Purely Commentary
A Warning to Those Who Would Forget
All too often we hear a rebuke: why remember the Nazi era? Isn't
.1 time to forget?
As a warning that if you forget they may also be distorters of
truth comes this information from London by way o' the London Times:
A psychiatrist, writing about Belsen in a weekly historical
publication, says that conditions at the concentration camp were
"not too bad" until late 1944, and denies that the inmates were
unclothed and deliberately starved.
But Brigadier Glyn Hughes R.A.M.C., who was in charge of the
first British party to enter Belsen, said: "The conditions were
frightful, quite indescribable. If there had been no deliberate
starvation policy, there had obviously been deliberate neglect. I
saw 20 women living in 35 sq. ft. of space, and the bunks were
shared by the dead and the living together." He added that any
suggestion that the German people knew nothing about the con-
centration camps was "absolutely untrue." Brigadier Hughes said
that prisoners at Belsen had no food at all in the week before the
arrival of allied troops.
Its a simple fact i' you forget. you're running the danger of
being accused of condoning: if you forget, the criminal may get a new
platform for himself. The London incident to a degree proves the
validity of the warning based on the Biblical admonition: zkhor et
Anialek—remember Amalek !
o
From the Left Stems Much of Our Trouble
Russia is arming the Arabs. the USSR navy is invading the Aledi-
:erranean and is taunting Uncle Sam. the threat to Israel is primarily
from the Kremlin. Like the Czar of pre-Communist times, the new
regime is akin to the Black Hundreds in its anti-Jewish attitude. And
this continuing expression of hatred has invaded many ranks. It is
the inspirer of the New Left that sees It to distort truth in propagating
against Israel. it has become a partner in the campaign that uses
Zionism as a scapegoat. There is an unholy alliance that has also
:nfluenced the Black Power which has given comfort to anti-Semites.
It is impossible to find an adequate reason for such attitudes,
other than the fact that the Jew is such a ready scapegoat for those
Alio need some one to hate.
In the turn of events after June 5, 1967, when the Communists
and those who are influenced by them. suddenly adopted an anti-
:-rael policy. East Germany became a leader in ;-,ate-spreading
propaganda against Zionism. Israel and Jews generally. Walter Ulbricht
added anti-Israelism to his platform. Ulbricht's devilish campaign
as the head of the German Democratic Republic was exposed at a
press con - erence with Simon Wiesenthal, who directs the documentation
center of the Federation of Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecutions. He
rev ealed facts regarding the "National Socialist Elements in the
Press and Propaganda Organs of the German Democratic Republic"
and he showed that while the GDR claimed to have ousted Nazis the
Thmmunist East German regime is filled with former Hitlerites. He
proved that the Communist propaganda organs have taken their cue
from Julius Streicher and the filthy Nazi "Volkischer Boebachter"
and the worst elements in the anti-Semitic ranks.
Wiesenthal's charges are summarized as follows:
The people, who, in the "Volkischer Beobachter" (the "People's
Observer"), the Nazi party newspaper, formerly agitated against
the Jews, the people who preached violence, hay now found a
new medium. They have become followers of Ulbricht. This con-
centration of National Socialist experts in propaganda in the Soviet
Zone's organization for agitation and propaganda is not just a
coincidence. It is a product of the similarity of many of the aims
and methods of National Socialism and Communism. Khrushchev,
for example, once proclaimed: "We shall bury Capitalism" — and
the National Socialists marched to the song: "Today Germany
belongs to us. and tomorrow it will be the whole world." Both
systems are the same in their propaganda methods: agitation and
penetration of all spheres of existence, intensified to the point of
terror. The aim is total control of the human consciousness.
Looking through the documents that Wiesenthal has assem-
bled, it becomes clear how much these people dominate what is
published in the Soviet Occupied Zone, the "GDR." They did not
need to change their approach very much.
Wiesenthal says that only a few words are lacking in order
to make it seem that an article comes from "Neues Deutschland."
the party paper in the East German Zone today, and not from
the "Volkischer Boebachter." Wiesenthal gave a few examples of
this phenomenon at his press conference. The "Neues Deutsch.
land" was in fact printed on the same machines as the "Vol-
kischer Boebachter" until a few years ago.
New groups have formed. There are Aust, Kegel, and Kroger
in the magazine "German Foreign Policy," and the group in "Neues
Deutschland," led by Kertzscher and with such influential aides
as Kegel, Dengler, and Siebenmorgen. Those are two of the im-
portant journalistic centers in the zonal press. Another very im-
portant "team" is what is called the "National Democratic Group,"
which is usually never mentioned in connection with the "GDR,"
but which was deliberately set up by Ulbricht to keep "national"
elements on the same course with a flag of their own. Among the
leading journalists are Stoblein, Zander, Hofe, Arnold, Ball, Cas-
par, Hampe, Hempelmann, Riess, Seurla, and Sadder (who died
recently). The zonal branch of the CDU, which is a satellite of
Ulbricht's, has its former Nazi journalists too, with Hnhn and Gast
at the top, and Schnabel and Ulrich.
