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Page Two
REPORT FROM
GERMANY
When the U.S.S. Buckingham
dropped anchor in Tokyo harbor
two days after the Japanese sure
render, Navy Lt. Lou Meyers pa'
aside his dental tools, strapped a
camera case to his shoulder and
started out in search of good
shooting grounds. Hi3 role as offi-
cial ship photograph gave him
a rest from his dit'i ; as dentist
of the transport. II :; lapped pic-
tures of the occupat cr troops as
they ambled down the gan;-
By IRVING IIAVETT
Jewish Chronicle Foreign Correspondent
(Copyright 1946, All Rights Reserved)
This series of articles tells of the War Crimes
Trials in Frankfurt, Germany.
Trip to Schwabich-Hall
living conditions. It is difficult for
a man who is hungry and who i.;
ARTICLE XIII
I
During a recess in the Borkum
Island Case, I decided to go by
train to a little old world town
about 60 kilometers from Lud-
wigsburg. I had heard that it was
a very old, quaint town, very
much like Heidelberg and un-
touched by the war. I rode in the
third class train that the German
civilians use. The train was pitch
black, with wooden seats and very
crowded and smelly. Seated op-
posite me was a well dressed man
about 40 years old. He carried a
very precise and neat looking brief
case. I asked him in my broken
German whether the train stop-
ped at Heilbronn and whether I
had to change in order to get to
Schwabich-Hall. I was surprised
to hear him answer, in very pre-
cise, Oxfordian English, "No, sir,
this train goes right through to
the Hall."
This was one of the few Eng-
lish speaking Germans that I had
had an opportunity to speak to
for any length of time and we got
into quite a discussion.
"Do you find it better in Ger-
many now, than it was during the
war or before the war?" I asked.
"Materially we had it much bet-
ter In Germany during Hitler and
during the war. I made more
money. I lived better. 1 had a nice
home and there was so much
more of everything. at the be-
ginning, but really I had nothing.
I would much prefer it as it is
today. I eat less, my home is ka-
put, I am separated from my fam-
ily most of the time because they
are in the country with friends
but I have more. Yes, I have more
now. It Is much better to live un-
afraid with the little than to have
A plenty and ilVe with fear and hat-
^d and brutality. Have you ever
lived with fear? Let me ask you
a question. Why must we be di-
vided up into these zones, these
terrible zones. Why couldn't some-
thing else be worked out for
Germany?"
"We haven't much time," I an-
swered, "and there is so much 1
want to ask you about. Do you
mind if I ask the questions? What
if we stepped out of Germany to-
morrow, we Americans, British
and Russians and left the coun-
try, what would happen?"
"There would be a revolution.
People in Germany, the German
race must be told what to do.
Why, I do not know, perhaps 1
am not smart enough. We are a
people that plan things carefully.
We must have leaders who plan.
We must be told what to do. That
is one terrible failing of the Ger-
man people."
"Herr Wittman," I said, "if I
said to you tomorrow, here is Ger-
many, do with it what you will,
what would you do?"
"Truthfully, I do not know. I do
not think that many Germans
have given it much thought. That
would be for the leaders to figure
out. I know what you are going
to say. You are going to say, if
we do not know what we want,
how can we expect you to know
what to do with us. Well, I will
tell you. We must first be rebuilt
economically. We must all be able
to make a decent living. The fac-
tories must be rebuilt and run
again. Then, we will have better
worried about the welfare of his
family to think of politics and
government and about the future.
The future of Germany — well, it
must be planned. Nothing is good
without a plan."
"If we should get G-rmany back
on its feet industrially," I asked.
"what assurance do we have OW
Germany would not repeat itself
and start planning and building
for the next war?"
I
I
"It is true, Germany needs a
leader and Germany will always
be a military country, but believe
me, I do not want to see and live
through another war. I believe that
most of .the German people do not
want another war. We have had
enough of wars. We have just to
look around us and we can see
what war can do. We have never
seen it before, right here in the
very heart of Germany, on our
own soil Now we have it her
right before our eyes. No, I do
not think Germany will want war
again. No, we have had enough
of it."
At this point, I had reached my
destination and had to leave Herr
Richard Wittman. It had been an
interesting discussion. Many, many
questions were still unanswered;
many of the answers were un-
sati Ifactorv, but I had had some
inkling of how a German is think-
ing and how things are with them.
all b
DR. METERS
planks, climbed rock piles for
views of destroyed buildings and
clicked at the myopic Jap civil-
ians as they sauntered by.
Dr. Meyers had traveled from
one end of the Pacific to the oth-
er during his three years of Na-
vy duty. His 18 months overseas
found him in Leyte, Manila, Ok-
inawa and Japan. He was very
glad when his ship headed for
San Francisco in the latter part
of 1945, for the yen to see his
parents, i;Ir. and Mrs. Max Mey-
ers, 4247 W. Buena Vista Ave.,
and to continue a 10-year practice
at 12102 Grand River had in-
creased daily during his lonely
stay overseas.
This 37-year-old University of
Michigan graduate is back at his
private practice again — the same
face at the same ,place -- but
with many striking pictures to
change it from its pre-war atmos-
phere.
At Schwab;ch-Hall, I visited
many of the landmarks and drank
some beer in a German tavern. I
then visited Prison Camp No. 2.
where some 2,000 SS men, all of
them very young, are interned.
