36—Friday, September 22, 1967
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
'Night Falls on the City' — Moving Novel Depicting
Era of Nazi Rule in Vienna and Attendant Miseries Jewish Cemetery Near D.C. Hit Again
fears, the threats from searching
squads, the rumors and the intimi-
dations are part of an experience
that keep the reader so glued to
this novel that he feels as if he is
experiencing the horror imposed
on Vienna—and mankind--by the
invading enemy.
There are, of course, the col-
laborationists as well as the SS and
the officials assigned to the theater
to watch over the Nazi controls.
There are the Oichkers, caretakers
of the house that includes Julia's
apartment, who are feared and who
finally are relegated to their lowly
position in the final days when
Hitler met defeat at the hands of
the Russians in Russia.
But there also are Fina—Sera-
fina Moosbauer, the Wedekers'
housekeeper, who helps hide Dr.
Franz, who guards over the sick-
ly man until the very end, who
protects Julia; and there is Dr.
George Kerenyi, the newspaper
editor, who is the only one to
visit the Wedekers through the
years, who is defiant of dangers,
who smuggles Dr. Franz's manu-
script to Switzerland in the hope
of having it published.
The administrator assigned to
the theater by the new regime,
Friedrich Lahmann, is there as the
representative of the controlling
elements but he is not antagonistic.
, Others present dangers. But Julia
befriends Nandy—Ferdinand von
Kasda—the civil servant who later
joins the army. There is a love
affair between them and they meet
Shah of Iran Says Israel away from Julia's home. She re-
mains attached to him to the very
Has the Right to Exist
end—until the last word from him
NEW YORK ( J T A ) — Shah from the Russian front. It is a deep
Mohammed Riza Pahlevi of Iran love affair but that does not reduce
has said publicly for the first time Julia's devotion to her husband
that he felt Israel
over whom she guards and for
had the right to
whose protection she seeks every
exist "naturally,
available means.
like any other
There are several very tragic
memberof the
aspects of this story. The begin-
United Nations."
ning, when the Nazi hooligans
He made the
run loose, pillage, attack Jews,
statement in a
murder, is horrifying. It is during
wide-ranging in-
these first days that Julia wit-
terview with the
nesses the attack on the home of
New York Times
her husband's aunt and her aged
in his palace in
father, a talmudic scholar. Both
-
Shimran, a sub- fa`-',
die in the scuffle. She manages
Shah Pahlevi
urb of Teheran.
to rescue ,Franz's niece, Ruth,
and with the aid of Georg Keren-
While affirming Israel's right to
yi Ruth is given a home, is mar-
national existence, the 47-year-old
king said he was opposed to the
use of military- force in general
and specifically to the six-day June Isaac Stern Cancels
Israeli-Arab war. He repeated prev- E. Europe Concerts to
ious criticism of Israel's conquests,
declaring that Iran was against Protest Stand on Israel
"the annexation of anybody's terri-
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Isaac
tory by sheer brutal force." He con- Stern, world-fained violinist, has
ceded that in the June war, "you Canceled concert appearances in
might say this was the result of an the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia
accident or that it was provoked." and Hungary in protest against the
He also said that he would not anti - Israel poli-
seek to be a mediator in settling cies adopted by
the Arab-Israeli dead lo c k. The the governments
Persians, though they are Moslems, of t hose coun-
are ethncially dist inct from tries.
Arabs.
Stern, who per-
formed last week
with the Buchar-
Argentine Jews Voice
est Philharmonic
Orchestra, noti-
Concern Over Brethren
fied the govern-
in Russia, Ai-ab Lands
ments of the,
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Reso- three countries: .
lutions expressing concern over that as "a Jew
the fate of the Jews in Arab coun- and a Zionists'
...-
tries and condemning discrimina- he could not
Stern
tion against the Jews in the Soviet visit those countries and give con-
Union were adopted by the national certs there after they had ordered
convention of the Federation of the Israeli envoys to leave.
Argentine J e wi s h Communities
Stern is the president of the
which was attended by delegations America-Israel Cultural Foundation
from the Jewish communities in in New York and, with his wife, is
most Argentine cities. It was held active in many Israeli causes.
last week in La Plata City to cele-
brate the 60th anniversary of the
French Prime Minister
Jewish community there.
The convention adopted a reso- on Israel's Victory
lution deploring the death, in
PARIS (ZINS) — Speaking be-
Prague, under mysterious circum- fore journalists at a meeting de-
stances, of Charles H. Jordan, ex- voted to Israel's foreign policy,
ecutive vice-chairman of the Joint French Prime Minister George
Pompadeu said that "when we
Distribution Committee.
