Boris Smolar's
'Between You
.. and Me'
Isaac Deutscher's 'Ironies of History': Essays
Relevant to study Current World Conditions
Isaac Deutscher is recognized as
one of the world's most noted au-
thorities on Communism„ on Sovi-
et Russia and its leaders- . His bio-
By BORIS SMOLAR
! graphical works on Stalin and
(Copyright, 1966, JTA, Inc.)
Trotsky are the most authoritative
question whether Jews should live available on the two Soviet leaders.
JEWS IN GERMANY: The
floe in Germany—especially when neo-Nazism shows 'signs of grow- . His newest work is "Ironies of
on Contemporary
ept n
History: . Essays
ing—constitutes an issue on which opinions among Jews in the United
t s shed b y
s
irnii s
isa valuable
States and in other countries are sharply divided . . . It is a delicate University
. Some believe Jews should boycott Ger- collection of his most impressive
and emotional question .
many the way they boycotted Spain for centuries after the Spanish I article, especially those dealing
. . Others feel it is a personal matter for each Jew to with political events related to
Inquisition
Eastern Europe. China and the
reside in Germany now . . . An answer Soviet Union.
decide whether he wants
Because he has inserted in this
to this sensitive question is now provided in a study of the present
corn-
life of the Jews in Germany and the activities of their organized co- , collection his views on President
mutinies there . . . The study was conducted by a group of leaders Johnson's Vietnamese policies, this
collection of essays assumes added
of the United Jewish
Appeal and .)oint Distribution Committee, inter
.-
icance. Deutscher, the Marx-
significance.
ested primarily in the problems of the Jews in Germany in the tradi- ist. is here, of course, as he has
tional way the UJA and the JDC are interested in the problems of been for many years, also the anti.
UJA leaders also studied Communist. Yet he has met with
Jews in any other country abroad . . . The
whether the spirit of democracy is strong enough in Germany today criticisms, and he
states to
in o the
be
e
entitled
preface:
c e:
to prevent a repetition of the Nazi years. and to what extent anti- judged bythevieew,
views
-I am
n I have
Semitisin still prevails in the country . . . Whether some Jews in other pressed, not by those that others
countries like it or not. the fact is that there is existent a Jewish com- attribute to me." And in this pre-
face he states he considered
munity in Germany today. and that it stands on its own feet . . . iAt naienr. honor to be invited by the
The fact is also that the number of Jews in Germany is growing; that wan Inter-University
Com-
they concentrate their efforts on developing Jewish communal life: mittee to be the only non•American
that they seek to give their children a Jewish education; that they are to participate in the National
a community not of "takers" but of "givers." taking care of their own Teach-In in Washington in May
1965.
commu nal needs and contributing generously to Israeli causes . . • Deutscher is the severe critic
of Stalinism, as he was of
* * *
Khruschev, yet he makes this
A SATISFIED COMMUNITY: About ten years ago. there were ap-
important declaration: "As a his.
proximately 16.000 Jews in West Germany: today more than 27.000
torian I remain convinced that
Jews are officially registered as members of the Jewish community in
Stalinism would have never suc-
ceeded as it did (in the cold
various parts of the country . . . This does not include about 8,000
war) if the Soviet Union had
Je%%, who are not members of the Jewish communities; also not the
not been exposed to constant
Jews living in East Berlin and East Germany under the Communist
hostile and war-like pressures
from outside. Those pressures
regime . . . The fact that the number of Jews in West Germany has
enabled Stalin to blackmail the
increased by about 11.000 in the course of ten years—despite the fact
Soviet people (and foreign com-
that during that period 4.600 Jews died and only 650 Jewish Chil-
munists too) into total obed-
dren were horn—speaks for itself . . . It shows that more and more
ience. Without the very real
Jews are either returning to Germany or immigrating to Germany
threat from Hitler, Without the
. . . lArho are the Jews in Germany today? . . . The majority of them
need to counter that threat with
have . not even resided there before the Nazi regime; they are Jews
a desperate arms race, the peo-
from Poland. Hungary. Romania. Czechoslovakia, who made Germany
ple of the Soviet Union would
their home after the war. and are all well off economically . . . Added
not have submitted to Stalinist
to them are Jews, mostly elderly people, who returned to Germany to
terroristic exactions as meekly
live on their old-age pensions . . . Recently, Jews from Argentina and
as they did submit in the 1930s
other Latin American countries. where the economic situation is not
and
in the years of the war.