In the course of his press conference, in Vienna, Wiesenthal
`,ad this to say:
Since I myself speak almost all the languages spoken in East-
ern Bloc countries, and know the terminology that is used there
—I lived in the Soviet Union for two years; I have been in Poland;
and I studied in Czechoslovakia—it immediately occurred to me
that a terminology is employed in the newspapers—whether it be
"Neues Deutschland," "Deutsche AuBenpolitik," or whatever it
might be—that is reminiscent of something particular.
We played at something like a jigsaw puzzle in my office. We
took some 30-year-old newspapers, the Volkischer Beobachter"
or the "Schwarze Corps," and removed certain words and replaced
them with the customary words in the GDR press. Instead of the
word "Jew" we wrote "Zionist," and instead of "National Social-
ism," "the peace-loving camp, or the Socialist camp." And sud-
denly these articles looked as if they had appeared in the press
not 30 years ago but six months or a year previously. The "Docu-
mentation Center" is in principle only concerned with capital
crimes. From time to time we have also published documentation
about things *•id; do not have anything to do with murder as
Protest Against
. Leftists
Christmas Stamp .
Endanger Hopes for Peace
Justified
By Philip
Slomovitz
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
2—Friday, December 6, 1968
Knesset Alerts
World on Bonn
.
unmes Statute
such. Last year, for example, we published documentation about
people now working in the Federal Republic, who had earlier
been in charge of newspapers in countries occupied by the Nazis.
We have documentation about Herr Dr. Totter, who two years
ago was still press officer of the German Federation of Civil
Servants. Formerly he was in charge of the "Brusseler Zeitung"
and wrote some bloodthirsty articles. One result of the constant
propaganda directed by the GDR towards the West was that it was
. JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Knes-
somehow difficult to believe—perhaps we have unconsciously ac-
set adopted a proposal to take
cepted a part of this propaganda—that there could also be people
steps to alert world opinion to the
there, who had dipped their pens in Goebbels' ink and employed
danger that Nazi war criminals in
it against democracy, against the Jews. This way of writing gave
West Germany may go free after
us the idea of looking into the matter.
the statute of limitations on war
It was clear to me that, if I sent someone to East Berlin just
crimes prosecutions goes into effect
to bring out a list of the people working for "Neues Deutschland,"
at the end of 1969. The proposal
then I would not see him again for two or three years. The docu-
was submitted by Mrs. Emma Tal-
mentation I am putting before you has no claim to completeness.
mi of Mapam and, at the sugges-
Over the course of several months we got the details from various
tion of Foreign Minister Abba
archives, from publications, and from lists of SS and party mem-
Ehan, was referred to the Knes-
bership. Today we make known 39 names.
set's foreign affairs and security
We include articles from the "Volkischer Beobachter" by these
committee,
people. They work today in the press of the SED, the NPD, the
Eban said that continuous con-
LDP, and the Zonal CDU. And now a striking sentence from a war
versations
are taking place be-
report. "Our Tiger tanks squash the sub-human Asiatics like
tween
Israel and West Germany
bugs." One was a very important man. He died some months
regarding the statute. He said that
ago, Herr Wilhelm Stiehler, the city commissioner in Leipzig. For
opinion within the Christian Demo-
a long time he was also in the People's Chamber. I have a series
cratic Party — the party of West
of anti-Semitic articles that he wrote. These are people who, in the
German Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger
curriculum vitae necessary for acceptance in the Nazi Party, wrote
—was divided on the question. The
that they had contributed to the purging of Jewish influences from
federal
minister of justice, Gustav
German culture. And these are the eliminators of Jews who are
Heinemann, who visited Israel re-
active in the press today and who weep crocodile tears to show
cently, wants the statute abolished.
that somewhere here or there an anti-Semitic is at work. That's
Heinemann, a member of the So-
the truth. But that is possibly intended to distract us from the fact
cial Democratic Party, the CDU's
that there too these people are at work. In order to be able to
coalition partner, warned that un-
come to these 39 names, we worked through some 600 names. We
less the statute was at least post-
were not able to check everything with all of them, and not all of
poned, relations between Germany
them seemed important to us.
and the Jewish people would be
When this documentation had been completed—that was in
damaged.
