Memory of Pola nd Community
Spurs One-Man World Mission
D
By CHARLOTTE HYAMS
Gedaliah Shaiak's life is wrapped
up in a few hundred pages of
foolscap paper.
For them he has given up his
job, left his wife behind so he
might wander the world in search.
He has aged more in the past two
years than in the previous 10 —
all for an 18-year-old mission: to
tell the story of a murdered Jewish
community.
The Jews of the duchy of
Lowitch in the province of Mazo-
wia, Poland, had
a heritage as rich
as any who could
trace back to
the 13th Century.
Sholem Asch
wrote about it;
Opatoshu wrote
about it. Anyone
who knew any
Yiddish at all
knew the ex-
Shaiak
pression "Ich hob
dich in Lowitch," which even
freely translated can mean almost
anything you want it to.
A fortress of bishops, Lowitch
sent its Jews away in the 15th
Century and allowed them back in
the 18th. The Nazis sent its Jews
away in the 20th Century. And they
never came back.
Shaiak was one of the few
lucky ones. With some forged
papers, some nerve and the
knowledge that he had nothing
to lose, he escaped over the
border into Russia. From there,
the road becomes a world atlas
—Siberia, the Middle East, Eur-
ope, Africa, Australia and, now,
America.
The 60-year-old Melbourne jour-
nalist steers around questions
aimed at his own life, not because
he is a writer who prefers to ask
rather than answer questions, but
because "all that really matters
is the book."
"The book" is a dream born in
Palestine. In Palestine next May,
it will reach fruition: a 12"x9",
500-page illustrated testimony in
three languages—English, Yiddish
and Hebrew—to the life and de-
struction of Lowitch.
In it are samples of classic liter-
ature, all of which mention Lo-
witch; photos, histor y, mono-
graphs, a lexicon of its famous
sons—and they are legion; illustra-
tions by some of the world's great
artists.
The book has brought Shaiak
to America, just as it brought
him to Australia 16 years ago.
A playwright, poet and author
("In the Shadow of the Swas-
tika") of some note in Palestine,
he left his home for Australia
because he learned there was a
Lowitch survivor living there
who could supply him with docu-
ments from the Polish commun.
ity.
Shaiak's trip was fruitless: his
source died before he could get
hold of the documents, and the
material was sent to the Yivo
Scientific Institute in New York.
But he stayed in Melbourne, be-
coming editor of the Jewish Post.
Now he is in the United States
for the last chapter in his mission.
Shaiak leaves Detroit for New
York this afternoon. (While here
he was the guest of the Irving Her-
melins, 10729 Santa Rosa.) The
documents are waiting for him, at
last, at Yivo.
Nevertheless, the journey to
America has been a heart-break-
ing one for Shaiak. In Detroit, as
in Honolulu, Los Angeles and Chi-
cago, he sought out his country-
men, hoping for their support. But
Lowitch was behind them, and
they didn't have his consuming de-
sire to tell the story of a once liv-
ing, breathing community.
"If it weren't for my landsleit in
Melbourne," he said," "there
would be no book. Their faith has
kept me going."
Shaiak did say the Polish gov-
ernment invited him to use their
material. He turned them down.
"I don't want to be obligated to
them. I must be free to say what
I will."
The 150 surviving families in
Australia, mostly common
tradesmen, have contributed
$10,000 to publish the book. A
committee has helped him com-
pile the great mass of material.
In Israel, too, there has been
Dry Cleaned
enthusiasm for his work among
and
the 200 families from Lowitch.
Finished
"But they are poor, hard-working
people; they can't be expected to
With Decorator Fold
contribute much."
Removed, Measured and
Rehung to Your Satisfaction
It is in Israel, though, that the
book will be published. "That is as
Commercial — Residential
it should be," said Shaiak, "There
it started, and there it must end."
Phone for Free Estimates
Already the original manuscript
has been sent out and is waiting
for the go-ahead to set and print.
There is a photocopy of every
page of that manuscript in a vault
8914 W. 7 Mile Rd.
in Melbourne. "If anything hap-
pens to me," Shaiak said, "the
UN 1-6688
work will go on. It must go on. The
A11111.1111111111.1111r story must be told."
I
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MISS SANDRA STILLMAN
Mr. and Mrs. Norman J. Still-
man of Noel Dr., Southfield, an-
nounce the engagement of their
daughter Sandra to William Ellen-
stein, son of Mrs. Shirley Ellen-
stein of Cranbrook Dr. and the
late Mr. Robert Ellenstein.
The bride-elect attended Michi-
gan State University, receiving her
bachelor and masters degrees at
Wayne State University.
