Detroit Jewish Chronicle

and The Legal Chronicle

VOL.

46,

NO. 37

SECTION 1-A

DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1944

THE LIGHTS GO ON

Exploits o f Jewish Underground
in France a Stirring Saga

By RABBI M. J. WOHLGELERNTER

It is a symbolic coincidence that on Sept. 17, when
Jews all over the world will usher in a New Year, Lon-
don, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, is
to relax its blackout regulations. Rosh Hashonah 5705
will thus mark for the important allied capital the begin-
ning of a return to normal life. It is quite possible, too,
that sometime during our festival season the end of the
European war may be announced. It is in this spirit that
we shall greet each other significantly with the ancient
formula : L'shono Tovo! There is every hope that it
will indeed be a good year.

Alas, so many millions of our brethren across the
ocean will not live to see the day of victory. As the
lights go on over the war-tern lands there will be re-
vealed to us the ghastly picture of which Maidanek is
but a prelude. We will be facing a strange predicament.
As we rejoice over the turn of the tide on the battle-
fields, which will also mean the liberation of hundreds of
thousands of our fellow Jews, we shall first begin to
count our dead, crippled and homeless.

Jews in America will be placed before a great test.
It will require unusual strength of national character to
observe a people's period of mourning for the losses
that equal in significance the very burning of the Tem-
ple. Jewish life in Europe is a thousand years old. It
took one-fourth of the entire span of our history to de-
velop that center which is now almost completely des-
troyed. No small matter this, even in the 4,000 years
since Abraham.

Nor will it be merely a matter of shedding tears
and putting a limit on festivity. Tremendous tasks will
have to be met in the reconstruction and rehabilitation
of whatever remnants will be left of European Jewry.
The further development of Palestine—as a mere haven
of refuge or as a Jewish state—will call for an unprece-
dented effort. American Jewry itself will have to be
educated to these new responsibilities. May the intense
and concentrated religious experience of these solemn
days help us rise to the great historical moment.

1944

5705

SISTERS OF ZION MIZRACHI

EXTENDS BEST WISHES

To All its Members and to Jewry in General, for a

HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Mrs. Joseph H. Kunin, President.

The Chevra Ayim Jacob of
Congregation Bnai David

Greets Its Members and All Jewry on This Yom Kippur.
May You All Be Inscribed for a Year of Good Health
Happiness and Prosperity

JULIUS RITTON,

President

SAM ZACK, Secretary

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Standing at the threshold of the New Year,
we recall the many courtesies that have been
extended to us, and we pause in the midst of
this Holiday Season to express our appreciation
and wish you most heartily a Happy New Year

THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF

MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL ASS'N

Sec our display—

"SPIRIT OF MOUNT SINAI"
In J. L. Hudson's Woodward Ave. window

said there were no
exact records
GRENOBLE (WNS) — Stir- underground
movement
in false identification cards and doc-
ring details how the Jewish un- France, the leader of the group uments and saved hundreds of
Jewish children by placing them
derground organization in this because many of the partisan in 70 homes in the countryside.
area saved thousands of French used false names and documents. One of the functions of the com-
Jews by outwitting the dreaded He disclosed, however, that for mittee was to aid young Jews in
Gestapo, was told here this week months before D-Day, a young joining the Maquis.
to press correspondents by a Paris rabbi had led in this area
As the correspondents were
number of leaders of the Jewish alone a unit consisting of 1,800 about
to leave the small, drab
resistance movement.
Jews.
The
unit
was
engaged
in
and
smoke-filled
office, one of the
Seated on benches around a blowing up bridges, spotting im-
small table in a four-by-four portant Nazi military installa- partisans asked whether they
would not be interested in secur-
office in Rue Jean Jaques Rous-
seau, the men spoke with pride tions and in destroying small ing information about the cul-
German army units. The rabbi tural and communal activities of
and reservation of their accom- was
subsequently captured by the the Jewish underground organiza-
plishments. They related how the
Jewish underground fought to Nazis and executed. A young tion in the Grenoble area. He
save and protect the 3,000 Jews Bulgarian Jew had the task of then went on to tell how Jewish
who lived in the district, how it distributing Maquis literature and political groups would meet to
established contact with hun- instructions and of acting as the discuss important problems, how
dreds of families that had been liaison between the Maquis and a meeting was held in observance
hiding throughout the Isere De- the Jews. A Polish-born Jew of the anniversary of the revolt
partment, how it established liai- who lived in Paris for 30 years, in the Warsaw ghetto, how the
sons with other Jewish communi- where he was employed as a Jews observed Rosh Hashonah
ties and how it cooperated with welfare worker, was the head of and Yom Kippur in a Catholic
the French resistance movement the "United Committee for the and Protestant church respective-
in fighting the hated Germans. Defense of Jews." His job was ly. He described how a Zionist
There was so much to be told. to secure funds to maintain the group met regularly and studied
so many incidents to be recalled, 400 families that were in hiding. Jewish history and kindred sub-
so many dangers to be described He secured the funds by contact- jects. The leader of the Zionist
and so many feats of daring to ing certain groups in Paris, Lyon group was Georges
Schnek,
be recounted that the men actu- and even in Switzerland.
ally vied with each other in tell-
During 1944 the committee dis- whose cousin Rose Fushan is a
ing their experiences.
tributed more than 1,200 sets of See UNDERGROUND—Page 8
A well constructed young man
in the early twenties related how
several hundred Jewish children
were smuggled from Grenoble to
Switzerland. His description of
Hudson Store Hours: Daily, 9:45 to 5:45; Saturday, 9:45 to 6:00
the smuggling technique had all
the earmarks of a moving drama.
Underground railways, se c r et
channels, covered wagons, peram-
bulators and all sorts of nonde-
script vehicles were used to
smuggle Jews across the Swiss
border. He spoke glowingly of
the cooperation the Jewish un-
derground units received from
French families along the Fran-
co-Swiss border. He recounted
how the smugglers were often
spotted by the Gestapo and by
the German border patrols. When
this happened, he said, the only
way out was "to fight the Nazis
to death." He disclosed the exist-
ence of a "Jewish Army" which
fought the Vichy police and the
Gestapo and of a special Jewish
unit which specialized in smug-
gling Palestine-bound Jews to
Spain.

Munching Chocolate

Munching a piece of chocolate
and fingering an American cig-
arette, a short but swarthy look-
ing Jewish partisan spoke with
uncontrollable emotions of the
hundreds of young French Jews
serving with the Maquis and the
French Forces of the Interior.
Not only did the Jewish units
have to perform the general
duties that were assigned to them
by the underground, but they
had, in addition, to take care of
the "Jewish charges" that had
been entrusted to them. "When
9 we were not out on risky mis-
sions for the general interest of
France," he observed with a sig-
nificant smile, "we were busy
making false identification cards,
ration books and other vital doc-
uments for the Jews in hiding."
The exploits and martyrdom
of a 22-year-old German-Jewish
refugee girl and of a 35-year-old
rabbi from Tel Aviv, Palestine,
were vividly described by an-
other of the partisans. The
young woman was leading a con-
tingent of 40 Jewish children to-
.N ward the Swiss border when she
was pounced upon by the Ges-
tapo. By a miracle, however,
she succeeded in persuading the
Gestapo to release the driver of
the truck and the children under
the age of 16. Twelve of the
children and their would-be res-
cuer were arrested. The young
woman was believed to have
been executed.
The young rabbi came to Gre-
noble in 1943 to direct the youth
organization. He soon became
the leader of the "Jewish Army."
While on a mission to Paris to
establish contact with certain
persons with a view of securing
arms for the underground, he
was arrested by the Gestapo. He,
too, was believed to have been
executed.

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Participate in Underground

Asked whether there were any
exact records of the number of
ei Jews who participated in the

Prices Subject to 3% Sales Tax