Friday, June 8, 1945
THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Two
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
PUNISHING THE SUFFERER
It is not too late to call attention to
the accompanying cartoon by Herz in the
April 27 issue of the Zionist Review of
London, England.
Basing his theme on the invitations
extended to nations declaring war on the
Axis before March 1, 1945, to be repre-
sented at the San Francisco Conference;
the artist - appended this legend under-
neath the cut:
SAN FRANCISCO _
Quotation of the Week
"T saw in Camp Opelika, Alabama, recently, 1,000 Arab prisoners
of war. These men carried on their shoulderstraps Rommel's red-
fettered badge of the `Afrika Korps'. They were captured members
of the Arab Brigade which the Mufti of Jerusalem raised in Iraq,
Egypt, Palestine and Transjordan for Adolf Hitler. They fought at El
Alamein and in the other battles of the North African campaign
against Britain and America. These men did not merely 'fraternize'
with the enemy, as some of the Zionist Realpolitiker timidly suggest
op the rare occasions they dare to mention Arab-German collabora-
tion. They fought shoulder to shoulder with the Nazi butchers. These
Men actually killed Americans and Britons.
"These enemy prisoners of war were well-fed, and smiling; as well
they might. For they are going to be represented at the San Francisco'
Conference and at -the Peace Conference. It is their, representatives
who are going to sit in judgment over the martyred remnants of the
Jewish people, over the Jewish homeland, over the fighters of the
Yishuv and over the destinies of Judaism."
—PIERRE VAN PAASSEN, In . Article "Rommel's
Men at San FraUcisco" in Protestant Magazine.
"How can you expect a seat if you
came into the war as far back as 1933?"
It is a reminder that the world's
greatest sufferer has been and continues
to be punished instead of helped.
*
*
*
PESSIMISM AND IMPATIENCE
Notes of - pessimism recorded in re-
actions to the San Francisco meetings of
the UNCIO are traceable in the main to
impatience.
Many weeks before the. United Nations
Conference opened, we expressed our
resentment over the fact that Jewry was
not to be. represented at San Francisco.
It was an accepted fact, and the feeling
on the part of those who knew some-
thing about what was transpiring in the
inner sancta of statesmen was that hear-
ings to be accorded our people would be
only "pro forma."
The truth is that our voice was heard
not only in • the lobbies of San Francisco
meeting places and at press conferences,
but also in closed meetings of the UNCIO.
The concerted efforts of Jewish corre-
spondents, of spokesmen for . national
organitations and our friends among the
United Natioris delegations were respon-
sible for whatever protection was accord-.
ed the Jewish position.
*
*
*
GAINS AND LOSSES
Have we gained anything?
The answer, of course, is: NO. Bid the
activities of Jewish spokesmen may have
prevented harm to the Jewish cause—and
that is something to be thankful for.
The major gain is that we have learhed
the attitudes of the world's statesmen and
- we have acquired new techniques in ap-
proaching issues affecting us when they
come up at the Peace Conference.
We have a battle on our hands, and
there is reason to believe that we shall
not lose the battle.
The reason?
We doubt whether Democratic and Re-
publican members of the S. Congress
will want to have it said that-the party
pledges on Palestine were broken.'
We doubt whether even Great Britain
will want to have it recorded that the
Balfour Declaration had been torn into
scraps of gaper by Arabophiles in ex-
change for a few barrels of oil. •
We doubt whether the smaller nations
countenance a .betrayal of .sacred cov-
enants between :the world's powers and
the Jewish people.
The troubles in European countries to-
day may be only a passing phase in a
tragic post-war era.
This is our hope—for without hope we
perish.
*
*
*
THE BLENDING OF NATIONS
As a result of . the -discouragement that
had set in among many groups at the San
Francisco Conference,' Jews and non-
Jews have begun to advocate the blend-
ing of nations and the creation of a single
world language:
One of our printers ' serving overseas
• writes from EUrope that he would like
to see the nations blended into one, with
One
language . as their medium of expres-
,
siOn.
It sounds plausible when it is suggested
by an English-speaking person. to a Yugo-
slav or a .Bulgarian or a Romanian.
But try to propose it to the French-
Man! Do you suppose he will give up
his • beloved French?
. Will the Englishman give up his native
tongue? --• • - • .
Even the German will refuse to aban-
don his Deutsches sprache.
As for the Palestinian pioneers—just
try to take their Hebrew away from
them!
Strictly
Confidential
Heard in
The Lobbies
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
By ARNOLD LEVIN
Copyright, 1945. Seven. Arts
Features Syndicate, Inc.
YOU SHOULD KNOW
One of these days we shall have to
look into the affairs of a certain office
located at 42nd St., New York . . . Re-
cently that office syndicated "Extracts
frOm Remarks on the Problem of the
Jewish Race" by a writer named Alice A.
Bailey . . . We did not like these "re-
marks" one •bit . • . We shall report fur-
ther on Miss Bailey.
Secretary Morgenthau is fighting for
the Yalta agreement providing for the
use of German prisoners in the rebuild-
ing of destroyed properties in the Soviet
Union . . . He is encountering strong
opposition from State Department guar-,
ters.'
