Page Two
THE JEWISH
Heard in
The Lobbies
Quotation of the Week
By DAVID DEUTSCH
(Copyright, 1943, Independent
Jewish Press Service)
CASE OF JUDGE STERN
Intimate friends of Judge Horace Stern
of Philadelphia relay the information
that the noted jurist deeply deplored the.
article that appeared in Life magazine
under the signature of his fellow-towns-
man, Lessing Rosenwald .. These same
intimate friends insist that the Phila-
delphia judge takes just the opposite
viewpoint on Palestine that Rosenwald
does . . . In fact, friends . who used to
travel in the same circles as the jurist
are accusing him of having "sold out to
the Zionists, as the friendly expression
has it . .. There are further *reports that
that Judge,- intimate friend of the late
Cyrus Adler, is trying to persuade those
.. of the non-Zionist persuasion of the de-
sirability of a more realistic approach, to
the Palestine problem.
Gen. Smuts is Right
By HAROLD J., LASKI
• (Copyright, 1943, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
•
None who knows the United Nations
can doubt the rightness of Gen. Smuts'
statement that an Allied victory, above
all, would be a triumph of the spirit of
man over the dark forces of reaction—
a statement that Smuts reiterated
throughout many recent speeches.
The year Britain stood alone, barely
armed, against the might of Hitler still
seems to be a miracle of endurance.
The unbreakable heroism of Russia
will take a place in history among the
shining chapters in the archives of hu-
manity. There is a real sense in which
the common peoples had what Churchill
asked of the British nation—their most
splendid hou-r.
But it is time that we underlined some
of the implications of this triumph of
the human spirit. It is an immense
strain, physically, morally and psycho-
logically. ; Few. Americans know fully
what. is meant to live in a black world
for- More than three years nor imagine
the price of terror so relentless as the
blitz.
INCAPABLE OF SURRENDER
People in the battle areas have an un-
breakable' will, 'even when,' as in China,
they are barely armed; they are incap-
able of surrender, and this temper, which
makes defeat impossible, is quite ob-
viously beginning to build in France a
new heart to resist, as it is beginning to
breed in Germany dull skepticism of a
triumph that once seemed certain. The
tide is turning slowly.
We have an appointment with destiny
now. The time to make sure that the
next epoch is the century of the com-
mon man is now. when he has the spirit
to conquer his heritage. The day that
spirit fades, all men and all combina-
tions of Men' seeking to maintain the
authority of privilege will move into
action. It was so in the last war. Exact-
ly the same pattern reveals itself as
possible unless we safeguard ourselves
against a recurrence.
. So far not a single essential step has
been taken towards building the new
world which the common man has so
obviously merited by the defense he has
made of those qualities 'which give cre-
ative dignity to his spirit.
SPIRIT OF ACHIEVEMENT
Smuts spoke of that spirit of achieve-
ment, but the Four Freedoms will not
come of themselves. Soil for their
growth must be prepared. That prepar-
ation is not a matter for rhetoric. : De,
mocracy cannot be maintained because
tyrannY has been overthrown; the over-
throw does no more than give Democ-
racy the chance of striking root.•We
have reached a moment in the war_where
nothing would be a greater service to
the cause of the United' Nat'ion's than the.
kind of action which• proVes the leaders
of the Democracies meant what. they
said.
.
The world has not easily survived one
failure to seize that favorable moment
which makes it possible to move to a
new foundation in terms of common . con-
sent. None can read Smuts' - analysis
without the conviction that we must 'act
today and we must remember, as we
act, how swiftly today becomes that
morrow which is too late.
7
.
3.,:i4Logr.iPWW*31-41
Friday, July. 16, 1943
NEWS
"We }lave everything for which to fight—America, our own
country, founded in freedom, grown great in freedom, our people
the most fortunate upon earth, not because we are rich but because
we are free. We have everything with which to win—we have in our
hands the tools to keep our freedom and to make the kind of life that'
human beings should. have. 'We can do what we will. We are
'Americans."
