Thorough Research Evidenced in Bramsted's
Analysis of Nazi. Propaganda. Minister Goebbels

Fuehrer on this dismal path.
His ice-cold hatred of the Jews
found ever new reasons for
squeezing them out of existence."
In his brilliant review of Goeb-
bels' activities, Dr. Bramsted ex-
presses the view that "Goebbels'
cold contempt for the Jews might
well have been rooted in a feeling
of inferiority towards a group
which he regarded as both un-
cannily successful and utterly
alien. It ended with the fanaticism
of a man who told himself and
millions of others daily that the
Jews were a pest which had to be
eliminated. But personal feelings
were of secondary importance to
Goebbels compared with the cal-
culated drives of the propagandist
who saw in the constant spreading
of an anti-attitude the guarantee
of more and more power for the
Nazi elite."
Goebbels' addresses instigating
to hatred of Jews, his role in the
April 1, 1933, boycott, his constant
threats even after the mass ar-

The literary output of works
dealing with the holocaust, with
the Nazis and Nazism and with the
era of destruction under Hitler,
has been immense since the end of
World War II and is mounting.
Much has been written about Goeb-
bels. Emerging as one of the most
impressive and most thorough
studies of the Nazi propaganda
minister is the Michigan State
University volume "Goebbels and
National Socialist Propaganda
1925-1945" by Ernest K. Bramsted.
The author, whose work of re-
search elevates his study of Joseph
Goebbels to high rank in historical
analyses, shows how, in a con-
versation with Goebbels in August,
1941, Adolf Hitler "claimed with
satisfaction that his prophecy about
the annihilation of the Jews in the
war was coming true" and added
"but I shall not rest or be satisfied
until we have exacted the last
consequence from Jewry."
Dr. Bramsted states that Goeb-
bels "did his best to push the

rests, his effort, for foreign con-
sumption, "to present the National
Socialist anti-Jewish measures as
nothing but the result of sharp
unjustified Jewish provocation," his
description of world Jewry as
"Communism with the mask off —
all were part of schemes to incite
to anti-Semitism both at home and
abroad.
Thus, Dr. Bramsted shows
that there was "a sharp discrep-
ancy between Goebbels' malevo-
lent glee in ransacking of Jew-
ish shops during the Kristallnacht
(Nov. 10, 1938) and his brazen
denials of them in public." And
his aims included the encourage-
ment of anti-Semitism abroad
and the exertion of every means
to bring about a split in the
democracies over the Jewish is-
sues. Dr. Bramsted describes it
as "astonishing ignorance" on
Goebbels' part to have believed
that the comments that appeared
in the foreign press on the mass-
annihilation meant that his

Judah Ha-Levi Poet of Prophecy

TOLEDO IN /085, SAW THE

THE GOLDEN AGE OF SPA/N- /orN
TO /3 TN CeNTI/R/E-S- MARKED A

BIRTH OF ✓UDAH HA-LEIS/,
GREATEST HEBREW POET OF
THE MIDDLE AGES.

RICH FLOWERING OF <JEWISH
LITERATURE ANL> SCIENCE.

AS A youTy, <11/0.411 STUDIED
TALMUD, ARAB LITERATURE AND
MEDIC/NE.

MY OF
815 CAY

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

SPAN

LISBON

'4,,

TOLEDO 1")"

° SEVILLE

OBRALTAR.

\)\ -cERRAA44,,

11\

SEA

iv

HE BECAME. A PHYSIC/A/1631 T I//5
FIRST LOVE WAS HEBREW POETRY

011 LORD,' WHERE SHALL I FIND
7HEE? RIDDEN AND EYAZTEP
is TNY PLAce,.,

A FELLOW-POET AND /WI/ OLDER
MeIN, MOSES 1BN-EZRA,54/0:

.TN /MO, HE ser our ay
BOAT TO EGYPT: 77/EN TO TYRE,
DAMASCUS, AND JERUSALEM.,,

-eDVAAscUs

ERUSALEM

IVE DREAMT ONLY OF A Z/oN

AEsioREP To OUR PEOPLE.

LEGEND SAYS THAT AS HE
APPROACHED THE WAILING
WALL TO PRAY-.

MS SONGS ANO POEMS STILL
INSPIRE GS. His LyR/cs-

ARE /N OUR PRAYER BOOK,

AND WE sr/LL REVERE THE NAME
OF ✓044H IA-LEVI, OFTEN CALLED
SWEET SINGER OP z/oN/

This cartoon is reproduced from "A Picture Parade of Jewish History" by Morris Epstein,
published by Shengold Publishers, New York, by special arrangement with the author and publishers.

