PON11161,110.

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THE

Page Two

Purely
Commentary

The Nightmare of Europe
Human Values in Peril of Destruction

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

In Cable From Frankfurt to New York Herald Tribune
Go to the displaced persons' camps. Hear them tell their tales of private
tragedies and little broken lives. Hear them speak of ultimate horrors as though
these were the customary lot of man. Then you will find that the picture of our
times takes on a new and gruesome color and comes horribly alive. It is trans-
formed. indeed, into a sort of panorama from a nightmare—a dreadful, murky land-
scape in which vast and heartless political systems feed on human beings with the

PALESTINE'S BIRTH RATE

American newspapers are making much
of the AP story from Tel Aviv revealing
that "babies form a new and powerful
echelon in the Jewish struggle for pre-
dominance in Palestine."
A former Vienna obstetrician in the Tel
Aviv Municipal Health Service is reported
as saying: "The birth rate has increased
astonishingly in the last two years. Good
healthy children with normal family life
give us ,an 'immigration' route that is
completely unchecked."
At the same time, Jewish Agency of-
f ictals termed the infant industry as
"internal immigration" and we are told
that official propaganda encourages
mot he rhood.
Thee are interesting facts. in view
of the panic that had set in during the
first years of the war over the decease
of Jewish births in Palestine.
In 1929, when the British government
imposed restrictions. upon Jewish im-
migration to Palestine, the story went the

round, that Jews were naming their chil-
dren - Dafkeh" — literally meaning "in

spite" --- and that the birth rate was on
the increase. Then came the decline and
the consternation in Jewish ranks.
N W we have another upsurge of births
as a happy sign of Jewish determination
to carry on the struggle for eventual
triempli in Palestine.
These are happy signs of the existence
of a ,tiong and genuine will to live".
We sincerely hope that the health au-
thority who spoke of "good healthy chil-
dren with normal family life" is right in
lus evaluation of the status of Palestine's
children, since we are skeptical whether
it t.s possible for a community to be normal
when it is subjected to curfews and con-
stant. searches by British military troops.

The reports we have received are that
Palestine's children look upon the British
soldiers as "menivalim." as defilers of hu-
man feelings, because of the extreme
measures that have been taken to oppress
the country's Jewish population. Reports
that come on good authority are that

Arab children are similarly abhorred by
the happenings in Palestine.
Palestine Jewry's heroic stand can be
matched by a cleansing of British policies
in the interests of good will.

Speaking in Dublin last week, Pales-
tine', Chief Rabbi Dr. Joseph Herzog

plAced— responsibility for the troubles in
Palestine upon the British administration.
It is not too late to establish peace among
the various contending groups and to re-
1 store confidence in the mandatory power—
provided the British follow a policy of fair

play in accordance with the provisions
of the Balfour Declaration and the Man-

date.

• • •
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER WEEK

National Newspaper Week will be ob-
served throughout the land Oct. 1 - 8. It will
be an occasion for

the reaffirmation of

the basic American
principles of free-
dom of speech and
expres,,ion, of the

is the guardian of
ouc liberties, in spite of the abuses in some

quarters. National Newspaper Week should
be occasion for all Americans to resolve to
be on the alert to help make our press a
great vehicle for freedom and to keep it
clean by remembering that "vigilance is

the price of liberty."
*
•

By JOSEPH ALSOP

efficient, automatic greed of huge self-stoking machines.
One such camp, near here - at Wiesbaden. shelters a few thousand Baits and
Poles who fled westward before the Russian advance. It is not a bad place, as such
places go. The inmates are housed in the barracks of a crack German regiment.

4 In the machine shop, which used to be the cavalry stables, you can still read the

boastful mottoes of the old German militarism—"Who can handle a horse can
handle a women." and the like.) The grounds are neat, sunny and full of children
and young couples shyly courting. •
Places of internment, it seems, have a certain similarity the world over, for this
brings back a sharp memory of the camp at Stanley in Hong Kong five years before.
There is no more fear in the faces of people-queuing up for their mid-day meal,
and the mid-day meal is a good one.
In all these places it is the same, except that in the Jewish camps the horror
is infinitely greater, the miracle of survival still more miraculous. Among the Jews,
indeed, you become obsessed by the truth of the law of natural selection. These men
and women with the Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen and Oswiecim tattoos on their
arms have an indescribable vitality, a deeply stirring air of purpose, and thus they
have been saved.
Yet the lesson of the camps is not the fact that a few lucky ones can survive
even Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. The lesson is quite different and infinitely
more important—that in these times all human values are in danger of destruction.
Terror still survives and reigns. Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen are filled again.
The vast. heartless political machines still stoke themselves with human life. And
it begins to seem quite commonplace. Nor are we, in our complacency. altogether
guiltless. We, too. have condemned whole peoples to starvation for the crimes of
the systems that ruled them (although one hates to think of the American Buchen-
walds which he thinks and the leaders of the lynch mobs will establish if our native
Fascists ever gain the upper hand).
We, too. by omissions and commissions. have failed to uphold the cause of
human decency and human integrity. That and the risk we run thereby are what
one chiefly remembers as one prepares to go home again from this Germany and

this Europe of the year after World War II.

