Clergymen Join in Tri-Faith
Last Remnant of Hitler Era Obliterated
in, New German Republic, Reports Dr. Frain Statement on Equal Housing

Friday, June 7, 1957

By FRANK SIMONS.

"There is absolutely nothing
left of the Hitler regime or of
Nazism. There are no swastikas
to be seen, nor are there any
Nazi slogans heard or seen any-
where in Germany."
This is part of the encourag-
ing report brought back by Dr.
Leon . Fram, senior rabbi of
Temple Israel, who returned
Monday from a visit to Ger-
many, where he and eight other
U.S. clergymen were the guests
of the Federal government - at
Bonn.
Dr. Fram, during his month's
tour of the major cities of
Germany, said he found "noth-
ing to mark the memory of
Hitler or his companions.
"It is as if there were a hole
in German history," he said.
The rabbi said that a hard-
core of Nazis still remains, but
that they are in such a decided
minority that they have not
been able to obtain one seat in
the Bundestag (parliament) or
even in the Provincial parlia-
ments.
What little anti-Semitism or
Nazi feeling that remains, Dr.
Pram continued, usually takes
the form of a denial that as
many as 6,000,000 Jews were
killed during the Nazi regime.
Commenting on the most dis-
turbing manifestations of anti-
Semitism — cemetery desecra-
tions—Dr. Fram attributed part
of it to youthful vandals who
attack not only Jewish, but Pro-
testant and Catholic cemeteries
as• well.
"Of course," he said, "a num-
ber of these desecrations are
dictated by militant Nazi feel-
ing." He pointed to one such
act which took place on Hitler's
birthday—April 19 — and said
this obviously was a NaZi mani-
festation.
However, immediately after
the- act was- discovered, the Ger-
man government offered a re-
ward of 5,000 marks leading to
the arrest of the perpetrators,"
he said.
The police are cooperative,
and the German press is indig-
nant and on guard against such
attacks at all times, the rabbi
indicated.
The attitude of the German
government and of the German
people toward the Nazi reign

DR. LEON FRAM

is one of "sad remembrance,"
Dr. Fram said.
In every German city "The
Diary of Anne Frank" is play-
ing to packed houses, but "it
is more like a religious serv-
ice than entertainment. The
people come and leave with
bowed heads and there is no
applause. It is like a confes-
sion to the German people,"
Dr. Fram noted.
On this coming Monday, which
is Anne Frank's birthday, thou-
sands of school children will
make a pilrimage to Bergen-
Belsen, the concentration camp
outside of Hamburg, to . place
flowers on the grave of the
heroic Jewish girl.
In Berlin, there is an Anne
Frank club house for the youth
of the city, named by the young
people themselves to honor her
memory, and throughout Ger-
many there is a revival of Les-
sing's "Nathan the Wise," an
18th century appeal for the
emancipation of the Jews, Dr.
Fram said.
There are presently 25,000
Jews registered with the Jewish
communities in Germany, Dr.
Frain said, although probably
half again as many are riot reg-
istered.
After meeting with rabbis
and the presidents of the local
Jewish communities, Dr. Fram
felt Jewish survivors and ref-
ugees, who are trickling back at
the rate of 1,000 a year, are get-
ting back on their feet.

There is a Jewish member
of the German Supreme Court
and two Jews in the Bunde-
stag. Jews are back in indus-
trial and financial positions.
Voltaire Koppel is the lead-
ing German film producer.
Jews also are making a come-
back in the clothing and tex-
tile industries.
Many of the Jews who have
returned to Germany have come
from France, Belgium and other
European countries where they
fled during the war, Dr. Fram
said.
However, it is questionable
whether they will remain per-
manently or are just in Ger-
many awaiting the outcome of
indemnification settlements.
There is a stipulation in the
indemnification laws which
gives Nazi victims an allotment
of 6,000 marks ($1,250) while
waiting for settlement. This
gives them money to live on
until they receive their claims.
Dr. Fram explained that there
exists in Germany an element
of the Jewish population which
wonders whether there should
be a Jewish community.
This takes two forms, Dr.
Fram said: 1. Those who ques-
tion whether the existence of a
community is not in competi-
tion with Israel; and 2. those
who feel, "Dare we trust the
Germans again?"
Most of the remnant of Ger-
man Jews, however, take the
position of Jeanetta Wolfe, one
of the Jewish Bundestag mem-
bers, whose family suffered
death in Hitler's concentration
camps.

