Purely Commentary
Ilya Ehrenburg's Stormy Life and Un-Jewish Jewishness
Ilya Ehrenburg's stormy journalistic career, his role of leadership
among Russian writers, his association with the Jewish Anti-Fascist
Committee which ended in the purging of its major leaders—these are
factors in the life of an eminent Jewish Communist which have drawn
many condemnations and defense from some of his admirers.
On one point there is general agreement: Ehrenburg never denied
his Jewishness. Neither did Boris Pasternak
whose father was an eminent painter
who produced portraits of a number of the
great Zionist leaders. But Pasternak did not
shun apostasy and seemed to have been linked
with the church, whereas Ehrenburg affirmed
opposition to anti-Semitism even while ridicul-
ing some Jewish ideologies. Pasternak was
never heard from on Jewish matters, even
during the years when the voice of that
acknowledged leader among Russian poets
and novelists could have resulted in bringing
some relief from sufferings for the people
Ehrenburg
he stemmed from.
About six or seven years ago, when he was asked for a biograph-
ical sketch for the Soviet Writers' Who's Who. Ehrenburg stated: "I
cannot speak Yiddish, but as for my being a Jew, I have more than
once been reminded of the fact by people who, apparently, believe
that human blood has some special racial characteristics. I am not a
racist, I have never been one, but so long as there exist racists I
answer when asked about my nationality: 'I am a Jew.' "
This could well be interpreted as a rebuke rather than as an
affirmation. If you ask, I admit, he seemed to state. Since, as a Jew,
the term Yevrei—Jew—must appear on his Russian identification card,
what made Ehrenburg speak of racism? Isn't the Russian system re-
sponsible for acceptance of racist ideas, even if in the instance of
the Jews and its other peoples it is the national status? And if the
Ilya Ehrenburg Story: The Old
Stalin Line, Eminent Author's
Anti-Zionist, Prejudices
By Philip
Slomovitz
grated to America, like scores of other peoples, although like others they were
attached to the land in which they had grown up. They emigrated because of the
degradation they had suffered in the lands of their birth.
"The obscurantists say that there is some mysterious connections between
Jews in all parts of the world. Yet there is little in common between a Tunisian
Jew and a Jew who lives in Chicago and speaks the American language and
thinks tike an American. Whatever connection there exists was created by anti-
Semitism.
"If some maniac were to arise tomorrow and declare that alt red-haired or
short-nosed people must be persecuted and destroyed there would immediately
develop a solidarity between all the red-haired and the short - nosed."
Mr. Ehrenburg develops his theme by saying that there are both national-
ists and mystics among the Jews who had created a program of Zionism,
but it is not they who brought the Jews to Palestine.
"It was the racialists and anti-Semites who drove the Jews from their homes
to seek settlement elsewhere."
The State of Israel, he says, reminded him of the refugee-boat "Exodus"
which carried people who had survived the concentration camps. He thinks that
the reason why Alexander R., the Bavarian student, is prepared to seek salvation
in Israel is only because his birthplace, Bavaria, is now being ruled by "the
racialists of New Jersey and Alabama, the heirs of the German racialists.
"Under such circumstances Alexander R. has perhaps no other choice but
to by-pass the new barbed wire created in Bavaria and to make his way to
Israel. But if this may solve his personal drama it cannot solve the drama of
the Jews who live in those different countries where money, falsehood and
superstition are the ruling power.
"The biggest number of Jews live in the U.S.A. and if they are in danger
of racial persecution their salvation lies not in the State of Israel—which could
not absorb even a small section—but in the victory of progressive America. The
Jewish question, says Mr. Ehrenburg, has only one solution: the extermination
of the Jewish question.
"We treat with symathy the struggle of the working people of Israel. On
their side are the sympathies not only of the Soviet Jews, but of all Soviet
People. We have no adherents of Glubb Pasha. But every Soviet citizen under-
stands that it is not only a question of the national character of a state but of its
social order. The citizen of a socialist society looks upon the people of all other
capitalist countries, including the people of the State of Israel, as upon men
who are stilt on the road and who have not yet found their way out of a dark
forest."
It is clear from all that he had then written that he was following
an old Bolshevik line, that he was searching for Jewish and other
capitalists and imperialists and that in spite of the experiences that
were then so brutally engraved on all human minds—the still domi-
nant knowledge of what the Germans had done only a few years
earlier—the article written in 1948 merely reiterated the Communist
view.
