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VOL. 48, NO. 15

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DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1946

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SECTION TWO

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A Milestone
In Buchenwald

By,
ROBERTAEELAV
Author of
Exodus from
Europe"
A notable celebration took
place in Buchenwald on Christ-
mas Day, 1942, and I was its un-
willing guest of honor.
Early in the morning, two stal-
•,)
warts appeared in my section of
the concentration camp where I
was a "guest." They approached
the cubby-hole that was my
"home" and directed me to climb
down. They were in holiday at-
tire, boots glistened, uniforms
tailored and a general appearance
of special care, which I presumed
to be in honor of the religious
event. They carried small arms,
truncheons and other parapherna-
lia for "defense."
Down the corridor we walked,
I with some effort, to avoid being
"assisted."
From the three rising tiers,
against both sides of the walls,
eyes peered from helpless observ-
ers, with resignation, and blood-
less faces no longer in human
form, certain of a slow and
agonizing death; they stared,
with certainty of my fate.
Strangely, I experienced a
sense of embarrassment.
After a long march we reached
a door which opened, as if we
were anxiously expected, and I
found myself in an official cham-
ber. Officials and their friends,
men and women, filled every
chair, all were gorgeously deco-
rated, with monocles, sabers
across their knees; they awaited
me with immutable faces.
"Good!" exclaimed the officer
of highest rank, seated at the
head of the table, after a quick
glance at me. "This," he con-
tinued, after a short pause, "is a
great event for Buchenwald and
the Fatherland."
The smiles, mixed with scorn,
on the faces of those around, in-
dicated that they understood the
full import of the remark and I
attached to it the usual conclu-
sion that death is about to re-
lieve me mercifully.
But my conclusion was an er-
ror.
At a signal my ankles were
firmly fastened, and I was lifted
off the floor and placed close to
the table and opposite the offi-
cial group.
"Herrenvolk !" again spoke the
''. same official spokesman, with
deep voice, "our service has
reached a high pinnacle of
achievement. The number of
swine has reached the number of
one million. History will record
this accomplishment with wonder
and gratitude. One million have
entered and none have left."
"One million is a milestone of
progress for our 'kultur'. Some
, believe that we can hasten still
more the day of our liberation,
(
but as we shall go on for one
. thousand years our fate is secure.
We shall destroy the slave 'people
tt
and those that have enslaved us.
One million is, in the short time,
a stupendous and satisfying be-
ginning."
"Now to symbolize • our prog-
ress, and to begin another march
to the next milestone, this swine
will receive the first number of
the second million."
Without further direction, as if
fully rehearsed, my tattered
sleeve was ripped off, my arm
flattened on the table and the
tattooing process begun.
To give no comfort to the ob-
serving beasts I made no cry and
(Continued on Page 15)

16

aunverGrettings

New Status

Yeshiva Assumes
Role of University

NEW YORK, N. Y.—Expansion
of Yeshiva into a University, the
first to be established in the long
history of the Jewish people out-
side of the Holy Land, and the
addition of new graduate and un-
dergraduate schools designed to
mak constructive and unprece-
dented contributions to American
and Jewish education, was an-
nounced by Dr. Samuel Belkin,
President, and Samuel Levy,
Chairman, Board of Directors -of
Yeshiva University.
The action approving the cor-
porate change-of-name from its
present name, Rabbi Isaac Elcha-
nan Theological Seminary and
Yeshiva College to Yeshiva Uni-
versity, with the right to confer
six additional higher degrees was
authorized by the New York
State Board of Regents at its
last meeting, Dr. Belkin disclosed.
"In the development of the
University," Dr. Belkin said, "we
shall be guided by the same phil-
osophy which has piloted our in-
stitution for more than fifty
years, that, is, not merely to du-
plicate any of the existing edu-
cational facilities of the great
seats of higher learning."
"Yeshiva has endeavored, in
(Continued on Page 14)

Jewish Battle

Major Praises
Palestine Fighters

"White Paper" Policy Enforced in
Palestine Follows a Path of Evil

When the Palestine White Pa-
per policy was formulated by
Great Britain in 1939, it pro-
voked a storm of protest not only
in the Jewish world, but among
decent people everywhere. Zion-
ists and non-Zionists joined hands
in condemning it as a vicious doc-
ument that would some day have
the dubious distinction of being
classified as one of the blackest
official papers ever issued by any
government.
Its outright and sole exclusion
of Jews from Palestine was de-
nounced as an act of discrimina-
tion whose viciousness in modern
times could only compare with
the new happily defunct Nurem-
berg Laws. Not only was the
White Paper attacked as a viola-
tion of the British mandate over
Palestine, but as an arbitrary and
shameless deviation from the ba-
sic principles of international law.
Its provision curbing Jewish citi-
zens of the various countries of
the world from entering Pales-
tine and from purchasing land
there was long denounced as an
indecent departure from the long-
recognized principle that no coun-
try was to legislate specifically
against a specific group of citi-
zens of another country.

