Non °mulls Moriar - Work That Lives on After
Resistance in Warsaw Ghetto, Related in book
Exposing Nazi Fl ungerWea pon to IDestroyJews
A vast literature is accumulating
to describe the Hurban—the holo-
caust era of our time. Document-
ary evidence is mounting to de-
scribe the horrors that were per-
petrated by the Nazis and to
expose the cruelties that were
practiced against the Jews and the
subjugated nations.
One of the most deeply-moving
descriptions of the sufferings in the
Warsaw Ghetto, where the emaci-
ated remaining Jewish community
incarcerated by the Nazis which
was reduced from approximately
450,000 — crammed into the nine-
square mile impoverished area of
Warsaw—to 40,000 in 1943, finally
rebelled, rose up against the op-
pressors and staged the historic,
heroic uprising that lasted for an
entire month from Passover until
May 1, 1943, is told in a new vol-
ume by Dr. Leonard Tushnet of
Irvington, N. J.
_ "Uses of Adversity," a study
of starvation in the Warsaw Ghet-
to, published by Yoseloff, is both
a medical document, showing the
effects of starvation on human
beings, and a record of Nazi atroci-
ties.
Dr. Tushnet compares the
Warsaw experiences to the Min-
nesota Experiment during which
a study was made of the effects
of starvation. The latter lasted
24 weeks — but in Warsaw it
was of long duration. In Minne-
sota those who were affected
were few compared with the
mass starvation under the Nazis.
During the dark days of Jewish
sufferings in Warsaw, an heroic
group of doctors sought relief for
the starved. They gathered data on
findings that are considered of im-
measurable value by Dr. Tushnet,
who devotes an entire chapter, with
biographies, to the courageous
medical men. There are 27 such
listings and only seven of them
have miraculously survived death.
Even the most hard-hearted, if
there are such left after they read
the record, will weep when they
read of the struggles, of the pains
endured, of the battle for a morsel
of food, of the swollen bodies re-
sulting from starvation, of the suf-
ferings of the children.
Dr. Tushnet commences his
_study with a Latin quotation:
"Non omnis moriar!" In these
words Horace expressed the poet's
dream that his work would live
on after his death. And in a brief
afterword he quotes Dr. Israel
Milejkowski, who headed the
health department of the Judenrat
—the Jewish advisory council that
was set up by the Nazis. Dr.
Milejkowski (1847-1943) was the
scientist who had "decided to use
the horrors of their daily existence
to -advance medical science, a
touching demonstration of faith
that humane studies would survive
the war. In his biographical sketch
of this brave physician, Dr. Tush-
net states that when Dr. Milejkow-
ski and the other officials of the
Judenrat were liquidated on Jan.
19, 1943; and were loaded into a
freight car for the Treblinka ex-
termination camp, he shouted to
the Nazis:
"Murderers! Our blood will fall
on your heads!"
The afterword quotes Dr. Milej-
kowski as having written in Oc-
tober of 1942:
"And you, Jewish physicians,
you deserve some words of rec-
ognition.
"What can I say to you, my
companions in misfortune, my
dear colleagues? You, too, were
part of the whole. You, too, were
Geoff Taylor learned a great
deal about the Nazis during the
two years he was a prisoner of war
in a German military prison camp.
menaced by forced labor, star- He knows the Nazi tactics, their
vation, deportation, by all the aspirations, the plans they had for
forms of death that stalked our a continuing underground war to
ghetto. And you — you gave the defend "the honor" of Germany.
murder's a bold answer with your He became acquainted with the
work — Non omnis moriar! ' " aims of the German Gestapo, with
(Non orris moriar—"I shall not the Hitler hordes and their ide-
altogether die" — is the Latin ologies and he has incorporated a
quotation from Horace's measure of' that knowledge in his
"Odes").
novel "Court of Honor" published
Dr. Tushnet's remarkable book by Simon and Schuster.
has the special merit of being a
The title, of course, refers to a
combination of scientific reporting
as well as the exposing of the court of dishonor. It depicts a plot,
Nazi crimes. It explains in detail led by a general — Dietrch von
the effects of the famine, and at Bluckau—who was blinded in the
the same time describes ghetto battle of Stalingrad. He expected
life, reveals the horrors and out- to be courtmartialed but instead
lines the resistance, tells how an received high honors from Hitler
illegal smuggler becomes the pro- himself. Then he began to lay
ponent of a great courageous act plans for revival of the Fehme
—the resisting German force, the
to help save lives.
The research and the researchers loyalists' form of knighthood —
provide data that should interest that set up underground elements
all physicians, in view of the sacri- to prepare for a revival of German
fices that were made under ad- strength.
versity — and the book is properly
As Taylor, British-born Austral-
titled "The Uses of Adversity" — ian who now lives in Melbourne,
to aim at a solution of illness explains in a prefatory note, the
stemming from hunger.
main characters in his novel are
Meanwhile the background of the by no means imaginary. The man
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising emerges who took over the organization
in this volume in interesting detail, of the Fehme as proposed by the
as a major historic occurrence.
blinded general was none other
Dr. Tushnet, whose 'Works are than Martin B o r in a n n, Hitler's
based on material gathered out right hand man who was chosen
of a desire to present the story by the Fuehrer to be his succes-
of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance
sor, and who hoped to take control
in its fullest historical merits, is
of the German positions the
gathering all available material
on the subject. He already has moment Hitler died on May 8,
published one book, prior to one 1945. His scheme failed and most
devoted to the family, on the of the group that was sentenced
ghetto uprising, and is working to die by the court of (dis)honor
escaped. But the Fehme scheme
on a third book on the subject.
