentous day. Rowboats, motor
launches, skiffs—everything afloat
was pressed into service to ferry
To Our Friends
all of the 1,500 refugees across
21648 GD. RIVER
22085 MICHIGAN
Britain's strongpoints in the ers which had been denied them
Mediterranean they seized Rhodes four years earlier.
12300 WOODROW WILSON
TO. 7-9422
May it be His will that this year should bring
salvation to our people and to all all suffering
humanity. We fervently pray that "Our Boys"
in the service of our country return to us
speedily and rejoice with us over the complete
Victory of the United Nations.
WYOMING
PLUMBING &
HEATING
SUPPLIES
4 0. WYOMING
HOgarth 9470