Pogo Two
THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, 'June 9, 1944
god/kW/rare- BUY MORE THAN BEFORE
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'WAR LOAN
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9656 French Road
Heard in
The Lobbies
By ARNOLD LEVIN
(Copyright, 1944 Independent Jewish
Press Service, Inc.)
SPECIAL BULLETIN
Back from the Z i o n i s t Emergency
Council confab in Washington, delegates
whisper about news regarding a favor-
able turn of the tide in both Washing-
ton and London. This time, leaders
were assured, it is not just another false
alarm.
* * *
MEMO TO ZIONIST COMMISSION
The Bergson-sponsored League for a
Free Palestine is reported to have be-
gun organizing Jewish high school
youth. First attempts have been made
in New York's borough of Brooklyn
and in Chicago. Zionists have waited
too long to organize youth and have
given too , little encouragement to t h e
various y o u t h problems put on the
agenda properly and the Youth Commis-
sion formed. Now with the Bergson
group moving in the strategic import-
ance of the Youth Commission should
be self-evident_ to all Zionists. ,
By FIBBER McGEE
Eeny Meeny Miny Aloe,
Buy some War Bonds, save your dough.
When Hitler hollers—let 'em go?
ABSO-POSILUTELY NO!!!
Americans, as a race, are pretty open-handed, generous,. I-want-
what-I-want-when-I-want-it sort of people. They are accustomed to the
best, and when it's available and they have the money to buy it, they
buy it. In normal times, this is as it should be. You pay your money
for what you want and everybody from the fellow who mined, dug,
chopped, fished, cooked, distilled, or painted it up to the 'Internal
Revenue Department gets a piece of change.
But this isn't a normal time. In wartime the books are out of
balance. The law of supply and demand is like the Volstead Act of
sour memory. While it hasn't been repealed, it's difficult to enforce.
In wartime, with a wartime economy, silly and unnecessary ex-
penditures open the door to inflation. Such expenditures create a de-
mand for scarce articles. Which results in competitive bidding. Which
cleans out the articles at inflated prices. Which creates a further de-
mand. It's a vicious circle. And you, the citizen, are the hub of it.
War bonds and ceiling prices were designed to help people save
money and control prices. So far they've done a swell job. But the best
way to defeat the whole purpose of anti-inflation measures is to let
your War Bonds go prematurely. War Bonds are your nest egg against
inflation and the government's check against post-war employment.
That's why you ought to HANG ON TO YOUR WAR BONDS. Keep
them until they mature. WAR BONDS TURNED IN MEANS INFLA-
TION TURNED LOOSE.
* * *
PHILOSOPHER WANTED
While still on the subject, we consider
the Bergson group's search for a philo-
sopher to justify its Hebrew Nation
ideology is rather amusing. They are
reported to have approached venerable
Hebrew philosopher Jacob Klatzkin. The
latter has written many essays proving
the futility of Jewish life in the Dias-
pora and- contending that only the Jews'
reconstitution as a nation holds out hope
for our people. He was especially skep-
tical of American Jewry's future. So
these young men came to him and ar-
gued that they were his disciples " and
deserved his endorsement.
He said that true enough he holds out
little hope for the future of American
Jewry, but so long as that Jewry main-
tains its existence as a Jewish commun-
ity he would be the last to divorce it
from the rest of Jewry. Ile foresees cer-
tain developments, but is unhappy about
them, while the Bergson boys seek to
encourage these developments. On that
ground he turned them 'down and told
them that he most certainly disclaimed
them as his pupils.
* * *
TELL THEM ABOUT THE JEWS
Jewish doughboys are seeking infor-
mation regarding the Jews. Never before
was there such •a-chance - of teaching
them about Jews and Judaism and bind-
ing them clriser to their brethren.. But
the field has been sorely neglected and
insufficiently explored. .Routine services
were efficiently rendered to them, but
the vistas of new • possibilities were
barely explored.
Three developments in recent weeks
show some progress in the right direc-
tion. "The • Jewish Welfare Board is toy-
ing with the idea of a newspaper for
Jewish servicemen and is about to issue,
in brochure form, a history of the Jews.'
