Purely Commentary
Max Fisher's Role as U.S. Jewry's Leader ... His Views on Education Needs
American Jewry's leadership role gained status last week with the acknowledge-
ments from European and Israeli leaders of the devotion with which world as well
as domestic problems are tackled, in the determination to arrive at solutions that
should reach the goals aimed at security for Jewry and for Israel.
At the sessions of the general assembly of the Council of Jewish Federation and
Welfare Funds it was quite clear that the participants were not motivated by selfish-
ness and that they were, in the main, not unaware of the accusations of ignorance
and of being motivated only by philanthropic goals. The scores of seminars were aimed
at study—for acquaintance with facts; and the Involvement in fund raising emphasized
realization of a need that is so great that there will be the resolve not to fail.
Max M. Fisher's leadership emerged among the truly significant developments
in the American Jewish community. The Detroiter, who has been re-elected president
of the Council of Federations, has a serious concern for the role
of youth, the status of educational endeavors, the need to expose
black anti-Semitism as a movement by a minority in the black
community and the urgency of eliminating poverty as a weapon
against causes for violence and bigotry.
Fisher made it known to many who participated with him in
the CJFWF deliberations in Kansas City that he was anxious for a
sound and realistic educational program to be advanced in this
country. He stated bluntly that what we need is a thorough study
of the accomplishments and the needs and that such a survey should
be conducted by impartial people, not those directly involved in
the expenditure of many millions. "If we are to have a good educa-
tional program we must get at the root, of the needs and possibilities
Fisher
of success, and the elimination of errors."
Fisher is in the leading position in American Jewry and may be elevated soon
to a role of major world leadership in the Jewish Agency. This is a source of pride
for Detroit Jewry in whose midst he commenced his labors as a Jewish community
personality.
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The Anti - Zionists Who Served Under Sir Herbert Samuel In Palestine
Our London correspondent, Josef Fraenkel, in his important and interesting
essay on Sir Herbert Samuel, the first British high commissioner for Palestine, in
our last week's issue, referred to anti-Zionists who served in the Samuel administration.
Fraenkel provides us with some data on these anti-Zionists in this memo:
"In my article I mentioned the anti-Zionist military administration. One of them—
Ernest T. Richmond—is described by Adolf Boehm as a fanatical anti-Zionist. He was
taken over by Herbert Samuel from the military administration and became even an
adviser on Arab-Jewish affairs. Another was the anti-Zionist police chief Col. P. B.
Bramley. Dr. Hassan Bey, who tortured Sarah Aaronson, was sentenced to 15 years'
imprisonment but after a short time was granted an amnesty. Lord Allenby himself,
who at that time was not friendly to Zionism, did not allow the official publication of
the Balfour Declaration. General Money (deputy of General Storrs) was also unfriendly
to the Zionists. Adolf Boehm and Israel Coben, in their books on Zionism, named the
military administration as hostile to Jewish aspirations. The Rev. John Haynes Holmes
mentions in his book, 'Palestine Today, and Tomorrow,' the unfriendly attitude of the
military administration."
Attainment of statehood for Israel was not easy. The road was paved with
obstacles, starting with the administration of Herbert Samuel. It had been hailed as a
great attainment—that a Jew was the first to rule over the Holy Land which was soon
to emerge as the redeemed homeland of the Jewish people. Herbert Samuel was wel-
comed as a legendary descendant of King David. On the first Sabbath Nahamu of his
arrival in Palestine he was given maftir in Jerusalem. But under his administration
there were riots and there was a setback for the Zionist cause. Before his high com-
missionership and afterward, Sir Herbert, who later became a viscount, assisted greatly
Roosevelt Administration's Failures in Rescue
Tasks .. Max Fisher's Leadership Role .. Expose
by Rustin of Black Anti-Semitism, African Bias
By Philip
Slomovitz
in the task of re-creating statehood for Israel. He must be remembered, therefore, for
the good deeds much more than for the errors.
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Bayard Rustin's Rebuke to Frightened African's Anti - Israel Position
Mizrachi Women wisely selected Bayard Rustin, executive director of the A.
Philip Randolph Institute, to be the 1970 recipient of the organization's America-
Israel Friendship Award. In his acceptance speech, Rustin had some interesting
things to say.
Austin happened to be receiving the award on the day on which that ad, which
was filled with distortions, appeared. He referred, therefore, to the earlier ad he and a
group of responsible black leaders had sponsored supporting Israel. His comments
on the entire matter involving both ads expressed this firm and challenging view:
"You will recall that some months ago an ad supporting Israel appeared in the
papers which was signed by 64 of The most prominent blacks in America, the heads
of all the major black organizations, leading figures in political life, in education, law,
and business. They all signed that ad. And many of them, as a result of their standing
on the principle of supporting Israel's existence, have been harrassed by the group
that put an answer to our ad in this morning's paper.
