American ifewisit Periodical Celli
111111111110
■-----.
. 111111111.11111111.11111111.111.611.11111.11Pmilliwwwwww"...—••
DETROIT JEWISII CHRONICLE
Page 4
Keeping Israel Healthy
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
Published Weekly by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
WOodward 1-1040
900 Lawyers' Building, Detroit 26, Michigan
SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 Per Year. Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at
Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1819
Friday, December 15, 1950
German Tells
of Corruption
in Nazi Camps
By GERHARDT NEUMANN
THE THEORY AND PRAC-
TICE OF HELL by Eugen Ko-
SEYMOUR TILCIIIN
Publisher
GERHARDT NEUMANN
NORMAN KOLIN
Editor
Advertising Manager
Tebet 6, 5711
Friday, December 15, 1950
gon (Farrar, Straus & Co., New
York, 307 pp., $4).
The author, a German Catholic,
had his temporary residence at
the concentration camp of Buch-
Histadrut clinics In Israel are a vital link in preserving enwald from 1938 to 1945. His
e
health of old and young. More than 450,000 Israelis are covered book was published in Munich in
thee
the health
A New Hillel House Goes Up
by Ilistadrut's Kupat Holim (Sick Fund). All immigrants are 1946 and has now been translated
automatically insured for three months. The lack of hospital space into English by Heinz Norden.
A Guest Editorial
$300,000 Ilistadrut
The book which describes the
is critical. Kupat Holim is included in Detroit's
By RABBI MAX KAPUSTIN
German concentration camps and
which
is
now
under
way.
drive
Wayne University Hillel Director
the system behind them is not
recommended for people with a
An academic convocation at Lane Hall last Sunday initiated
weak nervous system. The sordid
The Author Says:
the construction of the new home for the Bnai Brith Hillel
details of a story which can hard-
Foundation at the University of Michigan. This occasion calls
ly be believed by civilized beings
to mind the role of Hind's work at this university and 200 others
are difficult to stomach. How-
throughout this country, Canada, Cuba and at the Hebrew
er, the book ought to be required
University in Jerusalem.
reading for the statesmen of the
e
back on almost a
The Ann Arbor Foundation looks
world and serve them as a re-
century of service, yielding seniority only to the "mothe
mindef of what this world has
foundation at the University of Illinois. During these years the
come to.
idea and ideals of Hillel have found a warm echo in the hearts
Judging from all our informa-
the ranks f Bn
articles in the Jewish Chronicle by several tion, Kogon's report is as objec-
of
series
recent
The
and minds of many men and women in a
in
Detroit
and
effort
readers
sated
Jewish authors has aroused the interest of
we are experiencing tive as possible. As Jews we are,
rich measure. The establishment of another foundation at Wayne
other cities. The question asked was whether
author has a of course, especially sensitive to
Jewish
and
whether
the
University in Detroit is an outgrowth of this sentiment.
a Jewish renaissance
books.
The
author
of
the present such reports. There is hardly a
public willing to buy Jewish
The relevancy of the Hillel program cannot be over-
Congress
Weekly,
has just page where Jews are not men-
article, who is managing editor of
emphasized. It has stepped into a vacuum and grown into the
writing.
His
book,
"This tioned, and in most cases they
Jewish
come out with an anthology of
receive the author's praise for
broadest program of Jewish adult education in America today.
next
week.—
reviewed
on
this
page
Land, These People" will be
their brave behavior and their al-
Building on the indispensible work of the synagogue, it addresses
Ed.
truistic attitude.
itself to the young Jewish men and women during the most
•
•
•
The interesting thing is that
formative years of their lives. Its strength lies in the fact that
By HAROLD U. RIBALOW
typical Nazi corruption and greed
it offers an opportunity of integrating Jewishness into the
osed.
Managing Editor, Congress Weekly
disorganized the concentration
general educational pattern to which the student is expends.
OUR
SERIES
OF articles by Jewish authors on the "renaissance" camps rather early and that in
It uses the same intellectual approach towards its spiritual
of us who many cases it was possible for
in Jewish writing is of particular interest to those
One need be on the campus of a large university only for
the prisoners, through skillful
a short time to realize one incontrovertible fact: Students today
write for and about Jews.
the Jewish Publication Society diplomatic maneuvering, to gain
are in search. Unbeknown to them they are striving desperately
of
I am by this time well ac- of America: volumes on Jewish control over certain areas of ac-
for some mooring to which to tie their spiritual fortunes.
quainted with the plaints of theology, biography, philosophy, tivities, thus alleviating the mis-
The point was made with convincing force by Rabbi Arthur
Meyer Levin, Ludwig Lewisohn some old fiction and some studies ery of at least a few.