Clergymen of the three major
faiths in Detroit joined this
week in a unique statement in
which they pleaded for the
right of all persons to live

Mrs. Wolfe told Dr. Fram
that it is important that there
be such a Jewish community
in Germany because this is -
the actual test of the new
German democracy. It is the
attitude of the German gov-
ernment and the German peo-
ple toward the Jews, she said,
that will indicate whether
Germany has made a start
as a free people.
Dr. Fram, who was met on
his arrival at Willow Run Air-
port by a delegation of com-
munal leaders and Temple
Israel congregants, will soon be-
gin a series of articles in The
Detroit Times on his experien-
ces in Germany.

and Charles Goldstein, vice-
presidents; Stanley J. Winkel-
man, treasurer, and Benjamin
M. Laikin, secretary.
In his account of the Coun-
cil's work during the past year,
Rhodes cited the work of safe-
guarding the rights of Ameri-
can Jews, promoting the cul-
tural, interests of the Jewish
people, and seeking coopera-
tion with like-minded groups in
defending democracy.
Boris Joffe, executive direc-
tor of the Council, described
the ways in which the Council
had fashioned plans for inter-
preting Jewish communal in-
terests of. the various organiza-
tions. He spoke of the special
requirements brought on by the
Middle East situation, of the
activities in the church-state
problems in Detroit, and of the
participation by the Council in
numerous community projects.
The Assembly also elected the
following members of the ex-
ecutive committee:
For a term ending in 1960:
Samuel Belkin, Joseph Bern-
stein, Harold Berry, Avern
Cohn, Ben Goldstein, Dr. Rich-.
and C. Hertz, Walter E. Klein,
Louis LaMed, Hoke Levin, Mrs.
Irving Posner, Leonard Sidlow,
Isidore Sobeloff, Mrs. Nathan
Spevakow and Dr. Max B. Wins-
low. For a term ending in 1958,
James I. Ellmann. For a term
ending in 1959, Arthur Gould.

Col. Benjamin Givli, Hero of Sinai Operation, to Speak
at Sponsors' Luncheon of Women's Bond Division

Col. Benjamin Givli, one of and 1954 he left Israel and and unorthodox military tactics

the heroes in Israel's Sinai op- came to the United States to that played a decisive role in

erations, will address the Na-
tional Sponsors' luncheon of
the Women's Division of the
Israel Bond Organization, at
the home of Mrs. Arthur S.
Fleischman, next Tuesday.
Col. Givli,
Army Chief of
Staff of Is-
rael's Northern
C ommand,
commanded
the infantry
brigade which
captured t h e
Arab towns of
Rafah and El
Arish during
the Sinai cam-
paign. The dar-
ing military
tactics em-
ployed success-
fully by t h e
Col. Givli
tall, ram-rod erect young Israe-
li career officer have been ex-
amined by Army staffs and
military an d editors through-
out the free world, and they
have been pronounced "remark-
able, new in conception, and
sound."
For more than a decade, Col.
Givli has distinguished himself
in the field of military science.
During Israel's War of Libera-
tion, he served as head of Army
Combat Intelligence.
In 1950, Col. Givli was ap-
pointed Director of Intelligence
at Army Headquarters. In 1953

study international relations at
the Woodrow Wilson School of
Princeton University. A year
later he was made Chief of
Staff of the Northern Com-
mand, executing the startling

Israel's victory during the re-
cent operations in the Sinai
Peninsula.
Mrs. Max Stollman is chair-
man of the National Sponsors
group in Detroit.

