30th Year F Detroit ot Service to Detroit Jewry Jewish Chronicle and The Legal Chronicle VOL. 47, NO. 37 DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1945 I Soviet Jewry Calls For Rebirth of Israel Jews Throughout the World Observe First Peace-Time Rosh Hashonah 10c Single Copy, $3.00 Per Year David Cohen Elected Head of Bnai David 5,700,000 Jews Slain by Nazis, Survey Shows Stalin Interest In Yishuv Told 1)1 1 1 0 L' Spirit of Hope Pervades Jewry With Advent of New Year 5706 NEW YORK (WNS) — As the Jews throughout the world ob- served the New Year, the year 5706, Jewish leaders everywhere expressed the hope and certainty that the new year would find greater amelioration in the Jewish tragedy in Europe. Declaring that the end of World War II has raised high the hope s of surviving Jews for speedy rehabilitation overseas and large-scale Palestine settlement, Rabbi James G. Heller, Rabbi Jo- nah B. Wise and William Rosen- wald, national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, issued a High Holiday message to the Jews of the United States in which they emphasized that mass need, distress and homelessness in the wake of war's destruction threat- en the survival of the remaining Jews of Europe, unless American Jews embark immediately on a trem".'idous overseas relief and rehabilitation and Palestine up- building program to assure for the Jewish survivors a place of dignity and security in the post- war world. They stressed the fact that the agencies of the United Jewish Appeal—the Joint Distri- (Continued on Page 9) Incidents on Dexter Jewish Council Issues Statement MOSCOW—Determination to rebuild Jewish life in Europe was the sounding key of Soviet Jewry as it con- gregated to observe the Rosh Hashonah holidays. On the eve of Rosh Hashonah, the Moscow Jewish Community issued a proclamation "To the Religious Jews All Over the World" in which it was urged that the Jews of the world dedicate themselves to the task of rebuilding Jewish life in Europe. The proclamation read : "The war has ruined and dev-0 astated our people. Now all our strength should be directed towards the rehabilitation of all that has been destroyed. We must concentrate on the rapid rebuild- ing of a new life for the Jewish people who have lost a third of their number. "We, the religious Jews of NEW YORK — Based upon the USSR, fervently desire that our brothers and sisters who were statistics gathered from all avail- under the suppression of the Ger- able sources on the number of man monsters and cannibals Jewish civilian casualties during should rebuild their lives as rap- Axis domination in Europe, the idly us we, the Jews of the So- Institute of Jewish Affairs, re- viet Union, are doing it with the search affiliate of the World Jew- assistance of our government. ish Congress and the American Our continuous prayers and fears Jewish Congress, concludes that have reached the Almighty and the actual number may be "very He has given us victory over the conservatively" estimated at 5,- fiendish enemy who was already 700,000, or 60 percent of the to- at the gates of our capital. We be- tal Jewish population in Europe lieve that the Almighty will now when the war began. also hear our prayers of thanks- In Russia the Jews fared a giving and bestow upon the sur- little better than elsewhere for viving Jews a happy and joyous the report indicates that if Rus- life." sia is excluded from the count the Reports reaching here from all percentage of Jews killed or miss- Parts of the country indicate an ing would reach 68 percent. None unprecendented attendance at the of these estimates, it is pointed Rosh Hashonah services. out, takes into consideration the miiltary casualties among Jews. (Continued on page 9) The 5,100,000 does not include persons labelled Jews by the Axis but only those who, by their own Jewish communities, were regard- ed as Jews. Also, whereas the TEL AVIV (WNS) — Marsha Polish Government put the num- Stalin declared at a reception in ber of Jews killed in Poland at the Kremlin for members of the more than 6,500,000, the Insti- Polish Government that the So- tue believes the number to be less than 3,000,000. viet Government is "seriously" in- 80,900 IN POLAND terested in an international solu- On the other hand, the number tion of the Palestine question, it was disclosed by M. Kleinman, of Jewish survivors in Poland, leader of Polish Jews in Pales- Hungary and Germany is smaller than had been supposed. Poland, tine. for example, according to the re- Mr. Kleinman said the disclo- port, has not 200,000 Jewish sur- sure was made by Dr. Emil Som- vivors as was supposed in prior merstein, leader of Polish Jewry, estimates, but no more than 80,- who attended the Kremlin fete. 000; Hungary has between 160,- Dr. Sommerstein was quoted as 000 and 170,000 and not 200,000, having said that when Stalin was and Germany does not have even asked whether he knew what the the 10,000 recently estimated. Germans did to Polish Jewry, he Latvia and Lithuania hold the replied: "Yes, and we shall record with 95 percent of th•ir avenge." When Dr. Sommerstein Jewish populations slain by the asked the Soviet Generalissimo Nazis. Latvia lost 90,000 of its whether the Soviet Government prewar 95,000 Jewish population was interested in an international and Lithuania 143,000 of its for- solution of the Palestine problem, mer 152,000 Jews. Casualties he replied: "Certainly and seri- among Jews reached 83 percent ously." (Continued on page 9) Rumors Exaggerate DAVID J. COHEN David J. Cohen was elected president of Congregation Bnai David at the annual meeting held Wednesday. He succeeds Joseph Block, who served three years and refused to be a candidate for reelection. Joseph Gorman was chosen vice president, Mendel Shifman, trea- surer and Dan Otis was named secretary. Mr. Cohen previously served four years as president of Con- gregation Bnai David and four years as secretary. For more than a decade he has been one of the most active workers in the Con- gregation and he has been given a great deal of the credit for the growth and prosperity of Bnai David. Mr. Cohen, an attor- ney, is one of the most active younger leaders in Detroit Ortho- dox Jewish circles. Zion Solution Seen Imminent LONDON (WNS) — The offi- cial announcement last week by the British Foreign Office that British diplomats in the Arab countries had been summoned to