"I want you to note that there is not a single person who signed today's ad who
heads a national organization. This ad was not even sponsored by a black organization
but by a paper organization fabricated by white ultra-leftists. The tragedy is that some
people will think that this group speaks for somebody, when they do not.
"In addition to my high regard for Israel, there is also a more fundamental reason
why I signed the original ad which appeared some months ago. In the struggle against
injustice, I have lived with an historical truth which haunts me. Wherever a dictator
has attempted to destroy a democracy he always started by picking Jews. Every
demagogue in search of a scapegoat has done this. He has also, attacked the Jews
because they have been the people who have always resisted tyranny. A people which
has produced the prophetic voices of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos will never suffer a
dictator, and so they must be removed first.
"If you read the history of Germany carefully, this is exactly what Hitler did. He
started out by attacking the Jews. While he was preoccupied with this, the Communists
thought they were safe, but then he got them also. And while he was getting the Jews,
the trade union leaders thought they were safe, but then he got them. The intellectuals
in the universities thought they were safe, but then he also got them. Those who attack
Jews in the end are also attacking me. The fate of everyone fighting for freedom is
ultimately tied to the fate of Jews. The Negro freedom movement in the United States
and the freedom movement in Africa mirror the history of the Jews. Martin Luther
King constantly said, "If God made it possible for Moses to get out cif Egypt, have
faith, we shall overcome. God will do the same for us."
Rustin revealed the following in his address:
"I spoke recently with two ambassadors from African countries and each of
them said to me that they bad hated to vote with the other Africans against Israel
in the UN, because Israel had done so much to help their country. One of them said
to me, "You know, we have only 24 doctors In my country, and 18 are Israelis. I felt
like a dog, having to vote with the other Africans against Israel, but I was afraid not
to." So my answer to him was, "My dear friend, if you cannot have courage, who are
you?" I don't think he liked this because I was being difficult, but people must stand
on principles."
He concluded:
"Now, therefore, I shall be a Jew in the sense that I will stand for social righteous-
ness against injustice. Not only must I be against injustice wherever it exists, but I
must first of all be against it in myself.
"Now those values are worth defending, and the people who developed those
virtues are worth defending. And so is the nation which they created. And I assure you
there are millions of people in this world who will not for a moment permit Israel to
die."
Franklin D. Roosevelt Errors in Era of Holocaust . . .American Involvements and Failures in Rescue Efforts
In "The Politics of Rescue" by Prof.
Henry L. Feingold of Bernard Baruch Col-
lege of the City University of New York,
published by Rutgers University Press, we
have another indictment of the Roosevelt
administration's handling of the problem
of refugees.
Dr. Feingold states bluntly that "the
energy and organization of the adminis-
tration's rescue effort, even at its apogee
in January 1944, never remotely ap-
proached the effort Berlin was willing to
make to see the Final Solution through
to its bitter end."
The political situation played a role
in he consideration of the tragic position
of the refugees. The Roper poll taken in
December 1944 showed that Americans
disbelieved reports of mass murders of
Jews. Selection of Jews for numerous
government posts by Roosevelt was used
in propaganda against him and he was
seeking "to lessen the predictable outcry
about favoritism toward Jews at home."
Dr. Feingold believes: "The growth of
domestic anti-Semitism projected against
what was happening in Europe brought
out the latent insecurities of American
Jewry and sharpened internal divisions.
The bitter disputes over the boycott of
German goods and other 'emotional'
forms of agitation as well as the contin-
ued apprehension about dual loyalties in
some sections of American Jewry be-
came more understandable in the light
of this Insecurity."
These and other arguments advanced as
evaluations of the past experiences revive
interest in the debates that ensued at the
time, in the dangers that developed as
threats to the American Jewish commu-
nity. The Coughlin threats and the failure
by Congress to adopt the Wagner-Rogers
bill for the admission of Jewish refugee
children were indications of the public
sentiments to which the administration may
have yielded.
In developing his theme, however, we
have here evidence of failures to come to
2 Friday,
—
November
20, 1970
the aid of the Jews who were threatened
by the murderous Hitler program. There
are accounts of divisiveness in the Ameri-
can Jewish community. There enters into
the discussion the role of the Zionists who
were suspicious of offers of territories as
havens other than Palestine and therefore
were accused of - selfish motivations. Ad-
mittedly, as Dr. Feingold also indicates,
the Zionist suspicions proved correct.
