Page Two

THE JEWISH NEWS

Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

THE GREAT WENDELL L. WILLICW,
Few are the names which could com-
mand the respect and the admiration
which were attached to the name of
Wendell L. Willkie.
The reason is obvious. He was a great
American. He was a great man. He,
was a great humanitarian.
He was uncompromising in his adher-
ence to principle, and he did not fare
well for it at the hands of his associates.
But he will be remembered with even
greater respect because of his staunch de-
fense of human ideals.
* * *
•
SUPPORTXR OF ZIONISM
Mr. Willkie was a strong supporter of
Zionism. When the White Paper issue
arose last year, his repudiation of the
British restrictions in Palestine was the
most powerful of all.
When he was in Palestine, he visited .
with Miss Henrietta Szold. He , described
his interview with her in his bOOk, "One
World," in which he did not hesitate to
issue -warnings against- some elements
among the Arabs who were not too loyal:
to the United Nations cause.
* * *
A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Your Commentator had an• interesting
personal experience with Mr. Wilikie; It
was during his visit in Detroit when G. L.
K. Smith organized a group of wild-look-
ing men. and women to picket the hotel
at which the former candidate for presi-
dent was a guest.
We asked Mr. Wilikie a few: queStions
regarding his visit in Palestine and his
stand on Zionism. He reaffirmed his
views in "One World" and his statements
in behalf of a Jewish Palestine, and upon
leaving the room where he net with the
press he expressed . a desire to meet for
a lengthier discussion on Palestine.
Less than a week later we realized that
he meant what he said. We were • not
formally introduced, and at the time of
the interview he was unaware of the
Commentator's . affiliation or name. But
we received a . warm letter from him in-
viting a visit in New York. It developed
that he had gotten his secretary' to-se-
cure the information he desired- to be
able to communicate with this writer.
The planned interview did not materi-
alize, because he was detained in his home
state during his last ill-fated political
campaign. But he indicated a sincerity
for which he will be highly honored.
* * *
BLESSED BE HIS MEMORY
Jews everywhere mourn the death of
Wendell L. Willkie for the same reason
that all humanity mourns the death of
this great American.
But for Jews the loss is greater because
our friends are more limited.
He was a great friend on all - issues. He
was a strong supporter of Zionism. He
opposed ALL types of bigotry. He was
indeed a gret man.
His memory will live as a blessing in
American and world history.

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Palestine WAAF's
Vital War Service

JERUSALEM (JPS-Palcor) — Jewish
Palestine's women serving with the
Women's Auxiliary Airforce are doing
varied and vital work, mostly at the Base
Personnel Office at R. A. F. Headquarters
in the Middle East. The WAAFs include
women of versatile civilian vocations.
Aircraft woman Tatiana Lewinson,"a stu-
dent of history and languages at the He-
brew University, joined the WAAFs last
December, when her husband, a fellow
student, joined the army. Her family is
in the Soviet Union and a number of her
relatives are in the Red Army. Aircraft-
woman Hanna Gershberg, who worked in
the Jewish - Agency, offices' in Tel Aviv,
joined early this year
WAAF clerks form one-third of_ the
staff of the Base Personnel Office at
R A: F. headquarters in. the Middle East
and have been entrusted with the de-
tailed work of keeping thousands of doc-
uments up to date—a job previously car-
ried outby airmen due - to be posted home
at the end of their tour of overseas duty.,
Working at long tables covered with
rows of index trays, the airwomen, most
of whom are Palestinian Jewesses, are
busy entering the latest information
about postings and promotions of per-
sonnel at R. A. F. stations stretching
from the Western Desert to PerSia and
from Cyprus to Kenya.
At a moment's notice they can produce
from filing cabinets filled with thousandS
of. records cards, complete details of any
airwoman. or airman serving in this, the
largest of the R. A. F. commands.

Friday, October 20, 1944

Heard in
The Lobbies

17- -Day Responsibilities.