London for a conference on the situation in the Middle East is being viewed here in authorita- tive circles as evidence that the solution of the Palestine problem is imminent. Following the disclosure by a spokesman for British Foreign Office that the Arab-Jewish ques- tion would be a major issue in the conferences which Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin is to hold with the diplomats, it was report- ed that Abdul Rahaman Azzam Bey, secretary general of the Arab League, was on his way to London where he expects to pre- sent the Arab position on the Pal- estine question. Indicating that a solution, or attempt at solution, of the Pal- estine problem was imminent was a report reaching here from Jeru- salem in which Prince Feisal of Saudi-Arabia was reported as having asserted at a press confer- ence that an agreement on the Palestine question "will shortly be reached." Some circles here, however, be- (Continued on Page 3) Many disturbing rumors have been circulating in the commun- ity about alleged anti-Jewish oc- currences in Detroit. The Jewish Community Council acted imme- diately and vigorously as soon as the first rumors and reports reached the administration. All preventive measures were taken without delay. The complete co- operation of many elements in the non-Jewish community was immediately enlisted. The muni- cipal authorities are on the alert maintaining law and order, and the Community Council has given them every assistance possible. There is every reason to be confident that the situation, while it required the strong action which the Community Council took, does not warrant any alarm or panic. All reports have been thoroughly investigated and traced to their original sources. Thus the organized Jewish com- munity was able to act on the basis of facts, and not on the basis of rumors and allegations. The rumors are grossly exag- gerated. If they are not stopped. they may cause undue and dan- gerous alarm and even hysteria. All responsible individuals and organizations in the Jewish at munity can help by vigorously discouraging rumors, by prevent- ing irresponsible acts, and by communicating with the Com- munity Council office to obtain ac- curate, reliable information. A full report on the situation, and on the Community Council's action with respect to it, will be presented to an early meeting of Community Council ,delegates. Jewish Community Council Terrorists Kill 128 Lodz Jews GENEVA (WNS) — The wave of terrorism against the Jewish population in Poland is still gain- ing momentum and in Lodz 128 Jews were slain in July, accord- ing to information from Poland. In the small towns of Poland, where there are only few Jewish survivors, the situation is even worse, the report disclosed. Many Jews who only recently returned to their home towns are reported fleeing in the hope of finding shel- ter. Bands of organized terrorists, often stronger than the local po- lice authorities, are rounding un Jews, terrorizing them, beating them and stealing their property. In some towns the terrorists were reported to have issued ultima- tums to the Jewish residents, warning them that unless they leave they would be killed. In sev- eral towns the terrorists are re- ported to have slain the surviving Jews who failed to heed the warning. In Radom, a comparatively large city, the Polish terrorists posted notices that unless the Jews leave the city within 24 hours they would wipe out the entire Jewish population. Most Jews fled. The plight of the Jews through- out Poland, the report disclosed, is desperate. Jews are afraid of speaking Yiddish in public for fear of being attacked by the ter- (Continued on page 16) *Police Guard All Synagogues The Detroit Jewish community last week was stirred up by some incidents which occurred on Dex- ter. These were exaggerated by rumors, and might have had ser- ious repercussions but for the prompt action of city and police officials and the Jewish Commun- ity Council. The incidents had their origin on Tuesday night Sept. 4 in the area on Dexter between Burlin- game and the Bowlodrome but centering on Dexter and Richton. Some non-Jewish youth abused Jewish boys. This drew passers- by who drove the intruders away. On Wednesday night, Sept. 5, between 25 and 30 non-Jewish youths came on Dexter and Rich- ton looking for a fight. They beat up a few Jewish boys but were driven off by a group of Jewish youths who came from the Bowlo- drome and had heard that Jews were being beaten. On Thursday night, Sept. 6, about 500 Jewish boys gathered on Dexter from Elmhurst to Rich- ton waiting for the hoodlums to return. About 75 of the Jewish boys wanted to invade the terri- tory from which the hoodlums came but were restrained. Police in large numbers were dispatched to the Dexter area to guard against violence. They dispersed the Jewish groups. One policeman is said to have become abusive and to have made derogatory re- marks against Jews. He has been reported to the commissioner. As a result of these incidents police are guarding the syna- gogues during the holidays and are especially watchful of the Dexter area patrolling it con- stantly. Clergy Cooperate Clergy of other faiths are co- operating to quiet the situation and police officials of the Petos- key precinct have called in about a dozen of the non-Jewish youths involved and have, warned them that if violence continues they will be arrested and a grand jury called. The youths disclaimed any organized violence and said they looked on the incident as just a fight between boys. At present there is no sign of (Continued on page 2) $I oo,000 Load Of Supplies Sent To Birobidjan NEW YORK—An electric pow- er unit and various supplies val- ued at $100,000 have been ship- ped to Birobidjan, by the Ameri- can Birobidjan Committee (Am- bijan). The shipment which was load- ed on a Soviet boat for transpor- tation directly to Birobidjan, con- sisted of a Diesel generator and other machine parts, as well as many cases of clothing, blankets, shoes and various other articles. It was part of the materials which Ambijan is now regularly sending for the maintenance of 3,500 Jew- ish war orphans who were settled in Birobidjan. Ambijan is now seeking to settle in Birobidjan 30,000 Jewish war orphans who escaped Nazi persecution and who found ref- uge in Soviet Russia. An "Ein- stein Fund" is now being raised for this purpose.