He Tells People About Israel

Lawyers Committee Formed
For Jewish National Fund

Seasoned N ewsman, Victor Bernstein,
At Helm, of Agency Public Relations

An American Jewish Press Feature

Back in 1926 a green young
cub reporter who didn't know a
topping winch from • a bower
anchor found himself in San-
Francisco, waiting for a berth
on a round-the-7-
world voyage.
. The shipping
agent stamped
"deck hand" be-
side the name
of Victor Bern-
stein. What was
n o t contained
in his seaman's
papers, includ-
ed a Columbia
University de- Bernstein
gree in journalism. But news-
paper jobs were scarce, and the
travel bug was very much alive.
Had anyone told Bernstein
then that one day he would be
director of public relations for
the Jewish Agency; that t h e
biggest yarn in his career would
be the story of a country called
Israel, he would probably have
replied "Who—me?"
His disbelief would have
been heightened even greater
were he informed that six mil-
lion Jews were doomed to
slaughter in Europe; that as a
.war correspondent 20 years later
he would be among the first
Americans to see their bodies
piled high like kindling in the
ditches of German and Eastern
ETO.
News that his dad was ill
brought Victor back East. And
for a year he helped out at
the drug store. Then his first
big break came—a berth with
the Sunday Times magazine,
writing features and travel
pieces..
In 1937 the first inklings of
world disaster were felt from
Europe and a Jewish news sery-.
ice sent Bernstein to Germany
to get the story. His dispatches
from Berlin and Munich con-
firmed the worst fears. of Am-
erican Jewry for their co-relig-
ionists stranded in the Reich.
Returning to ' the States on
the eve of the war, Bernstein
joined the staff of PM.
Married, and just a shade
above draft age, Bernstein stay-
ed with PM throuhgout the war
and, early in 1945 he was assigned
to cover the Allied advance into
battered Nazi Germany.
Events in post -war Europe
convinced Bernstein that if
surviving Jewry was to be
saved, . it would be largely
through their own efforts. He
was convinced also that their
only salvation lay in Palestine.
Returning . to New York early
in 1949, he was asked to head
the Public Relations Department
of the Jewish Agency's newly re-
organized American Section.
Printers' ink was in his blood
and newspapers were his first
love. But with the picture of
decimated European Jewry still
fresh in his mind, Bernstein ac-
cepted the post. .
As PR director, Vic Bernstein
is still a practicing journalist.
The-story he covers is as excit-
ing and suspenseful a one as
was ever spread over the front
pages of big city papers. It is

the .:tale of the rebuilding of a
people and a nation, of Israel.
It is a story which must be told,
Vic feels, because there are still
too many who lose sight of Is-
rael's true purpose; too many
who are fearful that support of
Israel casts doubt upon their
Americanism.

Plans for the formation of a
nation-wide Lawyers Committee
for the Jewish National Fund,
land purchasing arm of Israel,
were announced by Ira A.
Hirschmann, president of the
National Ussishkin League. The
objective of t h e Committee,
headed by Herman L. Weisman,
will be to bring about the in-
clusion of the Jewish National
Fund as a beneficiary in wills.

Rosh Hashanah Greetings

THE JEWISH NEWS 1 69

- -

Friday, September 28, 1951

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