Page Six
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Friday, March 30, 1945
THKTHREAT OF POLITICAL ANTI-SEMITISM
By ARCHIE H. GREENBERG
National Commander, Jewish War Veteran:
! P1'
past 15 years Oswald Mosely un-
successfully attempted to ride to
When the year 1944 is viewed say definitely that 1944 marked power on anti-Semitism, although
In retrospect by historians, it the open emergence of political this would-be political opportun-
ist originally sought Jewish mem-
may very well be catalogued as anti-Semitism in this country,
a pivotal one in American Jew-
Political anti-Semitism is, of bers for his Fascist party.
But it was Hitler and the
ish history. For the historian of course, nothing new in the his-
10 or 20 years from now may be tory of the world, although it is Nazis who made anti-Semitism the
able to say definitively that 1944 largely a development of the focal point of a drive for, power
marked the real beginnings, or past hundred years. In Germany, and who, coming to power, estab-
the beginning of the end of po- Jews were used as the scapegoat lished anti-Semitism as the basis
litical anti-Semitism in the United for a financial crisis in 1873 by of a national policy. As early as
States. Writing today, less than enemies of Bismarck. In the 1920, Hitler mass meetings were
five months after a very bitter crazy-quilt of varying national- propagandized with pamphlets
national election, we can only isms in Austria, anti-Semitism calling the Jews "international
has been used as a political bankers" on one hand and "inter-
national communists" on the
weapon by clashing national in- other
hand.
terests since 1871, and in 1880
In
the
United States, where
there was an anti-Semitic party
Sincerest Passover Greetings
headed by Karl Luger. In France, anti-Semitism was not an un-
the Dreyfuss case, which domi- known social phenomenon, the
nated
politics in the years use of political anti-Semitism
Burk's Prescription 1894 French
through 1906, was very may be said to have started 12
definitely the political exploita- years ago at about the time of
Pharmacy
tion of anti-Semitism. In the the advent of Hitlerism. Pelley,
Christianson and other anti-Sem-
latter part of the reign of Alex- ites
thought they had found a
7446 W. McNICHOLS RD.
ander II, who was assassinaed formula for power in the Nazi
in
1881,
the
Russian
government
UNiversity 1.5070
We Deliver
technique of the exploitation of
started using anti-Semitism as anti-Semiti sm.
a political device and under Czar
But political anti-Semitism,
Help Back the Attack
Alexander III it became an in- which for the past
few years
tegral part of national propa• has been nurtured by attacks on
I gamin. In England during the Justice Frankfurter, Secretary of
the Treasury Morgenthau and
others, really came of age in
1944 as a part and parcel of the
presidential campaign. Efforts to
Passover Greetings and Best Wishes
attract votes on the Hillman is-
sue were definitely an attempt
to Detroit Jewry and to those in Service.
to capitalize on anti-Semitic
prejudices ; a candidate for Con-
gress in Chicago, Charles J, An-
derson, ran on openly avowed
anti-Semitic platform, and nu-
merous candidates for the Senate
and Congress made subtle (more
or less) use of anti-Semitism.
Newspaper columnists like West-
brook Pegler, John O'Donnell,
Bill
Cunningham and others
No American wants this war
made studied references to Hill-
to go one minute beyond the
man's rabbinical training and his
Russian birth in what was at
time we can bring it to a vic-
best an anti-foreign appeal and
t orious end. To hasten that what,
more likely—intentionally
or not—was an appeal to anti-
victory—to save possibly the
Semitic prejudices.
lives of millions of our boys
The use of existing anti-Semi-
on our far flung fronts—it is
tism for political purposes—
which is the definition of political
imperative that every Ameri-
anti-Semitism—made a sudden
can do his part. There is an
and dramatic appearance on the
American scene in 1941 when
investment to fit every purse.
To Hasten
Victory
The most you can do is little
enough compared with the sac-
rifice offered by our boys in
service. They give their lives—
you lend your money.
For a Festive Passover
and Sincere Good Wishes
to the Entire Community
for a Victorious, Happy
and Joyous Holiday.
COPCO
STEEL and ENGINEERING CO.
14035 GRAND RIVER
PASSOVER
GREETINGS
DETROIT
•
Charles Lindbergh made his fam-
ous speech in Des Moines in
which he said that "the three
most important groups which
have been pressing this country
into the war were the British,
the Jewish and the Roosevelt
administration." This is a full
blown example of how existing
prejudices could be used in an
argument against American en-
trance into the war. It has since
been used many times, particu-
larly in debates between conver-
satives and liberals on projected
governmental programs. At the
time of the Lindbergh speech, it
looked as though a full blown
campaign based on political anti-
Semitism was imminent, But for-
tunately it was halted by a timid-
ity among some American First.
ers and the attack on Pearl Har-
bor the following December.
Political anti-Semitism then
became largely quiescent in this
country until this year, although
the threatened investigation of
Jewish control of the movie M.
dustry by Senator Nye and the
effusions of some Congressmen
and Senators in the halls of Con-
gress cannot be considered any-
thing else than an attempt to
exploit such anti-Semitic preju-
dice as existed for political pur-
poses. But it was in the 1944
political campaign that exploita-
tion of anti-Semitism for politi-
cal advantage became a major
See
ANTI-SEMITISM—Page 11
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PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES TO ALL!
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PASSOVER GREETINGS
Upon this momentous occasion in the lives of the
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replete with peace, happiness and contentment
•
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