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May 27, 1955 - Image 6

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1955-05-27

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Viertel NoNel,, Due for Best Seller
List F-.4. ,)oes Nazism. Offers Stron g
ArgliMeni jilSti Nin"
, t-, zionist Ideals

Simon and Schuster, dynamic
publishers of best sellers, have
just released another powerful
novel. "The Last Temptation"
by Joseph Viertel is destined for
the best-seller list. A Literary
Guild selection for the coming
month, this exciting book serves
to re-awaken public sentiment
to the horrors which were im-
posed only a short time ago up- -
on humanity by the Hitler
terror.
Like its predecessor of a month
Ago, "The House of Dolls," this
deeply-moving story of people
who have fled from the Nazis
should go a long way to remind
those who have forgotten about
the tragedy of the six million
Jews that dangers always lurk
from tyranny.
Also: "The Last' Temptation"
Is an argument for Zionism. It
proves the wisdom of the choice
made by early settlers in their
*Seape from the impending Eur-
wean dangers.
I
*
The Last Temptation" is the
dory of Deborah Pretsch of
Vienna who married her second
Cousin Victor Marmoreck of
Prague; whose parents were
murdered by the Nazis but who,
with her husba.nci, found refuge
Rome; who finally settled in
Israel with her husband who
first became a martyr then a
Rational hero.
The narrative is full of drama
Rome, where Deborah was
compelled to yield to the Italian
.ngelo so that he should not
betray the Marmorecks; in her
girlhood days in Vienna when
she first experienced anti-
Eemitism; but especially in Is-
rael where she fought a battle
for justice.
I I *
Deborah's brother, Karl, first
brought up the subject of Pales-
tine to his infuriated parents.
He informed them he was set-
tling in the Holy Land and they
stormed against the idea. He
defied them, settled in Palestine,
became a participant in the co-
operative bus company and mar-
ried a Zionist girl, thus creating
a happy life for himself.
When word was smuggled out
of Vienna to Debbie by her
father, who left. Prague to re-
claim his possessions in Austria
and was murdered by the Nazis,
he told her, "Karl was right."
It is another powerful ascer-
tainment of the justice of the
Zionist positiort.
* * *
Victor himself was never a
Zionist; in fact, he was always
con•Vously rather un-Jewish.
He advised his wife, on their
way from Prague to Rome:
"Dignity's okay, but not when
It costs your life. So let's not
be heroes . . ." That's why she
gave herself to Angelo, to as-
sure the security of herself, her
husband, their son David who
was born in Rome but whom
they publicly called Angelo to
remove suspicion of the Jewish-
ness they were hiding — David,
who later plays an important
role in this fine narrative and
who, also for defensive purposes,
not to attract attention, was not
eireumciz,ed upon his birth in
Rome.
In Palestine, Victor made
friends with the English, be-

came a member of the manda-
tory government's telephone
service department. Again, Vic-
tor followed the line of least
resistance. It took a long time
for him to warm up. Then he
became as Warmly devoted to
Israel as he had ever been to
any entity, built the new
road to Jerusalem, thus assur-
ing the Holy City's •safety, and
gloried in his accomplishments.
* I *
Dame Rumor emerged to
plague him and to disgrace him.
A fanatic Israeli court found
some papers to show he had
turned names of Jews over to
his English employers. The fact
that David was not circumcized
was brought to light. Victor was
charged with treason, hurriedly
condemned and executed. It was
the work of the fascist-rightists.
That created the greatest chal-
lenge for Debbie. A letter writ-
ten by Victor before he was ex-
ecuted avowed innocence. But
Debbie was helpless to fight for
the clearing of her husband's
name—until an American news-
paperman, George Stern, ap-
peared to encourage her in her
battle.
The end is a clearing of Vic-
tor's name by the Israel govern-
ment, his recognition as
Israel's hero and the restora-
tion of honor where it was due.
Honor and dignity thus also are
restored to Debbie and David—
David who once again becomes
the hero of his school.
"Most of the newspapers com-
mented in restrained fashion
that Israel was stronger for hav-
ing corrected a terrible injus-
tice."
I * *
With the vindication of Victor
and the restoration of the honor
of the Marmorecks comes- the
last temptation to Debbie: . a
temptation proposed by George
Stern that she go to America
with him. But she remains in
Israel—to help build, saying in
her mind to her Victor, "I may
have to go into that damn des-
ert, too."
"The -Last Temptation" is the
triumph over temptation, victory
over injustice, success for the
idea of self-liberation incorpor-
ated in Zionism. Excellently
constructed, ably written, it has
justly earned for Author Joseph
Viertel the June Literary Guild
of America selection for his
book and, as we predict, an in-
evitable place for it on the best
seller list.

Prague Hints at Release
Of Mordecai Oren

6—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS I

On the Record

Friday, May 27, 1955

Here With Kin. After
Guardianship Brittle

By NATHAN ZIPRIN

t Copyright, 1955, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)

In My Opinion . .
I have never been on Ike's bandwagon, though I rooted vigor-
ously for him to win the Republican nomination in Chicago. The
General as President does not speak my language on most issues
of the day. Yet I was shocked to the very foundation when I
read the other day that a rabbinic pulpit had been transformed
into a platform for tagging Ike with the title of "demagogue."
Politicians, it is true, have a semantic code of their own and they
very frequently' employ words in a context alien to the ordinary„
citizen, yet there was no excuse for so reputable and honorable
a member of the U. S. Senate as Mr. Kefauver to use the conven-
tion of the Rabbinical. Assembly as a political and partisan plat-
form. The most charitable thing that can be said is that he pulled
out the wrong speech. But there is no comparable excuse for the
rabbis. In the first place this unpleasant incident—and there
have been others of the kind over the years—could not have oc-
curred if the convention were channeled solely into the direction
of its - purpose. And, secondly, it is about time at least for our
rabbis to recognize that the antiquated custom of rounding up
prominent "goyim" for Jewish functions no longer has its old lure.
Indeed, it is time for a change—and not, alone in Washington.