stable. have begun to settle in Germany . . . They find in Germany
They
might have refused to ac-
the possibility of establishing themselves in business with the limited
cept his dictates after the war if
capital they brought with them. and they prosper economically as a
Russia had not had to rebuild
result of the general prosperity in the country . . . In a city like Ham-
her runis amid new and danger-
burg. one can find today 250 Jews from Iran, doing, prosperous busi-
ous pressures from the out-
ness in Persian rugs, and intending to remain there as a part of the
side."
local Jewish community . . . There are today in West Germany numer-
Could this he applied to the
ous Jewish lawyers. about 300 physicians. .Jewish professors in the
anti-
protests against
universities—all of them intending to live in Germany, because they current
encounter no anti-Semitism and practice their professions in a normal Semitism in the USSR and is there
way . . Gone are the days when American Jewry' had to help Jews another way, applying the above
in Germany. through the .Joint Distribution Committee, in the early by Deutscher to the current condi-
. Today. the organized Jewish community in West lions, in dealing with the bias
post-war years .
extant in the Soviet Union? It
German ∎ has a reserve capital of $30.000.000 for communal needs .
would be interesting to get Deut-
The was obtained from the Bonn Government for Nazi-destroyed
scher's views on this.
Jewish communal property and is being'managed jointly by the boards
In his speech on Vietnam. Deut-
of of the largest Jewish communities in Germany . The interest
scher had said that China and
on the- sum. reaching 51.500.000 a year. is more than sufficient to
perhaps even Soviet Russia might
cope %% Ali the communal needs of Gin - ► nan Jewry . . . Not to speak
be drawn into the conflict and he
contributions
which
registered
meipbers
make
to
their
communities
of
. . As to contributions for Israel causes, thc, Jews in Germany boast of
the fact that last year they gave for Israel about 5500,000 in various
Launch New Israel
forms .. They emphasize Oho this is a Much larger sum than the Jewish
High School Program
community in France--the 1:ir- _;est in Europe today—is giving for Israeli
causes .
for U.S. Students
A program for a year's study in
Israel for second year American
OUTLOOK FOR JEWS: There is no question that, should the
high school students, - beginning
present economic conditions prevail in Germany. no Jew residing there
I with the 1967-68 academic year,
will leave the country . . . On the contrary. the outlook is that some
will be offered by the American-
Jew s from Latin American and other countries. where the situation is
Israel Secondary School Program.
not stable. will he attracted to move to Germany . . . This is because
it was announced by Rabbi Mor-
neither the United States nor any other country is willing to admit
decai Chertoff, director of the new-
Jewish immigrants as liberally as Germany does and without any eco-
ly organized group. which has of-
nomi• restrictions . . . Spread over 70 larger and smaller towns through.
fices at 515 Park, New York.
West Germany. the great majority of all the 27.000 Jews in the
Two leading Israeli secondary
Country live in the larger cities . . . About 65 percent of them live in
schools, Alonei Yitzchak in the
Frankfurt. Munich. Dusseldorf. Hamburg. Cologne and West Berlin ...
Shomron Valley about five miles
In West Berlin alone there are today about 6,000 Jews, constituting
from Caesaria, and Shafir's Yeshi-
almost a quarter of all the Jews in West Germany Neither the Jews
in the larger cities nor in the smaller towns complain about their economic ' vat. Or-Etzion, in the Lachish area.
near Ashkelon. are participating in ,
Situation: their main complaint is about the lack of Jewish education
the program. Both schools will offer
They would like to have qualified Jewish teachers sent to them from
full American second year high
the United States . . . The real problem are the children in the small
communities where there are not enough youngsters to open even a • school programs augmented by
special
courses in the Hebrew
Jewish Sunday school . . In a community like Bonn. where there is a
language and Israeli studies. The
brand-new .-4ynagogue facing the German Foreign Office, there are hard-
curriculum to be offered has been
ly 204) Jews and less than a half-dozen Jewish children of school age :
approved by an advisory commit-
This is because the Jewish birth rate is very small in Germany today ...
tee of noted American educators
Howe ■ er. no .Iew in Germany tells you that he intends to leave the
and will he supervised by the Israel
Country . . . This was clearly summarized in Cologne by one of the
Ministry of Education.
