Two Jewish Candidates Beaten in Election
for School Board in New Jersey Township;
Anti-Semitism Is Charged in Campaign
vote results anti-Semitic but said
that "every town has these prob-
lems. We're no different here."
Leonard Roth, a photographer,
said the vote proved that "this is
an area where there is hate." How-
ever, he and his friends said the
town's Jews would "stay and
fight."
Before the election, threatening
telephone calls were received by
the Mandell family, and police es-
corted three of the Mandell chil-
dren home from school Monday
and Tuesday because of the threats.
Other threatening telephone calls
were received by Rabbi Shai Shac-
knai, spiritual leader of Temple
Beth Tikvah, and Mrs. Alvin Lubin,
wife of a former president of the
synagogue.
New Jersey Governor Richard
J. Hughes joined civic and Jew-
ish leaders last weekend in de-
ploring the statement by Miller.
Replying to a request by the
American Jewish Congress, calling
for the removal of Miller from his
post, Gov. Hughes said, however,
that he lacks the authority to dis-
miss the school board official, be-
cause the latter was elected by the
people.
Comment was severe. Mayor
Edward Sisco said "he has gone
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to
The Jewish News)
WAYNE. N.J.—The issue of anti-
Semitism in this prosperous sub-
ubban township was sharpened
Wednesday by the defeat of two
Jewish candidates in a school board
election Tuesday night in which
their Jewishness had been made a
major factor.
The defeat of Jack Mandell, an
incumbent, and Robert Kraus, a
candidate, had ben urged by the
schol board's vice president, New-
ton Miller, an acknowledged con-
servative. In a pre-election state-
ment, Miller had warned the town-
ship's voters that Jews tended to
be liberals, particularly in spend-
ing for education. One of the issues
was a record $8,500,000 budget for
the school system. The budget was
defeated, 6,963 to 2,655.
Miller's statement evoked an up-
roar.
Mass faculty resignations were
forecast Wednesday in protest of
the defeat of the two Jewish candi-
dates. Mandell estimated there
would be 380 such resignations, but
he did not elaborate.
He anologized to the town-
ship's 2,500 Jews but declined to
modify or retract his statement in
which he had also warned that if
Mandell and Kraus were elected,
their votes and that of another
Jewish member. Fred Lafer, could
threaten "what is left of Christ in
our Christmas celebrations in our
schools."
Miller was censured by eight
of his fellow members last week
in a motion asking him to resign,
a request he refused. At that
board meeting, Mandell called
Miller an anti-Semite and a bigot.
A record 9,178 voters went to the
polls. Mandell and Kraus ran fourth
and fifth in a group of five candi-
dates seeking three board seats.
Mandell ran last with 3,153 votes.
David Caliri, an incumbent who
favored the record school budget,
along with Mandell and Kraus, was
high man with 7,488 votes. John
McLaughlin, who opposed the bud-
get and was strongly supported by
Miller, was second high man with
6,741 votes. Kraus got 3,207 votes.
After the votes were in, Mandell
said that the vote was "definitely
along religious lines" and that
"intolerance and bigotry were fac-
tors in the election." He also as-
serted that Miller "gave the anti-
Semitic feeling in the township a
chance to rear its ugly head."
His view was supported by some
township leaders and opposed by
others. Many Jews rejected the
argument that Mandell and Kraus
were defeated for supporting the
budget, pointing out that Caliri,
who got the largest vote, was a
strong backer of more spending on
education. Mrs. Lorraine Yoder, a
board member who voted for the
ouster resolution against Miller,
declared that "Wayne was on trial.
It convicted itself today."
George Schroeder, the school
board president, said Mandell and
Kraus were defeated "completely
because they are Jewish."
But others saw the election re-
sults as a reaction against a bud-
get which would have forced a rise
in property taxes.
Some thought the vote reflect-
ed no more than support for Mil-
ler's conservative outlook. Others
considered it a backlash against
Jewish residents who had criti-
cized Miller and demanded his
ouster.
That view Was taken by Miller,
who said "if Jack Mandell had
been understanding and extended
his hand in the spirit of brother-
hood, the Christians of this town
would have backed him all the
way." He also said he had received
more than 200 letters and that 98
per cent of the missives had backed
him and told him "they were with
me."
George Wiseman, a non-Jew,
said it. was ."_absurd,,", to, • coll' atlA
•
.
••
too far." Andrew Militello, presi-
dent of the Wayne Parent Teachers
Council, said "I am sick over this."
Rabbi Shacknai said: "The Jew-
ish people in Wayne will survive
this regression to the Middle Ages.