J. Lelyveld, national director of the Bnai Brith Hillel Founda-
and Joseph Gaer that there is no in Hebrew literature, as well as
In the final analysis this book
tion, who gave the main address at the Ann Arbor convocation.
"renaissance" and that Jews, solid tomes of Jewish history by is proof again of the fact that
generally literate people who buy Dubnow. This is not a "popular" brutality has no power over
Trying to withstand the onrushing tide of disillusionment
books, do not buy books if those list. But it sold out rapidly.
and cynicism, youth is yearning for guidance in which it can
mind. Millions died but some
books deal with Jewish issues.
have confidence and from which it can expect help.
That Ausuebel's "Treasury of survived, and with them the
There is a quest for values of absoluteness and intrinsic
A little more than a year ago Jewish Folklore" and Hersey's spirit of freedom and dignity. The
validity beyond the exigencies of a world gone berserk and p I made a survey of the sales of "The Wall," attained best-seller- oppressors, however, Hitler's a
books of Jewish interest, as com- dom doesn't only mean that non- "elite guard," the S. S., were
seemingly bent to destroy itself.
pared with the sales of books of Jews buy books of Jewish con- sorry bunch of men who consid-
Hillel is trying to help the Jewish student to find these
general interest, and discovered tent but that books, properly pro- ered the camps as a sincecure
values in his own tradition of which, in most cases, he is so
to my own amazement (having moted, distributed and reviewed where they could sit out the war
pitifully ignorant. If he earnestly desires it, that tradition can
w.thout risking their precious
originally been persuaded to the are bought by Jews.
give him that which he needs: A feeling of purpose and meaning,
lives for the fatherland.
point of view that Jews don't buy
a reasoned rejection of the inevitability of disaster, a sense of
Many Jewish books are of
Ilse Koch, of course, also comes
Jewish books) that Jewish books course lost in the shuffle when
his responsibility to answer the ever present challenge of
in for plenty of "honorable"
sold
as
well
as
any
others.
creating a better world, to serve this task as a worthy scion of an
they are published by Jewish mentioning, which is particularly
ancient people with a lofty faith.
Every year Congress Weekly firms which don't advertise them, interesting at this time when she
It is our fervent hope and prayer that under the dedicated
runs a book issue and lists signifi- which skimp on review copies is being tried for her sadistic acts.
leadership of Rabbi Hershel Lymon, director of the Michigan
cant Jewish books which ap- and find themselves unable to do Kogon affirms every little detail.
foundation, and with the unstinting support of the Jewish
peared in the past 12-month pe- a basic thing: get them into book- Although Frau Koch denies
community as a whole, this great project will be completed in
riod. This year we listed more stores throughout the country.
everything, there can be no
than 100 books—and could have
• • •
due time, a monument to a generation that knows its respon-
doubt that she committed her
listed more had space permitted.
sibility and is determined to meet it.
A JEWISH PUBLISHER who atrocities.
In conclusion: a masterful re-
Practically all of these books gets his books into New York
were published by general com- shops thinks he is doing well. But port, written with the least pos-
Jewish Destiny on the Screen
mercial publishers — not Jewish how does the reader in Detroit sible resentment—a document of
publishers. The books were writ- hear about the book, let alone a period which will be indelibly
Two movies which .just finished their run at the Cinema
inscribed in the annals of Jewish
ten by famous—and unknown— buy it in a local store.
Theater again brought back to mind the tragedy inflicted by the
Jewish novelists, poets, scholars,
I will not comment on Jewish ,history.
Nazis upon the Jews. Both the Italian film, "Sands of Time," and
• • •
biographers, etc.
books which are bad books, in
the German movie, "Marriage in the Shadows," seek to recreate
YIVO
ANNUAL
OF JEWISH
That many of them were not spite of their thematic interest to SOCIAL SCIENCE
the atmosphere of the war years—the Italian movie, in the
(Vol. V).
necessarily first - rate indicates Jews. Like other bad books, they
gravel pits of a concentration camp, the German movie, in the
Yiddish Scientific
Published
by
deserve
to
die,
quietly
and
un-
that
even
mediocre
books
are
ac-
ghastly ruins of Berlin where a Jewish actress married to a
Institute, New York.
cepted for publication by non- mourned.
Christian actor experiences the senseless vengeance of a people
This is the first volume in the
Jewish
firms.