Jewish community leaders there who expressed the general- sentiment
The academic year. which will
Of the Jews in Germany . . . we should leave Germany." he said.
begin next September. will be pre-
'we would Only carry out exactly what Hitler wanted to make Germany
ceded by a six-weeks course in
Hebrew. beginning in July, at an
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Ulpan in Israel.
32—Friday, December 30, 1961
that the class munists and perhaps also for the
reiterated his view -
struggle is the norive forde of anti-socialists because of the au-
history, "that only a socialist thoritativeness of a defender of a
world — one socialist world — system which, in his view, has
can cope with the problems of failed in Russia but can and should
succeed worldwide. Therefore his
modern society."
Of major interest in his collected views are relevant to the study of
essays are those dealing with the political and international condi-
works and the attitudes of Boris tions in our time.
Pasternak, Ilya Ehrenburg and E.
Hebrew Corner
Yevtushenko.
There is a passing comment on
Hunter
Pasternak's Christianity and Deut-
scher points out that the censors
The heroes of the drama were a
young
zoologist
from
Austria, a poison-
had nothing to fear from that be- ous snake from Jordan,
and a number
cause "the Soviet State Publishers of Jordanian and Israeli doctors who
print in millions of copies the fought, watch in hand, for the life
young Austrian.
works of Tolstoy and Dostoyev of A the
few months ago, he arrived in the
s ky, h every
aburtenaetnhteies deserts of Turkey. He looked for and
of
found special kinds of snakes which
aorf more
y a
ad
do not exist in Europe. But one of
his "loves" gave him a "kiss" of death.
;Ilan Pasternak's."
Snake
only after great efforts did they
The reviews of the Ehrenburg and
succeed in saving his life.
But one "kiss" did not suffice for
and the Yevtushenko autobiog-
our Austrian. After his recovery, he
raphies are most impressive.
look for poisonous
e at to Jordan to
Here,
u
Deutscher points out in rela- "'
t,,h.jetb Judean tees err t .
cam e
in
he
met
a
.
k
tx7o
lion to Ehrenburg's memoirs snakes and tried to "milk"
one po ol
u butthe snake s cceeded in bit-
that after the Nazi-Soviet pact them,
of 1939 the Jewish author was
Again the young man was in danger
time the danger was
filled with "the humiliation and of jieraetl.
e Jordan had no serum
be
he horror" occasioned by the ;very
the
against snake poison.
s
in-
Israel e was
act of "Soviet-German friend- 1 W hat a o a rubl d b ane ddoi r?balsr%
Deutscher adds: "Here, dseed welle c sy a world famous spe :ir ali m si
a
evidently, his deep and wounded . in therctieT stood of snake bites. But
Jewish emotion gets the better the patien t. tood between salvation and
of him, and instead of the slick the
to the s Undited Na-
ti nTnlise pdecircstoon
rsnZ and requested,
reconteur, a suffering and fright- us open the
•eel :
Gate in order t L . sa "% ii
ened human being speaks to us." hinuamag e men
t
lib feor every mo
i[ e aus t i ckly
l
United e 1Ninartranns.
s
Deut s cher's "Ironies of History"
cued quickly. but th
a
e
t
Yevtushenko's au obiography. hi, - !peopl
were not accustomed
b,norride a guards
!"
, itann y, border
account of the Russian poet's ex n ight. And meanwhile time
was passing and the poison was be-
periences with anti-Semites. his ra tn. ni ne d g . to
effect. Finally day
scholar reiascheea
rejection of anti-Semitism, is a
the border. T ehe yl ear t ie g opened ,
concluding and most powerful part i , taomobulance was waiting for him and
copter. witti-
inicnkulL sto t ge h 4ellain
of this impressive book. This chap- _. ka h/emw qm
ter is a forceful evaluation of . i ipnatipeenttabwaTsi at the Beilinsgin eroll io s sy pitli al
kvah. His life was saved.
Russian attitudes, It is a tribut e t t o •
: and restored to him as a gift.
Yevtushenko concluding with:
"Through
him young Russia
g
is crying out against the shame
and the suffering of her fathers
and grandfathers."
Deutscher's Ironies of History" ,
is a magnificent and impressive
work. Because it contains the
ideas of a Marxist it has a special
message even for the anti-corn-
Will he come back and hunt for
snakes for the third time?
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