Jakov Lind's 'Soul of Wood':
Seven Impressive Short Stories
The seven stories by Jakov Lind
appearing under the title "Soul of
Wood," published by Grove Press
(80 University Pl., N Y3 ) , are
moross. Some are filled with hor-
ror, others bear the stamps of sad
memories of the tragic Nazi era.
The author should be known for
an understanding of his narratives.
He was born in Vienna in 1927. He
was 11 when he escaped to Holland,
his parents having been deported
when the Nazis came to Austria,
later losing their lives in the holo-
caust. He escaped deportation by
hiding, posed as a Dutch national
while working on a Rhine barge,
became an "assistant" to a spy,
was a fisherman on the Mediter-
ranean, a construction worker in
Home for Jewish Aged
Opened in Switzerland;
Has Chinese Refugees
GENEVA (JTA)—Special cere-
monies were conducted Tuesday
at Vevey, Switzerland, where the
Berges du Leman, a home for the
Jewish aged, was dedicated and
where a particularly moving chap-
ter in the story of Jewish rescue
was highlighted.
James P. Rice of New York,
executive director of United Hias
Service, and Otto Heim, president
of the Swiss Refugee Aid Organiza-
tion, who participated in the cere-
moies, pointed out that some of
the aged residents at the Berges
du Leman are European Jewish
refugees from China who would
have been "lost souls" if it had not
been for extraordinary efforts to
care for them, made by . Jewish
and international organizations,
aided by the Swiss government and
the Jewish community of Switzer-
land.
These aged men and women
could not have qualified for help
under normal emigration programs
but were brought to Vevey through
the efforts of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees
and other intergovernmental
agencies. Aiding the program,
also, were the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee and
the Conference of Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany.
Israel Opens Consulate
in Boston; Eighth in U.S.
BOSTON (JTA)—Israel opened
its first full-time consulate in
Boston. The Consul for Boston
and area, who arrived here this
weekend and took up his duties
immediately, is Yohanan Cohen,
previously director of personnel
for the municipality of Ramat
Gan.
Born in Poland, Cohen came to
Palestine in 1937, at age 20, and
studied at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem. He was elected to
Israel's Knesset (Parliament) in
1958, and served in the informa-
tion department of the foreign
ministry between 1960 and 1962.
With the opening of the Boston
Consulate, Israel now has consu-
lar offices in eight major cities in
the United States.
Revival of Rightist Party
Watched by Canada Jews
MONTREAL (JTA) — An effort
to revive a rightist party active in
Canada during the 1930s and early
1940s, known as L'Unite Nationale,
is being made in rural areas by
the former leader of that group,
Adrien Arcand, according to re-
ports received here by the Joint
Community Relations Committee
of the Canadian Jewish Congress
and Bnai Brith.
The reports indicate that Arcand
has been propagandizing in favor
of establishing a party with a plat-
form he calls "Federalist, Chris-
tian, Corporatist, Monarchist and
Pro-Western." In his talks, accord-
ing to the reports, he stated he
is "not anti-Semitic, but pro-
Gentile," and asserted he is "not
opposed to Jews but to inter-
national Jewry."
Jerusalem, a Tel Aviv beach pho-
tographer, a Nathanya orange
picker, an Israel air force aircraft
inspector, a private detective, a
newspaper publisher in Vienna, a
London film agent, traveled in
many lands and is now residing
in London.
The effects of Nazism on some
of his characters are traceable
to his experiences as a youth,
as a witness of what had hap-
pened during the Hitler era.
In the title story — it appeared
in German as "Eine Seele Aus
Holz" — the book originally ap-
peared in Germany and was trans-
lated by Ralph Manheim — we
already have the Nazi theme.
There are two aspects there that
are deeply moving. One depicts the
offer of one's apartment to a non-
Jew: "take care of our child and
the _ apartment is yours." And
there is the desire to have the
name of a Jew one of the char-
acters supposedly had protected:
by claiming to have shown kind-
ness to a Jew one could escape
when . the reckoning came: "to
have saved even one individual
would be proof positive that we
were not guided by feelings of
hatred in the performance of our
work." This is preceded by the
comment "one Jew more or less
can't do nobody any good," yet,
"one Jew can help a great deal."
