Nazis. Ardeatine Crime Unfolded in 'Death in Rome" Which
Places Blame Upon Pins XII for Silence on Eye of Massacre
One of the most tragic episodes of the last war,
which has become known as le Fosse Ardeatine —
Cave Ardeatine — is revealed in a hook that is certain
to prove a sensation both because it brings to public
attention one of the most horrible of the Nazi crimes
and because it levels charges at the late Pope Pius XII
for what the author contends was his failure to come
to the rescue of 335 Romans who were murdered in
blood in reprisal for the murder of 33 Nazis by a
group of resistance fighters.
"Death in Rome" contains the step-by-step occur-
- rences in March of 1944 when the resistance plotted to
attack a Nazi marching squadron, and the Nazis within
a day organized a blood bath in which the reprisal was
more than 10-to-1. The story is told by 33-year-old
.Robert Katz who worked in Rome as a correspondent,
film-maker and photographer and who made a thorough
study of the tragic event of 23 years ago in his deeply
moving book published by Macmillan.
"Death in Rome" assumes special importance because
major blame for the implementation of the massacre
without a protest is blamed on the Vatican. Katz goes
much farther than Rolf Hochhuth in ''The Deputy" in
accusing the late Pope Pius of having been so frightened
by the possibility of the rise of Communism unless
Fascism were to conquer it that he placed greater
blame upon the Italian resistance for having attacked
the Germans on Via Rasella on March 23, 1944, when
33 Nazis died, than he did on the massacre of 335
Italians on March 24. 1944, in the Ardeatine Cave.
(Continued on Page 32)
Allied Drive's
Merciful
Beginning
Schuschnigg's
'Return' and the
Austrian
Tragedy
THE JEWISH NE
t
Women's Role
in Campaign
-r
or-T-
A Weekly Review
Editorials
Page 4
NI i F—Ij GA NI
Cheap Talk
in Hollywood
f Jewish Events
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
Vol. L, No. 23
17100 W. 7 Mile Rd.—VE 8-9364--Detroit 48235—January 27, 1967
Commentary.
Page 2
86.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c
Israel 'Talk and Prepare' Policy
Confronts Negotiators on Border
Report on USSR, Iraqi Anti -Jewish
Bias Suppressed by UN Subcommittee
UNITED NATIONS. N.Y. (JTA)—Against the opposition of human
rights experts from the United States. Britain, France, Canada, Italy and
Israel, a special confidential report accusing the Soviet Union, Iraq
and other countries of anti-Semitic bias and other human rights
violations has been suppressed here by the United Nations Subcommis-
sion on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
The report was an annex to a special study, dealing with the current
status of human rights in all countries around the world. pre-
pared by the Israeli expert on the subcommission, Tel Aviv District Judge
Zeev- W. Zeltner. As rapporteur, Judge Zeltner is one of the three officers
of the subcommission's 19th annual session.
The group's parent body, the Human Rghts Commission, had re-
quested the subcommission to submit a full report on the status of human.
rights. Three weeks ago. the subcommission passed on the task to Judge
Zeltner. Last week, when the 18-member subcommission reached debate
on Judge Zeltner's study, which included the annex, the Soviet expert on
the group, Evgeny Nasinovsky, accused Judge Zeltner of being "incompe-
tent" and of having prepared a study including "a pack of lies."
_ The Russian called for suppression of the annex to the Zeltner study,
dealing with the situation in the USSR, Iraq and other countries. He de-
nounced a group of non-governmental organizations whose separate re-
ports had been cited by Judge Zeltner, including the International League
for the Rights of Man, of which the American Jewish Committee is the
American affiliate.
Clyde Ferguson, the United States expert on the group, and John P.
Humphrey, of Canada, vigorously opposed Nasinovsky's call for suppres-
ion of the annex, but the USSR was backed by representatives of Egypt,
Sudan, India, Poland, Kenya, Mexico and Turkey. The final vote was
carried in the 18-member body by a vote of 8-6, with four abstentions. As
a result, the annex to the Zeltner report does not officially exist any
longer, and will not appear in any official UN records. Heretofore, only
about 50 copies of the document have been distributed on a confidential
basis, being furnished only to members of the subcommission, some of
their aides and selected members of the UN secretariat.
In the first official talks between Israel and Syria in
eight years, the two countries pledged Wednesday to abide
by the non-aggression provisions of the 1949 armistice
agreement which ended Israel's War of Independence.
Both sides agreed to ways of marking areas for _cultivation
in the demilitarized zones that run along most of the
border. Negotiations will resume Sunday on the Israeli side.
Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News
JERUSALEM — The Israel government's policy of combining diplomatic and
political negotiations with readiness to repel all aggression on its northern border was
approved by the Knesset Tuesday night by a vote of 54-21.
