Axerieam Avish Periodical Cotter

CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110

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Friday, August 16, 1946

MAN

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The

or ME %EEE

"My main Interest outside of the work at which I earn my living
13 Zionism," said Benjamin M. Laikin. "I feel that the outlook in this
respect is very pessimistic. For years I have distrusted England. I
have always said she would never live up to her obligations under the
Balfour Declaration. In fact, back in 1936, I forecast exactly what
i3 now happening.
"I wish I knew what the solution to our troubles is. No one seems
to know. It goes without saying that we shall continue fighting but
'the outlook is very bleak now.
ry e, "The situation is even worse than it appears to be. I feel that it
is the intention of the present English Labor Government to finish
off what Hitler started. Not only
do they want to kill off the pres-
ent Jewish homeland; they actual-
ly want to break the backbone of
any political influence Jews may
have in America.
"To this end they have thou-
sands of propagandists touring
this country, speaking in univer•
sities and in private clubs, sowing
the seeds of anti-Jewishness. Eng-
land would not bother with us if
American Jewry did not take such
an intense interest in Palestine.
But we lire interested and our
efforts here constitute a distinct
danger to their imperialistic plane.
Meantime, the world looks on and
is quiet.
"Neither is the American gov-
ernment playing fair with us. This
country has a treaty with England
about the Palestine Mandate. Eng-
land cannot change the mandate
without United States consent. In
spite of the fact that both of the
major political parties adopted
BENJAMIN M. LAIKIN
resolutions for a Jewish national
home in Palestine, and in spite of the joint resolution in both houses
of Congress favoring this, our government has never brought pressure
to bear on England to live up to her international obligations.
"About the only thing American Jewry can do is to continue to
bring every sort of pressure on our government to live up at least
to its own promises."
Laikin first became interested in Zionism in 1918. At that time,
he was living in a small town in Massachusetts where there was no
Zionist movement whatever. He attended a lecture on the subject.
The speaker was a man named Shmarya Levine.
"The speech did not make any particular impression on me at
the time," said he. "But It did start me to thinking. After I consid.
ered the problem for a while, I could come to only one conclusion
and I have been an active Zionist ever since."
Although his activities have been in the line of Labor Zionism,
he disagreed with the fundamental belief of this party that if ever the
Labor Government won out in England, Palestinian problems would
be solved. Instead, he gloomily prophesied a double cross if that
government ever came to power. Events have shown him to be sadly
in the right.
Laikin is now president of the Zionist Council of Detroit. Th;s
consists of representatives of the General Zionists, Hadassah, Mizrachi
and the Labor Zionists. He is also interested in Yiddish culture and
in the publishing of Yiddish books. As such, he is a director of the
Yiddish Scientific Institute in New York. He is also on the executive
board of the Jewish Teachers Seminary and University in New York .
For nine years he was a member of the executive board of the
Detroit Jewish Community Council. He takes pride in being one of
the seven who originally organized the council and helped write
its constitution. .
Laikin was born in a small town in White Russia called Pobolov
In the state of Minsk. He left the country at the age of seventeen .
A year before the first world war, a family conclave was held. It
was clear to everyone that a war was coming and it was felt that
there would be pogroms and great danger to Jews. At least one mem-
ber of the family, it was felt, should go to America so that he might
send aid In the event of need. Benjamin was the one selected and
he came to America.
His life here In the beginning was very hard. He worked as a
laborer in coal mines, stone quarries, iron foundries and on the
railroad tracks. He had no formal education but was always inter.
ested in reading. For twenty years, he has read at least three books
every week. His interests have been in religious ethics, history and
philosophy.
Laikin is president and owner of the Consumer Paper Company.
In the line of business he has done a great deal of traveling. In
1928, he finished a six-year stay in Japan where he bought a great
deal of material for his business. In 1929, he toured Europe, traveling
in sixteen countries including Soviet Russia.
When asked what the principal problem faced by American Jewry
today was, he did not hesitate at all.
"Our worst problem today is the ignorance of our leaders on things
Jewish," he declared. "Those people who speak for the Jews, who
formulate plans for the Jews, who determine their whole program
do not themselves have any background in Jewish knowledge. Since
we have no Jewishly informed lay leadership, what can we expect for
our children. The evidence is plain from consideration of a few facts.
Only twenty-three per cent of Jewish children in Detroit get any
Jewish education at all. Fourteen per cent of these get only a meager
Sunday school education. Seventy-seven per cent of all Detroit Jewish
children get no Jewish education of any sort whatsoever.
"What will these children teach their own children? It leaves the
future of Jewish life in America very dark indeed. It leads directly
to intermarriage and not assimilation but just disintegration which is
worse. The only solution is education of both children and adults.
That, in my judgment, is the greatest need facing our community
today."
On the general problem of anti-Semitism, Laikin feels there is
nothing Jews can do.
warmly.
v iaarsmt ,
"Anti- Semitism w hsatrtic
a T,h" e hfle gs atidagNa
d Ca harristdi a naaptrodbalem
..2.
6 It "A
6d
oes not mmatter
$-
i ti s m i s
Jews do
has to start in the Christian churches. If we have prosperity here,
anti-Semitism will not grow. If another depression comes along, it
will increase. There is only one thing for a Jew to do and that is to
live his life according to real Jewish ethics."
Laikin lives here with his family which consists of his v:ife and
four daughters. All of the children have good Jewish backgrounds
both in Yiddish and Hebrew. The two eldest are interested in writing,
using the medium of short stories and poetry.
When asked about his pet hobbies, Laikin smiled broadly.

