A Timely Warning

THE JEWISH NEWS

--

Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

4

.7A

Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association. National
Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,
Mich.. VE. 8-9364 Subscription $5 a year. Foreign M.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1952 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising Manager

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Circulation Manager

FRANK. SIMONS

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, Shabat Hagadol, the eighth day of Nisan, the following Scriptural
selections will be read in our synagogues:
portion. Malachi* 3:4-4.
Pentateuchal portion, Parsha Zav, Leviticus 6:1-8:36. Prophetical
m.

Licht Benshen, Friday, March 28, 6:08 p.

Page Four

VOL. XXXIII. No. 4

March 28, 1958

,

Df

Ghetto Commemoration: Anii-Nazi Vigilance

The commemoration of the Warsaw will itself once more make a tragic con-
Ghetto Uprising, to be held Sunday eve- tribution to a revival of anti-Semitism if
ning, as _ an annual Jewish Community such methods of evil well-poisoning and
Council-sponsored event, calls attention fully unqualified attacks are pursued
anew to the heroism of the men and further."
The veterans' Sold a t e n Zeitung
women who battled their Nazi oppressors
in the ghetto, and who demonstrated claimed to have received from all parts
of West Germany "extraordinarily many
against tyranny.
In paying homage to the heroes of the letters" from persons who expressed their
Warsaw ghetto, we serve another pur- indignation over the Jewish paper'€
pose: of keeping alive the libertarian "methods."
Coblentz reported_ that "one of the
ideal of opposing bigotry, brutality and
oppression wherever and whenever ty- reader's letters, which was reproduced by
rants raise their ugly heads; and of retain- the veterans' publication on its front
ing the memory of the horrors that were page, spoke of Germany's achievements
imposed upon mankind by the Nazis, as far back as 1918 in struggling to save
that we may be aware of: its dangers Europe from "the Bolshevik criminals
should they ever recur—so that they Trotzky-Bronstein, Radek-Sobelsohn, - Zi-
may be battled with the courage and noviev - Apfelbaum, Kamenev -.Rosenfeld,
dignity with which the heroes of the Bogdanov - Silbertstein, Litvinov - Finkel-
Warsaw ghetto opposed them. stein, and many others."
If proof was needed that Nazism fre-
*
*
*
The necessity for remaining vigilant quently raises its ugly head again in Ger-
against all possible demonstrations of many, this is it. *
*
*
bigotry, and the possible recurrence of
In a nationwide poll of West German
Nazism, was demonstrated on several oc-
casions recently. There may have been attitudes conducted last month by the In-
entirely too many examples of leniency stitute for Demography it was found that
to war criminals. Very few Nazi leaders one out of every four Germans — 26 per
who were sentenced to long prison terms cent of those interviewed — said they
remain in jails. An attempt now is being believe that "it would be better for Ger-
made to free the Hitler Youth leader, many if there were no Jews living there."
Baldur Von Schirach, whom the war While 50 per cent of the interviewed were
crimes tribunal at Nurenberg sentenced undecided and had no opinion on the
to 20 years in the Spandau Prison. The question, and 24 per cent disagreed with
only other Nazi leaders who still remain the anti-Jewish attitude, the fact remains
in this four-power prison are Rudolf Hess , that a substantial German element has
and Albert Speer. The freeing of Nazis retained the Nazi attitude towards Jews.
is an indication of leniency that tends Of interest in the Institute for Dem-
toward forgetting what had happened to ography poll is the indication that 42 per
millions of Nazi victims 15 years ago. cent of all West Germans remain con-
*
*
vinced that Hitler would have been one
*
From time to time we hear of in- of the world's greatest statesmen- if Ger-
stances of arrogance by haters of Jews many had won World War II. While only
in Germany. 3 per cent said they favor a new Nazi
Although the Jewish community in movement, the danger remains.
Under the circumstances, one won-
Germany is very small today, the German
veterans' "Deutsche Soldaten Zeitung" of ders why even a single Jew should desire
Munich has launched an attack upon it to resettle in Germany at this time.
* * *
with the warning to the "General Weekly
We
wish
to
reassert our faith in Dr.
of the Jews in Germany," published in
Duesseldorf, against what it termed "fate- Adenauer. He has been and remains firm
ful" errors. The Jewish weekly had criti- in his opposition to any manifestation of
cized the veterans' paper's annual "Sol- Nazism and he utilizes every opportunity
diers' Almanac" which glorified Ger- to repudiate everything that was ever
many's military past and the achieve- done by the Hitlerites.
Nevertheless, libertarians must re-
ments of the Nazi Reich, thereby showing
Konrad
main
on guard against bigotry, and even
little allegiance to Chancellor
a minority of neo-Nazis represents a
Adenauer's West German government.
Reporting the incident from Bonn, to danger not only to Jewry but to freedom-
the New York Herald Tribune, Gaston seeking people everywhere.
That is why the memory of the mar-
Coblentz stated that the veterans' publica-
tion had gained a 30,000 circulation tyrs must be kept alive. That is why
"against the wishes of the Adenauer gov- every opportunity must be utilized to re-
ernment" and recently printed this at- mind our people of what had happened,
tack: "The Jewish community in Germany while honoring the memory of the victims
will cut deeply into its own flesh and of the Nazis.

