Page Two
Purely
Commentary
r By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
CITIES WITHOUT JEWS
The phenomenal Russian successes
which mark the. Soviet march through
Nazi-captured territories bring, to public
fame again names of cities which have
figured prominently Jewish history.
Wilno and Brest-Litovsk, Baranowicz
and Lida, Dvinsk and Bobruick—these
are names that were famous in Jewish
literature. Great scholars lived a creative
life there.
Now, they are cities without. Jews.
In the first World War, these cities suf-
fered untold humiliations. First came the
Germans. Then the Russians drove them
out. Then came the Polish domination
and pogroms.
Our people survived all the sufferings-
that were imposed upon them.
But the Nazi terror was too barbaric
for survival.
Now, the recaptrue of these cities by
the Russians finds the Hitlerite threat a
reality—because the democracies were
late in acting. Jewish life, in the main,
has been exterminated.
* * *
THE GLORY OF LIDA
.Lida better . - than
Because
- he knows
. -
any of the other communities, having
lived there for nearly eight years, your
Commentator selects this historic Jewish
community for additional comment as a
symbol of the misery suffered by our
people.
Lida witnessed the trek of warriors
and barbarians.
Lida saw the Germans and the Rus-
sians and the Poles in the last war, and
suffered from the pogroms in the post-
war period of 1918-21.
Now, Lida is a ghost-town, and only in
Jewish history are the traces of her glory
to be found, .
She was the city of Rabbi Isaac Jacob
Reines (1839-1915), the founder of the
Mizrachi orthodox Zionist movement in
1901 and the creator of the famous Lida
Yeshivah. He was the collaborator of
Theodor Herzl in the founding of the
modern political Zionist movement, -and
he was the modernizer of Yeshivoth, hay-
' ing been the first. to propose the intro-
duction of secular studies in Jewish theo-
logical schools;
The Lida of Reines is dead.
Will the ghosts come back? Are there
any survivors?
Would that the war were already at
an end so that we may learn the fate
of our people.
* * *
TRUE LIBERATION
One of Dr. Theodor Herzl's great pred-
ecessors in the Zionist movement, Dr.
Leon Pinker, advocated Jewish national-
rebirth as an ideal which must be attain-
ed through self-liberation. In his great
brochure "Auto-Emancipation" he point-
' ed' out that only through self-help can
liberty be won.
The. Negroes proved this point the other
night at the great American Negro Music
Festival. Only 80 years. after th.eir lib-
eration; they are now on their own. • They
have 'produced great poets, great sing-
ers, great artists. •
Most - important achievenient of the
Negro is that he does not apologize. He
fights for his rights. And he does it
well.
Langston Hughes, in your Commentat-
or's view one of the world's greatest
poets, who presided at the American
Negro Music Festival here, gave proof
of the brilliance of the Negro's approach
to the' problem of discrimination, In a
most dispasSionate little speech, he calm-
ly debunked all the stupidities of big-
otry and bigots. Leaders in anti-de-
famation movements among all minority
groups could have learned a lot from
Mr. Hughes' approach that night.
The American Negro Music Festival
was a great performance. But the thrill
that is most lasting to your Commentator
is the knowledge that an oppressed peo-
ple can become emancipated against
great odds.
Victory Garden
By JULIAN M. DRACHMAN
"What are you planting, little fellow?
Cabbage green or carrots yellow?
Spinach for strength, tomatoes for taste?
Parsely tenderly interlaced?
'What kind -of _ crops will your garden
grow?
Potatoes and beets that hide below
The surface? Or lettuce or peas or beans?
Or tall, proud corn, or salad greens?
"Ydu've only a tiny bit of a yard,
For a squash, a few turnips, a mess
of chard.
What are ,you planting?"
He looked at me:
"Dad, I am planting Victory."