"Between my work and my interest in Zionism, I have no time
whatever left for hobbies," he said. "I try to keep up with my reading
and I keep the things I feel I must read stacked on shelves until I
get to it. I do have an ambition, however," he continued soberly, "and
that is to be able to retire and devote all my time to help the Jewish
People. I do not say this as an empty gesture," he concluded. That
Is n
my ambition. Some day, I hope to make it my major purpose_
ly
rleifael.
e
in

egal Chronicle

The Voice of the
Man in the Street

The Jewish Chronicle will pay
$1.00 to the person whose question
is used in this column. Mall your
questions to the Jewish Chronicle,
525 Woodward Ave., Detroit 26.
Photos by ERIC BENNETT
Staff Photographer

TIME: Monday afternoon.
PLACE: Dexter Boulevard.
QUESTION: Do you believe in in-
termarriage between Jews and
Gentiles?

MRS. DAN SIMONS, 11311 Dexter,
I lottsewife.
Yes, I do. I believe that we are
oil created equal in the eyes of
God and that there should be no
. barriers in this
respect. I know
of several mar-
riages of this
nature which
have turned out
very well. Of
course, a clear-
cut understand-
ing of the re-
spective indi-
viduals have
:4 ,,
x,Sr
..T
brought about
that success, but
the same holds true in all marri-
ages.
As far as children are concerned,
there should be no question as to
what their religion should be.
When they grow old enough to
be confronted with such a prob-
lem, they should make their own
choice.

JACK LITINSKY, 2911 Sturtevant,
Shoe Merchant.
Personally, I do not believe in
intermarriage between Jews and
Gentiles. I was brought up In an
orthodox home
and taught that
I should marry
within the Jew-
ish race. The
biggest conflict
in this type of
marriage arises
in religion, es-
pecially with
the children.
This opposi-
tion is strictly
a personal feel-
ing. I would not expect my chil-
dren to share it with me if they
desired otherwise. If the children
desired to marry out of their
race I would not stand in the way.
Their happiness would be the im-
portant factor in such a decision.