A physician who was born in itself is described to indicate the
Newark, N.J., in 1908, he is now dangers that lurk from neo-
a general practitioner (this is said Nazism, should such a new move-
is currently going out of fashion") ment assume the german "resist-
ance" position in an effort to re-
in Irvington, N.J. —P.S.
gain strength for the German
military dreamers.
Taylor's novel describes the
trials, and in the course of them
there emerge the interesting char-
acters—the wife of the blind gen-
eral who becomes an alcoholic,
we made as men of the Western lustful for men, who is sentenced
world. Where are the contributions
of Judaism itself to modern civili-
zation? How different the world
would have been if Heine had been
imbued with the spirit of the
psalmist, Marx with the spirit of
"A Psycho-Analytic Dialogue,"
the prophets, and Freud with the
published by Basic Books (404
spirit of the Ba'al Shem."
On the problem of children, Dr. Park, S., N. Y. 16), is the fourth
Heschel writes that it is not the volume of Freud letters. In this
problem of youth but "of our age: volume, the father of the school
denial of transcendence, the de- of psychiatric studies exchanges
creased sensitivity to the impon- letters with one of his star pupils,
derable quality of the spirit, the Dr. Karl Abraham. The Freud-
vapidity of values, emptiness in the Abraham letters are dated 1907-
heart, the collapse of communica- 1926. They were edited by the
tion between the realm of tradi- children of the two distinguished
tion and the inner world of the in- scientists of the mind—Hilda C.
Abraham and Ernst L. Freud.
dividual."
"For the high standard of liv- Freud's letters were translated by
ing the young people enjoy we Bernard Marsh, Abraham's by his
must demand in return a high daughter Hilda.
The introduction by Edward
standard of doing; a high standard
of thinking," he emphasizes.
Glover points to the value of
His "Religion and Race" is an autobiography as it emerges in
appeal for justice, emphasis on the personal letters and as evidenced
principle of equality as "an ideal in the exchange in this volume.
This introduction emphasizes that
of the highest importance."
Idols are smashed in other es- "one of the most striking and in
says and there is a plea for knowl- the historic sense most intriguing
edge, understanding, adherence to threads in the correspondence is
socially just ideals.
spun from the inner history of
In "The White Man on Trial" he the administrative politics of
warns against making religion a psycho-analysis, the gradual un-
mockery in dealing with the Negro folding of personal reactions
problem and "if we remain callous between Freud and Abraham
to the irony of sending satellites on the one hand and on the
to the sky and failing to find em- other those personalities who first
ployment for our fellow citizens..." supported psycho-analysis, some
"Confusion of God and Evil," of whom renounced their allegi-
"The Individual Jew and His Obli- ance and by that means gained a
gations," "Jewish Education," more lasting reputation than they
"Jews in the Soviet Union," "The would otherwise have achieved."
Many of the familiar names are
Vocation of the Cantor," "Prayer
as Discipline" and a number of listed to illustrate the point.
The point is made by Glover
other essay titles point to the vast
spheres that are embraced in the that "the correspondence mani-
philosophic, social and theological fests that 'closeness' of contact
questions dealt with in this vol- by which the Jewish community
is sometimes held to have
ume. It is a most impressive guide
demonstrated its emotional su-
to "human existence," as a subtitle
to "The Insecurity of Freedom" periority over the 'Aryan' com-
munities of Northern and Mid-
indicates.—P.S.
-
Heschel's 'Insecurity of Freedom' Essays
Warn Against Expediency, Inspire Man's Faith
Steeped in faith, formulating a
message for humanitarian, ap-
proaches in personal life and in
the activities of the larger com-
munity, Dr. Abraham J. Heschel,
in a collection of essays published
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, pro-
vides a guide for "human exist-
ence."
In his newest book, "The Inse-
curity of Freedom," Prof. Heschel
shows the way to responsibility of
man to man, of man to society and
to his spiritual duties.
It is appropriate that the opening
essay in this im-
pressive work
should be on the
„subject "Religion
in a Free So-
ciety." In it, he
states that re-
ligion asks little
of contemporary
man, that "it is
ready to off er
comfort, it is
ready to offer ed-
ification" and "to
shatter c all o us-
n e s s." Evaluat-
ing t h e Jewish
position he de-
clares "truth
Dr. Heschel
is underground,
hidden from the eye," and, quot-
ing Psalm 85:12, "Let truth arise
from the earth," he maintains "if
you bury the lies, truth will spring
up."
In his opening essay Dr. Heschel
points out that "the most fatal
trap into which religious thinking
may fall is the equation of faith
with expediency." He adds that
"we must begin by disclosing the
fallacy of aboslute expediency.
