THE JEWISH NEWS

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

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

Asso ciation.

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

SIDNEY SHMARAK

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Advertising Manager

Business Manager

CHARLOTTE HYAMS

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the .3rd day of Kislev, 5726, the following scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Gen. 25:19-28:9; Prophetical portion: Mal. 1:1-2:7.

Licht benshen, Friday, Nov. 26, 4:46 p.m.

VOL. XLVIII, No. 14

Page 4

Nov. 26, 1965

Genocide Convention Must Be Ratified

The great calamity that resulted from Bar Association should have stood in the
Nazi rule inspired the late Dr. Raphael way of the U.S. Senate's positive approach to
Lemkin to coin the term genocide and to the issue. Nevertheless, there is on record
advocate the adoption of a United Nations a statement by Charles W. Tillott, chairman
policy to outlaw heinous crimes of mass of the American Bar Association's section of
international and comparative law, who said:
murder of peoples.
"The Genocide Convention is neces-
On Dec. 9, 1948, the UN adopted the
sary
because, under the Nuremberg law,
Genocide Convention. Since then, 67 states
Genocide is not an international crime if
ratified it. Soviet Russia is among the na-
not committed in connection with or dur-
tions that approved the convention, but Great
ing war. America and civilization general-
Britain hesitated and the United States
ly are calling for a solution of the problem
Senate has refused to act on it.
of peace through the instrumentality of
Last week's British decision to approve
world
legislative processes.
the Genocide Convention may have broken
the ice and may result in speedy action by The World Jewish Congress has inaugu-
other governments, including our own, to rated a campaign to induce speedy action by
provide assurance that the world's powers the United States Senate to ratify the Geno-
will consolidate their efforts to prevent the cide Convention. It is hoped, in view of Great
recurrence of anything akin to Nazism. Britain's action, that this drive will bring
It is most unfortunate that the American prompt results.

