THE JEWISH NEWS
Annual Convention - 1965
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
EDI
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 48235 Mich.,
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE I4YAMS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
- This Sabbath, the 16th cloy of Ay, 5725, the following scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentatevchal portion: Deut. 3:23-7:11; prophetical partion: isa. 40:1-26.
Licht benshen. Friday, Aug. 13, 7:18 p.m.
VOL. XLVII, No. 25
Page 4
Aug. 13, 1965
Swastika Craze: Quarantine or Exposure
Swastika daubings, which have continued
in Germany for a number of years—albeit
they are the works of a small group of either
demented or embittered inheritors of the
Nazi sickness — have inspired a series of
studies of anti-Semitism and of the works of
anti-Semites in German periodicals.
Such a study, of "The Swastika Neurosis,"
by Hendrik van Bergh, appearing in Deutsch-
land-Berichte, a mimeographed periodical
which deals primarily with reports on issues
in Germany involving Jews, shows a slight
rise in swastika daubings which began with
the desecration of the Cologne synagogue
on Dec. 25. 1959. Van Bergh states that from
1962 to 1964 there were 60 incidents a year,
that there was an increase in the vandalism
since the Bamberg daubings on June 13, that
the number of cases in the first six months
of 1965 was 45 and "the total number of
Nazistic excesses during the first six months
of 1965 amounted to 99 cases as compared
with the 180 cases in the years 1962 to 1964.
Van Bergh's study analyzes these figures
and comments on them as follows:
Of the 99 cases, 27 have now been cleared 'up.
44 people were involved in them. The investiga-
tions have shown that the anti-Jewish excesses in
Neuss, Koblen z, Weissenthurm, Konigswinter,
Birkenfeld, etc., were all very probably sparked
off by the incidents in Bamberg. An analysis of
the culprits and their motives is extremely
revealing. Of the 44 already apprehended, 16 were
children or young people up to the age of 16; 11
did what they did because they wanted to assert
themselves; nine admitted that they were con-
vinced anti-Semitics; five persons misbehaved
under the influence of alcohol: and three were
found to be mentally defective and thus could not
be regarded as responsible persons.
The overwhelming majority of these hooligans
were prompted by the desire to imitate and they
would probably have daubed symbols other than
swastikas, had these been likely to have the same
effect. Only one-fifth did their daubing out of a
sense of conviction.. The paramount motive in all
cases is the desire for self-assertion, the desire to
draw attention to themselves at any _price. Cora-
pared with this, political motives are right in the
background.
The anti-Semitic excesses are indeed symp-
toms of a latent anti-Semitism, but no reliable con-
chtsions can be drawn from them about the extent
and the danger of anti-Semitism in Germany. If
this were the case, then the converse would have
to be true, namely that the non-existence of swas-
tika daubing would be indicative of the non-ex-
istence of anti-Semitism. That would be dang-
erous form of argumentation.
There is no doubt about the sincerity of
the Deutschland-Berichte projects which aim
to establish the best relations between Jews
and Germans and between Germany and
Israel, and Hendrik van Bergh surely wishes
to assist in such efforts. His figures and con-
clusions are, therefore, of great interest. But
it is the advice he offers that must cause us
to deliberate further on the issue before
adopting a fully-forgiving attitude.
Van Bergh's study concludes with advice
to be silent : to leave the issue to the police,
not to publicize the culprits. He states:
In view of the fact that the majority of
the culprits are young people with a flair
for imitation, the best way to combat the
swastika neurosis, would be to remove that
which appeals to them, namely the pub-
licity. The experts take the view that the
Bamberg incidents would probably have
been limited to one case, if this particular
case had not been dealt with in such detail
by the newspapers and television. Quite
apart from .the other cases in other places
which occurred afterwards.
The misdemeanor of daubing swastikas
constitutes a punishable offense. Such activ-
ities can be cleared up by the police, can
be dealt with by the law and the culprits
can receive suitably deterrent punishment.
Latent, sltunbering anti-Semitism is a quite
different matter and cannot be combatted
by such means.
