Anti-Semitic Revival in Britain

THE JEWISH NEWS

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

Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Associations, National

Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,

Mach., VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.

Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG

Advertising Manager

Business Manager

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the twenty-fifth day of Ab, 5722, the following scriptural selections will be
, eats in our synagogues:
54:11-55:5.
Pentateuchal portion. Reeh. Petit. 11:26-16:17. Prophetical portion. I.soiah

Licht Isenshen, Friday, August 24. 7:82 p.m.

Vol. X1.1 No. 26

Page Four

August 24, 1962

Welcome, Jewish War Veterans

Detroit is privileged, to have as its Congressional leaders. The organization
guests the thoUsands of affiliated mem- has played a leading role in demanding
bers of the Jewish War Veterans of the the rejection by American authorities of
United States who, in annual convention any attempts to bar Jews from services
here, are reviewing their past accomplish- in foreign lands. The veterans are in the
ments and are planning new functions front ranks of those fighting to out an
as a continuation of their services to our end to the boycott instituted against
country and their efforts to protect the American firms by Arab countries, and
rights of their fellow-Jews wherever they they are on record in opposition to all
may reside. evidences of antagonism to Israel.
It is to the credit of the JWV that JWV's voice not only has been heard
its leaders have been vigilant in their in defense of Jewish rights: it has been
tasks of assuring the protection of the and continues to be hearkened to, and
rights of Americans everywhere. the must be respected as a valued element
elimination of bigotry on the home front in the battle against injustice.
Detroit's JWV leaders have served
and prevention of discrimination agaiiist
their
movement valiantly. They have plan-
Jews in foreign lands.
JWV has fought valiantly in areas in- ned the convention opening here this
solving civil rights. The veterans' organi- week-end with tact and with devotion.
zation—the oldest movement of war vet- We congratulate them on their efforts
erans in this country—has been on the and we join in welcoming the Jewish War
alert against the emergence of racial and Veterans' convention to Detroit. May
religious prejudices, and its voice has their deliberations meet with complete
been heard in the White House and by success.

Nazi Symptoms and Declining German Jewry

Disciplinary action now being taken
against former Nazi judges and Hitler
officials by the West German govern-
ment indicates that the Bonn regime is
determined to bring to justice those who
were responsible for the mass murders
and for the planned extermination of the
Jewish people.
Nevertheless, there are frequent evi-
dences of recurrence of Nazi tactics which
emphasize the need for more thorough
probing into the political activities of
neo-Nazis who are striving to reintroduce
the policies of the old regime..
Of special concern is the reconstitu-
tion last week at Kassel of the German
National Peoples Party, the dormant
right-wing group of the Weimar Republic
h ich supported the Nazi regime under
Hitler in 1933.
In Frankfurt a Nazi who was on trial
on war crimes charges gave the "Heil
Hitler" salute, and many other simi-
lar demonstrations of an anti-democratic
and anti-Semitic nature have taken place.
Yet, many trials against former Nazis
are now in progress, and it is hoped that
the criminals will be brought to justice.
Meanwhile. Jewish life in Germany
continues to deteriorate. While 1,500 have
registered for Jewish courses in Berlin,
life in a community where the majority
is composed of older people can not hold
out much hope for a bright future.
Proof of the hopelessness of the Jew-
ish position is provided in a report that
has been issued by ORT about the "end
of an era" in its activities in Germany.

The ORT report states:

Seventeen years ago, on the heels of
the armies of liberation, the work of re-
habilitation of the survivors of the Euro-

pean catastrophe was begun. The first ORT

schools opened in Landsberg, Germany.
They spread rapidly into a network of
training centers that blanketed every DP
camp and refugee center in Germany,

Austria and Italy.
Some 80,000 persons received instruc-
tion during the next few years. 30,000

went on to Israel to ply their skills.
The ORT schools were not merely work-
shops for learning trades. They became
centers of hope for the future, for the
reconstruction of individual lives. The
ORT diploma became known as a "passport

to freedom,'' acceptable as a document for
immigration.
Late in 1961, ORT work in Germany
ceased. The schools had been shut down
in the early fifties, with the mass exodus
of DPs. A few schools had remained for

the ill and handicapped who for various
reasons stayed on. Two years ago, the last
school in Munich was shut and an appren-
tice placement service was instituted for
those needing this kind of help.
But economic conditions and the drastic
reduction in the Jewish population to some
25,000. most of them elderly, made even
this unnecessary.
The director for Germany and Austria,-
A. Goldman, in announcing the discontinu-
ation noted these conditions: "This meas-
ure was unavoidable in the light of the
present situation in Germany. The eco-
nomic boom has lasted for several years
and ha§ absorbed all available manpower.
There is little problem in placement and
almost any worker can find employment
without difficulty. Because of this, the
number of students in ORT courses and
the apprenticeship service had become so
small that we decided to close the insti-
tutions."
The basic fact is that there are few
Jewish applicants. There are few Jews who
are able to take or are in need of voca-
tional training. A chapter of ORT history
has closed.