.

Firm Action within the Law Against Vandalism

Some of our kinsmen in the South
The outrages perpetrated against Jew-
ish communities in the South by vandals have, on occasions, displayed panic in
and terrorists has aroused public opinion dealing with the threats that were leveled
and has brought forth so, many protests at them even before the bombings. Let
that there is some hope for action which us hope that they will be more firm
may put an end to the anti-Semitism and henceforth in their assertions that they
destructive aims of the lunatic fringe. will stand four-square in support of the
Protests against the vandals have been established Federal policies of integra-
uttered in the United States Senate, and tion. No matter what they do, how they
non-Jewish as well as Jewish groups in act, what they say, they cannot convince
Tennessee and Florida as well as the • the lunatic fringe to be fair and to act
State of Tennessee have posted offers of like good law-abiding citizens. The van-
large rewards for the apprehension of dais will have to be dealt with firmly by
those responsible for the bombings. State and Federal Governments. The peo-
The battle is on a wider front... It is ple, in turn, will have to be law-abiding—
on the entire American scene, involving and that means adherence to Supreme
the established policy of our Government. Court decisions. Those who act differently
to enforce desegregation. are un-American, un-Jewish, un-Christian.

, r." 1 ..1 1- •

•

e OUR

Gat

MuST 1114E.

E (PAD IN

FORE §AL1 414 6 AND WSIgTRG. ANY SUCH litiPERTOKT fi

FC3*P-11161t

Sel• HEREERTii, [01441

`In This World and the Next'

f
I. L. •Peretz s Rest Stories in
Excellent English, Translation

The area on New York's Houston Street, between First
Avenue and Avenue A, was named I. L. Peretz Square on Nov. 23,
1952, the 37th anniversary of the death and the centenary of
the birth of the great Yiddish writer, Yehudah Leib—Itzchok
Laibush—Peretz. Thus, a deserving tribute was paid to the
memory of one of the world's most
distinguished writers.
Had Peretz written in a lan-
guage other than Yiddish, or on
subjects other than those related
to Jews and their life in the Rus-
sian ghettos, his name might long
ago have been recorded in num-
erous other ways—by way of a
Nobel Prize in Literature and in
other fashions.
In spite of the "handicap" that
goes with the Yiddish background,
- Peretz's name is nevertheless one
to be reckoned with in world lit-
erature. He ranks among the high-
est in Jewish ranks, and the fine
translations of his works in English
and other languages have acquired
for him the status of worldwide
recognition that should have been
his at the outset.
The Peretz name will surely
I. L. Peretz
be regaled with new honors as a result of the newest collection
of his works in an English translation by Moshe Spiegel. Peretz's
Selected writings, in an English volume, published by Thomas
Yoseloff, (11 E. 36th, N. Y. 16), appear under the title "In This
World and the Next." The translator is well known for his other
translations, Mendele Mocher Seforim's "The Nag" and "The
Parasite." In his new work, he enhances his own position as a
translator and enriches English-Jewish literature with the Peretz
works.
Spiegel shows, in his preface to the volume, that "Peretz
neither imitated nor tried to follow" the masters of European
literature; that "he absorbed , their skill and techniques, just
"he
as he had been inspired by the prophets of the Bible" ;
relied on metaphor and allegory"; that "his Yiddish is inter
spersed with Biblical Hebrew"; that he "maintained that Yiddish
literature had to be the voice and conscience of a. harassed
people."
Peretz is quoted as having said that Yiddish "must be
the millennial reservoir of faith and hope, the living forces
that sustain us and inculcate our children with the thought
that to be a persecuted Jew is to have destiny conferred
upon one."
The selections included in this volume indicate how Peretz
had succeeded in making his Yiddish stories the voice of his
people. Peretz's famous "Bontche Schweig," "If Not Higher,"
"Three Offerings," "The Times of the Messiah," "Beryl the
Tailor," "A Marred Holiday," "The Orphan," "The Treasure"
and a score more tales attest to his genius, to his brilliant
interpretations of his people's trials and tribulations—and to
his genius as a story-teller.
Excellent judgment was exercised in selecting the stories
incorporated in this book. The translator also renders the added
service to his readers by having included, as an appendix to his
volume, the following articles: Sholem Asch's "My First Meeting
With Peretz"; A. Mukdoni's "How I. L. Peretz Wrote His Folk
Tales"; A. A. Roback's "A Psychologist Evaluates Peretz"; S.
Niger's "The Legacy of I. L. Peretz" and "I. L. Peretz—The Man
and the Writer" by David Pinski and Melech Grafstein. These
articles are taken from Grafstein's earlier interesting volume on
Peretz.
"In This World and the Next" is an excellent book, a well
edited and wisely compiled volume of Peretz's finest stories. It
would be well to place it in a "best seller" category.

