THE DETROIT JEWISH NEW S -- Fr iday, October 2 1, 1960 — 40

Shirer's Monumental 'Rise and Fall of Rothschild Surveys Bond Progress
Third Reich'; history of UDC's Rescue
Work Told in Agar's 'Saving Remnant'

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH. A History of Nazi Germany.
By William L. Shirer, Simon and Schuster, Publishers.
THE SAVING REMNANT. An Account of Jewish Survival. By Herbert Agar.
Viking Press, Publishers.
* * *

In his preface to his monu- penniless, starving. Shirer, in
mental book, "The Rise and his analysis of the man, never-
Fall of the Third Reich," Wil- theless believes he was a
Ham L. Shirer, one of the most genius, "probably the last of
informed writers on conditions the great adventurer-conquerors
in Germany, commented on the in the tradition of Alexander,
viewpoint that later generations Caesar and Napoleon . . ."
of writers usually review occur- The details of the anti-Jewish
rences like those that happened acts, of the gas chambers, the
to our generation in order that crematoria, the concentration
time should give it perspective, camps, the insanities" of the
and he made thiS assertion:
Nazi leaders, are hair-raising.
Yet there are evidences of
"Most historians have waited
fifty years or a hundred, or German generals who, while
m o r e, before attempting to permitting the crimes, saw to
write an account of a country, it that they were committed
an empire, an era. But was this by their underlings, in their
not principally because it took absence.
that long for the pertinent
Eichmann and . Heydrich are
documents to come to light and linked to the "final solution"
furnish them with the authentic which was intended to put an
material they needed? . . . In end to all Jews. Oswald Pohl,
the case of the Third Reich, and Oberg'ruppenfuehrer, was asked
it is a unique case, almost all the meaning of it; and his reply
of the documentary material was: - "The extermination of
became available at its fall, and Jewry." 'The record is being
it- has been enriched by the set straight anew in Shirer's
testimony of all the surviving work.- It may be one of the
leaders, military and civilian, major pieces of evidence in
in some instances before their the forthcoming trial of
death by execution. With such Eichmann.
incomparable sources so soon
SiMilarly, the other Nazi
available and with the memory criminals are exposed and their
of life in Nazi Germany and of acts described so that posterity
the appearance and behavior may be fully aware of the besti-
and nature of the men who alities that turned the recent
ruled it, Adolf Hitler above all, years into nightmares and
still fresh in my mind and portions of 'G e r m a n y and
bones, I decided, at any rate, Poland into charnel houses.
to make an attempt to set down
the history of the rise and fall
So much of the story of the
. of the Third Reich."
Nazi era of - crimea is told in
This attitude on the histor- Herbert Agar's "The Saving
icity of his subject is applicable Remnant" that the two books
also to another most significant are related, even if in a very
book, Pulitzer Prize winner small measure.
Herbert Agar's "The Saving While Agar's account of Jew-
Remnant," in which we are ish survival deals primarily
offered an impressive account with the history and activities
of the rescue activities of the of the Joint Distribution Corn-
Joint Distribution Committee. mittee, this book, too, is a his-
To Shirer, free- lovin g tory of the era during which
people owe a debt of grati- the JDC labored to save Jewish
tude for having compiled the lives.
facts regarding Nazi Germany
Agar took the title for his
and its leaders in his volumi- book from the Biblical phrase
nous and encyclopedic work. sheerith hapletah, the surviving
All the horrors, crimes and remnant. "In Europe," he ex-
tactics of the Nazis, their plains, "after the Second War
ideologies and aspirations, are the words came to mean, as
exposed in this revealing they had always meant to
work. Shirer may be chal-
lenged on his viewpoint that
Hitler was a genius, yet he Nasser Says He Told
substantiates his opinion and Ike Israel Would
he succeeds in offering a total
picture of the most depress- 'Always Be Barrier'
ing and most dramatic period
LONDON, (JTA) — United
in world history.
Arab Republic President Gamal
There is no doubt about the Abdel Nasser declared to his
definitiveness of this great legislature in Cairo that he had
work. It goes to the root of the told President Eisenhower, while
tragedy. It exposes the back- visiting the American leader in
ground of the anti-Semitic cam- New York recently, that Israel
paigns in Germany. It reveals "would always remain a barrier"
the incredible events that between the UAR and the United
plunged the world into a bloody States, according to press dis-
war. patches received here.
It is a fully-documented book. The Cairo reports said that
Shirer, it will be recaled, was Nasser also reported he had corn-
in Germany during the years of plained to Mr. Eisenhower about
the emergence of Nazism. As Western, shipments of arms to
author of "Berlin D i a r y" he Israel, insisting that there "are
was on the scene from the very no defensive weapons." .
The Egyptian dictator presum-
.beginning as an indicator of
ably told Mr. Eisenhower that his
Hitlerism.
Just as he had gone deeply government was not prepared to
in his research- into the in- "compromise" its position vis-a-
human and brutal record of vis Israel.
Nazism, so also Shirer delved
into the roots of the campaign Dr. Lev Landau Wins
Max Planck Medal
to exterminate the Jews.
Thus, his book is a record WIESBADEN, Germany,
of the concentration camps, (JTA) — Dr. Lev Davidovic
of the pogroms and syna- Landau, famous Russian-Jewish
gogue desecrations; of the men scientist, professor of theoreti-
who engineered the crimes and cal physics at MoScow Univer-
the millions who were their sity, was awarded the Max
victims. Planck Medal for 1960 at the
In the 1245 pages of Shirer's annual congress of the Associa-
book is recorded the testimony tion of German Societies of
of the Nuremberg trials. While Physicists here.
In citing the Russian scien-
he has aimed to be objective,
Shirer's detestation of totali- tist, the award stated he was
tarian dictatorships is in evi- "one of the most outstanding
theoreticians" in the world, and
Bence in his great book.
Hitler's life is traced to the "has brought new methods" to
days when he was a tramp, the world of science.

