Friday, September 21, 1945

The Legal Chronicle
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and

Page Four

•

ELEGi A s C C hronicle
Detroit J en ey

Plain Talk

By AL SEGAL

HRONICLE

Published Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co, Inc., 525 Woodward Aye, Detroit 26, Mich., Tel. CAdillac 1040

THE PATRIARCH

This Mr. Segal was ascending
to the stately rank of patriarch
1879 this week. There had been born
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Postoffice at Detroit, Mich., under the
another grandchild into his fam-
Vol. 47, No. 38 ily and he could feel patriarchal
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1945 (TISHRI 15, 5706)
Detroit 26, Michigan
because this was the fourth. His
descendants are getting numer-
Belated
Justice
ous.
Tragedy in Poland
It was a boy whose name will
"Thirteen hundred Jews who were de-
Polish Jewry is still in the shadow of ported to Mauritius from Palestine have be Richard for Richard Sloane, a
kid the Segals know who is
death. This prewar spiritual center of Ju- been permitted to enter the country le- fine
missing in action after a B-29
daism which suffered the loss of more gaily," reads a recent report from Haifa, raid over Japan in April. Sgt.
than 3,000,000 men, women and children Palestine.
Sloane was the radioman on the
is again tasting the bitter dregs of trag-
To the uninformed this report may bomber.
edy.
More than five years itio Segal
sound like many others that are reaching began:to
his readers with
The wretched remnant of Polish Jews, us these days. From all corners of Europe reports on burden
his progeny. Ellen was
numbering barely 80,000 (less than the we get news of survivingand deported first, then Jan, then Paul and now
Jewish population of betroit) is again be- Jews returning to their native or adopted this Richard; he has intimations
ing compelled to„flee in terror of its. life. lands. From all corners or Europe we hear that there are to be more of them
In Lodz, 128 Jews who survived the Nazi stories of uprooted Jews yearning for a in the next few months.
massacres, fell victims ,to Polish hooligans. place they could call home.
A troubling problem of jour-
In Cracow and Radom scores of other
nalism occurs: How far should a
But
the
story
of
the
1300
Jews
who
ar-
columnist go in using his de-
Jewish survivors of Nazi concentration
rived in Palestine from Mauritius is one scendants as grist for his column-
camps' met death in their homes.
of topical importance, for it epitomizes ar mill? Suppose in, the fullness
Hundreds of Jews are now seeking safe- the Jewish tragedy in Europe. These were of time, he gathers to himself a
ty in the German concentration camps not ordinary refugees. These were victims dozen grandchildren? Should he
which are now under Allied control. Jews of a policy, a British policy, that was di- keep on talking about all of them
are not safe in the rural areas and small rected and is still being directed against in his column? Suppose, as may
well happen, he becomes a great
towns of postwar Poland. Not only are Jews and Jews alone.
grandfather? It would be just too
they destitute, being hungry, naked and
It was late in the winter of 1940 when
homeless, but they have to cower for their a French vessel, the Patria, reached the much for a columnist to take ad-
lives. They have to hide in fear of their shores of Palestine with a load of Jewish vantage of his position to drool
about his greatgrandfatherhood
neighbors.
passengers who sought to flee the hell in public.
There may be a limit to the
American Jewry, which is in danger of that was Europe. The ship was intercept-
becoming . calloused to suffering, should ed by British coast guardsmen. The fran- patience of the readers even
awaken to the plight of the Jews in Po- tic Jews on the unseaworthy ship begged though there is no limit at all to
land and ask the United States, Britain. for nothing more than that they be ad- the biological process.
Anyway, he hopes that no
and Russia to safeguard the lives of the mated to the Promised Land, where they I reader
of this column will cavil
hoped
to
find
sanctuary
from
persecution,
pitiably few remaining Polish Jews. Allied
because of his using Richard in
nay
physical
annihilation.
But
the
heart
troops protected the Nazis from the wrath
of the White Paper Government was cold- this way, since Richard really is

:1

SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 PER YEAR, SINGLE COPIES, 10c; FOREIGN, $5.00 PER YEAR
Act of March 3,

of their former slave laborers. Why can-
not Allied troops protect the Jewish refu-
gees ill Poland. The present Polish gov-
ernment is well meaning, but it doesn't
seem to have the power to curb the hood-
lums who are said to be followers of the
former London Polish regime.

i.

Anti-Semitic Bogy

I Are , we becoming too jittery? Are we
making a mountain out of a molehill?
Are we magnifying incidents into riots?

We know that anti-Semitism is preva-
lent and perhaps growing. But we must
also feel certain that the authorities rec-
ognize the national peril of anti-Semitism
and will do all in their power to put it
down, for all well-meaning persons recog-
nize that anti-Semitism is but a front for
groups who seek to destroy our govern-
ment.

Well-meaning men and women of all
faiths are battling anti-Semitism and are
our allies. This doesn't mean that we can
fall asleep to the peril. We must fight our
enemies of Democracy with all the means
at hand. We must use education, the press,
the radio and the pulpits to teach toler-
ance.
However, we must not scare too easily.
We know that groups of boys will battle
among themselves These street corner
fights have no significance unless they are
taken up by adults.