'Understanding Israel'

Judith Laikin One of Three
Valuable Book Participants

As part of its "Understanding Your World" series. Laidlaw
Brothers, educational publishers, of River Forest, 111., have just
issued the very informative "Understanding Israel."
Judith Laikin (Mrs. Sol Elkin). daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Benjamin Laikin, whose literary contributions to numerous maga-
zines already have distinguished her as an able observer and
student of world affairs, is co-author of this book with Marion.
Gartler and George Hall.
"Understanding Israel" is. indeed. a valuable work. In spite
of its brevity—or perhaps because of its mere 64 pages into
which are packed all the relevant material about the young
country—the readers of this book will be greatly enlightened
by its contents.
Commencing with the historical background, a review of the
ancient history of Israel. leading up to the War of Independence,
the authors proceed to provide information about the Israel a
today—its agriculture. industry, educational programs, recreation
and other aspects of the newly developed modern community.
The authors describe the two major cities in Israel—Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem—the art and entertainment in the former, the
problems faced by the division of the latter.
They describe the functions of the Israel government and
point to the problems of the future—Israel's relations with the
Arabs and the need to create a friendship with its neighbors. They
point to the menacing threats to Israel by the Arab boycott and
declare that "The situation is a source of concern not only to
Israel. but to the rest of the world as well."
In the course of their interpretations of Israeli affairs, the
three authors point to the Jewish state's numerous interests. includ-
ing literature. music and art.
A glossary of important terms is appended to explain a number
of references in the book.
"Understanding Israel" will serve a valuable purpose in pro-
viding much needed information about Israel.

Welcome Addition to Paperbacks

'
Dr. Spiegel s '

The ORT experience is only one ex-
ample of a decline in the positive ap-
Hebrew
proaches towards a revival of Jewish life
One of the great classics published in the early 1930s is
in the land where the worst holocaust in now available in a paperback.
history materialized under Hitler and
"Hebrew Reborn" by Prof. Shalom Spiegel has just been
with the approval of the German people. reissued jointly by the Jewish Publication Society and Meridian
Books of the World Publishing Co.
Non-Jewish Germans like President

Luebke and Chancellor Adenauer and
their associates would have liked to see
an increase in Germany's population, a
return of some of the refugees, a revival
of the friendliest relations between Chris-
tians and Jews in present-day Germany.
It is doubtful whether this could materi-
alize, and anything approaching a whole-
some resurgence of Jewish cultural ac-
tivities will certainly be deterred as long
as there are evidences of neo-Nazism.
In fairness to the Federal German
Republic, it should be noted that Wil-
liam Henry Chamberlin, in an article in
the Wall Street Journal, vehemently de-
nied that ex-Nazis are influencing the
German authorities. "On the contrary,"
he declared. "it would be impossible to
imagine a system more different from
Hitler's than the one which has developed
under the leadership of Adenauer."
While this is generally acknowledged,
German Jewry continues to decline in
numbers and is a ponentity culturally-
wise, unlike the community that func-
tioned before Hitler. This is a sad indica-
tion of a collapse that may prove to be
without cure.

Reborn'

While the book deals with the rebirth
of Hebrew and the miracle accompanying it,
Dr. Spiegel asks, at the very outset: "Hebrew
reborn — but was it ever dead? Or, if it was,
how can a dead language be born again?"
Thereupon he shows that the revival of He-
brew and its transformation into a colloquial
tongue, the revival of the literature in that
language, "have proven beyond a doubt the
physiological genuineness of our rejuvenation
as a people."
Dr. Spiegel's book deals with the epoch
Dr. Spiegel
of the Haskalah. Dealing with the era of enlightenment, it re-

views the activities of distinguished personalities that contributed
towards Hebrew's revival.
The second portion of the book is devoted to a review of
events and leaders "Under the Spell of the National Renaissance
— David Frichman, Ahad Ha'Am, J. L. Gordon, Tchernochivski,

Eliezer Ben Yehudah and others. He shows how Palestine, in
pre-Israel days, already had begun to become "a center of pro-
ductive life."
The concluding portion of the book paid tribute to "the
magic of an, ancient language and says in reference to "the

whole of modern Hebrew literature": "Though it may seek
distant, foreign seas far from its fatherland and its spiritual
inheritance, though it may desire to break the old tablets and

to herald undiscovered coasts, it finds itself after encircling the
whole earth—back in its own harbor."
Dr. Spiegel's "Hebrew Reborn" is one of the most wel-

—

come additions to the paperbacks. It enriches popularly-priced

literature.