Friday, August 29, 1947
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
Page Four
Britain, Innocent Bystander
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
iTHE
Published Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc., 525 Woodward Ave., Detroit 26, Mich., CA 1040
SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 Per Year, Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year
3, 1879
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March
Vol 49, 35
Friday, August 29, 1947 (ELUL 13, 5707)
DETROIT 26, MICH.
A Russian Stooge
Jacob B. Rogvoy
In a certain sense, England is playing
into Russian hands with reference to Pal-
estine.
Britain's stubborn stand on the Holy
Land may be attributed in part to her
blind acceptance of one of the anti-Semite's
stereotypes of the Jew; namely, every Jew
is a radical and if he is not yet a Com-
munist, he is at least a parlor pink. This
in face of the contradictory stereotype that
everm Jew is a bloated capitalist or well
on his way to becoming one.
Partly because of her unreasoning fear
that a Jewish State would at once become
a Soviet satellite in an area where she
hopes to remain dominant, Britain has
doggedly opposed Zionist aspirations.
But now Britain is beaten. She knows
that sooner or later, she will be forced to
disgorge Palestine so that the United Na-
tions can take over eventual control.
Partition will probably be the UN solu-
tion and the result will be two tiny states,
instead of one strong democratic Jewish
State: either or both of. which can easily
fall prey to Soviet machinations because
of their weakness.
Thus, through its intransigent attitude,
Britain unwittingly becomes an ally of so
called Russian imperialism.
If practice has any priority over pre-
c. ept in education, the life of Jacob B. Rogvoy
was in itself a lesson—a lesson as sublimely
taught as any of the countless assignments
of his classroom.
Known far and wide as an excellent
teacher, he was also recognized as a re-
markable man, one of those rare human
beings who could make the sorrows and
burdens of others his own and thereby ease
them for his fellowmen. Even when en-
gaged in ordinary conversation, he had the
faculty of entering into the other person's
position and of sensing his problems as
though they were his own.
NIIhile his life was relatively short in
the span of years, it was long in the range
of his friendships and the scope of his kind-
ness. His life was a lesson and a challenge.
Can we who survive pass the test which it
holds forth?
Bigotry in Congress
The death of Senator Bilbo removes one
in a growing group of American lawmakers
who rely on viciousness and bigotry to cloak
their mediocrity. It is a tribute to Ameri-
can good sense to note that, except in his
own bailiwick, the senator departed unwept
and unsung. ,
Michigan can hardly pat itself on the
back on the open-mindedness of its legis-
lators. Clare Hoffman of Benton Harbor
is one of the more blatant bigots and
George Dondero of Royal, Oak is ,a tacitly
"respectable fascist" as he has been aptly
labeled by that sententious little weekly,
In Fact. •
Both represent constituencies that are
-• notoriously standpat and intolerant,. which
means- that unless the voters have 'a' sud-
deif change of heart, this pair will be around
for a . good long while to hurl their venom
in the House.
Senator Homer Ferguson, on the other
hand, represents quite a few of us who
have progressive ideas and act with impar-
tiality. It might be well then to note that
there has been a question of the senator's
fairness in his handling of the Philip Perl-
man inquiry. It has been charged. by
Perlman and by Senators Tydings and Mc-
Grath that Senator Ferguson fought Perl-
man's nomination as Unite States solicitor
general to the bitter end, chiefly because he
is a Jew.
1'43
ROBERT KRAUSE, Business Manager
CHARLES TAUB, Advertising Manager
SEYMOUR TILCHIN, President
GEORGE WEISWASSER, Editor-in-Chief
AkAs. p
,
If that is true, it is a shock to think
that Senator Ferguson, nominally friendly to
his Jewish constituents and Jewish causes,
should have allowed prejudice and his lofty
ambition to have vitiated his good sense.
Danger Signal to Britain
Viscount Hall's declaration in the House
of Lords that the recent British rioting at
the expense of Jews was a "danger signal"
to the Jewish community was pure effront-
ery and an indication of the moral decay
that is gnawing away at Britain's vitals.
Anti-Semitism in Britain, the noble lord
should realize, is rather a danger signal to
the British themselves; for it is the first
warning that liberty and democracy are
threatened, that morality is rebuffed and
humanity reviled.
A government that finds an excuse for
the spread of race hatred is committing
treason, for that government helps to strike
the death blow to liberty and the security
of its people.
Attacks on Jews in Britain and the
smashing of shop windows are a portent of
things to come to Magna Charta and the
Bill of Rights if Britain continues to ap-
prove its present regime's irrational policy
that is destroying the moral fibre which
hitherto had given Britain strength in days
of adversity.
•e
I Letters to the Editor
in or at the doors of a rabble-
rouser's meetings, has resulted in
Dear Editor:
restricting the rabble-rouser's ap-
As one who was instrumental peal to a tiny frenetic element of
A Palestine Solution
in making the "silent treatment" the population that is bitterly
%In this issue and the last one, we pub- and in developing the technique anti-Semitic anyhow.
lished two sections of an open letter to the represented by that term, I want The "silent treatment" was an
United Nations by Zalman Berul, once a to urge that the name be changed. excellent name in that it indi-
Russian attorney, who has evolved a solu- I suggest that, the strategy for cates its nature very well. It im-
a blanket of silence, rele-
tion of the Palestine problem based in great depriving rabble-rousers of pub- plies
lic attention on which they capi- gating the rabble-rouser to rela-
measure pn legal . considerations.
talize, be called the "Quarantine tive obscurity . . .