POLICY DENOUNCED
During the debate in Parlia-
ment on the White Paper, Win-
ston Churchill, who was later to
succeed Chamberlain as British
Prime Minister, denounced the
policy as a grave injustice and as
an act of unparalleled iniquity.
The Labor members of Parlia-
ment, some of whom are now
holding high positions in the new

British Labor Government, warn-
ed Chamberlain that they would
not consider the White Paper
binding on any subsequent British
Government.
But there were more specific
indictments against the policy of
exclusion of Jews from Palestine.
Early in 1939 the spectre of war
was already stalking the unhappy
European continent. Appeasement
as an instrument of securing the
peace of Europe and of the world
was rapidly failing. IIitler, despite
Munich and despite all the con-
cessions he wrung from the cow-
ardly statesmen who then ruled
Europe, gave every sign that he
was ready to drown Europe in a
sea of blood at the slightest ex-
cuse or imaginary provocation.
The Nazis who then ruled Ger-
many and Austria with an iron
hand bluntly warned that what
they were doing to the Jews of
those countries would sink into
insignificance besides the plans
they were contemplating. Day af-
ter day the German Ministry of
Propaganda impudently released
reports of statements by high
Nazi officials of Germany's inten-
tion to exterminate the entire
Jewish population of Europe.
That those were no idle boasts
was evidenced by the increasing-
ly oppressive anti-Jewish laws in
Germany and Austria, by the con-
fiscation of Jewish property first
under legal guise and later arbi-
trarily, by the mass arrests, by
the establishment of ghettos, by
the exclusion of Jews from pro-
fessions, by the sequestration of
synagogues and Jewish communal

property and by sundry other
anti-Jewish measures.
LEADERS UNDERSTOOD
Responsible Jewish leaders
throughout the world, with ears'
to the ground, well knew that if
a war ever broke out in Europe, ,
the Jews would be the first vic-
tims of Nazi brutality. Aware of
conditions in Germany, they real-
ized that war would mean the to-
tal extermination of the Jews in
the countries falling under Ger-
many's and Hitler's domination.
Since it was evident that the con-
flagration would envelope all of
Europe, with its millions of Jews,
Jewish leadership sought to direct
its efforts towards removing as
many Jews as possible from the
potential war areas.
But the doors of mercy were
closed in all countries. Immigra-
tion laws, conceived in evil and
injustice, stood as iron walls
against the mass of Jewish hu-
manity whose doom in Hitlerland
and in the satellite countries was
a foregone conclusion. In the so-
called democracies, where public
)pinion was being slowly awakened
to the realization of the impend-
ing tragedy, there were words of
pity and sympathy for the tragic
fate of European Jewry. But of-
ficialdom is traditionally cold and
icy — and the immigration laws
were not relaxed, at least not to
an appreciable degree.
ONE HOPE LEFT
But there was still one hope
left—Palestine. The Balfour Dec-
laration was a British commit-
ment which had never been offi-
cially rescinded. The American
(Continued on Page 16)

"Never in my life have I seen
such gallant and keen soldiers,"
wrote a British Major in com-
mand of Jewish Palestinian units
during operations in Libya in
1941. Inspired by the heroism of
Jewish fighting men and women
in World War II, Mr. Rufus
Learsi has explored the record of
the Jewish people from ancient
days to the present, and he tells
a fascinating story of the Jew
in battle. He writes vividly of the
courage and daring which Jews
have displayed since biblical days.
From the Maccabean War of
Independence, one of the most
amazing conflicts in history, in
which Jews defended their Prom-
ised Land as far back as 165
B.C.E., to the crucial North Afri-
can battles of the war just ended,
when Jewish combat and auxil-
iary units with the British Eighth
Army saved the Allied cause
from imminent disaster, Jews
have bravely defended their
homeland.
This is a story of individual
heroes as well, Victorious Bar
Kochba, who reconquered Jerusa-
lem from the Romans in ancient
times, lives again, together with
Joseph Trumpeldor, the knight of
the modern Jewish national revi-
val, who gave his life defending
a new settlement in Palestine.
An interesting section of the
book tells of the splendid record
of Jews who fought for America
the Revolution, the War of
1812. the Civil War, and the two
World Wars.
Mr. Learsi relates with vigor
and realism the true story of
Jews as a fighting people. The
spirit of heroism and self-disci-
pline that emanates from Jewish
Palestine today is a natural de-
velopment from the courage of
Jewish fighters of the past.