Friday, July 21, 1944
THE .JEWISH NEWS
Eliminating Bigotry
Editorial in Courier Express, Buffalo, N. Y., July 12, 1944
It is unfortunate that in this country, which harbors so many races and
creeds, there should be millions of persons who are racial and religious bigots.
To some extent this was due to improper bringing up; not that parents made
an actual attempt to- inculcate prejudices in their children; more often they
did so unwittingly.
The problem at hand is to prevent children in future from being indoc-
trinated either purposely or innocently with racial and religious bigotry.
Howard Fast, in an article appearing in the July issue of Harper's Bazaar,
offers four suggestions for rearing children without cluttering their minds in
that way. He proposes that parents avoid making remarks which will poison
_ the minds of their children against racial and religious groups. He also sug-
gests speaking out when anyone utters statements derogatory of other races
or persons of other religious beliefs. His suggestions are:
"Fii.st: Never use derogatory racial terms; never think them if- possible,
never permit them to be used in your home. . .
"Secondly: Don't discriminate in your casual conversation. If you know
a Jew, don't refer to him as 'that Jew.' If you have Irish neighbors, don't refer
to them as 'those Irish.' . .
"Thirdly: Don't suggest religious or race differences to your children. . . •
"Fourthly: Don't bear the anti-Negro or anti-Semitic or anti-Catholic story
in embarrassed silence; - talk up hotly and intelligently, and if it means losing
a friend—and not a too worthwhile one—it also means shaping your listening
children into better human material."
These suggestions, if followed, would eliminate a lot of hatred in these
United States.
Heard in
The Lobbies
Strictly
Confidential
By ARNOLD LEVIN
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
- (Copyright, 1944 Inslependent Jewish'
Press Service. -Inc.)
(Copyrighi. 1944, by Seven Ell-ts
Feature Syndicate)
-
WITH THE LITERATI ..
PALESTINE PLANK
Markoosha Fischer, who is the wife of
You can bet that the Democratic Con-
vention will adopt a Palestine plank. The journalist Louis Fischer and who recently
opposition to such plank has been whit=- published a book of her own on Russia,
tled down as a result of. -the Republicans' was - asked by a Nashville' Jewish group,
action. The issue now is the wordage, es- before whom she was to lecture, whether
pecially the word before "Common- she is Jewish ... "Not only am I Jewish,"
wealth," if you know what . I mean- . . . she replied, "but I'm a cousin of your
At the Republican, Convention, opponents rabbi, Naval Chaplain Julius Mark" ..
of a Jewish Palestine lobbied for all they (Rabbi Mark is the brother of Mrs. Harry
were worth. The final decision was made Buchman, former president of the La- .
by the Resolutions - Committee at '5 o'clock dies' Auxiliary of the Jewish National
on a Monday morning, when people were Fund of Detroit).
Congratulations to Aleph Katz on the
actually turned out of bed for this pur-
publication of his fifth book of verse .. .
pose . There was drama in it.
At the last session of the American He is undoubtedly .one of the most sen-
Zionist Emergency Council there was sitive and truly modern Yiddish poets
quite a furor over the position to be of our time . . . Get his new "Arnol is
taken on the Palestine plank adopted by Geven a Mayse" .. . It's worth learning
the Republicans . . . Some resented the Yiddish for.
* *
plank's criticism of F. D. R., others were
inclined to believe that it wasn't the JUST WISHING . . .
Council praising that section _of the plank
We wish that the police would start
which calls for unrestricted immigration, going after the organized bands of anti-
land ownership and a free Common- Semitic youths who make life unbear-
wealth.
able for Jewish boys in,Dorchester, Mass.
. • . That some of the refugees in Mexico
ETCETERA
Senator Bilbo, the latest Jew-smearer City would spend less of their time on
in Congress, has been shown up in a way view at night clubs and other places
he doesn't like by Liberty Magazine . . . of amusement . . . And that Sigmund
Quite a change in that• magazine's poli- Livingston's book, "Must Men Hate?",
cies, incidentally, since the days of Mac- were more intelligently written . . . As
president of the Anti-Defamation League
f adden's ownership.