—PEARL S. BUCK, Writing on "What America
Means to Me" in Common Ground.
Strictly
Confidential
Purely
Commentary
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
(Copyright, 1943, Seven Arts Feature
Syndicate)
•
TRUE STORY
Prof. Solomon Michoels of the Mos-
cow Jewish State Theater, now in this
country on a cultural mission, _has many
interesting tales to tell .of the part Soviet
actors are playing in the war as per-
formers V who bring the theater to the
troops at the front . 'One of these
stories concern's a perforrriance that was
, being given in :the front lines when the
show was interrupted by. a German
- ,
attack.
'As it happened, the theme of the play
was anti-Nazi, and one of the charact-
ers—the villain, of course—was a Nazi
officer in full uniform . . So after the
Germans had been successfully repulsed
and the Nazi prisoners were being herd-
ed off, the actor playing that part found
himself at the wrong end of a bayonet,
being prodded, along together with the
captured enemy . . He expostulated
with his "captors," but they, wise to such
Nazi tricks, paid no attention to him . .
Finally, - in disgust, he began to express
his feelings, with great eloquence, in
mameloschen . . . So his fellow Russians
were convinced he was no Nazi, and let
him rejoin his troupe, which was re-
suming its performance where it had
left off.
* C *
YOU SHOULD KNOW
The day before. the official publication
date of Allan Chase's "Falange: The
Axis Secret Army in the Americas" it
was cited in the. House as. '.basis for Rep.
John Coffee's demand for a Congres-,
sionel investigation of the Spanish Fal-
ange . . . The documents Chase used in
writing his book will be of great help to
such an investigation, the representa-
tive believes.
James N. Rosenberg's brilliant speech
on the role Russia has played in saving
Jews from Nazi extermination should
have made the front page Of every big
newspaper in New York . . . The only
papers that gave it appropriate treat-
ment, however, were the Daily Worker
and Morning Freiheit . . .Why can't the
press ditch politics when the great prob-
lem of saving lives requires unity?
* * *
THIS AND THAT
Rep. Sol Bloom is seriously consider-
ing writing his autobiography . . .The
suggestion that he do so was given him
by no less an authority on interesting
life stories than biographer Emil Lud-
wig.
William Ziff, publisher, author and
aeronautics expert, originally wanted to
be a portrait painter . . . In fact, he was
a precedessor of Walt Disney as class
artist at Chicago's Crane Technical High
School, and started his carrer as car-
toonist on the Chicago DailY News.
MorriS Hirshfield, whose oil paintings
are now on - exhibit at the Museum of
Modern Art, is a septuagenarian who
until a few .years ago was only a sue-
ceSsful cloak-and-suiter.
From Hollywood comes the perfect
idea for . a. Victory Garden scarecrow—
an effigy of Adolf.
We've heard of an American sailor, a
Jewish boy, who cherishes a Nazi Iron
Cross among his mementos , . but don't
think he got it from Hitler .. . He got
it in a fair trade, from a Nazi prisoner
with whom he came 'in contact on a
prison transport . . . It seems the Nazi
coveted • a trinket the sailor had, and
urged him to accept the Iron Cross in
eXchange . . . The Trinket? . foun-
tain pen.
.
* * *
ABOUT PEOPLE
Still -a Patient- in a' NaVy- litispital is
Lt Joseph K. Taussig Jr., whose leg
was shattered by Jap fire at Pearl Har-
bor—and whose' father, Vice Admiral .
Joseph K. : Taussig, was shouted down as
an alarmist when, - quite some years ago,
he came out with the statement that .
Japan was preparing to attack us.
Count Richard N. Coudenhove-Kal-
ergi,'who follows in the footsteps of his
.11. 4/.
THE CREMIEUX DECREE:
RED FOR ANTI-SEMITES
Gen. Henri Giraud's visit in this coun
try will undoubtedly revive discussions
in the part he played in• the revocation
of -the Cremieux Decree. -
• •
Fora most people, that act was merely
an accident of the present •war.