MRS. SYDNEY GOODMAN, 3250
Calvert, Housewife.
Yes and no. If two people are
intelligent, broad-minded and able
to make adjustments and consid-
erations, then I
believe they can
make a happy
marriage of it.
I know several
cases of inter-
marriage which
have turned out
very well. Their
happiness is a s
come through
their being able
to make the al.
lowances a n d
adjustmentsmentioned before.
My biggest disapproval against
marriages of this nature involves
children. Everything may go along
smoothly until an addition to the
family arrives. When the child
grows older, parents are forced to
come to an agreement about its
religion, and as many times as
not, this is not easily done. The
victim is the child itself, caught
between this great indecision.

JACK REPITOR, 3022 Lawrence,
Automobile Salesman.
Definitely not! Intermarriage
does not lead to a happy home
life. There is always a certain
barrier between
the man and
wife. When a
person is young,
he may be drift-
ed emotionally
away from tra-
dition and re-
ligion. After the
years r o 1 I by,
the trouble
grows increas-
ingly greater.
If persons can
not think in a practical manner
for themselves, they should at least
look ahead to the time when chil-
dren will arrive, bringing with
them the problem of upbringing
and religion. It may not be until
then that the parents realize their
mistake and start regretting. They
will then know what a big mis-
take they made.

Page Pis,.

REPORT FROM
GERMANY

By IRVING HAYETT
Jewish Chronicle Foreign Correspondent
(Copyright 1916, All Rights Reserved)
This 'tries of articles tells of the War Crimea
Trials in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Malmedy Case Concluded

Dachau, Germany,
July 15, 1946.
The Court had been in recess
over the week-end. They had al-
ready found the 73 defendants
guilty on all particulars and
charges. We were now awaiting
the sentences. All of Camp Dachau
was tense and excited. What would
happen to the Generals? What
would happen to Peiper?
At 1:30 Monday, 15 July, the
Court was called to order by 'Gen-
eral Dalby. The Courtroom was
packed with spectators. Some
were relatives of the accused.
Some were just observers from
Munich and Dachau. Others were
employees of the camp. Every.
body who could get to the court-
room was there. The cameras
were grinding, the kleig lights
were on and everyone waited.
Everyone stood at attention un-
til the court was open. Then the
accused were called by name.
Everyone of them to the last man
stood at attention as they were
sentenced. Then made a sharp
turn about and walked out with
head held high. Some of them
kept their eyes on their wives or
relatives as they walked out,
flanked by Polish guards. Not one
of them sentenced to death showed
any sign of emotion. Kurt Sickel,
kissed his wedding ring to his
wife as he walked out. His sen-
tence—death by hanging. Colonel
Peiper came up to hear his sen-
tence and a photographer standing
behind the general, after he had
announced the death sentence, was
in the act of taking a flash pic-
ture, when his bulb exploded with
a large bang. Peiper, who had
just been sentenced to death,
smiled as the General and Law
Member, taken by surprise in the
quiet courtroom, flinched.
The Generals were sentenced as
follows:
Josef Sepp Dietrich
Life
Herman Priess
20 years
Fritz Kraemer
10 years
There were 43 death sentences,
22 life, 3 twenty-year sentences,
1 fifteen-year sentence and 5 ten.
year sentences.
A hush fell over the courtroom,
weeping women could be heard, a
sort of murmur of surprise over
the sentences of the Generals be-
gan and then the court was closed.
The Malmedy case was closed.
My opinion, after hearing most

of the testimony, is that the sen-
tences were fair, just and in ac-
cord with the evidence presented
by the prosecution and the defense
made by the accused. As to the
sentences given the three Gener-
als, it my opinion and the opin-
ion of others that they were light,
much too light. These three men
within a period of ten years, might
become the nucleus of another IV
Reich army. They of all the ac-
cused should have been sentenced
to death. Evidently our Army does
not benefit by history. It is im-
portant to get the big shots, the
ones who run the shindig and
then to get the little fellow who
does the dirty work.

