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
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
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 17th day of Kislev, 5726, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Gen. 32:4-36:43; Prophetical portion: Hos. 11:7-12:12.
Licht benshen, Friday, Dec. 10, 4:43 p.m.
VOL. XLVIII, No. 16
Page 4
Dec. 10, 1965
Vietnam Crisis and Freedom of Expression
A four-day visit in Vietnam can serve pri-
marily as a gesture, intended by the Jewish
War Veterans' mission, to strengthen the
hands of our government in the serious strug-
gle to assure democratic rule in South Viet-
nam.
Regardless of the result of such missions,
taking into consideration the growing feel-
ing that more serious steps should be taken
to attain peace, the basic result of the cur-
rent controversy is a growing recognition of
the right to criticism.
The initially threatened danger was that
freedom of expression may be curtailed, that
a new form of McCarthyism may emerge
from the Vietnam situation. But both the sin-
cerity of the protesting groups and the
eminence of those who have joined in de-
manding speedy action to end the conflict
have contributed towards the tolerance that
has emerged and the recognition of the right
to differ.
It is this right to protest and to express
views against a government policy that
should lead to an- exerted move in the di-
rection of peace. Concessions will have to be
made, but in the interests of peace they will
be worth it. If an end to the bombing will
serve the cause of peace, it will have to be
attempted very soon.
There are new developments in efforts by
the leading nations to end the conflict. Per-
haps the recalcitrant among the Communists
will yield to pressure and will begin to talk
of an end to bloodshed. Every move in the
direction of peace is to be encouraged and
welcomed.
Meanwhile there is the danger of the
bigots' resort to intolerance and to advocacy
of violence as a reaction against the protesting
elements. College youths who have spoken
against the Vietnam war have been molested..
The withdrawal of an award for Rabbi Roland
Gittelsohn for having endorsed the March on
Washington, by the American Legion, affirms
it. The American Nazis have revived their anti-
Semitic propaganda because a Jewish scholar
was the chief advocate of the recent "March
on Washington" in which many thousands
joined in disapproval of our government's
policies on Vietnam. More of this may be in
the offing, to the detriment of democratic
principles. It is this that must be avoided,
and freedom of expression must be reassured.
Dangers of Rising German Nationalism
Look Magazine's senior editor, J. Robert
Moskin, reviewing and evaluating the current
situation in Germany, describes "the rise of
a new nationalism" as a danger and quotes
many responsible Germans as being "clearly
worried" over the solidity of democracy in
West Germany.
The warning in this review of a grave
issue is that the world, while watching the
Germans building their new bridges, "hopes
they don't fall on their faces"; that while the
industrialists are proudly achieving an "up-
from-the ashes" triumph, they bemoan polit-
ical impotence; that in their dream of form-
er glories they blame Americans for their
troubles.
On this score, Moskin states:
West Germany's leaders frequently blame the
Americans for their troubles. The Germans toler-
ate our domination because they need us. They
believe an American military presence deters the
Russians. Says a right-wing Bavarian politician,
"If America would have to send 15 divisions to
South Vietnam, the Russians would move into
Western Europe."
West German leaders in Bonn accuse Ameri-
cans and their postwar allies of setting policies
that permitted ex-Nazis to climb to high positions
in the government. They say the U.S. secretly
wants German scientists to help Egypt build
rockets in order to counter Nasser's threat to
call in Soviet scientists. They insist that American
Jews forced- West Germany to extend its statute
of limitations, which would have ended the
agony of the war-crime trials—an extension that
the majority of Germans reportedly opposed. They
charged that America presses West Germany to
increased rearmament, not only to defend Europe,
but to limit German capacity to make goods that
will compete in world markets. And they suggest
that America and her allies are in no hurry to
see. Germany reunified into ein Vaterland.
extremists could say, as they did after World War
I, that the democratic leaders failed.
How West Germany's leaders who believe
in democratic principles can keep control for the
long run, in the face of the odds against unifying
Germany, is hard to see. If the impatience for
reunifications continues to grow, the mounting
sense of German pride and nationalism could
again turn into something more dangerous.
There is nothing abnormal about an ener-
getic, proud country wanting to bind up its
wounds and flex its national muscles. But the
German's course record in nationalism has been
shaky ever since Count Otto von Bismarck first
punched his way into Austria and France and
proclaimed the German Reich in the Hall of
Mirrors at Versailles 95 years ago this month.
Since then, the • Germans have never learned to
combine natioalism and a free society.
"We didn't need Ameicans to teach us about
freedom," a Bonn official exclaimed angrily. But
the fact is, Germany has attempted democratic
government only after defeat and humiliation in
two world wars.
The veneer of democracy in West Germany
is thin. Says Conrad Ahlers, "You must never for-
get that Germany is not a democratic country."
Thus, a responsible editor warns us of a
danger that is not diminishing. If anything,
it is growing and must be viewed with the
utmost seriousness. Too many, especially those
in responsible government positions, are in-
clined to ask for forgetfulness and often urge
forgiveness of crimes that caused the exter-
mination of a third of the Jewish people dur-
ing the years of Nazi rule and the murder
of many millions of Christians.