Working sessions under the granted Algiers independence we
chairmanship of Dr. Tobias Kam- made history; when Abdul Nasser
enszain, president of the organiza- nationalized the Suez Canal he
tion, discussed educational and re- changed the globe; when Israel
ligious problems of the community sent its troops into Sinai, it shook
the entire world."
and other domestic issues.
There is no limit to the exposes
of what had happened in the con-
quered countries during the Hitler
era. An extensive and growing li-
brary devoted to the Holocaust
exists in many languages, in many
lands. It keeps expanding as new
revelations appear, as more novels
are being written based on exper-
iences during the tragic years of
mass murders and the suppression
of human rights.
One of the great novels of the
year dealing with the Nazi era,
"Night Falls on the City," by Sarah
Gainham, published by Holt, Rine-
hart and Winston, (383 Madison,
NY17), is a story about Vienna
during the entire period of Nazi
domination, and the very able
author delineates a situation that
throws light on the tragedy and ex-
poses the horror as it was faced by
the sufferers and as it was ac-
cepted by collaborationists.
The heroine of this story is the
beautiful actress Julia Homburg-
Wedeker of the world famed
Viennese Burgtheater who is
married to the liberal politician
Dr. Franz Wedeker. With the ad-
vent of Hitlerism her husband
escapes, but on his way to Prague
he is warned that Gestapo are
about to question him and he
jumps off the train,- returns to
his home and is hidden in a
secretly set-up room for the dur-
ation of the war.
The subsequent tensions, the
-
ried, for the sake of security
to an Italian. The latter, too,
escapes, leaves Ruth behind, she
is among the rounded up, and the
scene of the gathering of the
victims who are sent to their
death is among the very disturb.
ing and very moving scenes de-
picted by Sarah Gainham.
It is as a result of the disappear-
ance of Ruth Wedliceny, Franz's
niece, that Georg Kerenyi emerges
in a very noble light. He runs to
headquarters, seeks aid, even goes
to Poland later—in search of Ruth
who had lived with him during the
period of his effort to save her life
from the Nazis. But to no avail.
Julia, too, is in Poland, enter-
taining troops. It is part of the
Nazi drama, and there she meets
her lover several times, before his
final disappearance.
Among the fears depicted in
"Night Falls on the City" is that
of the impending arrival of the
Russians. Preceding the m are
stories of brutality, of hatred
mingled with the desire for ven-
geance. The Russians are feared
more than even the Nazis.
Then there is the final scene
the attack on Vienna, the death in
the rubble created by the air raid
of Fina and Franz. Julia survives
and again is asked to return to the
theater which she has enricher by
her acting.
"Night Falls on the City" is one
of the most moving novels of our
time. It has already gained tho de-
served designation among the best
selling novels.
stones were then knocked down
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
WASHINGTON—Police in Hyatts- or defaced.
ville, Md., a suburb of Washing- Authorities noted that the two
ton, D.C., investigated Tuesday an desecrations of the Jewish ceme-
attack by vandals on a Jewish tery occurred in a span of about
cemetery that resulted in the dam- three months with no damage done
age and desecration of 37 head- to nearby nonsectarian and Christ-
stones. ian cemeteries. This caused a con-
Two of the larger headStones elusion that an anti-Semitic motive
were broken in half. Empty beer existed.
cans were thrown about the ceme- The cemetery, Mount Lebanon,
is one of the Washington area's
tery grounds.
An assault on the same cemetery largest and serves a score of Jew-
took place June 4, the eve of the ish Synagogues and fraternal or-
Israel-Arab war, and 72 head- ganizations.
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U. S. Court Rejects
Injunction Bid For
eaglet?
Christmas Stamp
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Federal
District Judge Alexander Holtzoff
has ruled that the Post Office
Department's annual Christmas
stamp does not violate constitu-
tional guarantees of the separation
of church and state.
He denied a request by Protes-
tant and Other Americans United
for the Separation of Church and
State for an injunction to prevent
issuance of the Christmas stamp
this year. He said that, while the
Constitution provided for "a sepa-
ration of church and state," it did
not require a separation of religion
and state.
The Protestant group said that
the stamp, a reproduction of Hans
Membling's "Madonna and Child,"
was " a religious symbol commonly
associated with the Roman Catholic
Church."
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