My concern at the moment is not
for the Jews but for Wayne. I shall
do whatever I can to assure that
Mr. Miller does not represent the
community of Wayne again."
Daniel Blum, editor of Wayne
Today, said the reaction had star-
tled him, adding "what local lead-
ers are really screaming about is
that this came into the open. They
think that sweeping things under
the rug will make them disappear."
Richard P. Marcus, who in 1961
became the first Jewish council-
man here, said "I was shocked.
There are really conservative
roots in Wayne's history — things
like high school kids wearing swas-
tikas — but I think it is a fringe
group that does things like that."
In 1959, Wayne Township high
schol authorities broke up a school
ring recruiting members for a club
called "The Nazi Regime of Amer-
ica." Twelve students were sus-
pended, all from middle-class sub-
urban familiee, mostly in the Lake
Packanack section.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, February 17, 1967-9
3 Nazis Who Deported Dutch Jews
Face Total of 34 Years in Prison;
German Jurists Accused of Crimes
MUNICH (JTA) — Prosecutor
Benedict Huber, completing the
state's case against three former
Nazis charged with sending 95,000
Dutch Jews, including Anne Frank,
to death in German concentration
camps, called here Monday for
prison terms totaling 34 years. The
three are former SS Gen. Wilhelm
Harster; former SS Maj. Wilhelm
Zoepf; and Gertrud Slottke.
The prosecutor asked the court
to impose a 15-year sentence on
Harster because of his role as
head of the Gestapo in Nazi-occu-
pied Holland during World War II.
For Zoepf, a 10-year sentence was
asked, because he headed the
"Jewish department" at The
Hague, which picked out Jews for
transportation to the death camps.
For Harster's secretary, Gertrud
Slottke, the prosecutor asked the
court to impose a nine-year sen-
tence.
Harster raided the hide-out of
the Frank family in Amsterdam,
which led to the imprisonment of
Anne Frank, who died later at
Bergen-Belsen. Both Harster and
Zoepf admitted their guilt, but
claimed they had not been able to
face the consequences of their acts.
Miss Slottke, however, main-
tamed that she knew "absolutely
nothing" of the fate that awaited
the Jews sent to Poland and that,
in fact, she had sent as many as
possible to Auschwitz because she
believed it was "better" than
other concentration camps.
Investigations are under way
in Bonn against 13 former lead-
ing jurists allegedly responsible
for having planned and carried
out the murder of insane per-
sons during the Hitler period, it
was announced by Dr. Fritz
Bauer, the chief West German
prosecutor.
One of the leading members of
the accused group is Dr. Harry
Hassen, former president of the
Volksgerichshof, Hitler's so-called
highest people's court. The pro-
cedure marks the first time that
high-ranking German jurists have
been charged with crimes against
insane persons. All of the 13 are
former general state prosecutors,
judges and other law-enforcing of-
ficials.
Proverbs were anterior to books
and formed the wisdom of the vul-
gar, and in the earliest ages were
the unwritten laws of morality.—
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881).
1967 P. Lorillard Co.
Father of TheYiddishTheater
In the vast Yiddish-speaking Pale of
Eastern Europe, the Hassidim frowned
on the stage as immoral. Abraham Gold-
faden disagreed. He considered Theater
a legitimate means of bringing light into
the dreary lives of his fellows, and he
determined to start one.
Since there was no body of drama writ-
ten in the common language, he had to
start from scratch, writing plays and
musicals, training actors, directing and
stage-managing, even painting scenery
and choosing costumes. With no models
to follow, he had to create his own forms
and techniques, appropriate to a simple
culture which had hardly progressed
since the 17th Century.
Jewish audiences responded immedi-
ately. By 1879 Jewish theaters emulating
his productions were springing up in all
major cities. He turned to the glories of
•
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#
►
the past for material and composed oper-
ettas that would foster the spirit of self-
respect and opposition to tyranny.
When he came to New York in 1883,
he found his fellow immigrants slaving
at low wages and living in squalid pov-
erty, unable to escape the dreary mo-
notony of their lives. Lost to the language
and mores of the Broadway stage, they
embraced Goldfaden's ideas with delight,
and the New York Yiddish Theater blos-
somed. It developed remarkable artistic
merit and culminated in the Yiddish Art
Theater and the works of such giants as
Sholem Asch and I. J. Singer.
Through the development of the Yid-
dish Theatre, Goldfaden brought hope
and pleasure to countless people, and left
a great legacy—the host of Jewish play-
wrights, actors and producers who enrich
the theater today.
KENT
CICARETI ES
THE
—
1
KING SIZE
P. LORILLARD COMPANY
ESTABLISHED 1760
First with the Finest Cigarettes
through Lorillard research