Fruit of Empire

An Expose of Great Britain

By SAUL K. PADOVER

(From an Editorial in PM)

It is interesting to note how little times
and British political techniques have
changed. One hundred and thirty-six years
ago, Thomas Jefferson, observing British
politics, remarked: "The British govern-
ment presents the singular phenomenon of
a nation. the individuals of which are as
faithful to their private engagements and
duties, as honorable. as worthy, as those
of any nation on earth. and whose govern-
ment is yet the most unprincipled at this
day known."
As it is, the British will wake up some
day and find that they have lost the whole
game. It is possible that their armored
cars and fleets may. for the time being.
defeat the refugees and the Zionists, but
it will not be the kind of •victory that will
pay off in the future. _During the Hitler
war the Arabs in Palestine, Egypt, and
elsewhere waited with flags to welcome
Rommel and the Nasi conquerors. Today
the Arabs, despite British imperialist ap-
peasement, love the British no more than
they did then. A time may come when the
empire will need friends in that region,
and there is no reason to suppose that they
will find them among the Jews any more
than they will among the Arabs.

Euripides. in 'Iphigenia in Tauris,' de-
picts for us the barbarian Tauri sacrific-
ing all strangers cast upon their shores to
Artemis. To what Artemis does our own

Heard in
The Lobbies

By ARNOLD LEVIN

(Copyright, 1946. Independent Jewish
Press Service. Inc.)

DIFFERENCE

Note the difference between the - true
facts. and the muddled press dispatches
on the "Haganah-Irgun" schism. The
press reports, led off by notorious Reu-
ters cables. told of a schism between Ha-
ganah and the two dissident resistance
groups, Stern group and Iran Zvai Leu-
mi. By speaking of a "schism" the reports
implied an affirmation of Prime Minister
Attlee's allegations of a fusion of all the
resistance groups, thus shifting to Haga-
nah blame for Irgun and Sternite activi-
ties. -Secondly, the report sought to fan

the impression of "civil war" among Pal-
estine's Jews. All that actually happened
was that Haganah decided to accelerate
its campaign of enlightenment against the
tactics of the two dissident groups. No
bloodshed, no civil war, no "schism" for
schism is the consequence of deteriorated
fusion. Irgun and the Sternites have al-
ways been' dissidents.
• • •
FURROWS

Some interesting anecdotes lifted from
Furrows, that excellent monthly of seri-
ous Zionist thought (anecdotal liftings
are not typical). An American Halutz
who has served as major with one of the
Palestinian Jewish units reports on Jew-
ish soldiers' reaction towards Jewish of-
ficers. Addressed in English, they would
for some trifling difficulty in getting a stand at attention and reply succinctly,
in a rapid staccato; addressed in Hebrew,
visa."
Mr. Gourevitch could have given the their replies were more relaxed and they
answer to his question by taking into ac- would usually have the last word in. but
count the outrageous practice instituted addressed in Yiddish, they would sit on
by the British of sending men. women and the officer's desk and ask for a cigarette.
A Palestine officer stopped a diminu-
children who have just left DP camps.
after having suffered horrors in concen- tive scrawny-looking Yemenite Jewish
tration camps where they saw their soldier:
families and friends " murdered by the
"What is your name?" the officer
Nazis. to the newly-created concentration asked.
camps in Cyprus. The answer to the ques-
"Sahadia Mazal."
tion — "to what Artemis does our own
"You must say 'Sir' when you address
civilization sacrifice the thousands of ref-
an officer."
ugees"—is CYPRUS!
"All right, Sir Sadahia Mazal," replied
• • •
the Yemenite Sad Sack.
CHRISTIANS AND PALESTINE
•
•
•
The voice of Christian America will be
RECOMMENDED
heard in Detroit in protest against pledge-
In the September issue of Furrows, two
breaking sin Palestine at two important
reports by Palestinians on the British
rallies in Detroit in October:
Pierre Van Paassen, whose powerful "military operations" against the Jewish
appeals for justice for the Jew are land- settlements, are commended to the read-
marks in battles for decency, will address er even at this late date for they contain
a Christian rally at St. Paul Cathedral facts the daily dispatches did not have.
Take this revealing paragraph: "On Tues-
on Oct. 7.
Edgar Ansell Mowrer, one of America's day, they brought in the foreign and
most brilliant foreign correspondents, Palestinian correspondents and showed
.-will speak at a Jewish National Fund them around those places ,which they
wanted them to see. Of course, they did
rally at the Shaarey Zedek on Oct. 22.
These gatherings will provide an op- not bring the correspondents around to
portunity for expression of protest against the living quarters of the members, or
Great Britain's shocking actions in Pales- to the store rooms of the settlement to
tine and for demands by our own govern- show them what was stolen by the sol-
ment for intercession in behalf of the diers and the real thefts began after the

civilization sacrifice the thousands of ref-
ugees and members of minority groups
who have died during our own lifetime for
want of hospitality because of an icy
indifference seconding the efforts of their
executioners? There is no need of re-
hearsing the catalogue of these millions
who might still be alive today were it not

right of people to
express their views
without danger of
censorship, or the
privilege of free
Americans to pam-
phleteer. The press

