THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, July 12, 1963
Purely Commentary
Forgiveness, Forgetfulness — and Self-Delusion
Henry Ford was a controversial figure. He raised many
issues in his lifetime, and even in his death his name stirs
debates and revives memories of his deeds — and misdeeds.
The U. S. Post Office Department has rejected a request
that a commemorative stamp be issued on the occasion of the
100th anniversary of the birth of the automobile tycoon. The
White House went along with that decision and Myer Feldman,
Deputy Special Counsel to President Kennedy, wrote to Congress-
man John Lesinski, sponsor of the idea for a commemorative
stamp:
"I . . . understand that the aspect of advertising was but
one of the variety of reasons which prompted the decision
against issuing a Ford stamp."
The White House spokesman was referring to the objections
that could arise from other automobile firms if a Ford stamp
were issued.
What about the variety of other reasons?
In his letter to President Kennedy, under date of June 20,
in which he pressed for action in favor of a commemorative
stamp, Congressman Lesinski stated:
"You are talking presently about civil rights and the need
for jobs for the colored people. Old Henry Ford made sure this
was possible at his Plants. There was some discrimination at
one time against Catholics and Jews in his supervisory force,
but that was not done by Ford but by the men under him. He
was a good friend of my father, and he personally gave many
an American Catholic, of all nationalities, and others, the same
opportunity to get ahead and become leaders of men, solely on
their abilities and not on any other criteria."
Rep. Lesinski could have added, if he had known the facts
as this Commentator knows them, that there were many Jews
who were given fair opportunities while in the employ of
Henry Ford.
Insofar as free advertising is concerned, we are willing to
give it to the grandsons of Henry Ford who have done every-
thing that is within the power of human beings to atone for the
sins of "Old Henry." We are ready to go along with defense for
Edsel, the late son of Henry, and with encomia for the grand-
sons, Henry Jr. and Benson. But if we were to end there we
would be hiding truth. and history doesn't expect that of any
one, whether he is in the White House, or in Congress or writ-
ing current history for the benefit of future generations.
To get to the truth: were the discriminations practiced under
the Ford name done only "by the men under him?" The fact
that Rep. Lesinski has chosen to make this assertion indicates
that he is sincere in this belief. But he has failed to acquire
many other facts. He is right in paying tribute to Ford the
elder for the production developments and for his initiation
of "the $5 daily wage and the 40-hour week." That does not
mean that there should be removed from the Henry Ford Senior
name the guilt for much of the Nazism that kept the entire world
in dreaded fear of the Hitlerite horrors for 12 years.
Henry Ford- not only was personally responsible for the
spread of anti-Semitism, when he first began to distribute the
faked "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and his atrocious hate-
inciting pamphlet "The International Jew." Even long after his
apology to the Jewish people for his actions — an apology made
in order to put an end to the libel suit that was pending in a
Detroit court in 1927 — he was responsible for the spread of
his anti-Semitic ideas in Germany and in Latin America, in addition
to the damage he had done to his Jewish fellow-Americans.
Nazi leaders used Ford as their authority for their anti-
Jewish acts, and much of the inspiration for Hitlerites' actions
came from Dearborn, Mich. Upon the outbreak of the second
world war, Ford's lieutenants — notable among them E. G.
Liebold — permitted the spread of "The International Jew"
anti-Semitic pamphlet, in a Spanish translation in Latin
American countries.
The Ford grandchildren, as stated, have done nobly —
philanthropically (contrary to the grandfather's policies) and
in pursuing industrial and community policies on a noble level.
There can be no ground for another boycott of the Ford car
—on the contrary, the new management has our. respect and
admiration. But that does not apply to a commemorative stamp
for the elder Ford. We could not honor the Ford name when
it has the Henry — without the Jr. — appended to it. We may
as well think in terms of issuing a stamp in honor of Pobedono-
stzev or Krushevan or Torquemada. It was during the Nazi
regime that Hitler had stamps issued with his photo by the
country over which he dominated and whose people he had
turned into beasts.
Controversy Over Ford
Commemorative Stamp . • .
Politics and Mo ra I ity
By Philip
Slomovitz
carried an interview with Father Coughlin. Under the heading
"Reflections of a Radio Priest," that article, by Bernard Eismann,
contained the following reference to Coughlin's involvement in
Jewish matters:
Eismann: Beginning in '36, then through '37, '38 and
'39, you had linked yourself in one way or another with
forces committed to anti-Semitism?