Dr. Epstein's accompanying essay
describing the life of Judah Ha-
Levi follows:
It occasionally happens that a
man and his time form a perfect
union. Genius, born in the right
age, readily prospers. Shakespeare
is a case in point, for this un-
equalled writer of plays lived in a
period which appreciated exciting
poetic speech.
Still another example is Judah
Ha-Levi.
In the glorious procession of
Jewish statesmen, scholars, scien-
tists, and explorers who flourished
during the Golden Age of Spain,
these was no lovelier spirit than
Judah Ha-Levi, the physician, phi-
losopher, and above all, the great-
est Hebrew poet between biblical
and modern times.
Educated under the famed tal-
mudist, Rabbi Isaac Alfasi, Judah
mastered Hebrew as well as Arabic
and Greek philosophy. He then
studied medicine, but his passion
was for poetry.

He poured out poems for festive
occasions, wedding songs, riddles,
and epigrams. As he matured, his
poetry became more serious and
moving. His .words breathe the
love of God and man. He expresses
his 'longing for Zion and the hope
that Palestine will one day belong
again to the Jewish people.
Jewish suffering during the First
Crusade and the weakening of faith
made him rally to the defense of
Judaism in the Kuzari, an account
of the conversion to Judaism of
Bulan, king of a faraway people
called the Khazars.
Then, no longer content to sing
of Zion, he yearned to make the
pilgrimage to Palestine. When
friends tried to discourage him, he
said, "Shall a body of clay stop a
soul urged on by eagle's wings?"
At the age of 55, he embarked
on the perilous journey. He was
wonderfully received wherever he
stopped, but he would not be de-
taMed. His eyes were fixed on
Jerusalem.

'ledge of what was going on behind
the scenes — in mass murder."
Then he asserted:
"Looking back it is safe to
argue that the omnipresence of
propaganda and the constant re-
petition of its slogans was
strength as well as its weakness
Had the Third Reich lasted
years instead of 12, those features
might have been accepted by
practically everyone; but probably
a dozen years was too short a time
to obliterate entirely in the older
generation the memories of the
freedom of thought and of the
plurality of opinions which had
existed in Germany before 1933.
Nor did this span suffice for a
younger generation to reach matur-
ity and to take over leading na-
tional positions!'
Students of the war era and
of Nazism, and of events in Ger-
many subsequent to the war, will
wonder whether the thinking
dating back before 1933 really
survived or left an impact, or
whether there will soon be a
complete wiping out of the in-
fluences left by Goebbels. But
the warning of a difference that
might have existed had the Third
Reich lasted 40 rather than 12
years should be taken seriously.
Dr. Bransted's is a very serious
work and a most informative one.
It is a history of the Nazi propa-
ganda campaigns, of the man who
engineered them, of the evil forces
he created. It is without doubt one
of the most important works pro-
duced about the Nazi era and about
one of the most cruel Nazis of them
all. —P. S.

MoscowPermits Trickle of Jews
to Join relatives in U. S. A.

HOW CAN A BOY SO
YOUNG BEAR SUCH A
WEIGHT OF WISDOM?

How MEN CAN I TASTE wlarrEAT
lioW CAA/ P000 70 A-144",eX SWEET?

propaganda was bearing fruit.
"During the war," Dr. Bramsted
states, "the constant anti-Semitic
note in Goebbels' articles clearly
served a double purpose. First it
pinned on the Jews the responsibil-
ity for the war — 'the great con-
spiracy' theme; secondly it should
make the people approve of, or at
least acquiesce in, the anti-Jewish
measures of defamation and de-
portation which the Nazi author-
ities carried out ruthlessly between
1941 and 1944."
One of the club-footed prop-
aganda minister's major aims was
to make Berlin a city without Jews.
There is an interesting note
on the spurrious "Protocolsof
the Elders of Zion" which Goeb-
bels regarded "as a very suitable
instrument of propaganda though
in 1943 he seems to have doubted
their authenticity." Hitler regard-
ed them as authentic but Goeb-
bels is presented as having been
more cautious.
There is an interesting note that
emerges as a warning in Dr.
Bramsted's conclusions. He states
that the over-all murderous impact
of Goebbels' propaganda is not
realized or admitted, that: "There
can be no doubt that Goebbels'
half pathologically genuine and
half calculated anti-Semitism gave
to his propaganda campaigns a
severity and a force which imbued
millions with dislike and hatred
of the Jews. Coupled with the
fear of the Gestapo it also blunted
the conscience of innumerable
others causing them to acquiesce in
mass persecution and indirectly —
though often without a real know-