From all indications, Ehrenburg had refused to yield to Russian
national aspect is a factor in Jewish life in the USSR, why was Ehren-
pressures last month when other Jewish writers in the USSR joined in
burg so venomously anti-Zionist?
a
condemnation
of Israel. But there were many Jewish writers who
Ehrenburg must have been subdued by his Communist overlords.
He had planned to write a novel about the reactions of the peoples refused to sign that proclamation, and Ehrenburg was among them.
who were under Nazi subjection but who collaborated with the Hitler-
ites. It insensed and outraged him and he was bitter about the
calumnies and persecutions. But he never published that novel. He
is quoted as having said to a Jewish interrogator: "A large part of my
manuscript was ready. But they would not allow me to finish my
work. They told me my book would not be published and I gave up.
For them there has been no special Jewish tragedy under the Nazis.
You have probably noticed while in Moscow that one may no longer
recall in my country that, above all, the Nazis wanted to exterminate
the Jews."
If this quotation is as accurate as claimed, it speaks volumes
about the pressure under which Ehrenburg lived, about the extent
to which he, courageous as he is said to have been, was subdued by
the Soviet overlords.
Indeed, he must have paid a high price for his survival—and
survive he did, in spite of the wholesale purge of Jewish writers by
Stalin.
Ehrenburg's errors were those of the socialist-oriented who be-
lieved that the solution to the sufferings to which Jews were subjected
could come only from the social revolution. That's what many of our
youth believe today—and they are being hard hit by the role that
those who are expected to lead in bringing about the projected revolu-
tion are playing as cohorts to anti-Semites. It was under socialist banners
that animosities were fanned against Jews in European countries, and
the great radicals in the West had failed to come to the aid of Jews
during the years of horrors over which the Nazis ruled and not only
threatened to exterminate Jewry but actually murdered Six Million.
Ehrenburg's attitude can best be summarized by referring to an
article he wrote for Pravda on Sept. 21. 1948. In October of that year,
that article was presented for Jewish readers in the following summary:
Mr. Ehrenburg begins by saying that he had received a letter from Munich
written by a man whom he described as "Alexander R." The letter-writer is a
German Jew, "a student of medicine and an anti-fascist" who had fought with
had hoped that
the Maquis during the war. He tells Mr. Ehrenburg that he
Fascism would be destroyed by the war, but now he again hears the Munich
students shouting "Pack yourself off to Palestine" and he sees discrimination
in
Germany
much
more
refined, but
in the universities. He sees anti-Semitisin
of the same old kind.
He (The Bavarian student) had not been a Zionist, but now he is beginning
Mr. Ehrenburg to
to believe in the idea of a Jewish State. He, therefore, wishes
tell him what is the attitude of the Soviet Union to the people of Israel. "Should
one see in the Jewish State solution of the so-called Jewish question."
of
After quoting the letter Mr. Ehrenburg says that he considers the answer
interest not only to Jews but to all 171C71 of thought. He, therefore, decided to
reply in an article in the "Pravda."
the
attitude
of
the
Soviet
Union
to
Referring to the question about the
State of Israel, Mr. Ehrenburg says:
"It is possible to answer this question briefly. The Soviet Government was
the first to recognise the new State; it has energetically protested against the
aggressors, and when the armies of Israel defended their soli against the Arab
Legions which were commanded by English officers, all the sympathies of the
Soviet people were on the side of the offended and not on the side of the offend-
ers. This is just as natural as the sympathy of the Soviet people for the patriots
of Indonesia in their fight against the Dutch executioners.
"One can answer the question even further by saying that the representa-
tives of the Soviet Union had declared at UNO that our people understand the
feelings of the Jews who had experienced the greatest tragedy and who have
finally received the right to .exist on their land.
"While wishing success to the working people of Israel the Soviet people do
not close their eyes to all the temptations which confront the honest citizens
of the young State. Apart from the invasion of Anglo-Arab hordes, Israel is con-
fronted with another invasion—less noisy but no less dangerous—the invasion of
Anglo-American capital. To the imperialist, Palestine is first and foremost a
matter of oil."
Mr. Ehrenburg goes on to sw: that next to the cut-throats of King Abdullah
Palestine is in danger from the competing oil companies.