The vote came after Prime Minister Levi E -shkol summarized a debate centered
on the situation along the Syrian border on the eve of Wednesday's extraordinary
meeting of the Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission on the Syrian side of the
international bridge at Bnot Yaacov. Members representing the parties in Eshkol's
coalition government had, by and large, supported the government's "talk and prepare"
policy, while the opposition had called for less talk and more action "by force."
"Negotiations with Syria," the premier told parliament, "are worth undertaking
even if the chances for success are not high." He hinted that, even if further Syrian
aggressions should occur while the talks were under way, such action would not lead
Israel to break off the negotiations. "Sometimes," the prime minister told the house;
"fighting goes on in one place, and talking in another."
Replying to those critics who had charged the government with "softness,"
Eshkol said that, in the last two years, "Israel has given as good as she got from the
Arab states." In regard to the defense situation, he continued, "there is no debt that
we owe anyone, big or small, that we have not repaid in full."
The major partners in the government coalition lauded the government for its
patience in the face of Syrian provocations and its determination to exhaust all political
and diplomatic means in its attempts to restore tranquility on Israel's northern borders.
The differences voiced by those parties in the debate were only in nuances.
Speakers for the Mapai-Ahdut Avoda alignment emphasized that there must be
an end to patience and that the end was near. The left-wing Mapam members- held
(Continued on Page 3)
Israel Takes Over Two Private Banks;
Deposits Continue on Unaffected Scale
Direct
rrA
Teletype Wire to The Jewish News
TEL AVIV—The Bank of Israel announced Monday that it had taken over the
management of two old, privately-owned Israeli financial institutions, Bank Feucht-
wanger and Bank Ellern, both of which have been under a single management since
Feuchtwanger took over Ellern recently.
•
The two banks, founded in the '30s during the beginning of the influx of German
Jewish immigration into Israel, have total assets of 200,000,000 Israeli pounds ($66,660,-
000), of which 130,000,000 pounds, (over $43,000,000) is in foreign currency.
The banks conduct 5.1 per cent of Israel's banking.
A spokesman for the Bank of Israel stated that a routine check of the conduct
of the two banks had disclosed that "some of the shareholders of Bank Feuchtwanger
received exaggerated credit, either in cash or through bank guarantees, thus endangering
the financial position of both banks."
r;3.
For that reason, the state-owned bank stated, a new management has been
appointed for both banks, and the spokesman said that the Bank of Israel is backing "all
liabilities, thus no one will suffer."
It was also announced that.the single board of directors for both institutions has
-
resigned.
The announcement was made at 10 p.m. Monday, so as to minimize chances for
financial panic and of a run on the two banks. Their major offices are in Tel Aviv, but
the institutions have branches throughout Israel,
.1/6•'
During the night and early morning hours, armed cars rushed huge stuns of cash
to all banks throughout Israel to meet any possibilities of mass withdrawal, However
there was no panic, even at the two banks affected.
The Tel Aviv offices of both banks opened on time Tuesday morning. While the
number of withdrawals was said to be larger than usual, it was noted also that many
people were depositing money in both institutions.
Israel's commission of banks reported the entire development to the attorney
general, who has said he will probe into the activities of the banks.
National Jewish Organizations Admonish Rusk:
U.S. Must Warn Syria to End Aggressive Acts
NEW YORK (JTA)—Three national Jewish organizations—Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, Central Conference of American Rabbis and National Council
of Jewish Women—Monday called upon the United States government to warn Syria to
stop its aggressive acts against Israel.
In a telegram to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, signed by Rabbi Maurice E.
Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congreutions, and Rabbi
Jacob J. Weinstein, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform
leaders expressed "deep concern at the increasing violence and danger in the Middle
East."
"Neither the United States nor the United Nations has the moral right to expect
the State of Israel to accept continuing bloodshed and mounting assaults on its right to
existence," they said. They considered recent Syrian campaigns of terror as a "blatant
violation of armistice agreements and an open contempt for the United Nations." They
felt "that all nations in the Middle East must respect the borders and the right to life
of all neighbOrs."
The Reform leaders blamed the current crisis on "failure by the United Nations
to act on earlier complaints and the Security Council's one-sided condemnation of Israel,"
adding: "We regret the Israeli raid on Jordan of Nov. 13 but we feel there is a limit to
provocations which any nation can tolerate." They asked Rusk to use his good offices to
warn the Syrian government against further assaults on the integrity of Israel and the
lives and property of Israeli citizens."
The National Council of Jewish Women warned that there is danger of "a full-scale
war" in the Middle East and urged the U.S. government to act quickly" to end the con-
tinuous acts of terrorism and aggression in the Middle East." It urged that the U.S.
"stand ready to assist in direct negotiations for a permanent settlement of the disputes."
"We also suggest that the Soviet Union, a powerful influence in the area, be invited
to participate in peace efforts," Council leaders declared. They called on the U.S. to
issue "a clear expression of condemnation against the Arab countries which refuse
to observe United Nations armistice terms,"