By. RABBI JAMES G. HELLER`

National Chairman, United Jewish Appeal

The Jewish people, standing on the bridge separating war and peace,
faces the choice of reconversion, or conversion, for the days of peace. It has
been on a war footing not merely for five years, but for 11 long and bloody
years. , For more than a decade its life, its culture, its philosophy have been
dictated by desperate- flight from death, by, fear of wholesale extermination,
by wandering and homelessness, by terror and massacre. Life was an acci-
dental by-product of escape. During, that period Jewish service and leadership
in the United States . was controlled by the .• seismographic readings of
emergencies telescoping into one another with dismaying rapidity:
It was a period of panic, of unity born of hysteria, of action forged on
the anvil of a people's destruction. Now that the- storm is blowing over and
the Jews of the United States can come out of their shelters, will they return
to the periphery -in a reconversion to a denial of Jewish affiliationAr interest.
or will they be linked to the future of Jewish life through a conversion to
creative activity?
If the Jews of the United States wish to retain the leadership ' they
achieved in years of strife, the philosophy of destruction will have to be
replaced by a positive philosophy of construction.
The most crucial aspects of the test of conversion are linked to our
activities in' behalf of those 'Who will have survived the' Nazi bloodbath. ;
In the months prior to the outbreak of World War II, wheri, the three
foremost agencies joined to establish the United Jewish Appeal for Refugees,
Overseas Needs and Palestine, this union represented a major • development
in American Jewish leadership. For it was through this instrumentality
that very substantial funds were raised during the most critical years for
,the vital programs of the. Joint Distribution Committee, the United Palestine
Appeal and the National Refugee . Service. What American Jews gave in
resources and leadership to the United Jewish Appeal represented in its
highest ftrrn their common bond and common stake in the race with the
Nazi executioners of the Jewish people.
But the tasks of peace will, be greater than those of war, for we shall
be called upon - to .rebuild what was ruthless., and syStematically torn down
in almost overt', corner of Europe.
- When ''e speak of the restoration of the. Jews of Europe, we must do so
not in any superficial sense, but we must do so with a realistic understanclz
ing that in many lands not only the structure of Jewish life, but its founda-
tions have been seriously damaged. We are not only confronted with the
problems of racial -prejudice, but with its economic manifestations, and these
greatly intensify the gravity of the post-war situation. In the post-Hitler
period, we will not face emergencies involving a threat of violent death to
Jews in various parts of Europe. Nevertheless, the era of crisis will not be
at an end, for our work of rehabilitation will have to be carried on in an
atmosphere charged with the explosive elements of prejudices fostered over a
period of many years.
This is one of the fundamental reasons why the Jewish homeland in
Palestine .must occupy .a preeminent place in the pattern of post-war
restoration.- •
. The opportunities :for maximum immigration must be fully developed
through the - acquisition of new land, the establishment of new agricultural
settlements, and the expansion of industry.
The, fact that Palestine has absorbed more than 300,000 Jewish refugees--
in the 11 years of Nazi attack, the fact that in all crictical emergencies
Palestine has been the major center of refuge for Jews escaping from death,
is of itself dramatic testimony of its capacity to make a major contribution
to the solution of the post-war Jewish problem.
What we undertake to do and what we accomplish in the months to come
may in great measure decide. the fate of the Jewish people. We must not
permit those who have survived the holocaust to lose -faith in us, to be denied
the fi-uits of victory which they have earned by long and bitter years of
sacrifice and suffering.

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Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

(Copyrigbl, 1944, by ,,Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate)

YOU SHOULD KNOW "
That Bundist book entitled "Roosevelt's
Jewish Ancestry," which a grand jury
has labeled as Naazi propaganda, again is
being circulated, we're told.
Dorothy Thompson contradicts those
who claim that anti-Semitism is on the
decrease here . . She recently wrote; in
a letter: "Relations between the various
races composing America have deteri-
orated during the war, and, remembering
the aftermath of the last one, we have
reason to fear that they will deteriorate
further in the postwar period; -unless
measures are taken to prevent this."
The bill to suppress the evil of anti-
Semitism, sponsored by the National
Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism,
will be submitted to the Senate and
House at the first session to be held after
the elections.
Capt. Herman Dicker, Chaplain, now in
France, has the name "Jerusalem" and
the Star of David painted on Itis jeep .. .
He writes us that he is curious to see the
reaction of the Germans when they lay
eyes on this jeep . . . He is himself Ger-
man-born, a refugee who enlisted in New
York in 1941.
* * *
JEWISH NIIPWS
The honeymoon is over between Ira
Hirschmann, representative of the U. S.
War Refugee Board, and the Emergency
Committee to Save the Jews- of. Burope
. . , -Billy Rose, the theatrical master-
producer, wants it known that he has no
connection with that same Bergson Com-
mittee . . . Did, you, by the way, see the
series of -articles in the Washington Post
about the Hebrew Committee Of National
Liberation? .7 . On the basis of these
articles that Committee is suing the Post
for libel.
We thought we'd pass on to you some
authoritative statistics on Jewish educa-
tion in America, which read as follows:
Children attending 'Jewish 'schools: 200,-
000 . . Jewish schools: •,260 . . . Jewish
teachers: 7,000 . . . Annual Cost of, Jewish
education: $6,000,000.
Ellen (Mrs. Irving) Berlin's novel
about a recent immigrant to this country,
"Land I Have Chosen," will ,soon be made
into a movie,

By ARNOLD LEVIN

(Copyright, 1944 Independent Jewish .
Press Service.' Inc.)