Nazi General Von Arnheim. brought 20 he should not have exposed his limita
trunks with him on his arrival at a Mis- tions on the subject..
*
*
sissippi internment camp. The general
likes to change several times a day. LISTEN HERE .. .
Dainty . . . Has epileptic fits . . . His
"You can rest assured that I shall con-
trunks may be the reason. for his capture.
The general just couldn't think of leav- tinue in- the same direction in which
I have been going for the last 30 years,
ing his wardrobe behind, they say.
Brigadier General Julius Ochs Adler and that the Jewish question in CzeCho-
.(of the New York Times family) holds slovakia will be handled decently—in a
three Silver Stars, the DSC,, DSM and real, democratic spirit" . . . This quote is
the -Purple Heart. Came to New York for from a personal letter from Jan Masaryk
an operation after two years in the , Pa- to Louis Rittenberg, editor of Liberal
Judaism. .
cific area
It's true that Col. Herbert H. Lehman
REFUGEE SHIP
wants to resign as head of UNRRA - . .
The ships by which Jews -are rescued This because of continued interference
from Europe are not always the most sea- on the part of the State Department .
worthy, but they are the only ones avail-
Vera Menchik, world champion among
able and cost a nice mint at the. . . Re- woman chess players, was killed -by a
member the Bulgarian boat Maritza "robot" bomb in England last month . .
which brought a transport of Jews from Her :sister, Olga Rubery, also a noted
Constanza to Istanbul, when the Nazis chess player, was -killed by the same
took full control of Romania? She sank bomb.
on her return voyage from. Istanbul. The
Maxa Nordau is in Mexico, delivering
crew, the only ones aboard, were saved. a series of lectures, in Spanish, on her
TRAITORS -VERSUS HEROES
famous father;
* * *
He is known as Jacques, and is a Jew
serving ,with the Gestapo in Belgium. IN RE REFUGEES
Traveling with the Gestapo in high pow-
This has been a _ n exciting week for
ered cars, he personally, with revolver in Henri Bernstein, the •French refugee
hand, tracks down Jews. The Belgian un- playwright, who is the president of the
derground wanted to dispose of him, but French American Club, leading De. Gaul-
the Jewish underground in that country list group hereabouts . . . Bernitein did
asked . for the privilege and the Belgians not however, spend much time with the
understood and bowed out. Any day General, who.. was "too busy" to see him
now, when he's stalked down, it will be privately.
by Jews. This is from a recent edition of • Some of the German Jews who have
Le *Flambeau, organ •Of the Jewish De- found refuge in Mexico have taken a
fense Committee , (underground) in that special delight in buying up former. Ger-
country.
man concerns that went on sale when
JOURNEY OVER BERLIN
Mexico declared war on the Nazis . . .
It is now revealed for the first time The first thing that: most of the new
that the leader of the first Soviet squad- owners 'did was to replace the swastikas
ron to bomb Berlin way back on the that had been displayed in the establish-
night of August 7-8, 1941, was a Jew, the ments with the Mogen Dovid Banner.
.late Major Plotkin, a Hero of the Soviet
NOW comes the revelation that there
Union:
really is a "Jacobowsky" who had the
adventure portrayed in Franz Werfel's
CAPITAL NOTE .
Laurence Steinhardt, U. S. Ambassador play "JacobOwSkY and the Colonel", . .
to Turkey, is back in Washington, to re- The :gentleman's real name is Stefan S.
port -and recuperate. Those, active in res- Jacobowicz, 'and he told his story to
cuing the Jews of -Europe speak reVerent- Werfel for a :cash consideration . . . And
ly of him. The story of his wonderful co- now that the Werfel play is such a hit,
operation, resourcefulness and great de- Jacobowicz is at work on his autobiogra-
yotion is yet to be told.,
,phy,, which he hopes to sell to the my*:
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
Copyright, 1944, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, InC.Y.