God's voice may sound feeble to
our conscience. Yet there is a
divine cunning in history which
seems to prove that the wages of
absolute expediency are disaster.
We must not tire of reminding the
world that something is asked of
man, of every man; that the value
of charity is not measured in terms
of public relations. Foreign aid,
which offered to underdeveloped
countries for the purpose of win-
ning friends and influencing peo-
ple, turns out to be a boomerang.
Should we not learn how to detach
expediency from charity? The
great failure of American policy is
not in public relations. The great
failure is in private relations."
The variety of the essays is in-
dicated by one in which the men
of medicine are paid tribute. In
"The Patient as a Person," Dr.
Tleschel writes that "to save hu-
man life is to do the work of God,"
that "the calling and conduct of
the meeting of doctor and patient
is a supreme occasion for being
human."
"Human being is being sui gene-
ris," he declares. "The only ade-
quate way to grasp its meaning is
to think of man in human terms.
Human is more than a concept of
fact; it is a category of value, of
the highest of all values available
to us."
He comments on the "mysterious
relationship between the Jewish
people and the Jewish land" in the
essay "Israel and Diaspora" and
warns that "Judaism remains ir-
relevant unless we develop a de-
gree of sensitivity to the ultimate
questions which its ideas and acts
are trying to answer." He declares
that "unless we overcome the ex-
ternalization of Judaism, all our ef-
forts will be futile. It is impossible
to observe the Seventh Day, week
after week, if one's inner life re-
mains untouched and unenriched
by it. Unless there is Sabbath in
the soul, it is very difficult to re-
main loyal to the Sabbath laws."
Asserting that "our civilization
is in need of redemption," he
writes:
"We are proud of our contribu-
tions to modern civilization. But
many of these were contributions
Taylor's 'Court of Honor' ExpOses
Dishonor of Neo-Nazis Fehme Tasks
to die but takes her own life when
Bormann's representative, a for-
mer butcher boy whom she caught
raping a girl prior to the Nazi era
and held him in rebuke, attempted
to attack her; a minister who
preached against Nazism and de-
fied the terror at the risk of his
life; American and British cor-
respondents who were charged
with treason and sabotage; a pris-
oner of war who was accused of
having stolen a loaf of bread;
prisoner innocently accused of
raping a German girl, and others.
* *
There is evidence in this novel
of Germans who were horrified by
the Nazi crimes. And there is ac-
cumulated proof of German indif-
ference to what was happening. At
the trumped-up trial of the Fehme,
there were revelations of callous-
ness, of knowledge of the crimes
and of condoning them by those
who failed to resist Nazism.
The toy pistols filled with deadly
acids that killed instantly and the
methods of "Fehme" cruelty are
added indictments against Nazism
and the reviving neo: Nazi move-
ments.
From the evidence and the de-
tailed descriptions of the accused
there emerges the expose of what
had happened under the Nazis—
the terror of the concentration
and extermination camps, the anti-
Jewish policies, the inhumanities.
One of the accused at the trial
was an anthropologist who loved to
make lampshades. He is ordered
to go to Auschwitz and there he
produces skulls from Jewish
bodies for ornaments and makes
lamp' shades out of human skin.
His wife's betrayal causes him to
murder her. Then he is tried by
the Fehme. In the course of the
development of the plot there
emerges the Nazi policy of horror
in its full bloom.
It is because of this revelation
that the Taylor novel assumes an
important role as an indictment
of the Nazis, as a warning against
efforts to revive the Fehme. "Court
of Honor" has much power. It is
a splendidly narrated story based
on a stirring plot about the worst
terror of all times.
Psycho-Analytic Dialogue' Contains
Exchange of Freud, Abraham Letters
die Europe (both men exhibited,
each in his own way, a profound
racial allegiance). . . ."
In a letter written in 1907, there
is a very interesting reference to
his Jewish background in Abra-
ham's letter to Freud. He wrote:
"As a Jew in Germany and as a
foreigner in Switzerland, I have
not been promoted 'beyond a junior
position in the past seven years.
I shall therefore try to set up --
practice in Berlin as a specialist..
for nervous and mental diseases.:
A reference to another eminent
Jew in one of Abraham's letters
(1908) is annotated as follows:
"Herman Oppenheim, titular pro-
fessor, founder of a well-known
clinic in Berlin; as a Jew he was
not eligible for a professorship at
a University Clinic. He was re-
lated to Abraham by marriage."
Many historic and personal ele-
ments enter into the discussions
in the Freud-Abraham letters. The
psycho-therapic issues are eval-
uated and for the medical pro-
fession this volume is of immense
significance. At the same time,
it is most illuminating and makes
'instructive reading for the lay-
man.
Dreams, jokes, sex problems,
disputes with other psycho-an-
alysts and a score of other im-
portant issues emerge here and
become understandable in their
historic sense to students of the
science developed by Freud.
Excellently compiled, ably il-
lustrated, this volume enriches
the bookshelves devoted to 'the
science of psycho-analysis.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
40—Friday, May 13, 1966