Her fiance is a graduate of the
University of Michigan and is
presently enrolled in the Detroit
College of Law, where he is affi-
liated with Tau Epsilon Rho Fra-
ternity.
A July wedding is planned.
Three Important
WSU Press Books
The late Dr. Alfred A. Weinstein,
after practicing as a surgeon for
several years in Atlanta, joined
the U. S. Army in 1940, was sent
to the Pacific, was captured by the
Japanese before the fall of Cor-
regidor and was a prisoner of war
in a Japanese camp for three and
a half years.
He was honored for aid to fellow-
prisoners and for thwarting
Japanese schemes, and the award
from the government commended
him . for being "instrumental in sav-
ing the lives of many comrades."
His story is told in one of the
most impressive volumes depicting
war experiences. It was published
after the war by Macmillan under
the title "Barbed-Wire Surgeon"
and has just been reissued as a
paperback by Langer Books (26
W. 47th, NY 36).
The late Dr. Weinstein's story
is thorough and it will no doubt
serve as an effective evaluation
of the life of prisoners of war
and their relations with the Japan-
ese. There is realism in this drama-
tic description, and it covers not
only the area of the prison camp
and the life under the Japanese
but also the human relations. When
Japanese were human and treated
prisoners well, they received credit
for it, but these were the excep-
tional cases.
"Barbed-Wire Surgeon" is a per-
sonal account of an heroic ex-
perience, and Dr. Weinstein's
literary effort will be inseparable
from the most valuable literary
efforts about World War II.
Lafayette Clinic monographs in
psychiatry will be published by
"If fame is to come only after
Wayne State University Press, and
the first in the series, just issued, death, I am in no hurry for it."
is "Community and Schizophrenia — Martial.
— An Epidemiological Analysis,"
by Dr. H. Warren Dunham, WSU
For the HY Spot
professor of sociology, director of
Of Your Affair
epidemiological research at the
Music by
clinic.
Concentrating on mental disease,
this volume seeks to determine
And His Orchestra
whether its severity varies among
varied types and classes.
"Our analysis," - Dr. Dunham
Vivian Dee Malorious became
the bride of Harvey A. Rubenstein
in a recent ceremony at Sinai
Temple, Westwood, Calif.
The bride is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Obie Malorious of
University City, Mo., and her hus-
band is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Nathan D. Rubenstein of Charl-
ton Sq., Southfield.
Following a wedding trip to
Palm Springs, the couple is liv-
ing in Los Angeles.
Yeshivah PTA Board
A board meeting of the Yeshivath
Beth Yehudah Parent-Teachers As-
sociation will be held 9 p.m. Wed-
nesday at the home of Rabbi and
Mrs. David N. Cohen, 24511 Hard-
ing, Oak Park. Plans for the
March 1 annual dinner will be dis-
cussed.
TRADITION! TRADITION!
SID and
NAOMI SIEGEL
M OVIES, SINCE 1946
states, "failed to establish any rela-
tionship between types of schizop-
hrenic symptoms, intensity of
schizophrenic symptoms and two
types of schizophrenia within the
community and social class struc-
tures. The data specifically reject
the hypothesis that the acute type
would show significant variations
in incidence between different
types of communities, while the
chronic type would not. A com-
parable finding results when these
two types of schizophrenia are
analyzed by social class. The class
distribution of each type is very
similar to the class distribution
of the total schizophrenic group."
Another volume just issued by
WSU Press is "The Imagination
of Loving: Henry James's Legacy
to the Novel," by Naomi Lebowitz,
who is an English instructor at
Washington University.
Also published by WSU Press
is a guide for instructors and
trainees, "Licensing of Family
Homes in Child Welfare" by Lela
N. Costin a n d Jeannette R.
Gruener. It is a study in the foster
homes' standards and a scrutiny
of their adequacy.
A record total of 257 foods and
household products received rab-
binical endorsement as kosher
through the kosher certification
program of the Union of Orthodox
Jewish Congregations of America
during 1965, it was announced in
a year-end summary of activities
of the UOJCA Kosher Certifica-
tion Service by Moses I. Feuer-
stein of Brookline, Mass., UOJCA
president, and Nathan K. Gross
of New York, UOJCA national
vice-president and chairman of the
UOJCA Joint Commission for
Kosher Certification.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
24—Friday, December 3, 1965
WEDDINGS • BAR MITZVAHS
(Hy Utchenik)
•
HARVEY RUBENSTEIN
MRS.
Hy Herman
257 Kosher Products
"Speedy Recovery," "Sympathy" or "Bon Voyage"
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R ubenstein-Malorious
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