Moshe Decter, Expert on USSR Affairs,
Replies to Novosti Claims About Jews

I

48—Friday, January 9, 1970

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me'

August 1939 to June 1941, no Jews are being permitted the op-
word appeared in the Soviet portunity to enter the sciences,
mass media about Nazi anti- comparatively speaking; it is the
Semitism. And even during the disproportionately large number of
war, there was a clear pattern Jewish scientists of an old...r gen-
(Copyright 1970, JTA Inc.)
of muting the nature and extent eration that helps keep tne aver-
0: the Jewish Holocaust. In the age high.
postwar period, that pattern was
• • •
COMMUNAL TRENDS: Initial response on the part of American
transformed into a policy of sil-
Novosti's long lists of Jews in Jewry to the needs of Israel in 1970 is very encouraging. All over the
The recent publication by No-
ence about Jewish heroism and executive positions in industry, country communities are becoming aware of the fact that Israel will
vosti, the Soviet propaganda agen-
martyrdom, a policy that per- government and the armed forces not be able to cope with its welfare and educational programs—and
cy, of an 18-page mimeographed
sists to this day.
conceal the fact that in the first with the absorption of the expected 60,000 immigrants—unless Amer-
document entitled "Soviet Jews as
Novosti seeks to credit the Sow- two areas Jews are almost without ican Jewry comes to its aid on an unprecedented scale.
They Are" can only be described iet regime with lifting the Jews exception not in the positions of
Results of the first fund-raising meeting for the 1970 campaign
as a tired rehash of old lies, half- out of the narrow range of occupa-
power and policy-making, but in in a number of communities are beginning to reach New York and
truths and distortions.
tions ("tailoring, medicine, law") strictly technical positions; the they indicate a very gratifying trend.
This propaganda traditionally of the pie-Revolutionary period.
In Los Angeles, 40 key men of the local Federation-Council have
takes credit for things the Bolshe- There its no doubt that in the men mentioned in the armed forces
are virtually all retired, and there announced gifts for 1970 in the sum of $2,479,000. The same people
viks and the Soviet government first 20 years, the doors to higher are no new young Jewish generals gave a total of $1,300,000 last year. In the record year of 1967—the
did not do for the Jews. For ex- education and consequently to a
year of the Six-Day War—they gave $1,200,000. Their 1970 contribu-
coming up.
ample, Novosti harks back to Len- virtually unlimited range of occu-
And another old chestnut is the tions are thus more than twice as much as in the crucial year of 1967.
in's opposition to czarist anti-Semi- nations were thrown wide open to
In Miami, top leaders of the local Federation who last year
tism and his support for equality Jews.
8,000 Jewish deputies to the Su-
gave $665,000 increased their gifts to more than $1,000,000.
for the Jews. This is true. Lenin
But• with the Nazi-Soviet Pact preme Soviet, republican, and
Indications from other cities point to the fact that the giving
was personally free of anti-Semitic of 1939, the open door policy be- local soviets. What Novosti delib-
prejudice. What is never men- gan to be reversed. Instead, there erately neglects to mention is that there will, in 1970, be the highest in the history of the Jewish com-
tioned, however, is that his politi- began a narrowing of Jewish op- there is a total of 2,000,000 such munities. In some communities, the large givers have increased their
cal opposition to anti-Semitism was portunities, and a purging of oc- deputies all told in the USSR— 1970 contributions by 35 to 50 per cent as compared with 1967, the
strictly tactical, not principled: cupations where Jews played im- which makes the 8,000 Jewish dep- year of the Six-Day War, when the giving for the United Jewish Appeal
Lenin was no "sentimentalist". He portant roles. In the past 30 years, uties exactly .004 per cent. How through the local federations was unprecedented.
•
•
•
fought anti-Semitism, not on "ir- the leadership of the government does that compare with the Jewish
relevant" moral, intellectual or and Communist Party, of the proportion of 1.09 per cent of the INSIDE ISRAEL: While immigration into Israel is anticipated to be
spiritual grounds, but because, as armed forces and secret police, total population?
larger in 1970 than in many other previous years, a real housing
he saw it, it sowed dissension with- the whole foreign service, diplo-
crisis is now faced there. The Jewish Agency is now compelled to
It is ever harder for Jewish
in the proletariat and distracted matic corps and foreign trade ap-
think in terms of ordering aluminum structures from the United
youths to get in to the higher
it from the paramount objective— pa ratus—all were made Juden-
States as temporary housing for many of the expected newcomers.
schools; harder to stay in; harder
the class struggle and revolution. rein.
The decision to order aluminum houses has been taken despite
to gain the academic rewards and
Soviet spokesmen also always
This fact is naturally glossed reach the levels their natural tal- opposition of many in Israel who want no return to the old "maabarot"
of
the
1950's. They want no new "instant slums." However, the out-
boast that it was the Bolshevik over by Novosti. And, despite the ent would normally lead them to.
look with regard to supply of housing for new immigrants is so grave
Revolution of October 1917 that "normalization" of Jewish em-
