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Friday, Auguif 11, 1947

THE JEWISH NEWS

.Page Fourteen

Marie Syrkin's Survivor Interviews The Briny Deep Author Relates Jewish Flyers'
Role in Atom Attacks on Japan
Reveal Details of Jews' Resistance By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright, 1947, Jewish

(EDITOR'S NOTE:—It will be twill, Kippur, 1500 Jewish men in uni-
Telegraphic Agency, Inc. )
Aug. 6 since the 20th Air Force
The New York Times carried years
dropped the first atomic bomb on form assembled to worship, to
a story from its Palestine cor- Hiroshima. The roles played by Jew- give fervent thanks. to God for
ish soldiers in the atomic bomb attacks
respondent to the effect that Dr. are
described by Kaufman in Volume victory and returning peace.
A Review by
Walter Judah of Harvard is corn- I of American Jews In World War II.
On a military cemetery not far
passage was written from detail-
ABRAHAM G. DUKER
ing to Palestine to work at the This
ed records kept by Rabbi David 1. away, a visitor or a passer-by
Marie Syrkin's book, "Blessed
Weizmann Scientific Institute on Cederbaum, now occupying a pulpit could see—then or now—mute
Is The Match," is an event in
the problem of desalting salt in Benton Harbor, Mich., while serving testimony of anothef sort. to the
as a chaplain in the 20th- Air Force.)
the Jewish publishing field in
water necessary to aid large-
When the -time came to try for part played by. the Jewish
this country.
scale irrigation schemes.
with soldiers of the 20th Air Force to
During the war American the knockout blow of Japan
About 400 books and pamphlets
get the war job done. For on
scientists made headway in this the new and terrifying and event t h i s palm-fringed cemetery,
have appeared in Europe, Pales-
field. It became a problem when to its makers unknown atomic alongside white wooden crosses
tine, and Latin America about
flyers and military men who man- bomb, that duty was given as are three white wooden Stars of
the plight of the Jews under
aged to keep adrift on the sea a matter of course to the 20th David, side by side. • They mark
Nazi domination, their resistance
could survive for long periods, if Air Force. It was given to the the graves of three Jewish men
and their contribution to victory.
they could manage to get drink- specially-selected personnel of of the 20th Air Force who flew
These publications include auto-
the 509th Composite Group, each
able water.
biographies, detailed histories of
together, died together and were
The first experiment toward man picked for reliability and buried next to each other. One
communities and the stories of
skill
in
the
particular
job
assign-
desalting sea water in America
individual events.
was a navigator, one a radio man,
was made by a Jew, Jacob ed to him. Ground crew men one a bombardier. They were
We have come across a Polish
as well as those who went on
Isaacs
of
Newport.
He
peti-
book by a 12-year-old Jewish
the two historic flights of Aug. 6 trapped in their plane when it
tioned Congress to aid him in
girl. There are books by par-
cracked up on a takeoff and
his work and the matter was and Aug. 9, 1945, were on the couldn't escape. Their names:
tisans who fought in the White
atom bomb mission. And among
referred
to
Thomas
Jefferson,
Russian forests, and by Maquis
them both, a due proportion of 1st Lieutenant Irving M. Stein,
then—in 1791—Secretary of
- who fought in the Alps and
officers and enlisted men were of Cleveland? 1st Lieutenant
State
during
the
administration
Vosges. There are memoirs by
Bernard M. Miller of Cleveland;
Jews.
of
President
Washington.
parachutists and by former in-
Technical Sergeant Arthur J.
There was Capt. Joseph Slusky
Jefferson's
c
or
r
e
s
p
o
ndence
mates of concentration and ex-
Dobrow of New York.
of Hartford, Conn., engineering
shows
that
he
had
Mr.
Isaacs
set
termination camps. Marie Syrkin
officer
of
the
group,
technical