• A. S. Yehuda, who is attending the -San
Francisco Conference as a member of the
Zionist Revisionist"delegation of observ-
ers, is unquestionably the greatest au-
thority on Arab- affairs at that interna-
tional confab.
There is not, incidentally, a crumb of
truth in the rumors . that Rabbi Abba
Hillel Silver. will accept the presidency of
the Revisionist World Zionist Organiza-
tion:
*
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LITERARY DEPARTMENT
r on the late
A major biOgraphital
Supreme Court Justice Louis -D. Brandeis
is in the making . . The. author is the
husband of Brandeis' daughter, Susan
Gilbert.
Novelist Howard Fast is .looking
ward to competition from within his own
family . . . A new novel to be published
soon; entitled "Watchful at Night", is by
his brother, -Sgt. Julius Fast.
Varian Fry; who "helped rescue so many
refugees from _France early in the Euro-
pean • war, reports that the Most difficult
of the 'jobs he •undertook was the rescue
of novelist Franz Werfel . . "I even had
to carry a large part of the manuscript
of 'The Song of Bernadette' across the
Pyrenees myself," says Mr. Fry, who re-
counts -some.. of his adventures in his re-
cently published - • .book "Surrender on
Demand"..
*
*
*
MUSICAL NOTES
Soine years ago violinist Nathan Mil-
stein acquired a beautiful Stradivarius,
con-
Which, however, he didn't use in :
In fact, he took a vow that he
ceit§ .
wouldn't Play .it until after the defeat of
Hitler . . So now he's planning to use
that . priceless - fiddle at his future per
forinariCes.. ' • .
Coinposer Robert Stoli (he's not Jewish,
by the way) prepared for recent events
as long ago as 1938. . That's when he
composed a piece he called "Hitler's
Funeral March"—and now he's looking
forward:to' giving it is first public . per-
formance: • •
• :The Victor record people are celebrat-
ing the issuing of their thousandth • Red
Seal album—and you'll be interested to
know that it's a recording of "Boris
Godounoff" in. Russian, starting basso
•
Alexander Kipnis.
(Copyright, 1945, Independent
Press Service, Inc.)
Jewish
ELSA APOLOGIZES
Elsa Maxwell, partymaker and column-
ist, ends up - the fourth of her columns
on the glorious Prince Feisal (whose
father, Ibn Saud, is an old-time-pirate-
type of ruler), and the third of her
columns, describing her party for the
Prince, by stating that this should in no
way be interpreted as support for the
cause the prince may represent. Apolo-
gies are certainly in order, dear Elsa .. •
They would have been more effective
had they not come toward the end of
another mushy column of Feisal adula:
tions.
*
*
*
BEST REPLY OF THE YEAR
Were there a Pulitzer prize for the best
reply- of the. year, the First Unitarian
Church of Miami would get.it for its re-
ply to Congressman Clare Hoffman's
charge that Jews constitute a dispropor-
tionate percentage in certain occupations.
As reported' by Walter Winchell, the
church 'bulletin carried the following
comment: "There is 'some justice in the
feeling' that , jews tend to monopolize cer-
tain occUpations. The Jewish Yeat Book
(1944-45) shows , Jewish rabbis are ex-
clusively Jewish.' There is not a single
reformed Presbyterian operating a kosher
delicatessen on Hester street, New York
City. Jews have consistently refused- to
become Episcopal bishops. We might pile'
fact on fact to show their a.voidande of
typically American endeavors,. such as
joining. the Ku Klux Klan, the •`Christian'
Americans or the •Deutsches Bund."
*
*
*
"PITY THE GERMANS" ADVOCATE
University of Chicago President Hutch-
ins has joined the "have mercy -on the
Germans" chorus. Milton Meyer,. whose
Saturday Evening Post article several
years back outraged AineriCan Jewry,
and who subsequently questioned the
"atrocity stories" about the Japs, is
President Hutchins' public relations man.
They both belong to the "we think dif-
ferent" school, regardless of the issue.
*
*
*
GIVE HIM A HAND !
Congressman Augustus W. Bennett (D.;
N.Y.) is sponsoring a bill which would
prevent members of Congress from mass-
mailing public documents in franked en-
velopes, to others than their constituents,
which means that a' future Hain. Fish
would not be able to mail out his speeches
to people residing Outside his' owri
trict.
-
,
*
HATEBOYS
We learn from- The Propaganda Battle= .
front, _:published by Friends of Democracy,
that Fundamentalist preacker E. J. Rol-
•lings, abroad for the Americas Red Cros§,
belongs to the Gerald Winrad hate-
• for the Red Cross
school. Is it too .
to do something , about it? . . . The same
source reports that Walter • Maier, Luth-
eran minister, and Gerald L. K. Smith,
drew a crowd- of 23,000 at a recent Chi-
ABOUT PEOPLE
The exhibit of 22 canvases by:Emanuel cago $tadiurn rally. ,
Romano, son of the late sculptor Enrico
Glicenstein, at the Lilienfeld Galleries in commercial 'airline pilots, spends his
New York, is attracting national attention leisure composing popular 'tunes . .