.. But those who know history will recall
that.--the mere mention *of the CremieuX
Law to anti-Sernites was - like waving
red before a 'bull.-
The fascinating -biography of Max
Nprdau, written by Anna and Maxa Nor-
dau, his wife and daughter, and publish-
ed by the Nordau Committee' at 386
Fourth Ave., NeW York, throws light
on the subject. This biography quotes
from Dr. Norclau'S address before the
Second • Zionist Congress, in AugUst,
1898 ; in Basle, Switzerland: Dr. Nordau,
influenced by the Dreyfus Affair, said at
that time:
•
. France, the France of the
Great Revolution and of the Declara-
tion of 'Human Rights, the country
that first gave Europe the• example
of the legal emancipation of the Jews,
France is today, marching at the head
of the anti-Semitic movement. Not
yet in her official • acts and utter-
ances, justice commands us to state
thus much: not yet avowedly, but
none the less efficiently. The work
of slow, but sure and irresistible ex-
clusion of the Jews from all posts of
honor and higher official careers;
which, for : instance, has furnished
already stich-*.striking results in Ger-
many, is in full swing. The thrusting
of the Jew into an isolated position,
the rebuilding of invisible but very
real ghetto walls around this portion
of the population excluded from the
common' national life, is being zeal-
ously undertaken. This relates to
Continental France. In Algeria, Jew-
baiting has reached a far more ad-
vanced stage: There it has not been
limited to assails on individual Jews,
to noisy street processions with the
cry: 'Death to the Jews,' or to the
smashing of the window panes of a
few shops as in Paris, Nancy, Nantes,
. and some other French towns.
"There pillage has been thorough
and it has been accompanied by mur-
der. From many sides a cry is raised
for the abolition of the. Cremieux de-
cree conferring on the Algerian Jews
the privilege of French citizenship,
and the denunciation of the vile press
which points out to the fury of the
anti-Semitic rabble the name and ad-
dress Of every person employing
• • Jewish
Jewish v hands or 'buying at
shops, . has deprived of their daily
bread thousands of Jewish working
men and hundreds of small Jewish
•tradesMen."
Remember: this was spoken 45 years
ago. Arid in 1943, the anti-Semites scored
a triumph by :having the Cremieux De-
cree repealed!
Surely, an explanation :is in order.
There have already been many expla-
nationbut not one of their). was 'satis-
factory.
. Perhaps Gen. Gira.ud W41•-.have some-
thing to say on the Subject • during his
visit in this country. — -
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1943, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
POST-ELECTION NOTES
We hear that Rabbi Stephen S. Wise
and Dr. Nahum Goldmann .have suggest-
ed that the American Jewish Conference
be postponed until November . . . Dr.
Goldrnann, we understand, plans to leave
for Palestine soon after the American
Jewish Conference takes place.
The mystery of how a totally un-
known rabbi connected with an unim-
portant institution could secure the
largest number of votes in Manhattan
in the elections to the American Jewish
Conference continues to be the talk of
Jewish groups. in New York . . . Nobody
ever heard of Rabbi Ber Bergman and
yet he received 3,854 votes as compared
with the 3, 513 votes received by Rabbi
Stephen S. Wise . . . He received 1,000
votes more than Rabbi Israel Goldstein
and about 1,300 votes more than Louis
Lipsky . . . Does it • pay, after all, to be
a leader in Jewry?
* * *
MILITARY NOTES .
- .
is-: now-- possible. to • reveal that - the
Polish • Army in Rusia, :prior to its • evac-
uation. :to the Middle: East, organized
separate - units of Jewish civilians -from
Poland who-escaped into -Russia and en-
listed in the Polish .armed forces there
. . . One such unit of 1,000 . Jews was
stationed near . Buzluk where it •was
given military training by Polish officers.