in-
up
his
apparatus
in
his
own
has combined all these patterns
office. Jefferson pleaded with spector and flight test engineer. Belgium Couri. Sentences
into one chain of events, de-
Congress to act quickly, remak- Maj. Guy Geller of Lebanon, 1?a.,
velopments and conclusions.
ing on the fact that Mr. -Isaacs was squadron adjutant. First Lt. 3 Jews In Kidnapping
Miss Syrkin begins per survey
was a poor man and the delay William Schiller of Brookline,
of Jewish tragedy, fiith, hopes
BRUSSELS, (JTA) — Three
was proving financially embar- Mass., had the post of armament
and "triumphs with the rescue
officer. Capt. Bernard H. Budmen Jews have been sentenced to
rassing to him.
missions of 36 Palestinian para-
Jefferson's report went into of Philadelphia, ammunition and jail by a Belgian court following
chutists, eight of whom failed to
a review of all the attempts that delivery officer, personally sup- conviction on charges that they
return. Hanah Senesz, a Hun-
had been made in the past to de- ervised delivery of the two atom kidnapped and beat up a Ger-
garian girl of 23, furnishes the
salt sea water, from the days of bombs and their loading on the man Jew who served as a British
MARIE SYRKIN
book with its title. This charm-
Lord Bacon. As to the Isaacs pro- planes. First Lt. Meyer Rothen- "agent provocateur" in disrupt-
ing and unpretentious heroine
berg of Denver was adjutant of ing transports of displaced Jews
was shot in a Hungarian jail. where the local populations acted cess, the report was negative.
seeking to reach Palestine.
Another parachutist, Enzo Sereni. as the Nazis' handy helpers in Jefferson stated that tests made the squadron which maintained
The three, Saul Braun and the
by ordinary distillation processes the atom-bomb planes. And First
who was on a mission to this the extermination of Israel.
We also learn that the Jewish were as effective as those em- Lt. Richard J. Podolsky of brothers Alexandre and Samuel
country 10 years ago, was
Amelia,
0.,
was
the
group's
elec-
roster
of
heroes
has
been
en-
Gourary,
were arrested in a car
ployed by Mr. Isaacs.
captured in Italy and executed
with Henry Ross, also known as
So the experiment was a trical officer.
in Dachau. The parachutists riched by many new, towering
First Lt. Jacob Beser of Balti- Heinrich Reinhold, who was hos-
went to rescue Jews and to col- figures, great in their simplicity failure—and yet it was not alto-
more was the only Jewish officer pitalized as a result of the beat-
lect intelligence for the Allies. a n d spiritual power, people gether so, for Jefferson drew a
who flew in both the Hiroshima ing.
told about their hair- whose only thought was to save moral from the affair. He said
Braun received a three-and-a-
ra ,_, escapades a n d their others, individuals worthy of the experiment had performed and Nagasaki .raids. He received
the Silver Star.
half year sentence and the Gour-
magnificent work, not only be- commemoration and gratitude. one valuable service in drawing
Also
on
the
Hiroshima
mission,
In
addition
to
Sereni
and
Senesz,
attention to the problem and to
ary brothers each received a two-
cause they constitute true and
flying as radio operator in one of and-a-half year term. The broth-
exciting history, but also because we meet the names of the wo- the value of ordinary distillation
the two observation plans, was ers both served in the Allied
men
fighters,
Renya
from
Bendin
and
he
proposed
that
clearance
this serves as background for
Sergeant Abe H. Spitzer of the undeeground during the Nazi
the moral problem that will con- and Ruzhka of Wilno; Mordecai papers for ships leaving America
occupation.
tinue to plague the decent ele- Antilewitz, Yitzhaq Zuckerman should have printed on their back Bronx, New York.
Flying as bombardier-navigator
ments of mankind . .. the prob- and Zivia Luvetkin, the leaders instructions for distillation.
of one instrument (observation)
of
the