April this year—events started in Czechoslovakia, and we did not
The matter has also been taken
want, as a result of this publication, to be accused somehow of
up, by Ernst Benda the West Ger-
interfering in a conflict. This would have been a trump card for
man minister of interior. Ehan
the others. They would have said: Of course, the Jews from abroad.
said. He reported that the Israeli
They're fighting on against the opponents of Dubeck etc. So we said
delegation to the United Nations is
No. We'll wait. It is the first time that such a documentation has
in contact with other delegations
been brought out. Time is not important. The time would come.
regarding ratification of the UN
Otherwise we Jews would again, as for centuries now, have been
the scapegoat.
anti-genocide convention which
would obligate member states to
Then the time came. There was an article in the SED paper
take
legislative 'measures that
"Neues Deutschland" headed "Zionism governs in Prague." Then
would make genocide a crime to
we saw that these people have reached the final stage of their
which no statute of limitations
argument—"The Jews are guilty." When the occupation of Czecho-
could apply. Israel took such ac-
slovakia was finally completed in the year 1939, there also ap-
tion immediately after the draft
peared in the "Volkischer Boebachter" a headline: "Jewry governs
convention was adopted more than
in Prague." I do not believe that it is necessary to explain here
10 years ago, Eban said. West
that there are only 14,000 Jews living among the 14,000,000 Czecho-
Germany, though not a UN mem-
slovaks, a minimal percentage. Also that the vast majority of them
are considerably over 60 years old, and that they are mostly people
ber, would probably comply with
the anti-genocide treaty, he said.
who survived the concentration camps. And also that the people
who had connections with Israel and with Zionism long ago left
this country—as is the case in other East Bloc countries with the
exception of the Soviet Union.
By naming names, by listing facts which reveal the tactics of the
GDR leadership, Wiesenthal has shown how the old Nazis are func-
tioning in East Germany to perpetuate the Nazi hatreds.
The facts gathered by Wiesenthal are especially valuable at this
Israel Export Items
on New Stamps
time as indications of the alliance created by Communists (who are
utilizing Nazi manpower in East Germany) with anti-Israel elements
who have emerged as the revived anti-Semitic force in the world, By
knowing who they are we may be able better to counteract their
destructive propaganda.
S
The Christmas Stamp and the First Amendment
An avalanche of Christmas stamps appeared this week in several
countries, notably in Italy as Vatican releases and in Austria—and
the shock came with the American issue against which the American
Jewish Congress has rightfully protested.
The Vatican's is a natural series, and Austria's observance of
the 150th anniversary of the writing of the lyrics and the music
to "Silent Night" by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber wth a com-
memorative stamp is not surprising because of the Christian influences
in Austrian government ranks. But the U.S. is not a Christian country.
Our population is, of course, overwhelmingly Christian, but it is guided
by a Bill of Rights that proscribes religious practices and teachings.
It is clearly stated in the First Amendement. Therefore the AJCon-
gress protest was justified.
There is an element that would proclaim this a Christian country,
and there are many among those who uphold the First Amendment
who nevertheless affirm the Christian aspect of American life. That
is why observance of Christmas is accepted as part of our life. But
as long as we can protect the basic American idea of Separation of
Church and State it is a duty to support the AJCongress position.
p,
Fashion and electronics, t*i
Of :Israel's export StaPle$, are
depicted on two new airmail
stamps issued this month by the
postal ministry of Israel.
Christmas Stamps Becoming Religious, AJCongress Says
NEW YORK — The 1968 Christ-
mas stamp, which depicts a por-
tion of "The Annunciation" by Jan
van Eyck, was protested by the
American Jewish Congress as a
violation of the church-state sepa-
ration guarantee of the First
Amendment.
In a letter to Postmaster General
brating "the dogma of the Virgin •'"It is from such beginnings as
birth."
this that fundamental threats to
The American Jewish Congress
our religious liberty can grow into
protest called on the department to reality."
reconsider its policy on Christmas
The letter was signed by Joseph
stamps.
B. Robison, director of the Con-
gress commission on law and social
By issuing stamps with reli-
action.
gious motifs, the Congress de-
clared, "the government set a
W. Marvin Watchon, the Jewish
The 1968 Christmas stamp de-
group said that the annual Christ- precedent for using its power and picts the angel Gabriel telling
mast stamps — first introduced in prestige to support the celebra-
Mary she has been chosen to bear
1962—were becoming increasingly
tion of a religious holiday. This the Christ child. Mary is not shown
religious in content, changing over amounts to government support on the stamp but is seen in the
the years from "relatively innocu-
of specific religious ideas even painting, which hangs in the Na-
ous" designs like holly wreaths to when those ideas are antithetical tional Gallery of. Art in Washing-,
reproductions of paintings cele- to the religious beliefs of others. ton.
.....