THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Ten

(

On the left is a scene at the
De Soto Michigan Center, Los
Angeles, showing' an inter-faith
community singing group.

a drama group, take classes in ceramics, leath•
er tooling, do calisthenics, switn in the indoor
pool, or work out in the well-equipped gym.
In a recent juvenile delinquency study in
New York it was found that not one of the
delinquent children had come from a Com-
munity Center environment. As Frank L.
Weil, the President of the National Jewish
Welfare Board put it: "It is hard to say what
comes first, the chicken or the egg; whether
the Community Center doesn't attract de-
linquents, or having attracted youth, they
don't become delinquent. The main fact is, the
delinquency of a city doesn't spring from a
Center."
Centers frankly emphasize a Jewish pro-
gram. They celebrate Jewish holidays, teach
Hebrew, Jewish history, literature and music.
For they feel that better Jews make better citi-
zens.

,

OADED WITH BOOKS, hat pulled down on her
face, Barbara entered the Jewish Community
Cen ter.
"I'd like to join the Center," she told Miss Claire,
the group-worker in charge. "I have a problem," she
added, shyly, "I seem unable to make friends, I'm
afraid of meeting people."

The Center brings its members into contact with
the community at large. If it is located in a neighbor-
hood of many national groups, the Center is thrown
open to every one of them and the cultural program
adjusted to their special needs and interests.

Calmly Miss Claire appraised her visitor. She was
a pretty girl around 20, but the kind one would over-
look in a crowdL-frail, small, her hair a nondescript
color.

In such an area in Los Angeles it happened last
y
. ear - that a great deal of friction arose among the older
Mexican, Jewish and Negro children. In gangs they
fought each other on school and baseball grounds.
One day, by chance, the leaders of the gang met at the
Center's gym. Getting acquainted and talking it out,
the boys decided that the reason for their fighting

-1-4

After discussing Barbara's interests, Miss Claire
suggested the Center's Reading Circle, hoping that

Community Centers Show Youth
Way to Judaism and Tolerance

By HILDEGARD LEVEL

(Copyright, 1947, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Barbara would find her place by actively working on
the program.
Today Barbara is secretary of the club, she has made
many friends, and rumors persist that she is going
steady with one of the nicest boys of the group.

The story is typical of many lonely youngsters
and adults who, feeling frustrated or hopelessly shy,
will not function in society unless they are taken into
a friendly group and are given a sense of belonging.

After World War I the first Jewish Community
Center came into being, combining the good features
of its predecessors: the Settlement House and the
Jewish Literary Societies.
The Centers differ from the Settlement House in
that they are_democratically run and supported. They
are not built for the poor by the rich in Lady Bountiful
manner, but sponsored by the people of the com-
munity for themselves. The concept of membership
is new, as well as the members' determination of the
policy and their active participation in the program.
Centers have two main functions: They are places
where people can meet one another and where they
can constructively use their leisure time. During the
day they house youngsters, at night adults. Here they
can read, listen to music and lectures, join a dance,

was a simple one: They did not know each other. En-
couraged by the group worker they planned a party
at the Center. They all chipped in to buy the food, the
boys decorated the rooms, the girls cooked the dinner
at the Center's kitchen.

Out of a round table discussion came a two-
point program: A social one of community dances and
outings; an educational one of lectures, reading groups
and films. Concluding the evening, the children lis-
tened to Robeson's record, BALLAD FOR AMERI-
CANS and Sinatra's THE HOUSE I LIVE IN.

The neighborhood has been peaceful since.
In combatting discrimination, a well run Cen-
ter organizes a Brotherhood Week each year. It invites
sport teams of the YMCA, YWCA, - and other groups
to play against the clubs of the Center. It establishes
inter-faith home summer camps and arranges chess
tournaments for the neighborhood boys.

As a service to the community, the Center offers
public lectures on literature, music and foreign cul-
tures. Non-partisan, it encourages debates on politcal
issues, veterans' problems, the houisng crisis; and holds
open forums on such vital issues as price control, the
atom bomb and world government.

Prominent Singers of Metropolitan Opera
Are Brought Up In Best Jewish Tradition

By E. BRAND

There are at present about 30 Jewish
artists in the Metropqlitan Opera alone.
Many more artists are affiliated with other
companies or find expression for their art at
concerts and in various operatic theatres.
Among them, there are some in whose
tone experienced observers discover Jewish
sentiment. We hold this to be especially true
of the two brothers-in-law Jan Pearce and
Eugene Tucker, whose orthodox Jewish back-
ground has imbued them with the feeling
for Jewish trouble and affliction from their
very childhood.
Another professional cantor, who attained
success on the stage of the Metropolitan is
Friedrich Lechner, a German refugee. His
father was a music lover and a musician of
some repute. Lechner came to America in
1937, a victim of Hitler's devastating politics.
He was engaged as cantor by the Central
Synagogue in New York. His appearances as
a soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra in
Boston and in New York soon won a name
for him as a gifted singer.
To the genre of professional cantors might
also be added Friedrich Schorr, who for a
long time held a prominent place among the
gifted artists of the opera. His father, Meier
Schorr, was chief cantor of the Polish Syna-
gogue in Vienna. His uncle, Baruch Schorr
was the chief cantor of Lemberg.
Kurt Baum, one of the youngest, but al-
ready recognized and successful artists of
the Metropolitan, also comes from a family
of cantors. His father was a cantor in Prague.
Young Kurt absorbed Judaism in all its as-
pects, Jewish music -included. He came to