Warsaw
Ghetto
revolt.
So
the
Isaacs
experiment
at
lem presented by the kind of
We hear of Haya Grosman of least helped to provide ships ship was Capt. Charles Levy of
civilization that permitted the
Philadelphia. And four hours
slaughter of the six million in- the Bialystok insurrection. We with sweet water after all.
What a boon such a consum- after the bomb's explosion, a
nocents and suffers the persecu- discover Anatol Belsky who or-
photo reconnaissance plane mov-
tion of European Jewry's rem- ganized and led a group of mation would be for the world!
Jewish partisans in the White It would prove a boon to Pales- ed in with Lt. Frederick Charnes
Titcantaciatt.
nants.
Russian woods, 1.200 strong. We tine, but Saudi Arabia would of Los Angeles, navigator.
Miss Syrkin also poses the
,)
The
shooting
war
came
to
an
learn of the sainted historian stand to gain even more. Saudi
tri•Ji/e • (..r/rrmr
question: "Why were Ameri-
Emanuel Ringelblum, of Gisi Arabia has an area equal to about end, with the help of the 20th
can JeVi7S-so passive in contrast
Fleischman, the Slovak woman half that of the United States. Air Force, in mid-August, 1945.
with the small community of
/ ..•7
if //(-)
.0
el /le: I
of valor, who ran a one-woman I Reports in the newspapers this In September, the High Holy
Palestine that had tried every-
Days were celebrated by the
rescue
agency.
We
get
the
true
past week said the U.S. would
thing possible to rescue Israel
story of the rescue negotiations pay Saudi Arabia over a billion Peevish men of the 20th. The syn-
in Europe?" We leave the
B-29 hangar
of
Rezo
Kastner
and
Joel
Brandt.
dollars for its oil, but if you get agogue was a great
answer to the reader of this
We become acquainted with the an amplitude of sweet water into on Guam. There, for Rosh-Hash-
review after he will have read
parachutist Avi, the shepherd Saudi Arabia, it would be worth anah services and again for Yom
the book.
who organized resistance in more than all of its oil.
Rescue work was attempted
Rumania, and with Joel Nuss-
The 23rd psalm is the only
even before the dispatch of the
parachutists. Miss Syrkin de- bacher, who, while in prison, fitting tribute to sweet water.
saved
thousands
of
Jews
in
He leadeth me by still waters.
scribes early offers by Eichman,
He restoreth my soul." Yes, the
Vases, urns, pitchers, flasks, candle sticks, Sgurines, statuary
t he Palestinian-born and He- Budapest.
Marie Syrkin's is pioneering Zionists may "restore the soul" of
and other keepsakes converted into artistic table lamps.
brew-speaking Nazi, the Mufti's
Oil lamps electrified.
work, for the American Jewish the whole Arab world.
pal, who was in charge of the
LAMP SHADES MADE
LAMPS MODERNIZED,
community is not sufficiently
AND RECOVERED
REPAIRED & REFINISHED
extermination of t h e Jews.
aware of what went on on the
Old style floor lamps made Custom made and recovered.
Many could have been saved had
Styled to your lamp. Large
into indirect lamps and
other side, and what was done Announce Winners of
stock on display.
torcheres.
they been permitted to gain ad-
by us on this side. What is most ZOA's Essay Contest
mittance somewhere. That "some-
PICKUP AND DELIVERY ALL PARTS OF DETROIT
important is that her book is not
where" could not be found. It
The education department of
was only in 1944 that the United a gloomy story of tragic events;
States Government established it packs enough heroic incidents the Zionist Organization of
the War Refugee Board. Miss to furnish Hollywood with plots America announces the following
16841 Livernois Ave.,,1 ,. Block South of Six Mile
Phone UN. 2-8238
six winners of $250 in prizes in
Open Wed. dc Fri. to P. M.
Syrkin could have told more tor the next 10 years.
Born in Switzerland, Marie the essay contest on the subject,
about this, but what she tells of
the efforts and negotiations is Syrkin came in early childhood "The Rise of Modern Zionism