(I
use
the
term
One
final
illustration
will,
I
which she once thought was hers.
background
"non-Jewish," although many of think, again point up my reasons valuable series of
"Sands of Time" is a fighting film which has as its plot an
studies undertaken by the Yid-
the
general
firms
are
run
and
for believing that Jewish books,
uprising in the camp—something that hardly ever happened
owned by Jewish publishers and given proper treatment, would be dish Scientific Institute. Max
except perhaps in the very last days of the war. The movie seeks
Weinreich, Yivo's tesearch di-
editors.)
to convey the message that the Jew cannot be oppressed forever
bought by Jews.
rector, points out that "there is
but has enough vitality left to fight for his life and freedom.
Two years ago I began to work no adequate understanding of the
That Jqwish books are appear-
"Marriage in the Shadows," however, is more on the pessi-
ing frequently can easily be as- on two anthologies. One dealt sociological and social psycholog-
mistic side. The married couple sees no way out, and when
certained by anyone who checks with short stories on American ical problems in Jews in America
deportation draws closer for the Jewish woman, both man and
on fiction lists, on lists of books Jewish life, written by American unless these problems are viewed
on Israel and on Jewish history. Jewish writers.
wife commit suicide.
against the background of the
But even in the Italian film there is—and probably can be—
The "Jewish Book Annual," pub-
The second was a collection of Jewish groups in those regions of
no complete victory. The hero surrenders to the Nazis when they
lished by the Jewish Book Coun- great boxing stories. My boxing Europe from which American
threaten to kill 100 hostages unless he is captured, and camp
cil of the JWB, is loaded each collection is still making the Jewry stems."
year with annotated bibliog- rounds. My Jewish anthology,
life goes on with the same, or even increased, cruelty as before.
Accordingly, the studies in this
raphies of Jewish books pub- "This Land, These People," has volume cover such a variety of
In both movies, there is no liberation from within, neither is
lished in the previous year's pe- recently been published by the subjects as the Jews in Cracow
there any thought of a Jewish state. In fact, in the Italian movie
riod. And if there is any doubt Beechhurst Press.
at the time of the Confederacy of
the motif of the wandering Jew is used extensively.
that there is a Jewish market for
Bar in the 18th century, cultural
It is interesting to see how non-Jews evaluate our situation.
Lest
those
who
think
the
box-
books, I'd like to point up a re- ing anthology inferior, I will add life in Warsaw in the early 19th
(It seems that both movies were written and produced by non-
cent event in New York City.
Jews.) The main element of their thinking is, it seems to us, pity
only that this collection includes century, the ghetto in Litzmann-
• • •
for the Jew and hatred for the oppressor. It is probably the
stories by such writers as Hem- stadt or Cheder life in Poland.
Another set of articles deals
natural reaction of civilized people who cannot understand the
MACY'S DEPARTMENT store, ingway, Jack London, Budd
in Ameri-
persecution of innocent men and women. It may also be the
about a week prior to Hanukkah, Schulberg, Conan Doyle, Irwin with the role of Jews
Canadian
agri-
can
economy
or
reaction and feeling of many Jews.
placed a single ad in an after- Shaw, Ring Lardner, Quentin
Jews with a wider range of outlook, however, will neither
noon New York daily announcing Reynolds and other f am o u s culture, Jews in the army and
even Jews in the police records
want to pity themselves nor hate their enemies. Both emotions
the sale — at radically reduced writers.
prices — of Jewish books which
are wasteful and unproductive.
Surely, there are sport fans of Los Angeles.
It is impossible to do justice to
Our Jewish fate begins to make sense only when we trans-
would make—according to the ad who would buy such a book. Per-
of these studies in a brief an-
—fine "Hanukkah gifts."
form suffering into a necessary transition to our ultimate
haps there are; I think so. But any
nouncement.
Purpose of this
freedom and independence on our own soil. Jewish destiny
In two days, the response was, my "Jewish" book—and "Jewish" mention is mainly to inform in-
cannot be washed away by tears but it can be shaped and
is
supposed
to
be
a
"kiss
of
to quote the gentleman in charge
terested readers of the publica-
sanctified by sweat and labor.
of Macy's book department, "un- death" in the publishing field—is tion and to tell them to get a
now available. This may not con- copy: they will find plenty of sub-
In conclusion, such films as "Sands of Time" and "Marriage
believably enormous."
who read this article.
in the Shadows," are useful as reminders of the evils of dictator-
books were vince all
stantial information.
And
what
kind
of
ship but they are incomplete as the spark is missing which keeps
sold? Only remainders of the list But it persuaded me.
Books Would Sell If—
Publishers Were Alert
Y
the Jewish people alive.