The newest revelations emphasize again
that the occurrences in the 1930s and 1940s
must not be forgotten, that they can not be
forgiven, that the people from whom there
sprung the mass murderers must continually
be reminded of the worst crimes in mankind's
Regarding the solidity of German demo- history. Americans especially should know
cratic idealism, Look's editor quotes Mayor what is transpiring, lest we should be plagued
Willy Brandt of West Berlin and Conrad Ahl- with the emergence of another threat to hu-
ers, editor of Der Spiegel. To quote from manity akin to Nazism.
American aid has helped bring Germany
Moskin's findings:
to its present prosperous state. The friendly
"We don't know how people will react to an
relations with the new Germany will un-
economic crisis," says Brandt. "One could only
really tell if we got into trouble. My hope is we
doubtedly continue. They were emphasized
will not get into trouble." And in Hamburg,
by the late President John F. Kennedy in
Ahlers says the German people are not yet
his assertion while in Germany:: "Ich bin ein
enthusiatic about democracy. In 16 years, they
Berliner." That does not mean that anti-
have never yet transferred power in Bonn from
American sentiments are ever to be tolerated.
one party to another. "It's a new thing and nat.
It is only continually protesting against injus-
tested," he says. "This system is not fit to sur-
tice, by constantly reminding the guilty of
vive a real crisis."
their crimes, that we may hope to be assured
Brandt offers a final warning: "It would be
that the worst in Germanism will not be re-
dangerous if things are left as they are for years
to come." Then the militants, the impatient, the . peated.
Story of Allenby Campaign Told
in History of First World War
The major interest insofar as world conflicts are concerned still
rests on World War II. Yet there is so much to be learned from the
first world war that "The Story of World War I" by Robert Leckie,
adapted for young readers from American Heritage History of World
War I, retains much significance.
Leckie's story contains so many impressive paintings of war
scenes, valuable photographs and maps, that the history is immensely
valuable and impressive.
It is a large book, replete in coverage. The Palestinian angle is
covered and the role of the enigmatic Lawrence of Arabia is described.
Describing the campaign that was conducted by General Edmund
Allenby, who was nicknamed "the Bull" by his soldiers, Leckie tells
how Allenby, in September 1917, "started his army hammering at
Gaza." He was opposed by General Falkenhayn, "the fallen, evil genius
of Verdun," who was rushed from Germany to direct the Turkish
defense. The story relates:
"On Nov. 7, the Turks abandoned Gaza. The British came in and
Allenby rode onward to Jerusalem. A month later Jerusalem sur-
rendered. Thereafter, Allenby's army was invincible. He had 103,000
riflemen against 36,000 for Falkenhayn . . . Algerians, Jews, Indian
Moslems, Negroes joined under Allenby's command to drive the
detested Turks from the Holy Land."
It would have been good to read of the exploits during this
campaign by the Jewish Legion under the direction of Colonel Patterson
and the participation of David Ben-Gurion, the late President of Israel
Itzhak Ben-Zvi, the inspiration of Vladimir Jabotinsky.
is a most impressive pictorial work that
As it stands,
will be welcomed .by the elders as well as the youth for whom it was_,
written. "World War I" is part of the Landmark Giant Series
Random House.
Wholesome Novel: Falstein's
'Laughter on a Weekday'
Louis Falstein was born in Nemiron, in the Ukraine, whence he
fled with his family after the pogroms of 1920. Therefore he is able
to write authoritatively about that little, now defunct, Jewish com-
munity, and his novel, "Laughter on a Weekday," published by Ivan
Obolensky and distributed by World Publishing Co., can be considered
autobiographical.
Aside from being a good story, this novel has the special merit
of excellent description of the life of Jews in small communities in
Russia prior to the first world conflict, an elaboration on conditions
that marked the entrance of the Germans into the area, the actions
of the Russians, the plight of the Jews, their only recourse in search of
safety: emigration.
Furthermore, it links the old with the new, describing the early
years of immigrants in this country, their struggles, their hopes, their
desire to acquire learning and to advance themselves culturally as well
as economically.
The flight from the persecutions in Russia to Chicago, life in
the area of Market Street in the Midwestern city, the struggles and
the high ideals are admirably treated by Falstein.
The review of events that took place prior to the emigration from
the terrors in Russia is like an historical analysis. It is a factual account,
ably recorded, recapitulating forgotten events which nevertheless are
part of the story of the Jew in Russia and of the many obstacles he
had to hurdle in defense of his life.
Already in that era, before Nazism, it was evident that the Jew's
existence was insecure. First the Russians and Ukrainians, then the
Germans, then the Russians again; the the flight—and the oppor-
tunities in America.
Louis Falstein's "Laughter on a Weekday" is a well-told story of
a youth in search of a better life, a youngster's share in the battle for
freedom. It is a wholesome story, marked by scores of deeply moving