Now, everybody in the Soviet that not only aluminum houses will be used this year, but also 5,000
emancipated the Jews from Czar- ployment in the 52 years of the
ist oppression and disabilities. Soviet regime, Jews will play lead- Union knows this is true. Discrimi- pre-fabs will be erected.
In addition, some 7,000 housing units will be purchased from
This is not only a falsehood, but ing roles in the modern versions nation against Jews in higher edu-
a gross injustice to the demo- of those old Jewish occupations: cation and employment is the big- private contractors. The Jewish Agency itself has now 8,000 con-
gest
open
secret
in
the
country.
It
ventional
apartments under construction for 1970.
cratic revolutionary regime of they are still important in the tex-
Other solutions to ease the housing crisis until the Jewish Agency
the preceding February, which tile and clothing industries, and is only for the gullible abroad that
the Soviet regime indulges in its is in a position to catch up with its needs for immigrant housing will
actually dissolved all czarist dis- ' in medicine and law !
pathetically transparent statistic- be: 1. Sending immigrants to kibutzim, wherever space is available
criminatory legislation and pro-
It is true, as Novosti claims,
juggling act.
and all parties agree; 2. Using empty flats in far-away development
claimed full equality for the that the Jews play a dispropor-
Jews. The Bolsheviks only con- tionately large role as scientific
No lists of distorted statistics on towns, at least temporarily, where immigrants don't usually want to
tinned the policy. workers in the USSR. Though
Jewish vocations can hide the fact go; 3. Making newly-married couples wait for an apartment.
Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, executive chairman of the United
Another canard repeated by No- they are eleventh in size of gen-
that the life is being squeezed out
Jewish Appeal, estimates it will take perhaps a whole year until
vosti is that the Soviets took "time- eral population, they are third
of the Jewish community, that
the
Jewish
Agency will catch up with the construction difficulties.
ly and energetic measures" to in number of scientists—nearly
Soviet Jewry is utterly bereft of
In order to serve the immigrants and the existing population in
evacuate millions of Soviet Jews 59,000, and this number has
cultural and educational institu-
1971, some 45,000 housing starts must be made in 1970. In the
out of the path of the Nazis in steadily increased from the 33,-
tions through which to perpetuate
meantime building costs are constantly increasing. And so is the
June 1941. It is true that measures 000 in 1960. What Novosti omits
itself for long.
number of immigrants.
were taken to evacuate key Soviet is the fact that in an expanding
Novosti is silent about the
The Jewish Agency reception center at Lydda airport has been
personnel, indispensable for politi- population, all nationalities have
liquidation of the Jewish thea- closed, because it was inadequate to handle the daily arrivals.
cal control, wartime security and produced increasing numbers of
ter, publishing house and news- ' Instead, the immigrants are taken direCtly from plane or ship
postwar reconstruction—Commun- scientists—but that the Jewish
paper in 1948-49. It is silent to 14 absorption centers located in various parts of the country, and
ist Party functionaries, govern- rate of increase has lagged far
about the judicial murder of the are processed there by officials of the government and of the Agency.
ment bureaucrats, major scien- behind all the others.
Jewish cultural leadership in
tists, industrial technicians, etc.—
The Agency is trying its best to increase bed capacity in these centers,
Moreover, though the absolute
1952, the failure to rehabilitate
in ulpanim and in hostels for all those who remain in these institu-
and among these were doubtless numbers of Jewish scientists have
their memories or even apolo-
tions for 6 months to study Hebrew.
large numbers of Jews. But no increased, the Jewish percentage
gize to their families. It is silent
special or 'systematic efforts were among all scientists has steadily
While the housing problem is acute, this is not the case with
about the closure of hundreds employment. Almost every able-bodied immigrant quickly finds a job.
made to save the lives of Jews as decreased: from 16.8 per cent in
of synagogues in less than a de-
such. On the whole, those Jews 1947, to 11 per cent in 1955; 10.2
cade. It is silent about the hide- CONTEMPORARY HISTORY:
who survived did so by making in 1958; 9.2 in 1960; 9 in 1961;
American Jews interested in Israel—
ous anti - Semitic propaganda
their own disorganized and battered 7.9 in 1966; 7.7 in 1967. This is
and who in American Jewry is not interested today in the fate of
systematically disseminated in Israel?—should read a new book published this week which throws
way into the interior. nothing but a process of attrition
the thin disguise of "anti-Zion- strong light on the early military attempts made by Jewish youngsters
It should be noted that during through a policy of discrimination.
ism."
the Nazi-Soviet honeymoon, from Obviously, fewer and fewer young
from many countries, including the United States, to pave the way
Novosti boasts about the lone for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.
The book is "War and Hope" by Elias Gilner, published by Herzl
Yiddish
literary
monthly,
Sovietish
Names and Some Other Things
Heimland, but anyone who reads Press. It tells the dramatic story of the Jewish Legion which fought