His suggestion is a partition plan which Treatment." This technique has But recently, there has been
cuts off the Jewish sections of Palestine been necessary because eloquent deliberate attempt on the part of
and joins them to a portion of much larger rabble-rousers have the ability to hotheads who, have desired to
Transjordan, which he points out is still enthrall many of those who come sabotage this technique. They have
part of Palestine on the basis of the Man- within the sound of their voices, taken advantage in a few com-
using emotional appeals which be- munities of the negative, passive
date.
reasoning. The more prom- implications of the word "silent."
He would leave Abdullah the ruler of cloud
inent they become, the more They have made it synonymous
the Arab portion of Palestine and of the hearers they obtain .. .
with "ignoring" and have wrong-
truncated half of his present principality.
• • •
fully, but nonetheless effectively
The proposal merits consideration. It The silent treatment has proved made it appear that persons prac-
would answer the argument of proponents effective. It has resulted in the ticing the silent treatment are in
of a Jewish State who demand lebensraum elimination of Terminello as a favor of inaction.
* • •
for Europe's Jews which a - partitioned cis- rabble-rouser and has kept many
I,
therefore,
urge that we aban-
others
innocuous.
It
has
been
Jordan Palestine would not provide in full.
the use of the term "silent
At the same time, potential malcontent easily applied with success to a don
of small fry, who have treatment" -and that hereafter We
Arabs would be joined to an Arab state, a number
not been built up by the oppo- speak of the technique as "Quar-
providence which would take care, in great sition.
antine Treatment." What we have
measure, of the problem of two clashing Even Gerald L. K. Smith has been trying to do - is to confine
nationalities under one regime.
found himself unable to get the and quarantine the rabble-rous-
ear of more than a twentieth of er's influence to as small a seg-
one per cent of the residents of ment of the population as we
the cities where he has spoken possibly can.
To deny him freedom of speech
during the past eight months. The
one-twentieth of a per cent were would negate a fundamental dem-.
of the lunatic fringe, people who ocratic. principle. Such violation
read and hear the same drivel would soon be turned against
The Exodus Victims
whether they come to hear Smith liberals who would meet with a
After languishing for close to four or not.
similar fate from those who de-
• •,/ •
weeks on British transport ships in French
spise and fear liberals as much
waters, the approximately 4,400 Jewish The elimination of free pub- as a rabble-rouser is' feared and
refugees who were intercepted by the Brit- licity, and especially of the avoid- hated by some of his opponents...
S. • ANDHIL FEINBERG
ish on the Exodus 1947 in defiance of inter- ance of that publicity which
New York City
comes
from
clamorous
opposition
national law are now on their way to
URGES 'QUARANTINE'
The Visiting Editor
Germany, a land steeped in Jewish blood
and seething with anti-Semitism.
It would be idle to speculate on the mo-
tives behind the British decision to send
these Jewish survivors back to Hitlerland,
but whatever the design behind that de-
spicable decision, Britain not only stands
convicted of a morally indefensible course
but as a moral bankrupt. The Laborite
rulers of England have been proclaiming
Britain democracy in action, their rise to
power was one of England's and the world's
greatest tragedies.
As we go to press the reports on what
the refugees will do when they reach Ger-
many are still meager. But these men and
women of courage are resourceful people,
or they would not have survived the Hitler
ovens. They can be counted upon, by ac-
tion and conduct, to raise a moral issue to
its deserved heights even in an immoral
world. And they will do so with the full
consciousness that retribution is the law
of history. (Seven Arts Feature).
42 Jews Are Among Victims of Irgun
(Continued from Page 3)
A " ish statistics, 42 Jews, 81
version of "Gentlemen's Agree-
CCORDING TO official JeWl ment" will underplay the anti-
1
Britons and 59 Arabs have fallen
at the hands of the Irgun in the
eight months from August, 1948,
to March, 1947. Commenting on
this, the Hebrew daily Davat
of Palestine writes: "42 Jews
have been killed in eight months.
They were not murdered by
Nazis nor by 'goyim' but by
Jews in Eretz Israel, at the
hands of Jewish boys and girls.
Are we descending to such
great depths?"
• • •
A BOOK OF Jewish heroes is
in preparation. It will pre-
sent the full story of Jewish
anti-Fascist underground fighters
in World War II. More about
this great project later . .
It is not true that the film
A
Semitic theme. We're informed
that the movie script. is stronger
than the book . . .
Maurice Schwartz, the ent
gent Jewish actor, is busily try-
ing to organize an international
Yiddish Art Theater, which
would play in all the large cities
of the world. Dr. Weizmann's
visit to this country, originally
set for this September, will be
postponed to 1948.
You haven't heard much about
Pierre van Paassen in the last
few months because he is writ-
ing a new book, his first novel.
There's a possibility that the
Moscow 'Jewish State Theater
will make an American tour,
starring Solomon Michoels in
"King Lear" . . .