*

SIMON KLAPER, 16, one of
the thousands of Jewish children
who were hidden from the Nazis
by Gentile families, and who was
later the crux of a legal guar-
dianship battle, shown on his
arrival in the United States re-
cently with the aid of United
HIAS service, with his uncle and
aunt, Mr. and Mrs. BERNARD
STUDNIA, who legally adopted
Simon after several years of ne-
gotiation. The boy's parents, de-
ported to the East by the Gesta-
po, were never heard from again.
In 1952 Studnia turned to Unit-
ed HIAS Service, in Belgium, for
aid in immigrating to the United
States along with his wife and
Simon. Due to immigration re-
strictions, BIAS was not able to
arrange the move until this year.
In the United States Simon will
continue his education in a pro-
fessional school.

Rabbi Bobrowsky
Now With Bel-Aire

On the Anti Semitic Front • ..

-

This corner's frequently voiced suspicion that organized bigo-
try is on the up-swing in the United States is now confirmed by
Jack Steele, Scripps-Howard staff writer, in his series of articleS
on the peddlers of hate who are harvesting gold and power these
days. In recent years there has been an unfortunate tendency in
Jewish circles to minimize the extent and effectiveness of the hate
propagandists though there was nothing in the general climate
to indicate diminishing receptivity to their doings. The only actual
change has been that the professional hatemongers have stream-
lined their propaganda devices and began making mounting use
of the Post Office facilities for the dissemination of scurrilous
literature. The way to fight the peddlers of hate is not to ignore
them but to burn them with the spotlight of exposure.

British Laborites Urge Bilateral Pact with Israel

LONDON, (JTA)—A request
that the British government
should enter into a bilateral se-
curity pact with Israel similar
to the agreements between
Britain and some of the Arab

411 ■ 111•II

PROTECT YOUR HOME OR BUILDING
• AGAINST THE ELEMENTS!

O Caulking

*

Bringing with him ideas for
the preparation of various foods
and delicacies, gathered during
extensive travels, Rabbi Morris
J. Bobrowsky is now associated
with Sally Klein in the Bel-Aire
Catering Co.
Before his recent arrival in
Detroit, Rabbi Bobrowsky was
head of the kosher food depart-
ment of Wilson & Co., meat
packers in Cedar ,Rapids, Ia.
During World War II he organ-
ized and managed a special,
strictly orthodox kosher restau-
rant in Shanghai, China, for
five years.
His experience in the e kosher
food field has been gathered
while traveling through Europe,
Japan, Canada and many cities
in the United States. .
Rabbi Bobrowsky originally
lived in New York and is a grad-
uate of the Mirrer Yeshivath in
Poland. He is well known in
Detroit rabbinical circles, since
he has visited here frequently
and has three brothers-in-law
at Yeshivath Beth Yehudah,
Rabbis SoP, Hochler, Abraham
Gluckowsky. and S. Weinberg.
Rabbi Bobrowsky and Sally
Klein recently announced the
complete remodeling of the Bel-
Aire Terrace Room, which has
been enlarged to accommodate
up to 500 persons comfortably.
They are accepting reservations
for future affairs.

VIENNA, (JTA) :—There is a
chance that Mordecai Oren,
Mapam member of the Israel
Parliament who has been held
in a Czech prison on charges of
"espionage and treason" since
the end of 1951, will be released
within a few days, according to
word from Prague.
The official reason for his re-
lease will be the 10th anniver-
sary of the liberation of Prague
from Nazi occupation.
Oren went to Prague from an
East Berlin meeting of the Com-
munist-dominated World Fed-
eration of Trade Unions to in-
vestigate the anti-Semitic purge Reconstructionist Fellowship.
Of Congregations Launched
then in progress there.
NEW YORK, (J T A) — Four
synagogues from three different
states joined in launching the
Reconstructionist Fellowship of
Congregations, the first time in
(Chesed Shel Ernes)
the 30 years the Reconstruc-
tionist philosophy has been ex-
WILL HOLD MEMORIAL DAY SERVICES
pounded that a move was made
to form an organization based
on
on this viewpoint.
The four congregations, and
Monday, May 30, 1955 at 2:30 P.M.
any others which join the fel-
At Their Cemetery
lowship in the future, will re-
tain their national synagogue
HEBREW MEMORIAL PARK
body affiliations. The four are:
14 Mile Rood at Grotiot
Society for the Advancement of
Judaism of New York, site of
MEMBERS OF THE JULIUS ROSENWALD POST
the conference at which the
(AMERICAN LEGION) WILL PARTICIPATE
fellowship was launched; Niles
Township Jewish Congregation,
RABBI SOLOMON H. GRUSKIN (of Congregation B'nai Zion)
Skokie, Illinois; Temple Sinai,
Will Officiate
Buffalo, N.Y., and Temple Beth
Families, Relatives and Friends Are Invited to Attend
Nathan Wolok, Vise-Prot.
El Zedek, Indianapolis. Louis
David Richman, Pres,
Harry Pechter, Cemetery Chairman
Borins of Buffalo was named.

HEBREW BENEVOLENT' SOCIETY

president:.sof.tlae-,_..felloWship.

governments is voiced by the
British Labor Party in the cur-
rent issue of its official organ,
"Fact." The request comes on
the eve of the Parliamentary
elections this Thursday.

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