Chaim Weizmann, the Remrprit
which would save and accom-
plish the ancient dream of
Israel." In the dedicatory page,
he quotes the statement made
by Weizmann in 1933: "If, be-
fore. I . die, there are a half-
million Jews in Palestine, I
shall be cont en t, because I
know that this 'Saving Rem-
nant' will survive."
Presenting an historical
background 'of the "general
breakdown" that occurred
during World War I, describ-
ing the formation of the JDC,
the development of rescue
forces, the panicky situations
that resulted in grief and
starvation, Agar also reviews
the events that were marked
by Polish pogroms, by humili-
ations suffered by Jews, in a
tragic era that was soon to
become even more degrading
under the Nazis.
Hagar's is a story about Jews
"living their own lives," who
ref used to disappear, who
struggled and some of whom
needed help for survival.
There was an era of differ-
ences between Zionists and non-
Zionists. There was a time when
Zionists criticized the JDC. Con-
siderable space is given in
Hagar's historical account to
these conflicts. Lest they be
misunderstood, it should be
stated in advance that what the
eminent author does is to give
an account of the internal bat- .
ties, which eventually resolved
themselves into units in • de-
fense of Jewish rights, in sup-
port of survivalism.
On the eve of the _formation
of the United Jewish Appeal, a
serious rift developed. Then
came the horrible Kr is t all
Nacht in Germany — Nov. 9,
1938—and all forces united in
behalf of settlement in Pales-
tine, for joint efforts for rescue
regardless of ideological dif-
ferences.
Without the Joint, as JDC
was referred to by Jews in
Eastern Europe, much of the
rescue work would have been
impossible. It becomes evi-
dent, from the Agar account,
that JDC played the supreme
role in relief, rescue, reha-
bilitation, eventually becom-
ing a major factor in Israel's
upbuilding—through_ resettle-
ment, Malben and other func-
tions.
The story of Saly Mayer's
rescue activities during the era
of Nazism is given a thorough
review. The events that tran-
spired 'in Germany, activities in
Poland and Wu s s i a, a long
chronicle of work in the human-
itarian spirit attest to an his-
toric Tole of an historic move-
ment.
"The Join V s long-estab-
lished habit of not taking
sides in politics, of not get-
ting dragged into other
people's quarrels, paid abund-
ant dividends," Agar writes.
Dr. Joseph Schwartz's activi-
ties, the efforts of many of the
distinguished American Jewish
leaders, are in evidence
throughout this book.
WhateVer happens in Israel
or anywhere else, Agar asserts,
"the Joint will be there."
Agar recognizes that funds
derived from income of the
Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany are
vital to present needs. An inter-
esting analysis is given of the
activities of the Claims Con-
ference, and the author points
to the effective role of JDC,
after 46 years of labors on many
fronts.
"The Saving Remnant" is
valuable as history. It is impor-
tant as a campaign document.
It' is invaluable in keeping Jews
fully informed regarding one
of the very great chapters in
fund-raising for relief, rescue
and rehabilitation.