If you are interested in the "military
questions" which the "Emergency Con-
ference to Save Jews of Europe" will
take up when it 'opens on July 20 in
New York; we can- let you in -on a secret
. . These questions, quoting the Com-
mittee for a Jewish Army which is ap-
parently the father of the Conference,
are • . . 1. Whether the creation of a
Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestin-
ian Jews will . help save the JeWs . of
Europe . . . 2.. Whether retaliations by
the United Nations -or by the Jewish
Army are likely to stay the massacre in
Europe, . . 3. Whether special 'units
can be created in the American Army
overseas, particularly in North Africa
and the Middle East . After reading
this "military"'agenda, one does "nothave
to . .inquire any further as to who is act-
ually. behind this conference.
The question to be asked rather is
why don't. the really. important Jewish
bOdies Call a conference.to discuss meas-
ures to save 'Jews in Europe . . . This
would at least prevent insignificant
groups from making well-wishing Am-
erican non-Jews believe that they are
doing - something for the Jews by - lending
their • names to those groups.
(Announceinent was made in- Detroit this
with
•
`week that by special arrangement
Isaac Carmel secretary of the , Committee
of, 'the Max
Spensoring . ffie
hy, which
the biiraP
Nordau. Biography,
.
sells for 53.75- will 'be available to members
of Zionist organizations at $2,50. Subscrip-
tions will be . taken at' the office- the
Zionist Organilation of Detroit, 104 Penob-
sNcel sBel!, and at the office:-pf-The Jewish
father; -the 'late Count Heinrich.
'
Couden-
hove-Kalergi of ,AuStria;
fighter
against •_anti-Semitism,' and ..who fathered
the Pan-Eurbfia movement hurnediately
following- the'l'aSd 8,ylar, now heads a re-
search seminar at New -York -University
on a post-war' EuroPeari:ifederation . .
Racial theorists will please note that the
COunt's ancestry is one fOurth Belgian. I
?? rtge,si-
F-31,74.4t
ok4 0.:44-111111.11i4oflt
For Those Who
Do Escape
Escape is one hope of many Jews
caught in Axis France. There is a way
across the Alps to Switzerland that is
exhausting and dangerous, , but . they
never cease trying. Here is a letter tell-
ing you of one such escape attempt:
March 6, 1943
Dear Mrs. H.:
Your letter of December 5th• addressed to
your daughter, Inge, reached us only now.. Un-
fortunately it came too late because Inge and a
friend had left our colony quite suddenly one
night in order to tryas we found out later—to
escape .to Switzerland illegally. They were ar-
rested at the Swiss border by the French police
and brought to a concentration camp near Paris.
Inge sent us• a postcard',•from• there.
We 'have sent Inge's belongings on. A package
with personal documents, letters and photo-
graphs remain with me. .and I shall take these
things to you in. Switzerland at the earliest
opportunity.
Be brave,. Mrs. H., and have confidence in
the- future. I hope the day may not be far off
when you and Inge will be reunited.
Sincerely,
E. . L.
Fortunately, all those attempting to
es c ape have not had Inge's luck. In the
past year about 6,000 have managed to
get from France to -hospitable SWitzer-
land and have been well received. For
many of the newcomers and for - a large
number of earlier •arrivals in the country
the Joint .Distribution Committee's co-
operating committee V there conducts a
large-scale•-•prograrn of assistance. In
1943, the J.D.0 expects. to • spend $1,100,-
000 . .for. aid to -Switzerland. . •
Refugees who 'remain in France' are
also being. • helped • by‘.. the .J.D:C. Last
year the- J.D.C. • informed. ' its committee
there _ that, should communications be
severed,. they- were authorized to borrow
money and commodities •• necessary to
carry- on the work, in the J.D.C.'s 'name
and on its . promise . to repay when possi-
ble without aiding the enemy. Reports
have • reached the J.D,C. office that this
aid' is continuing , and -has •even been ac-
celerated..