JEWISH TRENDS
Very few people know that in 1939
American non-Zionists, desirous of re-
constituting the Jewish Agency for Pal-
estine, drafted a letter to be sent to Dr.
Chaim Weizmann . • It was signed by
the American non-Zionist members of
the administrative committee of the Jew-
ish Agency, but was never sent, because
the war broke out . . . A number of
points in this letter appear to non-Zionist
leaders to be relevant today . . . The let-
ter is, therefore, now being resurrected
and may serve as a basis for the attitude
which non-Zionist members of the Jew-
ish Agency may take with regard to the
post-war status of Palestine . . . In gen-
eral the signatories of the letter, which-
included the late Dr. Cyrus Adler, Judge
Irving Lehman, Horace Stern, Sol M.
Strook, James Becker, expressed their
opinion that Palestine as a land of ,
gration possibilities, and as a need for
the oppressed Jewish masses, transcends
Zionism and Jewish nationalism . They
were opposed to any measure which
would place the Jews in a permanent
minority status, stop immigration, and
exclude the Jewish Agency from partici-
pating in determining the ultimate solu-
tion of Palestine problems . . . They
favored the establishment of a Palestin-
ian state in which Arabs, Jews and others
could live side by side as equal citizens,
with adequate guarantees of non-domina-
tion of one group by the others . . . They
opposed any discrimination against Arab
labor and urged the Jewish National
Fund to eliminate the clause dealing with
Arab labor on National Fund land . .
The most important feature of the letter,
however, was the demand that the non-
Zionists be given their proper share in
the policy making and administrative
bodies of the Jewish Agency
*
*
*
USEFUL FIGURES
It is estimated that Jews in America
are now contributing an average of $10,-
000,000 each month for Jewish philan-
thropic and cultural work . This makes
an average of $2 per American Jew,
women and children included . . . The
above sum does not include the contribu-
tions which American Jews are making
to the Red Cross, USO and other similar
institutions.
The Council of Jewish. Federations and
Welfare Funds estimates that the average
increase of Jewish fund-raising cam-
paigns now completed is •6 per •cent over
last year . . Gains rang _ e from 1.8 per
cent to 108.1 per cent, with Stockton,
Calif., achieving the latter figure.
Zionist Manifesto
Issued by World. Organization on
_Anniversary of- the Death of
Dr. Theodor. Herz!
Dr. Herzl, by bequeating to his people
his vision of its redemption and the in-
struments for implementing it, achieved
immortality in Jewish history.
During the 40 years since the death
of Herzl, the Zionist Organization has
achieved international recognition as the
representative of the Jewish people and
its resurgent Homeland; and his program •
has been converted into an international
obligation.
From modest beginnings,' Jewish Pales-
tine has now grown nearly vastly in
size and strength into a community
numbering nearly 600,000 and the foun-
dations have been laid for Jewish inde-
pendence in their own Homeland.
The Jewish nation today stands on the
threshold of momentous decisions. The
vision of a Jewish state has in the mean-
time been transformed into the need for
a Jewish state, an urgent and vital need
and a last hope for the saving of what-
ever is left of Israel.
From all ends of the world, -and from
all its corners, comes the claim that is ,
not to be deferred for the distant and
cloudy future, the immediate claim for
the establishment - of the Land of Israel
as a Jewish Commonwealth and the en-
trusting of the delivery and redemption
of the Jewish people to the. hands of
the Jewish people themselves.
Our achievements • in the Land of
Israel have prepared us for the establish-
ment of a Jewish state while • the catas-:
trophe that has overwhelmed us in exile,
. has made a Jewish state an urgent, im-
mediate necessity for our own times.
Let the 40th anniversary of the death
of Dr. Herzl be the day on which we
rededicate ourselves to the realization oL
his vision AL
a 'Jewish state,