Whether he actually reached the
City of David is shrouded in mys-
tery. According to legend, he came
at last to the Western Wall of the
ancient Temple. As he kneeled to
pray and sing his "Ode to Zion,"
a passing Arab horseman rode him
down and killed him.
The "Ode to Zion" was the last
poem he wrote. Eight centuries
have passed, but it still fills us
with sorrow and inspires us with
hope. It is recited in synagogues
on Tisha Be-Av, the day that com-
memorates the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem.
Here are a few lines of his poem
"Longing for Jerusalem," trans-
lated by Emma Lazarus:
0 city of the world, with sacred

splendor blest,

My spirit bends to thee from out

the far-off West.
Had I an eagle's wing, straight
would I fly to thee,
Moisten thy holy dust with wet
cheeks streaming free.

NEW YORK (JTA) — The So-
viet Union was reported here to
have relaxed somewhat its policies
on banning emigration from the
USSR, having issued exit visas to
50 Jews going to the United States
alone this year, it was reported
here last weekend.
According to a Moscow dispatch
to the New York Herald Tribune,
30 Soviet Jews were given per-
mission thus far in 1965 to visit
the United States, while 20 other
Jews from the USSR were allowed
this year to leave their Russian
homes for permanent residence in
this country.
Nearly all of the 20, it was in-
dicated, are aged persons joining
relatives in the U.S. (A very small
number of aged Soviet Jews were
also permitted to emigrate to Is-
rael to join their families there.)
Other dispatches received here
from Moscow reported an article
in Izvestia, official daily organ of
the Soviet government, claiming
that anti-Semitism is "rampant" in
the _United States.
Using outdated information
which had been published by the
Anti-Defamation League of Bnai
Brith, and reporting isolated anti-
Semitic incidents of several years
ago as if they had all just oc-
curred, :the Izvestia article at-
tempted to bolster its contentions
in such a way as to "prove" that
swastikas are being painted now
on many American synagogues
and that social discrimination
against Jews in the U.S. is wide-
spread currently.
Meanwhile, it was reported
that some 6,000 persons attended
services at Moscow's Central
Synagogue during the High Holy
Days, according to Jewish tour-
ists who returned from the So-
viet Union.
These tourists report that Rosh
Hashanah was celebrated "in a
festive atmosphere" and that many
young people were among the
Jews who filled the synagogue and
its surrounding square.
Travelers returning from Mos-
cow also report that the Soviet
government has recently been

bringing pressure to bear on tour-
ists in an effort to get them to
express favorable impressions of
their visits to Russia.
According to these visitors, So-
viet newspapermen met them and
tried to get them to make state-
ments for the press and radio to
the effect that there is no censor-
ship imposed on news reporting
in the Soviet Union.
The returning visitors said that
the situation regarding Jewish
burials was deteriorating and that
it was difficult to obtain a permit
to bury Jewish dead in the Jewish
cemeteries still existing in suburbs
of Moscow.
In some instances, the tourists
reported, the families of the de-
ceased Jews had been informed i --
that the dead relative would have
to be buried in a mixed section,
sometimes between two graves
with crosses over them. This situa-
tion is of great concern to many
Jews, the visitors stressed.

Russia Opens Talks
With Israel on Trade

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Soviet
Embassy here opened negotiations
with Israel for the purchase of
$1,500,000 worth of Israel textiles
and medicines. The purchases will
be made in the context of last
year's Israel-USSR a g r e e m en t,
under which the Moscow govern-
ment sold to Israel some Russian
properties in Israel • valued at
$4,500,000. Under that pact, Israel
was to pay one-third in cash, a
third in services and the remain-
der in goods. -
Official circles in Israel ex-
pressed the hope that these negoti-
ations may lead the way to- the
resumption of normal trade re-
lations between the two countries.
The Soviet Union had been sup-
plying Israel with oil in return for
citrus products but rescinded the
barter agreement in retaliation for
Israel's part in the Sinai Campaign
in 1956.

TiE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
40—Friday, October 15, 1965