The Zionist Youth Commission is about
to issue a brochure called "The Fighting
Jew," telling the history of the Jewish
soldier when he fought as a Jew, under
his own flag, from biblical times,
through Berek Yoselevich's Jewish le-
gion in Poland, down to the Jewish self-
defense groups in current times. Author
of both pamphlets, "The Fighting Jew"
and the history-in-brief, - is Israel Gold-
berg (Rufus LearSi).
* *
I.L.O. ECHO
One who- was on the "in" at the Inter-
national Labor Organization conference
in Philadelphia tells, us about the dis-
agreement between the Polish and Czech
delegates on the wording of a resolution
against anti-Semitism presented to the
sessions. The Polish resolution con-
demned Poland's • pre-war record and
the fact that pogrom-condoner General
Haller is still Minister of Education in
the P o l i s h Government-in-Exile, pro-
posed that all anti-Semitism be condemn-
ed. A British delegate proposed t h e
compromise resolution finally adopted.
Strictly
Confidential
A Plea for Asbestos Pockets
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
Considerable attention is being given
throughout the land to the new trend in
Jewish life—the effort to establish Eng-
lish-Jewish newspapers on a basis of
community support.
Recent action by the Federation of
Jewish Charities and the Allied Jewish
Appeal of Philadelphia, in purchasing
the Jewish Exponent of that city—a
newspaper that was formed in 1887—has
created new interest in the issue.
The Philadelphia Jewish leaders, in
their announcement of the steps they
had taken, made this point:
"With the circulation of the existing
publications negligible, we had no way
of informing our contributors of the ac-
tual work being done on their behalf, of
the planning and the progress we were
making, of the service we were render-.
ing locally, nationally and overseas, ex-
cept by occasional circulars. This was as
unsatisfactory as it was expensive. We
felt the need of a newspaper in which
should be reported and interpreted the
day-to-day events in the light of their
effect upon our people; a weekly news-
paper that shall bring our message—our
efforts and our achievements—to the en-
tire community."
This is interesting—but it tells only
part of the story of the community needs
that have not. been fulfilled until now
but which may be filled with the estab-
lishment of community newspapers.
It all began with The Jewish News of
Detroit. Here, as in Philadelphia More
than two years later, the need was felt
for a newspaper that should reach ALL
Jews. The need is felt everywhere for
newspapers that should cover the entire
Jewish scene and whose function should
be not to disseminate local society gossip
—although that, too, has a place in Jew-
ish periodicals—but to cover the entire
scene, regardless of costs. Also—that the
Jewish newspaper must be above re-
proach and must eliminate unethical
business practices.
In order to achieve this, those respon-
sible for issuing such newspapers had to
recognize that their projects can not be
profit-making. An ideal is involved, and
those imbued with community responsi-
bility are in position to create a real,
sincere, news-distributing organ, which
can at the same time mould public
opinion.
The community newspaper represents
one of the new progressive trends in
Jewish community-building.
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
Copyright, 1944, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright. t944, by Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate)
JEWISH NEWS
There is an atmosphere of optimism
in Zionist circles, based on reports from
London . . But we predict that before
the next two months are over that op-.
timism will have evaporated . . . The
British Colonial Office's scheme for par-
tition will propose a Jewish Palestine so
minuscule that even Dr. Magnes will be.
horrified.
The Committee for a Jewish Army,.
alias the Emergency Committee to Res-
cue the Jews of Europe, is suing Pierre
van Paassen, Kenneth Leslie and t h e
Protestant magazine to the tune of $100,-
000 . . . Seems to us Iike a rather strange
culmination to the ,Committee's insist-
ence that Van Paassen. did not write the
letter, published in The Protestant,
which blasted the Irgunists sky-high.
Sholom Asch's appeal to American in
tellectuals on behalf of Jews suffering
from anti-Semitism on the part of the
Polish government-in-exile will be pub-
lished as a booklet within the next few.
weeks.
Both political conventions will be ask-
ed to endorse a - plan to outlaw anti-
Semitism in America.
* *. 4,
INTER FAITH DEPT.
Aime Palliere, the French priest - who
became a rabbi, and who authored "The
Unknown Sanctuary", has died - in a
concentration camp in Poland, where
the Gestapo sent him.