"The State of Israel is not headed by representatives of the working masses.
We have all seen how the bourgeoisie of the European countries with their great
traditions and old states had betrayed their national interests for the sake of the
dollar. Can the Soviet people expect that the bourgeoisie of Israel will be more
conscientious and more far-sighted than the capitalists of France or Italy? Very
doubtful, indeed. We have confidence in the nations but if the People of Israel,
fight bravely this does not yet mean that the people are at the helm of affairs."
He then quotes Mukunis, secretary of the Communist Party in Israel, to the
effect that there was no tax on property in Palestine, and no tax on profits,
and that businessmen hay, shamelessly increased their earnings.
"Thus, the working people have to fight not only against the invaders but
against the greed of their own capitalists for whom the war is, as in every
country, a matter of profit."
Mr. Ehrenburg then emphasises that while he believes in the future of Israel,
"where the working people will, as in all other countries, prevail in the end," he
does not believe that the new State would solve the so-called Jewish question.
"I have always believed that the Jewish question can be solved everywhere
only through social and spiritual heroism of the fighters of Israel, but I know
that the solution of the Jewish question depends not only on the military vic-
tories in Palestine, but on the victories of socialism against capita/sm.
"The dark elements have invented a fairy tale that Jews are exceptional
creatures and that unlike other peoples surrounding them, are eternal wanderers
without a feeling for a homeland; that they are united among themselves through
some secret ties.
"These ideas find their most radical expression in Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' and
were repeated by the S.S. men who threw babies into gas chambers. Jews lived
in segregation only when they were forced to do so. The ghetto was invented not
by Jewish mystics, but by Catholic Inquisitors. As soon as the gates of the ghetto
were opened Jews streamed into the general life of all other nations. They root-
2—Friday, September 15, 7967
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Russian intellectuals refused to go along with that attack, and Ehren-
burg was among them.
Inherently he must have had a sense of justice. He has been
accused of complicity in the death of the Jewish writers during the
Stalin regime and in the purge of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
He was silent through the years when he was confronted with ques-
tions about that period. He did speak out in condemnation of the
Doctors' Trial concocted by Stalin, but he was silent on many issues
involving Israel, Zionism, the Jews. He affirmed his Jewishness, fol-
lowing an assimilationist line of his father who gained residence outside
the Pale of Settlement and shunned religious Jewish affiliations.
Ilya Ehrenburg now is hailed as having been a fearless man in
Russia. He may have been a very lucky man not to have been purged.
He defended Jews against anti-Semitism but he never aided the liber-
tarian causes which could have saved millions of Jews. He was
horrified by Nazism but he failed to help the Zionist cause which,
alone, saved the remnants of the Jewish people after Nazism.
In September 1943, during the height of the Nazi onslaught on
millions of people and especially Jews, Ilya Ehrenburg wrote an
article on "The Murder of the Jewish People" for Nailebn, the magazine
that was published by the leftist ICOR Association, It was a powerful
condemnation of the Hitler practices and he listed some of the crimes,
many of them too horrifying to be mentioned. In that article he ap-
pealed to all peoples, to the leaders of all nations, to join in the fight
against Nazism. One wonders what he would have done if the Hitler-
Stalin Pact had still been in effect.
Ehrenburg's "The Stormy Life of Lasik Roitschwantz" is believed
to have been autobiographical. It was written before the Hitler era. The
hero of that book finds final resting place in Jerusalem. The novel
reveals a knowledge of Jewish history. Then came the subsequent at-
tacks on Zionism and in 1948 the Pravda article which many inter-
preted as an attempt at self-defense, at saving his position in Russia
with an attack on Zionism.
It was a stormy life and he emerged one of Russia's ablest writers
and most notable figures. While affirming his Jewishness he was not
helpful in the great task of rescuing Jews—and Israel alone was the
rescuer. Much will be written about Ehrenburg in the years ahead.
He won't be listed among the heroes who contributed towards the
survival of Jews as Jews.
BOAC Resumes
Lod's Flights
to Far East
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Brit-
ish Overesas Airways CorporatiOn
will resume use of Lod (Lydda)
Airport in Israel for flights be-
tween London and the Far East.