•

AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM
Personal Note to Rabbi Goldberg, as-
sistant to Rabbi Berger of the Council:
Your office has been swamping my office
with inquiries regarding an item of mine,
several columns back, noting that the
full record of the House hearings on the
Palestine resolution, "printed not at gov-
ernment expense," has just appeared. My
office replied before that you ,can obtain
it by writing to Congressman Bloom,
chairman of the Committee . . . Whoever
covered the expense of publication was
certainly fair to all sides, presenting the
full discussion and' not just One side, as
you did in your' painphlet containing ex-
clusively the statements of the Council's
witnesses at the hearings.
I take it that Rep. Eaton, slated for the
House Foreign Affairs Committee chair-
manship. if the HouSe goes Republican,
may be interested in verifying the report
that Council leaders boasted that he is an
anti-Zionist, "our friend." . . . Rumor has
it that the Democratic. National Conven-
tion's Resolutions Committee's chairman
advised your lobbyists to present some
concrete and positive proposal instead of
merely engaging in the negativism of re-
jecting the Zionist plank . . . Radio sta-
tions have repti•tedly received requests
from you to discontinue the ZOA broad-
casts or to grant you equal space.
* * *
WAR BONDS
When the banl'S 'began redeeming War
Bonds a week ago, only one bank in the
country could claim that it hadn't cashed
a single bond, for none of its depositors,
want theirs redeemed while the country/
is still in the midst of war. The bank we
refer to is the Public National Bank and
Trust Co., on Burnside and Davidson
Avenues, Bronx, N. Y., the heart of the
Arthur Kober country, with a dense Jew-.
ish population . . . That is _something for
the American Jewish community to take
pride in. Tell it to the Dillings, the G. L.
K. Smiths and their brand of super-
patriots.

,

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*

*

*

NOTE FROM FRANCE
The allegation by its foes that Zionism
breeds inconsistency and implies dual
loyalty has been heroically exploded by
the Zionists in France who maintained
their own partisan units and won the
applause of all patriots. But some of their
vociferous foes and rhetorical patriots
By BORIS SMOLAR
.(prewar and postwar) now face the alle-
(Copyright. 1944, JTA, inc.)
gation of having been throughout the
INSIDE INFORMATION
war France Firsters a la Vichy, gloating
Jewish organizations. . in America have over the Old Marshal and groveling be-
been notified that Syria would consider fore Laval.
admitting Jews for settlement under cer-
tain conditions . . . Non-Zionist groups GUEST EDITORIAL
in New York were approached to finance.
Such a settlement .. .
An American Jewish organizatioh is
studying possibilities of investing large
capital in building houses in Palestine
on credit . . . The shortage in Palestine
housing is so acute that if building ma-
By HARRY COHEN
terials could be supplied, there would be
Vice-President, Zionist
work for tens of thousands of laborers for
Organization of Detroit
at least two years.
Members of the impartial commission
Throughout the war years Palestine
to survey Palestine, under Robert Nathan, has been the major haven for the men.
will be granted Palestine visas shortly , and Women fleeing from Nazi destruction.
and the commission will soon leave the In the early part' of the war several
United States for Jerusalem.
hundred refugees who had failed to
There is a good deal of friction between gain admission to the Jewish homeland
James Landis, the special U. S. envoy
were sent to the Island
in the Middle East and Lord Moyne, the
of Rhodes. When the
British - envoy there . . . The former
Axis forces made a con-
wants Palestine to become an industrial
centrated attack on Brit-
center for neighboring countries, while
ain's strongpoints in the
the latter wants to paralyze Palestine's •
Mediterranean they
industrial potentialities . . :Few people
seized Rhodes and
1
know that Britain . is willing to sell
, promptly put all of the
textiles to. Palestine, but not textile
refugees in chaink The
machinery . . . The British Government
Jews , were placed on
fears that if Palestine gets modern
prison ships and sent to • •
machinery, its industry may compete
Italy where they were
with. Britain's in the Near Eastern mar-
thrown into concentra- .
kets.
Harry Cohen tion camps.
*- * *
For almost three years they languished
POLITICAL TRENDS
in the primitive barracks of .Ferramonti
There are many indications pointing to until one day the light of freedom broke
the fact that the Palestine problem will through and the British Eighth Army
be solved by partition and that a Jewish liberated them. The first to bring help to
State will be established there , under the the Jewish refugees at Ferramonti were
supervision of the great Powers .. .
Jewish soldiers from Palestine who had
Zionist leaders are working to have been in the van of the British attack. •
the word "ultimate" elhninated ‘ from the
A short time later the agencies of , the
Palestine resolution still pending in both United Jewish Appeal stepped in to
houses of the U. S. Congress .. .
provide new homes for the liberated
Arab newspapers in the United States refugees and 570 of them were brought
are conducting a campaign for the forma-, to Palestine—the first refugees to reach
tion of a Syrian Federation which would the Jewish homeland from territory liber-
embrace Palestine, Transjordan, Leban- ated by the Allies.
on,' and present 'Syria under the protec-
The rehabilitation and resettlement in
tion of Iraq and Great Britain . . . Some Palestine of Jews freed from Axis oppres-
papers argue that Palestine was really a sion can •be 'speeded through . generous
part of Syria and that the term response to the War Chest•of Metro-
.galestine" was coined by European politan Detroit which includes the Allied
politicians after the last war in order to Jewish campaign' and its agencies as its
establish a homeland for Jews.
beneficiaries.

Between
You and Me

War Chest Helps
Zion Rescue Work