There are some 750 of them that
are being held for questioning in
connection with the Malmedy At-
rocity Case. At Malmedy in Bel-
gium, some 150 American prisoners
of war, taken at the Battle of
the Bulge, were brutally shot to
death. An order had been given
that no prisoners were to be tak-
en alive. I watched the interroga-
tion of some ten SS men and was
very much surprised to find that
Leaders of the Zionist MoVe-
most of them were tinder 21 years
ment in Detroit rallied at the
of age.
home of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore
I managed to get a copy of one Levin Tuesday night, April 2, to
of the statements given to the in- launch an emergency membership
vestigator - examiner. This is the campaign to enroll 5,000 Detroit
second, supplementary statement Jews as Zionists.
of this SS man. It is typical of
Rabbi Leon Fram, president of
the confessions these men are the Zionist District of Detroit,
willing to give -- with some ex- opened the campaign with a state-
ceptions, of course.
ment to the effect that "every
On my way back from Schwa- Jew who sympathizes with the
bich-Hall in a jeep, I couldn't help Zionist cause must definitely reg-
but think that perhaps the man ister his sympathy or the cause
on the train was right when he will be lost. Affiliation with the
said, "Germany will always be mil- Zionist Organization is the on'y
itary." Then I asked myself what effective way by which the Jews
I would do with Germany and 1 of Detroit may inform public op-
too did not know the answer.
inion of the fact that a Jewish
(Next week's article will present commonwealth in Palestine is the
unanimous will of all the Jewish
the SS statement.)
people."
The local membership drive is
part of a national campaign to
enroll 250,000 members.
Campaign Dinner Pioneer Women
;Continued from page 1)
of ails work on the campaign from
city to city.
It's a job my conscience
nu. permit me to get away from,"
hi. said. "The giving of money
done is not enough. There is
work to be done. We Jews," lu
cc 'Untied, "are a fine people. I'm
proud of our Jewish achievements
And we have a mission to per
form. Stand erect," he urged. "If
I had my choice of being born
again, I'd want to be a Jew."
Highlight of the evening in sti•-
ring oratory was Harold J. Gold-
enberg whose own contribution
was $75,030 in Minneapolis. He
oratory stirred the people present
as they have seldom been stirre , :
before.
"Hitler planned to liquidate Inc
Jewish people. He failed but you
people can do the job for him. Al'
you have to do is to give only as
much as you did in 1945, and au
more.
"If we Don't do a good job thin
year, we'll have no job at all to
do next year. There will be nc
one left to do the job for. So give
to the last measure of •your re•
sources. Give with love and com-
passion."
Committees are to be appointed
by the chairman to organize the
entire campaign and get it int.(
the final phase. It is expected that
Detroit will not only succeed in
reaching its quota but will ex-
ceed it by far as many other
cities in the country are doing.
Others who spoke were Max Os-
nos, Harry Hyman, Henry Key-
well, Fred Butzel, Abe Kasle and
the chairmen of the various ta-
bles. Pledges were announced in
varying sums.
Send $200,000 to
Palestine Group
The Pioneer Women's Organi,
Lion has sent $200,000 to the Wur
ing Women's Council, its aria
in Palestine, as a token of sol
arity with the Palestine Jewis
Community at this crucal
ment when the fate of the Jew , .1
Homeland is being decided by t! e
Anglo - American Commission .4
Inquiry. In releasing this inf , .--
mation on behalf of the Natio/1;1
Praesidiurn, Miss Dvorah Ro'll-
bard stated that the funds wk re
cabled against a quota of a 11.11f
million dollars for the current
year adopted at the last natioi.,,I
convention held in November.
SEEKS RELATIVES
Abraham Rosenfarb, of Lode,
Poland, is searching for his rela-
tives, Eliezer Schlussel and Pia-
char Elbinger, residing in Detroit.
Call Rabbi S. Gliksman's Anted-
can European Correspondence Of-
fice, 3356 Cortland, TO. 8-4731.
Passover Greetings!
J. LIEBER
8 Son
TAILOR
CA.
6088
408 MICHIGAN
THEATER BLDG.
Zionists Rally to
Enroll Members
A Fine Portrait .. .
Jack Bigelman
(Chronicle Photographer)
storek men
Tyler 5.4144
tuna
,
Scotts
GRASS SEEDS
and
4 ppointments at
Studio or on Location
9364 N. Martindale
COLORFUL
SPRING PRINTS
All Rayon Lined
$1.50 to $3.50
Pure Silk Foulards
In Pure Silk
Hand Paints $5.00
.)
1
Friday, April 12, 19-ot
DETROIT JEW' 1 4 '-. 1-, V"ItCLE and The Legal Chronicle
Meyers Back at
10-Year Practice
-
/
Tun'
BUILDER
Enrich your lawn down to the last blade
of grass with plant food and then patch
in bare spots with the seed of your choice.
You Will Enjoy
HUNGARIAN KOSHER
STYLE FOOD
Take Out Service of Pies,
Pastries and Strudel
•
A. J. Vizvary, Divid Taxi,
7500 WEST
MCNICHOLS RD.
PETER PAN
Restaurant
Scotts Dense Shade 10 pounds $8.25
Scotts Regular
5 pounds $4.25
Scotts Bent Grass
3 pounds $5.85
Scotts Turf Builder 100 pounds $6.50
Menu under direction of
Boyd Sanders
16875 Livernois
CORNER SAN JUAN
4C.
Opp. II of D
Garden Center—Twelfth Floor—Woodward
HUDSON'S
Prices subject to
-4(5 las