At the Moscow Exhibit THE JEWISH NEWS , Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 . 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 $6. Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Offices, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March b, 1871• PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Edit( r and Publisher SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertising Manager CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Circulation Manager FRANK SIMONS City Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, Sabbath Nahamu, the eleventh day of Ab, 5719, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Vaethanan, Dent. 3:23-7:11. Prophetical portion, Is. 40:1-26. Licht Benshen, Friday. Aug. 14, 1:16 p. m. VOL. XXXV. No. 24 Page Four August 14, 1959 A Tour to the Forgotten Gas Chambers Are the crematories being forgotten by the free peoples of the world who should keep them in mind in order to prevent their reconstruction by evil men? Has the stench of the gas chambers been suppressed with a false and mislead- ing propaganda perfume? The tender coddling of former Nazis and neo-Nazis seems to give that deplor- able impression. It is a matter that needs examining and calls for a moral ac- counting. The manner in which the public is being misled becomes apparent too fre- quently in the "business dealings" with Germany and in "diplomacy." There is a tendency to forget even when there is no forgiveness. And more often than not there is even forgiveness. An article in a recent issue of the European New York Herald Tribune pro- voked the following reply from Eric R. Simha of Geneva: I am not usually given to writing to mail- bags, but your article describing the U. K. travel agent who helps relatives of Nazis is precisely the kind that makes my blood boil. Since Mr. Proud is a travel agent, I strong- ly recommend he organize a travel tour for himself. He could easily arrange a flight to Munich and from there take a bus to Dachau concentration camp. What he will see there might prove quite interesting. Or, maybe, he could organize a tour to Krakow, Poland, and from there take a little side-trip to Oswiecim (Auschwitz) concentration camp. Only three kilometers distant, he could visit Brzezinka (Birkenau) and the 30 subsidiary camps which are scattered throughout Upper Silesia. The gas chambers and crematoria he will see there might, but only might, make him change his mind about: "There is a lot of exaggerated talk about the concentration camps and the gas chambers." And before Mr. Proud settles down to prepare another little gift package for Mrs. Himmler or Mrs. Streicher, I strongly urge he have a little talk with some of the widows of those who, 15 years ago, on July 20, 1944, unleashed a plot to kill Hitler with a bomb. History may not forget Hitler, but it is certain to forget Mr. Proud and his likes. What about the thousands of widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers happened to be Jews, who had gone through the horrors of the concentration camps and now are trying to forget the memories that are marked by horror? Why overlook the terrible blots upon European history which records the ex- termination of millions of people? A tourist who steps upon German soil doesn't see the evidence of brutality. The country has been rebuilt, and there are no symbols left of the Hitler holocaust. All the more reason why there should be frequent reminders of them—why the record of the years of horrors should not be obliterated. There is no greater damage to the security of man than to forget to keep in view the eras of tragedy and despair which resulted from the inhumanity of man to man. It is by keeping alive sad memories that mankind has been able to rise above cruelty and to conquer tyranny. It is by keeping alive the memory of the dark years of Nazism that we can prevent its rebirth. 'Burning,' 'Screening' and Banning of Books It is no wonder, of course, that this Soviet Russia is not burning books that are unacceptable under the Corn- was done. The USSR has long ago estab- munist code. She is merely "screening" lished a policy of anti-Israelism, anti- them and finally is banning them from Hebraism and anti-Jewishness. The am- view in the Soviet Union. azing thing is that the screening and ban- ning should have been applied to an Even in the American National Ex- American exhibition. No such practice hibition at Moscow, there was a "screen- could possibly have been restored to by ing" process and more than 100 books our free Government to the Russian ex- were removed from the exhibit's book hibition in New York. show. • The Russians did not burn our books; It sounds fantastic, but even the 1959 they merely banned them. In the present Almanac was among the books removed instance, as it applies to the idea of free from the show. dissemination of historical facts, the ac- Students of world affairs are provided tion of the USSR deprives the Russian with interesting material for an analysis people of true knowledge and is tant- of the Soviet viewpoints in the selections amount to book-burning. made by the USSR for the U. S. book ban. It is easily understandable why Rus- sian censors should have banned books Ohio has adopted what has been de- on Israel. Thereby, the Soviet leaders