By-DAVID SCHWARTZ
study. In the Western world, it it regularly will fail to note any side by side with the British during World War I on the crossroads to
(Copyright 1970, JTA, Inc.)
appears, names are often selected particular Jewish character or Asia and helped to liberate Palestine from the Turks. The first Jewish
Considering the great influence for sound effect. Many names spirit in it, except for the alpha- Legion was not merely a group of pioneer fighters in the struggle for
of the Bible on early America, like Seymour or Sinclair are given bet. But there are no schools or a Jewish state.
without reference to any meaning. even courses where Jews can
This unprecedented international Jewish army that made his-
there are surprisingly few cities in •
Hebrew names seem not to be so learn . anything of Jewish history
tory was the forerunner of the Hagana and other militant and
America with biblical names. On particularly motivated. They lend or literature, even in the Russian
defense groups which David Ben-Gurion was able to weld into
the other hand, in the matter of to convey a more visual image, language. Novosti dredges up the
one united Israel Army at the birth of the State of Israel.
personal names, the debt to the such as Sarah, which means prin- pathetic wandering troups of Jew-
Ben-Gurion himself enlisted in the Jewish Legion. So did the late
Hebrew is great.
I cess, or the many animal names, ish actors and singers as the only Israel president, Itzhak Ben-Zvi. So did Levi Eshkol, the late Israel
There are no important towns in Deborah, bee; Zeb. wolf; Aryeh, expression of Jewish theatrical premier, who served in the legion as Corporal Skolnik. So did Dov
America named Jerusalem. There lion. Many have religious associa- artistry. There is not one Jewish Joseph, governor of besieged Jerusalem during Israel's War of Inde-
is a little fishing town in Rhode tions. Daniel means "God will professional repertory t h e a t e r. pendence. So did Nehemia Rabin, father of General Itzhak Rabin, who
Island, called Jerusalem. Nat Tur- judge;" Nathaniel "God will give." Novosti notes that half a million enlisted in the Legion in the United States. So did many other youths
ner ,the leader of the great early I Hapzibah means "My delight is people attended performances of who, with the march of time, became prominent personalities.
Vladimir Jabotinsky, the renowned Zionist leader who was the
Negro revolt against slavery, lived in her." Imagine a mother saying the wandering, homeless troups-
in a town called Jerusalem in Vir- to her child, "My delight is in her, but does not realize how this tes- creator of the Jewish Legion, had no easy task. He had to surmount
ginia. Turner was a religious en- have you practiced your piano les- tifies to Jewish hunger for real many difficulties with the British military authorities and even with
culture and art.
some of the top Zionist leaders of that time. However, he finally
thusiast; he saw visions and it may sons?"
well be that living in a town named
Novosti mentions half a dozen overcame all the difficulties. In the United States, the government
• • •
granted permission to recruit volunteers for the Jewish Legion, pro-
Jerusalem led him to believe in
Every Sunday when we get our Yiddish books published in the last vided they were not subject to the American military draft.
his mission.
Jewish Forward, we turn to get two years. Since 1959, it must be
Gilner, who was one of the young men who enlisted in the Legion
But when it conies to personal
refreshment from Der Kovner. He pointed out, just 21 Yiddish books —as were at that time Gershon Agronsky, who later became the
names, they are almost endless.
has retired, now living among the were published—in a decade' Con- mayor of Jerusalem; Louis Fischer, the well-known author of impor-
There are Abraham and Samuel, oranges and coconuts of Miami,
trast that with the 19 published tant books on the Soviet Union; Josep Brainin and other young idealists
and Joe and David and Sarah and but he still continues to write a
just in the one year of 1946, a year
Hepzibah, and Abigail and Seth weekly feature. In the last issue, of devastation of the Soviet eco- —presents an excellent picture in his book of the birth and development
and Gideon and Eli and Nathaniel Der Kovner notes that he has nomy and of Jewish community of the Jewish Legion and the hurdles which the Legion had to over-
come.
and so on. Both Websters, Noah, reached his 96th birthday and he life; or the 52 published in 1947
He sees in the Jewish Legion the background of the military tradi-
the compiler of the dictionary, and says, he wants to make a bargain alone; or the 60 in 1948, the year
Daniel, the orator, are Hebraic with God. If God will give him four the axe came down. Sixty in the tion from which the Israeli fighters drew their courage and resource-
fullness
in the victorious Six-Day War in 1967. The book also contains
names.
more years, he is ready to give last year of Jewish publication; interesting photographs concerning the Legion and
its leaders, as well
Names are a very interesting God all the preceding 96 years.
21 in the last 10 years.
as reproductions of historic documents.

By MOSHE DECTER

(Copyright 1970, JTA, Inc.)

(Editor's note: Dr. Moshe Decter. who
heads Jewish Minorities Research. a
New Tork.based organization, is a sm.-
cialist in the field of Soviet Jewry.
Ills articles on the subject have been
This article answers
widely published.
a lengthy document circulated by
Novosti, the Soviet propaganda agency,
which depicted the life of Soviet Jewry
as happy.)