Of course there were some of
the accused who got oft too lightly
and some who got too severe sen.
tences. That is due, in my opinion,
to the fact that this was a mass
trial. In such a trial much of the
evidence is bound to be overlooked
and forgotten. In a mass trial,
there is a tendency to give a mass
finding of guilty and as a conse-
quence a mass sentence of death
or life. As most of the evidence
from the prosecution was In the
form of statements by the accused
—there being but six eye-witnesses
—many of them very lengthy and
typically German, very, very com-
plete. The court did not have an
easy time of it.

It is my fervent hope, when the
accused at Nuremburg are sen-
tenced in September, that the
court will not forget that the "big
shots" are the ones who are liable
to start the whole thing over again
and that the little shots are only
servants who do the dirty work.
Twenty-two men could not have
done what was done by the Ger-
mans without tfie help of the little
men in the Army, Navy and Air
Corps. I know that the American
people will hope too, that the one
mistake made in the Malmedy
trial is not repeated. It must not
for the safety and security of a
permanent peace will again be
threatened. The German people
must learn that a "gangster" war-
fare does not pay and that no
civilized people desires any kind of
warfare again.
The hundreds of boys who were
shot down in cold blood by a ruth-
less enemy have been avenged.

Book Review

(Continued from Page 4)
it clear that Poland belonged defi- tory as the most astute diplomat
nitely in their sphere of domina- who survived, being an aristocrat
tion."
who served Napoleon and forced
Does not that description fit into on conquered nations the decrees
the papers of August, 1946? But of the Dictator, paraded as the
the report concerns not the Paris Saviour of "civilization" and law
Conference in the Luxemburg Pal- and order from the "beast." And
ace, and the Polish question is not Indeed he did betray his boss to
discussed by Byrnes, Attlee and the allies, it was Talleyrand's dic-
Molotov, b u t betwebi Prince tum: "It is worse than a crime.
Adam Czartorisky, reflresenting it was an error," referring to the
the Tsar of Russia, Metternich, murder by Bonaparte of the Duke
representing Austria, Lord Castle. D'Enghien. In this novel he is
reagh, representing Great Britain pictured as a good-natured, albeit
and Humbold for Prussia. And a supernian of intrigue and wis-
Russia too, being the bad wolf, is dom who by sheer diplomacy and
the bugaboo of that conference as tact compelled the arch-reaction.
it is now.
ary Metternich, the Austrian Chan-
On this background ,of diplo- cellor, and the most conservative
macy, Intrigues and politics, which Lord Castereagh, to accept France
the author succeeded well to pic- back into the fold of nations.
ture in its full dark stature, he
And he is not only a great poli-
weaves a romantic story of the tician, but a Casanova, whose con-
passionate love between the aged quest of women's hearts were as
great lover, Talleyrand, and the numerous as his victories on diplo-
beautiful niece of his, Madame macy.
Perigore, who is at least 40 years
Till his retirement to private life
younger.
in 1834 he was an Important figure
With all the immorality this in European politics, for evil or
20th century can boast, it is a good we leave that to history.
society of quakers meeting and re.
Lustre In the Sky is mediocre
siding in a nunnery in compari- as a novel. Historical novels must
son with the morals of high so- be very good to be of great inter-
ciety in the 18th century.
est. Only a Tolstoy can afford to
Napoleon was just defeated. Eu- take famous personages and delve
rope was under his heel just as Into their personalities and dis-
Europe of 1944 was under Hitler. sect them through his magic glass.
France was an outcast not unlike Lion Feuchtwanger was quite suc-
Russia after the Kaiser was de- cessful in his historical novels.
feated. Talleyrand appears in Vi- R. G. Waldeck can be credited
enna to force the Big Four (there only for painstaking details he
is always a Big Four) to, accept filled his story, and the people in
the outcast, France, under a Bour- it being important and interesting
bon already, into the society of did the rest. In general, lovers of
decent nations.
historical novels may enjoy the
Talleyrand, who Is known in his- 431 pages of this work.

Hebrew, English and Jewish books available at the Zion Book Stara
9006 12th Stmt, nut Clairmociat