The question must be raised: if all pub-
licity is to be abandoned, if there is to be
a quarantining of news relating to anti-
Semitic insanities, how is the crime of anti-
Semitism to be brought to the attention of
the very young as well as their elders who
are well aware of what had occurred during
the years of Nazi rule? How is the criminal
aspect of genocide, of race hatred, to be
brought to popular attention as something to
be fought and to be avoided if there is to be
either silence in such matters or the ignoring
of outrageous incidents?
In the matter involving a West German
appointee to a diplomatic post in Israel—
that of Dr. Alexander Toeroek, whose cre-
dentials as counselor to the German embassy
in Israel have been approved—the influential
Hamburg newspaper, Die Welt, stated editori-
ally that while it is wrong to blame all diplo-
mats for the deportations of Hungarian Jews
to death camps, "it is not surprising that
many Israelis, particularly those from Hun-
gary, have the greatest mistrust for a man
who was occupied with state business at a
time when Jews were fighting for their lives."
Indeed, how is one to forget the anti-
Semitic happenings during the last deporta-
tions of Jews from Hungary when Admiral
Horthy was in power? That action was one
of the most inhuman in the entire Nazi
record.
Die Welt commented on "emotions" as
being a factor in dealing with Nazi suspects.
There is no doubt that unalterable emotions
play a role in arousing suspicions—and sus-
picions only too frequently were the result of
the right speculations in judging Nazis and
their associations during the tragic war years.
Germans and Germany are not alone in
the experiences of our time which provide
evidence of a resurgent neo-Nazism. There
are swastika daubings on our own doorsteps.
We have had them in our own community.
They have occurred in many American cities.
They are the actions of anti-Semites and neo-
Nazis in several countries.
In Geneva, Switzerland, there were swas-
tika daubings on the synagogue memorial;
and while the community was outraged by
it, the evidence of an existing bigotry is the
cause for serious concern.
Anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas were
smeared in San Francisco last week and the
head of the Juvenile Bureau, Police Captain
John Hanrahan, not only minimized the inci-
dents as being neither anti-Semitic nor the
result of race hatred, but he expressed the
view that the "miscreants" were mere prank-
sters, that those who painted "kill the Jews"
KKK initialed signs were merely motivated
by an "uncontrolled urge for mischief." Could
there be a better way of shutting one's eyes
to crime?
Is this the way to treat the actions of
the mentally disturbed? Will minimization
of crimes serve to reduce them? Isn't it possi-
ble that it may serve as encouragement to
those who get away with it to repeat their
"miscreations"?
There is much more to the issue than
the mere reduction in publicity that is given
to the "pranks." There is the question also
of education, by example, the many who
might be misled into condoning the Nazi
crimes, or, if they are fully informed about
them, to glorify them and to emulate them.
There is much to be said in favor of a
"quarantine." But there is equally as much
to be said in favor of exposing crimes. It is
only by making the facts known that a repeti-
tion of the Nazi crimes can be averted. And
that is. after all, the great responsibility of
this generation to those who follow us: that
our children and grandchildren should be
spared the horrors to which we and our par-
ents were subjected.
11.Seuz
- -
'The Legacy of Polish Jewry • •
Rabinowicz's Impressive History
Rabbi Harry M. Rabinowicz, who was ordained at Jews' College,
London, received his PhD from the University of London and did
research in this country as the Sir Robert Waley Cohen Memorial
Scholarship winner in 1960, pays glowing tribute to the Jews of Poland
in "The Legacy of Polish Jewry, 1919-1939," published by Thomas
Yoseloff (11 E. 36th, NY 16).
As a descendant from a Hassidic-rabbinic family in Poland, he
is well qualified to describe the life and creative works of the Jews
of Poland in the years between the two wars.
It was because Poland produced pietists, Hebraists, Yiddishists
and was "the main center of Hassidism"; because "it was here that
the wistful dream of Zion became the tangible tough reality that Was
Zionism," that Rabbi Rabinowicz was encouraged to write this epic
story.
The 3,500,000 Jews who were the Polish Jewish community "were deter-
mined not to purchase their civic equality at the price of assimilation, and,
by an overwhelming majority, clung to traditional Judaism with wholehearted
devotion," the author emphasizes.
In the intermingled Polish scene, he points out, were the Kehilla.