to the United States. She was and Its Influence on Jewish
sufficient to teach us a bitter
educated in New York public Life."
lesson in contemporary history
Charles E. Silberman, New
schools and is a graduate of
and an eloquent critique of
Mattresses, Springs
York; Jack A. Keesan, Dorches- Furnaces
Cornell University.
world leadership.
In 1944, she published a book ter, Mass.; L. Sonia Grinstein,
This book is also the first to on the American public school Buffalo, N. Y.; Stanley E. Stein,
discuss the success of the Ger-
system, "Your School, Your Kansas City, Mo.; Seymour Sie-
mans in executing their mass
ONE-DAY SERVICE
Children," based on her ex- gel, Chicago, and Stanley H.
murder plans. A series of reasons
(if required)
perience as a teacher of English Horowitz, Rockaway Beach, N. Y.
was given by the survivors: in a New York City high school.
Pillow Renovating
Sr
Jewish credulity in the enemy's
"Blessed Is The Match" is the $140,000,000 'Promised Palestine
Cash
and
Carry
Dust
Stop
Furnace
Filters
humaneness, the dullness of the
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — M r s .
result of her deep concern with
We Pickup and Deliver
victims' senses, the feelings of
Moses P. Epstein, president of Free Delivery and Installation We also • carry new springs,
communal solidarity and, above the Jewish problem. In the fall Hadassah, upon arrival here, told
of
1945,
she
visited
Palestine
for
Springs
BOX
Mattresses and
Oil Burners & Furnaces
all, the diabolical cleverness of
a press conference that American
the enemy in lulling his prey in- the third time and spent the, Jews would succeed in raising
Sold and Installed
winter
there
collecting
t
h
e
to the feeling of safety until the
$140,000,000 to $150,000,000 for
very last moment of the entry material- for her chronicle of relief and Palestine needs this
into the gas chambers. Miss Jewish resistance. She inter- year.
14893 Livernios
Syrkin describes, on the basis of viewed surviving heroes of the
UN. 3-2668
UNiversity 3-0869
eyewitness reports, all the death Jewish underground who ar-
rived
in
Palestine
at
the
close
of
of
a
series
in
the
publication
of
• plans and their execution. Of
Painting—Wall Washing
the many incidents of resistance the war, - and she observed the which the Jewish Publication
its Society of America cooperates
against the Nazis, only the War- activities of the Haganah and
1st CLASS PAINTING
DIRECTORY ADS
with the Bnai Brith Hillel Foun-
saw Ghetto battle is generally leading figures at first hand..
and
In
1947,
Miss
Syrkin
spent
dations
in
American
universities.
known. The readers will learn
BRING
WALL WASHING
the
three
four
months
visiting
DP
camps
in
It
is
available
as
one
of
that there was armed resistance
Free Estimates
RESULTS!
in Bendin, Tarnow, W i 1 n o, Germany. She is at present at books which members of the
Very Reasonable
Czestochowa, and other cities— work on a book describing the Jewish Publication Society of
CASTONE
America receive on a $5 mem-
not to speak of the partisans in life of the Jewish DP.
MA. 5797
"Blessed Is The Match" is one bership.
the woods. There were even

Blessed Is The Match: The Story of
Jewish Resistance, by Marie Syrkin.
Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication
Society of America, and New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

revolts in the Treblinka and
Sobibor extermination camps.
Miss Syrkin does not neglect
the resistance in the West. In
France, it was the Jewish Maquis
who showed the way and led it.
Here they were supported by
many. Christians, with the result
that a higher proportion of Jews
was rescued. The desperately
ingenious campaign to rescue
children constitutes an epic in it-
self. The Netherlands was anoth-
er country where the Christian
population showed that not all
humanity is lost. This was in
contrast with the cruelty of the
natives in East-Central Europe,

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