Friday, September 12, 1947

Jews in Soviet Zone
Have Right to Pass
Through Iron Curtain

BY PAUL GREEN

D

UE TO THE DIFFICULTY of communication be-
tween the eastern and western halves of Germany
and the hesitancy of the Russians in permitting cor-
respondents to tour ,their zone, less information has
been released about the Jews under Soviet adminis-
tration than about their brethren in the Western areas.
However, this has not prevented the Jews in the Soviet
zone from maintaining contact with the rest of Ger-
many, and last month the first formal. step was taken
to form closer relationship with the establishment in
Frankfurt of a Central Coordinating Committee to or-
ganize communal activities throughout the country.
One of the members of the committee is Dr. Hans
Erich Fabian, who is also general secretary of the
Federation of Jewish Communities of the Russian zone.
Dr. Fabian resides in Berlin, where he is on the board
of the Jewish community, but he has had the oppor-
tunity of extensive travel throughout the Soviet zone,
and he is in continuous contact with the Jewish com-
munities there. He is, therefore, well qualified to de-
scribe the status of the Jews under Russian adminis-
tration.
1,500 Jews Left
According to Dr. Fabian, the number of Jews in
the Soviet zone is about 1,500. This is a considerable
reduction from pre-Hitler figures, when up to 100.000
Jews lived in those areas. The 1,500 figure includes,
besides German Jews, those of other nationalities, They
are organized in seven communities—Leipzig, Dresden,
Erfurt, Magdeburg, Chemnitz, Halle and Schwerin.
One great difference between the British and
American zones on one hand and the Soviet area on
the other is the complete absence of DPs in the latter
sector.
Most 'of the foreign Jews who were sent there as
slave laborers were permitted to leave after the war,
while the rest were allowed to remain and integrate
themselves in the Jewish community.
Dr. Fabian says there is no Jewish problem in the
Russian zone, such as exists in the rest of Germany.
The Jews have full freedom to live their religious
and communal lives without interference on the part
of the authorities.
Because of their indoctrination in racial tolerance,
Russian officials, soldiers and employes are free of
anti-Semitism. On the other hand, they ignore the fact
that the Jews were the worst sufferers at the hands
of the Nazis and have special difficulties which should
be recognized.
As for the Germans, anti-Semitism in the Russian
zone is the least noticeable of all the zones. There are
no such gross manifestations of anti Semitism as in
the western zones. Dr. Fabian says this is pri:narily due
to the great fear that the Germans have of the Rus-
sians, who will not tolerate racial discrimination and
have established legal penalties which are rigorously
applied.
Higher Food Rations
Together with all other victims of Nazism, Jews
have a preferred position in food distribution. They
receive ration cards one category higher than the one
to which they would be ordinarily entitled. For in-
stance, if they are listed as "workers," they are given
the ration card for "heavy workers." This comes out to
about 200 calories a day more than they would other-
wise get. Notwithstanding their status, the desire of
Jews to leave this part of Germany is as widespread
as elsewhere.'
A restitution law in Thuringia, which contains about
30 per cent of the Jews in the zone, provides for resti-
tution of property in its present condition.
The Russians place no obstacles in -the paths of
those Jews who travel around the zone or in the other
zones in the interests of the Jewish community.
Dr. Fabian has had no difficulty in going any-
where his duties call him. The authorities readily
approved the application of the Jews to participate
in the all-zonal organization.
Most of the Jews who so desired have returned
to their prewar occupations. A majority of them are
in business, but very few are in the professions. For
example, there is not a single Jewish doctor in the
entire zone, and only one Jewish lawyer. That testifies
to the thoroughness with which the Nazis exterminated
the professionals. A substantial number of Jews are
government employes, but none of them have attained
prominence in political circles. Their leading repre-
sentative is Dr. Julius Meyer, chairman of the Federa-
tion of Jewish Communities in the Russian zone, who
lives in Berlin.

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(Copyright. 1047, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

America in 1939 after Hitler's occupation of
Czechosolvakia, and made his first appear-
ance in "Aida" with the Chicago Civic
Opera. After an extended tour through Cen-
tral and South America, he returned to New
York where he was signed up by the Metro-
politan.
Among the Metropolitan's Jewish stars,
Regina Resnick, born in Brooklyn of religious
Jewish parents, speaks Yiddish well and fre-
quently converses in that tongue with her
aged grandmother, an immigrant from
Russia.
Thelma Altman, a Jewish girl from Buffalo
is one of the five American-born Opera sing-
ers chosen recently to be heard by the "Dia-
mond Jubilee" of the Metropolitan.
Christina Carrell is the daughter of ortho-
dox Jewish parents; Martha Lipton, a New
York Jewish girl; Young Nathalie Bodanya,
who made her debut with the Philadelphia
Grand Opera and at once attracted attention.
Among the older Jewish artists of the
Metropolitan, an important place is held by
Alexander Kipnis, who comes from Russian-
Jcwish people. Kipnis sang in the Operas of
Vienna, Berlin, Paris and other cities in all
parts of the world. He has excelled in the
opera of Wagner.
Gerhard Pechner, a potent force in the
Metropolitan, was born in Berlin. He got his
musical training there.
Walter Olitzky, a nephew of the once fa-
mous Metropolitan Star, Rose Olitzkaya,
made his debut in Koenigsberg, where he
played for 10 years. He is now one of the
most important co-workers of the Metropoill-
tan.

(Copyright Seven Arta Feature Syndicate)

GIs at Technion:

Fifty American veterans are studying
at the Hebrew Institute of Technology in Haifa under provisions of the GI
Bill of Rights. The Technion, as the Institute is known popularly, has an
enrollment of 1,000 students. Other American boys are flooding the offices
of the American Friends of the Hebrew Institute of Technology, 154 Nassau
St., New York, with applications for entrance to Technion. The most recent
arrival in Haifa as a Technion student is Herbert Hordes,- son of Mr. and
Mrs. William Hordes of 2308 Calvert Ave., Detroit. -

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