Coughlin: Yes, that was widely advertised that I had.
Unfortunately, there are good Jews and bad Jews, good
Christians and had Christians; and, unfortunately, I had
nominated some Christians as well as some Jews who
were . . . well, to my way of thinking at the time . . .
not for social justice, if I may put it that way.
It's a rather vague statement, isn't it? Of course there are
good and bad elements among all peoples, but in anti-Semitism
all Jews are portrayed unsympathecally. Pope Pius XII was blunt
in defining "the sin of anti-Semitism." Why not admit to the sin?
But there is so little penitence ! That was the case with
Henry Ford during his entire lifetime, and there isn't too much
atonement by Coughlin.
*
Anti-Semitism — Ecumenical Problem
During the sessions last week of the National Community
Relations Advisory Council, in a question and answer period, the
Rev. Fr. Gustav Weigel expressed the view that although a
resolution on anti-Semitism presented at the sessions of the
Ecumenical Council "was a statement of moral principle," the
Arab states "would see in it a political intention."
Promptly, word came from the American Jewish Committee's
director of the European office, Zechariah Shuster, that authori-
tative Vatican sources denied that action in protest against anti-
Semitism was to be dropped by the Ecumenical Council. The
Rome statement made through Shuster was that Father Weigel's
view "does not correspond to the actual state of the question
involved," and that "no authorization whatever" had been given
"to making statements like the one attrib4ted to Father Weigel."
In view of this divergence of opinion, it is necessary that the
statement made to the American Jewish Committee by Father
Weigel, after the receipt of the denial of his original interpreta-
tion from Rome, should be made : known, Father Weigel said:
_ "In the question-answer period to the lecture which I gave
t o the National Community Relations Advisory Council
(NCRAC), I was asked what was the situation of the condem-
nation of anti-Semitism by the Vatical Council. Without the
sufficient reflection and time to make a statement for the
press—it was foreign to my mind—I answered that something
had been prepared for the first session but for fear of its
being interpreted as a political tactic many felt it should be
reserved to the second session.
"I expressed it as my personal guess without instruction
from anyone and representing no one, that it would probably
be avoided in the second session. Gladly do I accept informa-
tion from those in a better position who can give-a contrary
prognosis.
"The question at issue is a moral one and political argu-
ments are not in place."
This is a case of everybody being right. But there also enters
into the discussion the possible element of realism. EXperienee
has taught us in recent years that there are Arab antagonists
of ISrael who would not hesitate to stoop to the lowest degrees
to harm Jewry. With the hatred for Israel there also has devel-
oped such deep-rooted anti-Jewishness even from our Arab-
Semitic cousins that anything is believable, and we have a
suspicion that Father Weigel may have been closer to reality
than any one who assumed to speak "authoritatively" for the
Vatican in Rome.
And in spite of the wishful thinking of the central body of
Reform Judaism, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations,
in its appeal to the Ecumenical Council for consideration of a
declaration against anti-Semitism, in which it expressed the
view that "surely no Arab could object to a statement con-
demning anti-Semitism," there is no need - to be naive in assum-
ing that the Arab Semites will not themselves remain anti-
Jewishly anti-Semitic out of the desire to harm Israel.
The UAHC appeal did, indeed, indicate that the Arabs,
themselves Semites, repeatedly made a distinction between their
opposition to the State of Israel and their feelings about Jews,
and the plea added: "Their distinction, however, has never been
valid, since they have constantly discriminated against non-Israel
Jews." This, too, is realism.
The conjectures that have emerged from Father Weigel's
It would be a very sad day for humankind if the great
American democracy were to issue a stamp in honor of an original guessing will be finally resolved when the Ecumenical
Council reconvenes on Sept. 29. We shall know soon whether
anti-Semite.
fear for Arab reactions will deter the Catholic leaders from
In our own city, our Mayor has set up a committee of 53 acting against anti-Semitism and whether Arabs will dare inject
civic leaders to serve on the Henry Ford Centennial Committee
of Detroit. Two Jews have accepted membership on that com- their hatred for Israel and Israelis in a moral issue.
mittee. In view of what this Commentator has just written in
defense of our Post Office and the White House in their refusal Kasle's Achievement: Free Debate of a Public Issue
to approve the issuance of a Ford commemorative stamp, judge
Leonard Kasle is in the limelight. As the newly-elected presi-
for yourself the wisdom of those who join in honoring an arch dent of the Detroit Board of Education, he has inspired a public
anti-Semite.