The Crimes and That 'Something to Forget

Influences of Yiddish Theater
/ Evaluated in Dr. Lifson's Book

"The Yiddish Theater in America" by David S. Lifson, published
a labor
by Thomas Yoseloff (11 E. 36th, NY16), is unquestionably
Few French newspapers gave much space asia "T 4" trial in Frankfurt and the expose of love. The author, a professor of English, is a native New Yorker.
He has devoted most of his interests to the theater, has written and
to the trial in Paris of Jacques Vasseur, who of the murder of forced laborers at Bonn.
had already been sentenced to death in
This indicates the desire of West German produced plays, and the material incorporated in his book presents
has
absentia, before he was caught and placed on authorities not to yield to pressures against him as perhaps the best informed man on the subject on which he
written
this
650-page,
interestingly
illustrated,
volume.
trial again, but one of the newspapers that the continuation of the prosecutions. In the
Writers and players are described in this volume. The great per-
is taking note of it commented editorially that meantime, the charge has been hurled at the
dominated the Yiddish stage, the men who prepared
sonalities
the events again being revealed — about East Germans that former Nazis continue in texts that who
drew attention not only in the Jewish but in other com-
French collaborationists with the Nazis — the service of the German Soviet Zone munities, the literary and drama clubs that were influenced by the
"is something we want to forget."
regime; that administration in the zone is Yiddish stage, the art that was part of the era of Yiddish theatrical
That is why there is an increasing, almost "riddled with former National Socialists," influence—these are among the many factors evaluated by Dr. Lifson,
as indicated in a publication compiled by the
Delineating the historic background of the Yiddish theater,
overwhelming, sentiment in many other areas West
Berlin Investigating Committee of Free
its roots, its cultural influences, Dr. Lifson has written a history
against the continuation of the Nazi criminals' Jurists. The names of 243 former Nazis
that must be rated as one of the finest additions to the study of
the role of Yiddish in American and world Jewish communities.
trials. The elder Germans are especially appears in the list published by this com-
It is pointed out that "the Yiddish theater in a short time had
anxious to see an end to such trials — and it mittee.
grown to be a potent force in the American theater," and Dr.
to
Thus,
while
aiming
to
forget,
the
exposes
is no wonder: there is that urgent desire
Lifson charges that John Corbin, when he described the influence
continue and the crimes are revealed anew
of the Yiddish theater upon the American stage as "corrosive,
blot out the recollections of the crime.
in the serious effort to keep the recollections
vitriolic, animated by the spirit of a separate minority," was
Nevertheless, a number • of trials are of the horrors alive, to make certain that any-
uttering anti-Semitic sentiments.
beginning anew. There is the Tarnopol Trial thing akin to Nazism will not be repeated
On the other hand, Dr. Lifson refers to the review of H. Leivick's
of 11 defendants at Stuttgart Assizes, who are again.
"Rags" by the critic Gilbert Seldes, who had written that he believes
charged with the crimes in the Galician area
The guilt of the East Germans in their that Jewish plays "take root on a soil and grow . . . because they
of Tarnopol, the chief defendant being the indifference to the status of the former Nazis are essentially of the soul of man, a noble and superior being with
former SS officer Hermann Mueller. Other may be due to the predominance of influence an infinite contempt for everything except the life of the spirit."
Dr. Lifson's is not only the history of the theater: it also is a
trials which have either begun or are
exerted by the former Nazis in the East who's
who of the men in the Yiddish theater, and his biographical
preparation include the one at Osnabrueck, German Zone.
sketches that accompany the evaluations of the plays by Sholem Asch,
where members of the "Adolf Hitler" SS
As long as the criminals are at large, the Abraham Goldfaden, Jacob Gordin, David Pinski and scores of others,
Bodyguard will be charged'-with the murder
of many Italian Jews; the Sator Trial at prosecutions are vital as an aim to keep the emerge of great value to students of Jewish history in America. Lifson
The audiences, too, are under scrutiny, and since the
Wuerzburg, where evidence will be heard of abhorrence of Nazism alive. It is much more
leads up to the current tragic decline of Yiddish theater, the
the murder of Jews in White Russia and vital that the "something to forget" should history
comments
on types of audiences are equally valuable. Thus, the
Eastern Poland in 1941 and 1942; the euthan- be a matter to prevent from recurring.
reader learns about fluctuations of audience interests, and an inter-
esting comment is that "at the height of the art movement in the
early 1920s in the Yiddish theater, many non-Jewish devotees of art
in the theater flocked to Second Avenue while the most cultured
Jews in the United States sought the Gentile drama, and the 'average
Many parents who are deeply concerned of children whose parents either can not or audience for the Yiddish product was—average.' "
will
not
move
out
of
their
present
into
newer
about the educational opportunities that are
The activities of many dramatic clubs form part of the story.
being afforded by the civic and Jewish com- areas. This group of parents desires to retain
The author describes the effectiveness of the Folksbuehne that
homes
where
they
now
reside
and
to
assure
munities are facing increasingly mounting
was farmed by the Workmen's Circle. He shows how many clubs
served as laboratories for aspirants to the theater. He reviews
challenges. The situations created by changes the continuation of the educational processes
the work of Artef, of theatrical groups formed by leftist elements
in established neighborhoods have been ac- of their children. As part of it, there is an
earnest
desire
to
retain
neighborhood
stand-
and of other theatrical efforts in Jewish ranks. Much emphasis
companied in some instances by a lowering
is most naturally placed on the influence of Maurice Schwartz
of standards and by the reduction in the ards and to avoid flight based on unfortunate
and his Art Theater.
spread of fears because of an incoming new
sizes of Jewish classes.
Others whose great roles are under scrutiny are Jacob Ben-Ami,
element in the population in the northwest
The Detroit Board of Education is tackl-
as well as Menasha Skulnik, the Thomashefskys, the Adlers, Paul
area.
ing the problem of standards, and it is sin-
That area already has been seriously Muni (Weisenfeld) and scores of others.
cerely to be hoped that ways will be found
The role played by the Yiddish press in the advancement of the
effected,
as is indicated in the reduction of
to elevate the aspirations of those who are
Yiddish
theater is of equal importance.
coming into better neighborhoods so that classes in Hebrew schools, the changes in
Dr. Lifson expresses the view that had he lived, Maurice
synagogue
planning,
the
exploration
of
new
our school system may be highly rated.
Schwartz "would have attempted to establish a Yiddish Art Theater
sights for Jewish houses of worship.
in Israel" because he "considered the future prospects of a Yiddish
In the Jewish area, there is this emerging
But this trend hasn't gone so far as to
art theater group in New York as no longer feasible."
problem: classes in the. Hebrew schools that
"There is the belief," Dr. Lifson adds, "that the Yiddish theater
to
impel
the
remaining
population
area
also
were hitherto quite sizable have begun to
on in plays by and about Jews in English on the American stage."
shrink. And there is no predicting how much seek flight. On the contrary, since there is a lives
Emphasizing that he did not write his book "as a memorial to a
strong
desire
to
remain
where
they
now
are
faster the reductions will be as time pro-
deceased institution," he declares:
gresses. Thus, a class of 15 today might be situated, these northwest residents should be
"Underlying the triumphs and defeats of the Yiddish drama on
given
encouragement
to
solidify
their
posi-
one of 12 tomorrow and 10 a month later.
the American and world stages were the cultural achievements of the
This can be done primarily by those Jews. If the Yiddish drama has run its course and succumbed to
This creates a serious problem affecting tion.
residing there. If they evidence unity they overwhelming pressures, it has left a heritage of dramatic art forms
the very life of some smaller schools, and can assure retention of the present status of in
literature and styles of directing, acting and scenic effects. Yiddish
since newly-settled areas may have too few integration and continuation of the present drama cannot be confined to parochial nationalism, dismissed as a
children to qualify for transportation by status. It is urgent that every available en- dying or transient culture within a more embracing culture, nor
school buses, the matter of survival of the couragement should be provided by the entire shelved in a museum. The universality of this art continues to manifest
itself in the American theater, of which it was such a significant part."
schools is very serious.

.

Local Changes: Continuing Challenges

Much more serious,_ however, is the status

community in that direction.