The airline canceled two flights
last May when Pakistan, in support
of the Arab anti-Israel boycott, re-
fused overflight rights to planes
which had landed at Lod unless
they made an intermediate stop.
BOAC has now reinstated the
two flights it canceled at that time
and has added another using Lod.
With the two London-Lod flights
which were not interrupted, the
British airline will now have five
flights weekly using Lod Airport.
Dr. Joachim Prinz of Newark,
chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major Jewish Organ-
izations, said he was "deeply grati-
fied" to receive the letter from
BOAC announcing the expansion
of its service to Israel. In behalf
of the Conference. Dr. Prinz bad
protested the original BOAC action
charging that it had "bowed to
Arab boycott pressure" in can-
celing its flights to the Far East
via Lod Airport.
The BOAC letter to Dr. Prinz
noted that, during 1967-68, the air-
line will have five flights weekly
stopping at Lod instead of four.
Two will be direct between London
and Tel Aviv and one will go be-
yond Tel Aviv to Sydney, Australia.
Another flight will stop in Israel
en route to Delhi. India; and a
fifth will fly via Tel Aviv to Tokyo,
Japan.
Polish Hero's Sister
Returns Posthumous
Medal in Protest
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The
sister of a Polish Jewish hero of
the underground during the Nazi
occupation of Poland notified the
Polish Embassy here that she was
returning the medal posthumously
awarded her brother as a protest
against the Polish policy toward
Israel.
Dr. Nina Tenenbaum, whose
brother, Mordechai Tenenbaum,
was a leader of the Bialystok
ghetto fighters, said she was re-
turning the Grunwald Cross, one
of Poland's highest decorations,
which the Polish government had
conferred on her brother in post-
humous ceremonies. Her protest
was against Poland's severing rela-
tions with Israel after the outbreak
of the June war and the Polish
Communist Party leader's subse-
quent warning to Poland's Jews
not to rejoice over Israel's victory.
Oklahoma Jet Plane Plant Reported Bought
by Israel; Gasoline Prices Being Reduced
NEW YORK (JTA) — Reports Dewey Bartlett protested to the
persisted, despite denials, that U.S. Department of Justice against
the Rockwell-Standard Corporation what he called a "forced" sale
of the aircraft factory to Israel,
had sold its jet aircraft plant in fearing that the state would there-
Oklahoma to Israel.
by suffer the loss of several hun-
A spokesman for the Israeli Em- dred jobs. Gov . Bartlett said that
bassy in Washington denied Sun- Rockwell-Standard had to divest
itself of the plant in order to be
day that Israel was planning to able to merge with a major avia-
buy the plant. In New York, Is- tion firm.
• e •
rael's Minister for Economic
Affairs, Nachum Shamir, said he
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Gasoline
knew nothing about the purported prices have been reduced to the
transaction. But, in Oklahoma City, level they were at preceding the
a local newspaper quoted Col. Wil-
ard F. Rockwell, founder and
chairman of the corporation, as
saying that the plant had been sold
to Israel for $25,000,000 and that
"everything about the sale is final,
except that we have not signed the
outbreak of the Arab-Israel war
last June.
The price rose substantially the
first week in June, when Egyptian
forces seized the heights of Sharm-
El-Sheikh, dominating the Strait of
Tiran, and blocked the passage of
oil tankers to the Israeli port of
Eilat. With Sharm-El-Sheikh now
under Israeli control, the strait re-
opened and fuel shipment restored
to its pre-war volume, transporta-
tion costs have dropped and the
government has been able to cut
the price of gasoline accordingly.
Jerusalem Airport Landings Requested
by West Germany's Lufthansa
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Luft-
hansa, the West German airline,
contract—but the contract is agree- and other foreign airlines have re-
able to everyone."
quested permission to use the
In Pittsburgh, Donald McLeod,
vice-president and general counsel Jerusalem airport at Kalendia as a
of the corporation, said: "no agree- terminus for international flights.
ment has been reached with any Government agencies are now
party — and that includes Israel." studying the applications.
The airport, which came into
In Oklahoma City, however, Gov.
Israeli hands in the Six-Day War,
is currently being used only for
domestic flights linking Jerusalem
with Tel Aviv and the south. Its
use as a terminus for international
flights would ease some of the
pressure on Israel's International
Airport at Lod (Lydda) and might
give new impetus to the tourist
flow to Israel.