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 DRAPERIES YOUNG'S CLEANERS GIFT BASKETS day et 6eteeti more important than what you say of sympathy, best wishes or congratu- lations ore much more effective with a gift basket that speaks for you . . in an eye-appealing, taste-tempt- ing and satisfying manner. We are Michigan's leader in GIFT BASKET PREPARATION There must be a reason!! Call 862-6800.. god CHARGE m MIT WEITr. J r SODk 3205 W. McNICHOLS RD. (at Wildemer0 DETROIT 21, MICHIGAN "f ,..411, 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" is how you say it. Expressions R ubenstein-Malorious Sandra Stillman to Wed Dr. Weinstein's William Ellenstein POW Novel Issued Vows Said in California as a Paperback CALL 342-9424 LI 3-3400 Distinctive Ceremonies a Specialty: [ IM111- 0■ 11.0.1 ■0■1■ 111.11111 ....0 ■111.0■11.4■01 =0.0 __J/ai e2)reJJero For that distinctive Hair Style with YO U in mind . . • 706 N. Woodward, Birmingham • 2507 W. Maple Rd., Birmingham • Kingsley Inn Hotel, Bloomfield Hills k.41 .1 MI 4-5166 M1 7-0059 MI 6-5323 ■ -̀ 470 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR NEW HOURS FOR YOUR HOLIDAY GIFT SHOPPING OPEN DAILY MON. 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