poll to ascertain what our community will do about the school
Our rabbis teach us to forgive and to forget — when a crisis and whether there is a change in sentiment towards higher
person repents. But even if all Germans were to repent, would self-taxation to assure proper educational provisions for our chil-
there be justification for total forgiveness and for complete dren and grandchildren.
forgetting what the Nazis did? Never ! And in the comparable
It is difficult to foretell whether Kasle's plan will result
instance of Ford, remember: he never really repented !
in a more realistic attitude on the part of a majority of our citi-
zens and whether there will be a change of heart on the part of
the electorate to assure full school provisions immediately, obvi-
A Ford-Coughlin Incident
During the most tragic years of the Nazi holocaust, an effort ating the threatened half-day sessions.
was made to secure a statement from Henry Ford repudiating
In the meantime, however, Kasle has succeeded in introducing
the Hitler scourge. It will be recalled that the late Dr. Leo M. open discussion on the serious issue and the provision of free
Franklin had made known that such a statement was to be issued, debate to enable our citizens to express themselves. If this can
but it was denied by Harry Bennett, Ford's right-hand man. It be continued, perhaps there will emerge out of it a proper solu-
was in the era of Father Coughlin and his anti-Semitic radio tion to the most painful problem this city has ever been forced
broadcasts.
to face — that of curtailment of the schooling of American
Focus Midwest, a periodical published in St. Louis, recently children.
E. Germany
Tries Globke
in Absentia
BONN, (JTA) — The West
German government denounced
the trial of Dr. Hans Globke,
West German Undersecretary of
State, which opened before the
East German Supreme Court
in East Berlin Monday as the
climax of a systematic propa-
ganda campaign against the for-
mer official of the Nazi Ministry
of the Interior.
Globke, who is being tried
in abstenia, was charged by the
East German regime with war
crimes and crimes against hu-
manity. The 168-page indictment
read at the opening of the trial,
charged that Globke, between
1932 and 1945, created the legal
groundwork for the Nazi dicta-
torship, particularly for the
persecution of Jews, through his
work in the Reich Ministry.
Similar charges have been aired
in West Germany.
Gunther von Hase, the
Bonn government spokesman,
charged that the trial was
aimed at Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer. "his closest col-
league, against the Chancel-
lor himself and against the
Federal Republic." The
spokesman said that the
charges against Globke had
been investigated by a num-
ber of courts and prosecutors
in West Germany and had
been "found to be untrue."
von Hase repeated earlier
statements by the government
that there were "in fact docu-
ments" showing that Globke had
worked against the Nazis and
had helped many people in dan-
ger of persecution.
He added that the trial was
"a show trial," referring to the
fact that the opening of the
proceedings in East Berlin was
televised throughout the Com-
munist bloc.
Meanwhile, the communist
embassy of the Polish People's
Republic in Washington stated:
In the course of the judicial
inquiry which began in April
last year, 650 witnesses were
interviewed—not only citizens
of the German Democratic Re-
public but also witnesses and
experts from many other Euro-
pean countries. Their testimony
revealed new facts and details
of crimes committed by Hans
Globke.
The chief prosecutor of the
German Democratic Republic,
Joseph Streit, in a letter to
United States . Attorney Gen-
eral Robert Kennedy, asked
that the material from the
captured Nazi archives con-
cerning the Jewish victims of
Hitler's terror who are now
living in the USA, be made
available.
Globke bears responsibility
for committing crimes against
humanity by elaborating the
Nuemburg racial laws which
constituted the basic laws of all
Nazi persecution of Jewish peo-
ple, Slays and minority groups.
As early as in 1932, before
the Nazis came to power, Globke
drafted anti-semitic decrees. In
paragraph VI of these directives
headlined "Jewish n a in e s"
Globke stipulates that "the en-
deavours of Jewish persons to
camouflage their JeWish des-
cent by giving up or changing
their Jewish names ought not
to be tolerated. "This secret
document bears identification
IZ.47/32.
By writing his racial laws,
Globke provided the legal
and organizational basis for
Hitler's policy of mass exter-
mination and germanization of
the conquered people.
The bill of indictment quotes
the document signed by the
Reich's Minister of the Interior
Frick in which the latter re-
quested Rudolph Hess, Hitler's
deputy, to approve the promo-
tion of Globke to the rank of
Ministerial Councellor.