The danger we must guard against is
organized backing or organized conniv-
ance of hoodlumism. There are certain
individuals, certain groups who seek to
make capital out of such incidents. But
we must keep our heads.

*

*

*

Congratulations

,„

A good cantor who knows his liturgy
and has the voice to bring out the full
meaning of the prayers, can do much for
the spiritual reawakening of the Congre-
gation. Congregation Bnai David is to be
congratulated on having such a cantor.

Cantor Hyman J. Adler, who came here
from Palestine by way of Cleveland,
seems destined to add luster to Detroit
Jewry's list of cantors and this city is for-
tunate in having a number of cantors who
are maestros.

a historic figure, you might say,
Richard has been born in onii
the great moments of history an ,)
is not to be ignored. Behind the
big show window in the nursery
at the hospital he doesn't loo;;
portentous at all to people who
have no historic outlook.
as homely and unimpressiv e as
any of the flock of kids who
sleep around him.
Richard is important to anyone
who comprehends this solemn
fact: He is the common man of
the next century.
When the year 2000 rolls
around he will be 55 years old.
As he looked at his grandson
Segal could feel columnar stir-
rings of prophetic inspiration in
himself. Yes, this was a man of
the 21st century — a cycle Segal
would not be privileged to wit-
ness.
What will this man's life be
like in the 21st century? What
his social fear and worries? (The
old fears, the old worries?) At
55 he will look at the prospect of
old age not so far off and will
that trouble him much? Or will
atomic energy by then have pro-
longed the life of man so much
that Richard Segal will feel that
life begins at 55?
Will the fact of his having
been born Jewish impinge as
painfully on him as the Jewish
identity does on many lives in the
year 1945? (A prophetic Jewish
grandfather is bound to get
around to a question like that.)
Yes, this is Richard Sloane Se-
gal, a man of the 21st century.
It is to be hoped that he will eel-
(Continued on Page 9)

er than steel. Policy cannot give way to
mercy, said the Palestine Administration.
The Patria, loaded with human trag-
edy and buffeted by merciless waves was
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
not permitted to make port. The White
Paper stood as an iron wall. The ship
full glare of publicity will stop
foundered. The human being aboard its ANTI-SEMITISM
the incipient Streichers of Ameri-
A
LA
NEWBURGH,
.
deck wept and prayed. But the hand of
We're still reporting on the ca. . . . But the big press of
the government that held its palms against
New York State kept mum about
the doors of Palestine was strong, and anti-Semitic front. . . . So excuse the Newburgh incident. . • •
us if we can't be cheerful. . .
firm, and unyielding.
Maybe next week we'll resume There are still some Jewish lead-
A straying mine struck the vessel. Then our regular gossip.. .. Newburgh ers who believe that silence is the
the sea spoke its mercy, beckoning the did not have a quiet Rosh Ha- best remedy against anti-Semi-
victims to its grave, its sanctuary. Before shonah this year. , . . The Tal- tIsm . , . .
the very hand that shut the victims off mud Torah was vandalized. . . YOU SHOULD KNOW .. .
from sanctuary was able to extend any The damage amounts to several Don't miss the current March
of dollars. . .. The po- of Time's movie. . . . It deals
rescue to the passengers, 250 Jews found thousands
lice and the local press did not with achievements in Palestine
peace with the world at the bottom of a
Morris and presents Harold J. Laski,
sea that could not be otherwise than tur- start moving until Rabbi
Bloom took matters in his ener- Chairman of Britain's Labor Par-
bulent.
getic hands. . . . Great credit is ty Executive Committee. . . •
Then a strom arose. A storm of protest due him. . • . He altered the May- Laski in his movie statement says
against British official callousness. So or and the Christian Ministers of this . . . "The new British Labor
strong was the storm that even the hand the town. . . . He succeeded in Government must face and solve
of the
against the doors of Palestine began to arousing public opinion.... Bab- the Palestine problem, one
(Continued on Page 9)
waver. The surviving victims were gra- bi Bloom believes that only the I
ciously permitted to enter the Promised
AFTERMATH OF CRIME
Land.
Later another ship, the Atlantic, was
intercepted as she made for a Palestine
port. This time the ears of the White Pa-
per Government were still smarting under
the protests over the Patria tragedy. It
permitted entry to the vessel. But its pas-
sengers, about 1,600 Jewish refugees from
Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, were
detained for several weeks. When the
storm of protests subsided, the callous
Palestine Administration found another
trick behind its sleeves. It deported the
group to Mauritius, where it was interned
until last week.
Even belated justice merits a nod. But
the ultimate arrival of these victim's - to a
land that had been promised them by a
power greater than Great Britain only
serves as a tragic reminder of the folly
and crime of the White Paper policy—a
policy of unexampled discrimination
against Jews and Jews alone.
It is useless at this time to go into spec-
ulation as to how many Jews might have
been spared from the hand of death if the
British Government had relaxed its White
Paper policy when the dark shadows of
Hitlerism were engulfing Europe. But
there are Jews still to be rescued. There
I are Jews seeking sanctuary from a Europe
so drenched in Jewish blood that it has
become uninhabitable for Jews. The hand
on the doors of Palestine is still firm. Are
there any who can or will unhinge the
doors?

Strictly Confidential