Hassid and Bundist, Mitnagged and Marxist. "Only when survival was
at stake did these spiritual factions forget their differences to unite
in a common cause," he states in his introduction.
To assure full understanding of Polish Jewry's historic role, Rabbi
Rabinowitz traces the earliest history of the settlement of Jews in
Poland, taking the reader back to 1264, when "Boleslaw the Pious of
Great Poland (1247-1279) granted the Jews inviolability of person
and property."
The author asserts that "Polish Jewry wholeheartedly associated
itself with the rebirth of Poland and shared the spirit of the national
anthem: 'Poland is not lost forever while our lives remain; what the
foe by force did sever, force shall regain."
But there ensued a time when wrongs committed against Jewry
compelled a fight for minority rights. From the free nations of the
world came appeals in defense of the Jews who were faced with
obstacles, with discriminations. There were protests against pogroms
that took place in 1919, and Rabbi Rabinowicz discusses the factual
conditions as they related to the report that was issued on behalf
of the American investigating commission that was headed by Henry
Morgenthau Sr. Condemning the latter's report Rabbi Rabinowicz
writes:
"Since Morgenthau's whitewashing document was based on his desire
for Jewish assimilation rather than on actual facts, it was completely at
variance with the report of June 2, 1919, of the American envoy Gibson, who
stated that 'the present anti-Semitic campaign abroad is largely based on
agitation fomented outside Poland.'"
Then came a British report refuting the charge that the Jews
were. Bolsheviks. "The position of the Jews was in no way improved
by Anglo-American missions, but at least the emissaries proved that
the conscience of the civilized world was troubled."
The subsequent analyses of Polish Jewry's history evaluate the
spiritual and cultural aspects of the life of our people in Poland, the
struggles that ensued for security and for economic stability. Evidence
is offered that the Jews of Poland did not receive their just due in
grants for their schools. In Cracow, for example, where Jews were 25
per cent of the population, they received 7,625 zlotys for Jewish
institutions out of a total allocation of 23,660,000 zlotys.
There is an interesting chapter, "The Fires of Hassidism,"
well illustrated, which describes the strength of that movement.
There is a full evaluation of the spiritual life in Poland, the
Jewish literary creations, the work of YIVO, Jewish accomplish-
ments in art and the theater, in synagogues, schools and in cr
munal efforts.
But there were the ever-increasing discriminations, the bigotr,
against which Jews had to fight, the threatening anti-Shehitah
the starvation, the sufferings endured by children. "Only the dissolu-
tion of the Seym during the Czechoslovakian crisis of Sept. 13, 1938"
prevented the adoption of anti-Shehitah measures, and Shehitah was
abolished by the Nazis Oct. 26, 1939, "a sinister step in their calculated
program of total annihilation."
Jews were loyal to Poland, but the Poles sought to get rid of them. Rabbi
Rabinowicz quotes Israel Zangwill who said the Poles. "beggars on horse-
back," regarded the Jews as "aliens," "outsiders," "surplus citizens." Sholem
Asch is quoted: "Never would Hitler have dared to select one people for
annihilation had not the road been prepared for him by all Idnds and degrees
of anti-Semites All who have prepared this ground of hatred towards the
Jews and other races are exactly as responsible for the bestial slaughter in
Poland as Hitler and his clique. Hitler only gathers the fruit of their well-
planted seed." The anti-Semitic Poles emerge as the planters of such seeds
of hatred.
Rabbi Rabinowicz's book describes the creative and the tragic
elements in Polish Jewish history. He has written an excellent con-
cluding chapter describing the lives and works of Polish Jewry's pillars
Chofetz Hayyim, Chayim Ozer Grodzenski, Menahem Ziemba, Rabbi
Meir Shapiro, Rabbi Aaron Lewin, Janusz Korczak, Moses Schoor,
Meir Balaban, Dr. Isaac Schipper, Isaac Gruenbaum, Szymon S.
Askenazy, Dr. Osias Thor', Henryk Erlich, Leon Reich, Hillel
Victor Alter and others. There are important annotations and an
excellent glossary — all of which combine to make this an important
work delineating properly Polish Jewry's history until the outbreak
of World War II.