Just as we were about to announce
proudly that the New York Yankee
baseball team has an outfielder named
Ed Levy, • our illusions are destroyed by
Winchell's assurance that Ed is an Irish-
man.
Aside to the editors of the Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia: No less a person-
age than Vice President Henry A. Wal-
lace used your excellent reference work
to look up the Baal . Shem, whom he
considers "one of the great prophets of
the common man" • . The Vice Presi-
dent recently - told Rabbi Louis Novick
of Washington that he believes that in
times like these the Baal Shem doctrine
can be very - useful not only to Jewish
people but to people everywhere, add-
ing: "His simple preaching of hope and
joy under the most difficult of condi-
tions must never, forgotten."
**
ABOUT PEOPLE
The wife of department store biggie
and War Refugee Board representative
Ira Hirschmann, and co-founder with
him of the New Friends of Music con-
certs, is the famed concert pianist Hor-
tense Monath.
The wedding dress Paulette Goddard
wore when she married Capt. Burgess
Meredith was a neat little number she
picked up on her recent USO tour—in
Eretz Israel, to be precise.
Jacob Epstein's latest bronze, "Girl
with the Gardenias," failed to create a
stir in London.
-
FREEDOM OF PRESS
Watch for the forthcoming issue of the
Jewish Contemporary Record which is
the official organ of the American Jew-
ish Committee . . . You will find there an
article written by such a leading figure
in the Zionist movement as Emanuel
Neumann on no other subject than Zion-
ist strategy in Washington . . . Times
certainly change! .. .
There was quite a lot of excitement in
Palestine over a cable sent from New
York by a non-Jewish news agency . . .
The cable reported that the governments
of Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria had
agreed to permit the emigration of all
Jews from their countries and that the
War Refugee Board was making ar-
rangements to take them out by over-
land transportation . . Given as source
of this news was Dean Alfange, leader of
the newly-formed American Liberal
Party . . . No sooner did the cable ap-
pear in the Hebrew papers in Palestine,
than crowds began to besiege the offices
of Jewish organizations in order to have
their relatives in the pro-Nazi countries
placed on the rescue lists . . In vain did
the Jewish Agency announce that the re-
port was false and that no such lists were
being compiled . . The crowds did not
want to take "no" for an answer . . .
Most interesting, however, is the fact
that Dean Alfange did not even know
that news of this kind was released to a
news agency in New York in his name -
. . . He is now busy investigating the in-
cident in order to establish who misused
his name, thus giving false hopes to the
Jews in Palestine . . And speaking of
Mr. Alfange, we understand that -he in-
An Italian paper of the liberated zone,
tends to withdraw from the Committee Libera Stampa, 5-2-1944, prints a letter
to Save the Jews of Europe of which he about the lot of political and Jewish
is one of the chairmen.
prisoners in San Vittore.
"Before being interrogated, the vic-
cause. His reply was: "I guess I'll sup- tims are seized by the hair and knocked
port it. Anything that has to do with our senseless with blows between nose and
denomination has something good in it." eyes. No torture is. spared—fustigation,
It was an amazing response, but it was hours-long beatings, freezing baths, after
understandable when it developed, later, which the victims are left naked in the
that this man is a member of both the cell . . . The S. S. Captains Klaus and
Zionist Organization and the American Soenneke are at the head of the persecu-
Council for Judaism; of an Orthodox tion . .. Until a few days ago about 200
synagogue and a Reforin Temple; of the very young Jewish children were in the
Hebrew Schools and a Yiddish secular cells, suffering the same treatment as
the other prisoners. Their sobbing was
school.
the most horrible thing. in this sinister
Here you have undiscriminating loyal- place which sees so much wickedness.
ty. But it is so lacking in ideological dif- The Minister of the Interior ordered the
ferentiation that your Commentator release of Jewish children under 13 and
must express doubt whether wholesome the old people over 70, but a mere
DENOMINATIONAL LOYALTY
community understanding can be built Lieutenant of the S. S. tore up the order
The other day, a prominent citizen was on such complete lack of . understanding sending them all indiscriminately to
called for a contribution to a certain of Jewish issues.
oncentration camps .in Poland."
Jewish Children
In Italian Prisons
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