National Chairman Spurs Campaign
Here for Israel Bonds on Holy Days

Council Re-Elects
Rhodes President

Samuel J. Rhodes was unani-
mously re-elected president of
the Jewish Community Council
at the concluding Delegate As-
sembly of the season, Monday
night, at Beth Aaron Syna-
gogue.
In addition to Rhodes, who
begins his thh-d one-year term,
the Assembly elected Rabbi
Morris Adler, William Cohen

SAMUEL J. RHODES

Britain Seen Giving
Concessions to Arabs •

During a brief visit here, ADOLPH HAMBURGER, na-
tional chairman of High Holy Day appeals for Israel Bonds,
spurred efforts for Bond sales during the coming Holy Days
in Detroit. He conferred here with the Detroit chairman,
PHILLIP STOLLMAN (right) and NORMAN ALLAN, one of
the co-chairmen. Dr. Israel Wiener is another co-chairman of

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Britain
is attempting to regain eco-
nomic initiative in the Middle
East, and is again launched on
a course of offering concessions
to Arab states in an effort to
woo those countries, according
to diplomatic circles here.
Diplomats believe the British
will offer concessions to Egypt
to bring about resumption of
talks suspended in Rome be-
tween representatives of the
London and Cairo governments.
The British are thought inclined
to facilitate unfreezing Egyp-
tian accounts frozen in the
United States. They also are
wooing Jordan, reportedly hav-
ing initiated an offer of renewed
economic aid to the Amman

the Detroit Israel Bonds High Holy Day Committee,

government.

wheresoever they choose, in an
atmosphere free from fear.
The unparalleld tri-faith ap-
peal was signed by Rabbi Morris
Adler, acting president of the
Jewish Community Council;
Rev. Robert F. Allen, director
of social action, Roman Cath-
olic Archdiocese of Detroit; and
Rt. Rev. Richard S. Emrich, act-
ing chairman, statements com-
mittee, Detroit Council of
Churches.
The statement emphasized
that "every decent family, ex-
ercising its God-given right to
live in a pleasant and respecta-
ble section of the city should
have the blessing of all believ-
ers in a God of love of justice."
Ministers, priests and rabbis
throughout the city were asked
to speak from their pulpits on
the subject of the appeal, and
to make copies of the Ari-faith
statement available to their con-
gregants.
In a direct bid for good neigh-
borliness, the clergymen called
on "all members of churches
and synagogues to follow the
teachings of their respective
faiths by judging new neighbors
in terms of respectability, de-
cency and individual merit."
Pointing to the role played
by neighborhood associations,
the statement indicated a clear-
cut course for these groups in
working against "overcrowding
for profit that blights an area
and shortly turns it into a slum"
and against "evil 'outbreaks of
violence that permit and encour-
age the deterioration of their
neighborhoods."
The religious leaders urged all
Detroit residents to "wield their
influence on neighborhoods and
neighborhood associations in be-
half of the prophetic ideals of
equality and brotherhod."
The statement concluded with
the prayer "that God in His
grace implant love in our hearts
and enable us to accept all of
His children as our brothers."
Rabbi Adler, Bishop _Emrich
and Fr. Allen will be heard in
a radio interview by Jim. Vinall
at 12:30 p.m., Sunday, over ra-
dio station WJR. The -Sunday
Supplement broadcast, in which
the clergymen will expand on
their views on housing equality,
will be sponsored by the cul-
ture commission of the Jewish
Community Council.

600 Jews Worship
in MOSCOW Synagogue;
Collect 100,000 Rubles

(Direct JTA. Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

-

LONDON—Six hundred Jews
were at worship in the Great
Synagogue in Moscow last
Saturday, and a special collec-
tion conducted during the sab-
bath service resulted in con-
tributions totalling 100,000
rubles, according to information
received here Tuesday by the
executive - of Agudath Israel
from a representative now in
the Soviet Union. •
The Agudah representative re-
ported he had seen 35 young
men studying in the Yeshivah
in Moscow. Most of them, he
declared, are from Georgia. The
Agudah has sent a special dona-
tion to the Yeshivah.
Moscow's new Chief Rabbi,
Yehuda Leib Levine, thanked
the Agudah for the gift but told
the representative that Russian
Jewry was, capable itself to
support the Yeshivah.
For the first time, informa-
tion has been received about
the identity of Rabbi Levine,
who succeeded the late Rabbi
Solomon Schlieffer. The latter
died several months ago while
conducting services in the Mos-
cow synagogue.
Rabbi Levine .comes from an
old line of rabbis in Yekate-
rinoslay. That city was, at the
turn of the century, a major
Jewish settlement, boasting 10
private Jewish schools, a Tal-
mud Torah with 400 students,
N chedarim and a Yeshivah.