Baron Edmond de Rothschild (left), chairman for Europe
of the Israel Bond campaign, who recently visited Israel, is
shown with Finance Minister Levi Eshkol studying plans for
a new housing development at Caesarea. In addition to sur-
veying the economic progress made possible with the aid of
Israel Bonds, the French Jewish leader undertook various
economic projects, including the expansion of his development
program for Caesarea, where a golf course has already been
built and - where other facilities are to be set up to convert the
area into a major tourist attraction.

Around the TP6rld...

A Digest of World Jewish Happenings,
from Dispatches of the Jewish. Telegraphic
Agency and Other News-Gathering Media.

United States

NEW YORK—Religious divisions within the United States
weaken the West in dealing with the Communist threat, accord-
ing to Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee. In a speech to the Westchester Chapter
of AJC, he pointed out that representatives of the Judeo-Chris-
tian tradition are now a minority in the United Nations and
that American religious divisions could be used by the U.S.S.R.
for propaganda in newly independent non-Christian countries.
WASHINGTON — Senator Clifford P. Case, New Jersey
Republican, urged Secretary of State Christian A. Herter to
make an attempt to establish contact for negotiations between
Israel and the Arab states.

Europe '

THE HAGUE—A loan of 15,200,000 guilders ($4,250,000) has
been granted the Israel government by the' Dutch Bank Union,
to help finance a new $10,200,000 shipyard at Haifa. The ship-
yard is to be. built by a Dutch firm.
VIENNA—Reports from Warsaw state that Maximilian Bel-
gart, a notorious Nazi war criminal, has been sentenced to death
for the murder of Jews and other members of the Polish resis- .
tance during World War II.

. Asia

• NEW DELHI—Nepal is reported here to be negotiating -with
Israel for the purChase of small arms for Nepalese defense of
the border with China. A Nepalese military mission recently
returned from Israel and is said to have been supplied with
samples of many pieces of small arms. •

Israel

TEL AVIV—Prime Minister Ben-Gurion has repeated his
view tha't "Zionism is void of meaning if it does not involve set- •
tling in Israel." In a speech to a meeting of the Women's Inter-
national Zionist Organization, he stated: "Tell your members in
exile also that they must insist on the children having a proper
Hebrew education."
JERUSALEM—Two hundred youths arrived in Israel from
North America this year to participate in a year's study . . . 31
young people from West Germany have arrived for a four-week
visit, including two weeks of work at a kibbutz in the Negev .. .
Israel's political parties have agreed to apportion the country's
delegates to the forthcoming World Zionist Congress according
to the results of last November's elections to the Knesset, Israel's
parliament. The Congress, which will open here in late December,
will be the first to represent a majority of the Jewish people,.
Zvi Lurie, director of the Jewish Agency's organization depart-
meat, declared.

Latin America

BUENOS AIRES—Over 20,000 persons, including Argentina's
Foreign Minister, the governor. of Buenos Aires province, and
many other dignitaries, have visited the Israeli exhibition of
Biblical archaeology, currently on display here.
RIO DE JANEIRO—An application for Brazilian citizenship
by a former Latvian S.S. officer, accused of responsibility for
the death of .32,000 Jews in Riga during the Nazi occupation,
has been flatly rejected by President Kubitschek.

Canada

MONTREAL—Of 1,116 Jewish war orphans brought to Can-
ada from Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Greece and
other European countries in 1947-48 fewer than 20 are still
dependent on the community. The Canadian Jewish Congress also
reports a slight increase in Jewish immigration during the
first half of 1960 as compared with the same period of 1959.

Asia Minor

. An Arab Trade Center will be opened in
ISTANBUL
Turkey soon, it was reported here, in an effort to improve
commercial relations between Turkey and the Arab countries.
Such trade now is small.