. . . HiS painting "Warsaw Ghetto" is de- You'll be glad to know that Louis goes
scribed as . . "at once Monumental, pas- to shule quite regularly.
sionate and spiritual".
Lee Kalech, .21-year-old assistant to
Arlene Meyer has been appoirited as-
sistant secretary of the Jewish. Pan- theatrical Trodueer Billy Rose, is an un-
American Committee, a body furthering usual girl . . She has many duties, -but
closer inter-relationship between the her real job is to keep every member of
Jewish communities of Latin American the cast in good, humor . . . Billy is so
much impressed With Lee that he is con-
countries.
Louis J. Smith, one of the topnotch sidering starring :her in 'a play,
•
Between
You and Me
By BORIS: SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1945, Jewish 'Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
THE SOVIET REQUEST
Behind the Soviet request for elimina-
tion of the so-called "Palestine Clause"
from the UNCIO's revised proposal on
trusteeship is neither opposition to Zionist
aspirations, nor support for the Arab
delegations at San Francisco . . . The
request is aimed at annoying Britain
which, under the present trusteeship
proposals, will be the sole power entitled
to decide whether Palestine should be
placed under international trusteeship,
or remain under British- trusteeship . .
With developments in the Middle East
being what they are today, Moscow does
not seem inclined to let Britain remain
the only big power in the Middle East.
Zionist leaders were criticized in New
York for departing from San Francisco in
a hurry, prior to conclusion of the United
Nations Conference . . . The mistake was
realized even before the Soviet delega-
tion voiced its requeSt for dropping the
"Palestine Clause" Strom the trusteeship
propoSal . . . It became obvious that by
their premature departure from .San
Francisco, the Zionist leaders left the
field open for the Arab delegationS.
One of the ambitiOns of the Arab -dele-
gates. at San Francisco is to secure
formula in the trusteeship plan 'Which
would enable either Egypt or Iraq to be-
come one of the trustees over Palestine.
. . . The speedy return of Louis Lipsky
and Dr. Nahum Goldmann to San Fran-
cisco may help to correct matters, but
itussia's sudden request and the intensi-
fied Arab activities in San Franciseo will
serve as a lesson to Zionist leaders not
to rush home. before making absolutely
certain that victory is really in the bag.
THE BRITISH ELECTIONS
The parliamentary elections in England
balked• plans of the Jewish Agency to
force the British government to issue a
clear-cut statement on Palestine . . . It
will be remembered that after his re-:
turn from the Yalta conference, Churchill
announced that the solution of the 'Pales- .
tine problem would take place after the
war , . . With the war in Europe over,
the, Jewish Agency lost no time in sub-
mitting a memorandum to the British
government asking for speedy action on
the Palestine issue . . . But it so hap-
pened that Churchill, in the meantime,
had submitted his resignation in order to
force a parliamentary election .
obvious that in his present .position
Churchill is not inclined to act on such
a compliCated matter as the status . of
Palestine . . . The entire issue will , thus
be left open- until after a new permanent
cabinet is formed in Britain . . This
works not only to Britain's benefit; but
also to the . benefit of the Arabs' whose
position is now
strengthened by - the fact
n
that they have become full-fledged mem-
bers of the United Nations and presented
a united front • at the San Francisco Con-
ference . •
FROM OVER THERE
. The first Jewish newspaper being pub-
lished in Germany is named "Forward!",
and carries on its masthead the . word
"Kadimah" (Forward) in Hebrew let-
ters - . It is' published for the Jewish
Men of Maj. Gen. Terry Allen's Timber-
Wolf Division ... . We just received the
sixth issue of this paper carrying news
of - the 'Jewish Telegraphic Ageney and
numerous articles of Jewish interest . .
The six-page .publication carries, . mov-
irig .story of the service for German Jews
in a , re-dedicated. temple in Cologne . .
After the. service, one woman came up,
•and with tears in her voice, said to the
Jewish chaplain: "Herr Rabbiner, where .
you. stood today, my son was bar-mitzvah
20- Years 'ago" • . The Nazis -used the
abandoned ante-rooms' to store important
recordS, evidently considering that this
was the, safest place . . . Silent groups of
German civilians looked on as the*:Jewish
services `were conducted by Chaplain W.
C. Plaut of the Timberwolf Division . .
Services were also held for 500. Jewish
girls from Hungary liberated from. a Nazi
camp . . The sight of 'the Sefer:Torah
moved them so much that the service
most had.to be.interrupted . . . There: was" ..,
a near-riot when Chaplain Plaut ,distrib7_
uted his dwindled stock of prayer books:
and • mezuzaS, while chocolate and candy
--things the liberated Jewish • girls , ' had
also not seen in years--created only the
usual flurry of grateful surprise , . At
one' of the. concentration camps : a - Young
Polish -JeW offered himself as a guide to
the American Jewish soldiers . He Was
19' years old arid spoke fluent" HebreW
. . . But half a mile outside of the : camp
he Changed his mind and wanted to re-
turn to the camp . . "You see ;''. he ex-
plained, -"this is my first. trip outside the
barbed wire M over four years. I cannot
•
take my freedoni all at once!"