On the Record I Pathological Society Under Nazism Described in Schoenbaum's Studies By NATHAN ZIPRIN (A Seven Arts Feature) Stamp of Approval ... Philip Slomovitz of The Detroit Jewish News recalls in a recent column that when he suggested in 1954 issuance of a postage stamp on the occasion of the observance of the American Jewish Tercert- tary, . the proposal swas rejected by the U.S. Post Office. Obviously it could not have been rejected out of reluctance to in- troduce a religious element, since observance of 300 years of Jewish life marked basically a historic rather than a religious event in the history of Jewish settlement. Now, 12 years later, we find the Postmaster General of the U.S. not only approving but defending pub- lication of a Christmas stamp de- picting the "Madonna and Child," a theme and a concept that is unique only to Christendom. The office of the Postmaster General defended the action in a letter to the American Jewish Congress on the ground that those who find the stamp offensive need not buy it and on the further ground that the painting is identified as part of a work of art that is on display in the National Gallery of Art in Wash- ington, D.C. The thesis that offended people needn't buy the stamp is an argu- ment unworthy of reply. There can be no quarrel with the Post Office people over their choice of the work in question as a piece of art, but the pertinent question is: Since when has it been the func- tion of that department of our gov- ernment to promote art? Had the Postmaster announced that his office was embarking on a campaign to promote the visual arts and that the Madonna and Child painting was one in a series that would include the works of major artists, ancient and modern, there would be no quarreling with him. But when he chooses the Ma- donna and Child theme for a spe- cific occasion, one that has purely Christological undertones, we are afraid that what the Postmaster General has done, perhaps unwit- tingly, was to give his stamp of approval to a practice that is clearly in violation of the concept of severance of religion from gov- ernmental functioning. The Madonna and Child theme has fascinated artists ever since the rise of Christianity not only as a subject of artistic and religious ex- pression but as an instrument for advancing the Christian idea. Whether the artists at any given time intended it so or not, the fact remains that the Christological theme in art has been welcomed and encouraged by the Church pre- cisely because of its potential for promoting Christian thought, Chris- tian values. There is no questioning the fact that the Madonna and Child paint- ing that is to decorate the special Christmas stamp is a work of art, but only when it hangs on the walls of an art gallery. The moment it is placed within the limited framework of a stamp - designed to commemorate an ad- mittedly Christian event, it loses its character, ceases to be a work of art and becomes instead the bearer of a message. By lending himself to that mes- sage, the Postmaster General it seems is distinctly out of step with the climate in the land on the rela- tion between church and state. it French Jewish Students Pay Visit to Israel JERUSALEM (JTA) — Thirty Jewish university students, grad- uates of Paris' famous Centre Uni- versitaire D'Etudes Juives, are spending three weeks here on an intensive seminar. Two-thirds of the students are preparing for French university degrees unrelated to Jewish sub- jects, such as physics, economics, law and medicine. The students paid half of the cost themselves, the balance being covered by French Jewish social w elf a r e agencies. Nazi Germany's class interests that provide an understanding of nated, not concentrated, from `normal' representatives of a are reviewed in scholarly fashion, the attitudes that marked the op- 1933 on. Of the Nuremberg de- pathological society." offering facts and data of a re- pressive era under Hitler. fendants, only two, Hess and Important sociological facts are vealing nature, in "Hitler's Social Streicher, could be regarded as presented in a set of tables ap- While the Nazi terror affected Revolution," by David Schoen- the entire country in many re- clinically abnormal, and both pended to the book. There is a baum, published by Doubleday. were men who had failed in very long bibliogrophy, indicating spects, Schoenbaum, in this Nazi society rather than suc- the vastness of Schoenbaum's re- With a study of the role of farm- study, shows that "the anti- ceeded. In both cases, real in- search work. The numerous notes ers and workers, businessmen, Jewish boycott of 1 April 1933 sanity proved to be a profes- similarly point to depth in study youth, women; as a review of was conducted against Jewish, sional obstacle, not an advan- in research and serve the reader social opportunities under Nazism, not against big, business." Schoenbaum has delved into areas When it served the Nazis' pur- tage. The rest, not mad but exceptionally well in gaining a vast poses, their leaders intervened to `other-directed' men, were the amount of information about the save some of the Jewish - owned real executors of the Third preparatory stages for the Nazi ■ ######~,*-~##~~~#~4 businesses. The eventual expro- Reich, in Hannah Arendt's ex- social terror in the years 1933 to priations are known, of course, pression 'banal' in their evil, the 1939. and: "During Goebbels' 1938 po- Friday, July 29, 1966-13 grom, the Reichskristalnacht, 29 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS department stores were burned, but it was significant that even the boiling folk-soul, as the Min- istry of Propaganda called it, had distinguished successfully between Jewish and non-Jewish department store property." Background material will be found here on "the final solution" plans, on Eichmann and his asso- ciates. The Nazi leaders emerge here as the plotters in preparation —during the years 1933-1939----of the "new social order" envisioned by them. Schoenbaum portrays "a dual society" in which "the status of Stay healthy with regular both groups and individuals moved RATED PREFERRED and WELL QUALIFIED Cancer Check-ups. 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