In "Resurrection" there is a
soul-searching, the sense of guilt
by a convert who sought escape
through Christianity: "A Jew who
takes up Christianity has lost noth-
ing and gained a Jew. For good
Christians such a Jew is a Christ-
tian, but for anti-Semites he's still
a Jew. So I turn anti-Semite; that
way I can go on seeing myself as
a Jew () twen you and me, I was
an anti-Semite before and as a
Jewish anti-Semite I couldn't stand
myself). So now I know why I
turned Christian. It makes every-
thing so simple. With one excep-
tion; the regulation about the
childless baptized. No one rotten
condition they let me live — as a
Jew, no conditions, they just kell
me . . . "
"The Pious Brother" is another
revealing tale — about a priest
who served Hitler and the SS,
who ravished women, who ended
his life as a suicide: "Alive or
dead, Franz thought, God didn't
provide us Christians with a soul.
All we know is how to kill, not
how to suffer. We haven't the
soul for suffering, even our
Savior had to be taken from the
Jews .. "
"The Judgment" is a horror tale
— about a chap who killed 12
women, who was to be executed,
who asked to see his father, plan-
ning to strangle him, too, but his
father takes the matter into his
own hands, strangles the son, saves
the state the expense of the execu-
tion. The father goes to the lunatic
asylum. First he is c alled an
anarchist. He is released. The
judges all had sons — and they let
the man go. It is a moving tale,
in all its brutality.
"Journey Through the Night,"
"The Window" and "Hurrah for
Freedom" similarly are impres-
sive tales.
In its totality, Lind's "Soul of
Wood" is an excellent collection of
well-written stories by a man who
knew Nazism and knows how to
expose it.
David Hermelin Elected
to Region Insurance Post
David B. Hermelin of the Her-
melin Agency, 13625 W. 8 Mile,
has been elected regional vice
president for the United States of
the Crown Leaders Club of the
International Crown Life Insur-
ance Co., by the officers, directors
and agency force of the company.
A graduate of the University of
Michigan in 1958, Hermelin, 28,
now attends the Detroit College of
Law. He produced over $2,000,000
in insurance last year.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, August 13, 1965-29
Plans to Be Made Labor Zionists' 60th Anniversary
for Israel Bonds
to Be Marked at Oct. 9 NI'Lave Malke
Lieberman, chairman of
Marie Syrkin, noted Labor Zion-
Holy Day Appeals the Morris
Labor Zionist Council of De- ist thinker, editor, teacher and
The annual pre-High Holy Day
dinner meeting sponsored by the
Israel Bond Congregational and
High Holy Day Council will -be
held Aug. 26, 6:30 p.m., at Holiday
Manor, Oak Park.
Guest speaker will be Robert
Lurie, national Israel Bond spec-
ial events chairman.
Rabbis, lay leaders, cantors and
executive directors of 26 Detroit
area congregations have been in-
vited to the affair, which will plan
for the annual High Holy Day ap-
peal, the mainstay of the Israel
Bond campaign in Detroit.
Phillip Stollman is chairman of
the Congregational and High Holy
Day Council. Co-chairmen are
Norman Allan, Judge Nathan J.
Kaufman, Morris J. Brandwine and
Max Sosin.
troit, annonces that on Saturday
night, Oct. 9, the Council will cele-
brate the 60th jubilee of Poale
Zion, at the Labor Zionist Institute.
The entire Labor Zionist Move-
ment—Poale Zion, Farband Labor
Zionist Order, Pioneer Women Or-
ganization and Habonim—invites the
community to share this Simcha, to
be in the form of a M'Lava Malke.
Eleven Skilled Americans
Recruited 'to Work in Israel
Eleven highly skilled American
professionals — five engineers, two
psychologists, an architect, a
physician, a teacher and an editor
—left for Israel on a three year
contractural basis after being re-
cruited for important work assign-
ments by the Committee on Man-
power Opportunities in Israel of
"I see one-third of a nation• ill- the Jewish Agency (COMOI). The
housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourish- group includes eight men and three
ed."—Franklin D. Roosevelt. (1967) women.
member of the World Jewish Agen-
cy Executive, will deliver a major
address.
Pinchas Cruso, honorary national
chairman of the LZOA, will re-
minisce about 60 years of Labor
Zionism.
For information, call DI 1-0131 or
DI 1-0669.
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