adhere to a policy of continuously ap- scribed as the "toughest" Fair Employ- peasing the Arabs and of playing an anti- ment Practices law yet to be passed by Israel role. The banning of Israel books also eliminates the possibility of Russians any state. learning the truth about Israel's marked Its enforcement, however, appears to progress. be handicapped by "a limited budget." But why did they remove Avram That being the case, it becomes very Yarmolinsky's "A Treasury of Great Rus- difficult to think of the measure as the sian Short Stories" from Pushkin and truly effective weapon it was planned to other books by Americans dealing with be against discrimination due to religion, Russian literary subjects? race or country of origin. "Israel in Its Glory" by Avraham FEP laws will be effective not when Harman and Yigael Yadin; "Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People" by Leo they will require commissions to enforce Schwarz; "The Politics of Israel" by them, but when the people will be fully Marvin Bernstein; "The History of the educated to recognize the right of their Jewish Khazars" by D. M. Dunlop—all fellow human beings to life, liberty and are among the books with Jewish titles the pursuit of happiness—and therefore that were removed from the display. also to employment. 'Tough' FEP Law A Hebrew Poet's Soul-Searching: Lisitzky's 'Cross-Currents' The works of Hebrew writers are attracting ever-increasing attention. Not only in their original, but in English translations many important works now are available to the general public. An eminent author's notable work, the impressive auto- biographical book of Ephraim E. Lisitzky, "In the Grip of Cross- Currents," is now available as a Bloch Publishing Co. product, in a fine translation by Moshe Kohn and Jacob Sloan. An introductory essay by Hillel Bavli, professor of Hebrew literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, trans- lated from the Hebrew by Moshe Kohn from an extensive essay in Hebrew, pays honor to the distinguished writer and thus evaluates Ephraim Lisitzky: "He occasionally utters brief, rhythmic sentences in a sad melody like some old Talmudic chant, and continues to medi- tate in silence. It is a silence palpable and many-faceted: there is humility in it, submisSion, and resignation. Yet, how remark- able: this taciturn, naive man is also a speaker when he so desires, a popular orator who knows how to move an audience with flaming, exuberant oratory and rich language. But, having completed his oration and his fervor having subsided, he is again reticent, listening and attending, a prince of silence." These elements are in evidence in Lisitzky's recollections, in his impressive book "In the Grip of Cross-Currents," in which he describes most impressively his life's experiences, his activities in Canada, his work abroad and in this country. His recollections nass on to the reader his great Jewish experiences, the life in Slutzk and the Jewish observances there and the immigrant's struggles in America. Many communities pass in review and there is a variety of Jewish devotion in the various climes. The genius- of Lisitzky describes them with considerable skill. Lisitzky shares with his readers his experiences in Auburn, N.Y., whose 15 families he served as part-time shohet and part- time teacher. Some of the episodes described indicate the drastic changes between life in the Old World and in this country and the changing actions of differing generations. He recalls, as an instance: "In the old days the butcher used to cotton up to his kosher customers. The Jewish women of Auburn were chronic complainers, but he took their complaints—about the quality of the meat and his high prices—in good spirit, replying mildly` or with a joke. But now that he was a rich man, he began to answer the women in kind. He went too far—his fellow Jews, who still remembered him from the time when he was poor, became annoyed at his nouveau-riche attitude. They thought of forming a community council and putting him in his place. And then an agitator arrived in Auburn and started the wheels turning." A feud began. Lisitzky became the target in a petty quarrel. He lost his job, but he retained good friends. Then followed other episodes in- his life. He moved to Boston, later to Canada. His book has many fine descriptions of life in Ahmic Harbor. Lisitzky describes his credo. He explains in his closing chapter: "In choosing Hebrew teaching as my supreme life goal, I decided to combine with it the writing of Hebrew poetry on American soil. "The first steps in my poetic career were hesitant and exploratory, but in the end I hit upon its proper course. "American Hebrew poetry may be compared to a training branch of a creeping plant which, as it runs along the ground, puts down its own roots. As a limb it remains attached to the trunk, the trunk's roots supplying it with its main nourishment. But at the same time it draws nourishment from its own roots as well, blending both elements within it . . ." Then he goes on to indicate that "Like Hebrew teaching, Hebrew poetry in America, too, partakes of the nature of pioneering." He reveals that "mine has been a superabundance of sorrow" and he closes with the sad note: "I am a man that hath seen pain and affliction, and his heart is broken."