•

ANCIENT vs. MODERN SLAVERY

Boris Gourevitch, one of the founders
and now a vice-president of the Union for
the Defense of the Human Person, wrote
an exceptionally important and scholarly
article on "The Stateless: An Account of
the Laws and Attitude of the West Re-
garding Refugees," for Commonweal,
liberal Catholic weekly. Mr. Gourevitch
makes a touching plea for the European
survivors. His appeal is that "the issuance
of visas to refugees must cease to be at
the caprice of single nations and must

become the human duty of all nations
through a central organization"; that "we

must set up a system of law protecting the
weak, protecting man, the image of God."
We were especially impressed with the
opening paragraph of his article:
"In the early days of antiquity, the sur-
vivors of a shipwreck who sought refuge_

on the shores nearest the scene of their
disaster were generally sold into slavery
or put to death by those who dwelt there.

Friday, September 27, 1944

JEWISH NEWS

cause of justice for the Jewish people.

correspondents left. -

Between
You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1948. Jewish Telegraphic

Agency, Inc.)

PARLEY PREDICTIONS'
I am not in the habit of makint
dictions . . But I have been receiving
many inquiries as to what I believe w :
be the outcome of the conference on Pal e
tine, that I feel I owe interested_ recede
an answer . . I personally do not thi
that even- with the Jews Participating
the conference a real Jewish State Pl
as desired by the Jewish Agency., w
emerge from the parley .. But I aril
not entirely pessimistic as to the result
the conference . . . All that can be Pr
dicted is that some kind of solution of t
Palestine problem will be imposed on bo
Jews and Arabs against their will .
The Jews may be more satisfied with t
solutiOn than the Arabs, even though th
will. no doubt, protest against it . . . It
common knowledge among Zionist lead
that Foreign Secretary Sevin, the
boy" of the British Cabinet, but also
strongest man, is ambitious to have
record that he solved the Palestine pr
lem one way or another . .. And all in

cations point to the fact that he means=
have it solved very soon . . . Americ

Zionist leaders are of the opinion that
Jewish Agency executive has yielded
much ground in the negotiations on ,joins
the conference . . . They believe the
fore. that even with Jewish participati
the London parley may result in "a lit
improved" federalization plan "and no
ing more" ... Of course, the U. S. gove
ment may also influence the situation, e
though it is taking no direct part in
conference ... American official aid, ho
ever. will be sought by the Zionists
after Britain agrees to partition .
It will then be a question of gettftig
best -possible partition terms, and in t
respect the U. S. may play a useful re,
•
•
•
ROSH HASHANAH WISHES
If anybody needs really good wishes
the new Jewish year, it is the displa
Jew in Europe . . . The number of t
Jewish DPs in the camps is coastan
growing and is expected to read about
000 within another two months . . .
means that even if 100.000 are admitted
Palestine, as requested by President Tr
man. there will still be 100.000 left in t
camps . . . And from hints dropped
official quarters, as well as informati
available in Jewish circles doing reli
work abroad, the indications are that
under the best circumstances — it wi
take at least three years to clear t
Jewish refugees from the camps . . . Th
is a dismal perspective for those who su
fered most under the Nazis . . , The wo
part of the picture is the fact that duri
the coming year the displaced persons
Pass from UNRRA supervision to that
the International Relief Organization n
planned by the United Nations . . . Whi
means no improvement at all for tho
who will have to remain in the camps .
Already certain governments have in
cated that while they contributed funds
finance the activities of UNRRA. they do

intend to do so for the International I

lief Organization ... And the UN Econo

and Social Council, now meeting in Er
York, is having difficulty in settlim '
question of how the budget of the I
national Relief Organization is to be
. . Even governments which did
bluntly announce they would not c
tribute to the new organization are u
ing that the budget should be covered
a large extent from German reparatio
... Therefore: While condemned to spen
three or more years in the DP - camps. t
prospect for improved conditions in th
camps is rather a very gloOmy one.

•
•
11,
THE DOMESTIC SCENE
New York City is now embarking on

campaign to combat racial discriminati
not only in institutions of higher le:
ing, but also in utility companies, ba

and insurance companies . . . A num
of these companies are being investigat
with regard to their whole employm
policy . . The State Commission Aga'
Discrimination has processed about
complaints. and settled most of them sa
isfactorily by elimination of unfair a
unlawful employment practices .. . So
large publishing houses in New York ha
agreed to make changes in books whi
they published, after they had their a
tention drawn to the fact that • some
sages in these books are offensive to Je
.. . But the real prize of the month -I
combatting anti-Semitism goes to nal
delphia . . . The City Council there
unanimously adopted a city ordinan
providing penalties for the distribution
anonymous literature and material .d
faming individuals or grbups because
race or religion . . . The penalties
fines up to $100 or jail sentences *AP to

days •