His book is a very valuable supplemen-
tary tract to "While Six Million Died: A
Chronicle of American Apathy" by Ar-
thur D. Morse and its vast amount of ad-
ditional data about the horrors that con-
fronted Jewry point to indifference in
some quarters and serious concerns in
others. While the Feingold book does not
entirely condemn Roosevelt, he does place
blame in great measure, as is indicated
in the condemnation of Breckinridge
Long that he was "playing on the fear
that spies had infiltrated the refugee
stream" and thus "was able to curtail
the humanitarian activity of the Roose-
velt administration." And he offers the
added explanation: `To place the respon-
sibility for the failure of the administra-
tion's rescue activity on Breckinridge
Long alone would be to oversimplify.
Roosevelt did intrude intermittently into
the arena of rescue activity . . He was
especially enthusiastic about the search
for resettlement havens and he had some
firm ideas about the form such ventures
should take. Occasionally be mediated
squabbles between rescue advocates and
opponents within the administration. But
usually the suggestions, especially at the
resettlement area, had an 'above the
battle' quality, being nowhere bound to
the reality of the circumstances. Much
of the inconsistency between the rhetoric
of the administration and the actual im-
plementation of policy can be traced to
the chief executive's uncertain mandate.
Bound by a restrictive immigration law
and perhaps an oversentitivity to the
'Jew Deal' label which had been applied
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
to his administration on the one hand,
and yet anxious to help the Nazi victims
on the other, Roosevelt sought a balance
between the opponents and advocates of
a more active rescue policy. Such a
middle road was never found, and to this
day it is difficult for researchers to de-
termine Roosevelt's personal role."
Thus, the charge leveled at State De-
partment officials may be primary, and
the consular corps was especially to blame.
There is a complete account in Feingold's
of the methods pursued in all sincerity by
George Rublee as the U.S. spokesman,
but as at the Evian Conference, which
proved such a fiasco, he did not succeed.
"Disunity and powerlessness" in Ameri-
can Jewry is part of the author's disparag-
ing outlook on the situation as it existed
in the Roosevelt era. The failure of the
Vatican to act also is deplored.
Feinberg is quite thorough in his review
of a situation which he often portrays as
hopeless. He takes into account the rescue
efforts that were conducted by the Swedish
envoy of mercy, Raoul Wallenberg, who was
singly responsible for the rescue of tens
of thousands of Hungarian Jews and who
is believed to have been executed by the--
Russians who arrested him for unexplained
reasons when the war ended and the Soviet
forces took charge of Hungary.
Dr. Feingold strives not to place blame
where it does not belong and he makes
these assertions in his preface:
"In the case of the Roosevelt adminis-
tration, the moral imperatives inherent
in its role as witness were more pro-
nounced than usual. A morally charged
democratic rhetoric traditionally accom-
panied and sometimes cloaked baser mo-
tives of national policy. Such rhetoric
which included concern fir the "forgotten
man" and reminders that "hunger was .
not debatable" received a new lease on
life. America,' especially the America of
Roosevelt,' was expected to muster more
concern for the unfortunates than na-
tions without humanitarian pretensions.
,
For those who assumed that the New
Deal was what Its rhetoric said it was,
the accumulation of evidence of indiffer-
ence and even complicity in the Final
Solution is difficult to accept. The temp-
tation to scream out in righteous anger
that the promise of America has been
betrayed is irresistabie. I have tried, not
only because I am aware that they are
party based on a misreading of Ameri-
can, especially New Deal, history but
because they make us no wiser about
why the Roosevelt administration's rescue
effort was so meager. A "Deputy" for the
Roosevelt administration is easily writ-
ten. The rescue story is replete with ex-
amples of indifference, sabotage of res-
cue initiatives, and seeming compliance
with the goals of the Final Solution. But
appalling as it may sound, that is a self-
evident truth for which there, are six
million pieces of evidence. After one is
done with documenting that fact, there
remain gnawing questions that require
answers if some understanding is to be
found for the choices which the Roose-
velt administration made during the Holo-
caust. The accusation that the Roosevelt
administration did not do enough has no
meaning until we determine how much
might have been dohe. Yet it was pre-
cisely the question of what was possible
which was at the heart of the argument
between rescue advocates and State De-
partment officials. Even today, with all
our perspective, it is still difficult to de-
termine possibilities."
Morse is much more accusatory than
Feingold. Morse does not excuse or absolve.
Feingold offers reasons for a measure of
calmer judgment. Yet his book, too, adds
much to the indictment. It deals a great
deal more with the guilt of silent Jews. And
on this score, too, there may be some
serious questions of doubt.
Nevertheless the Feingold volume is one
of the very valuable additions to the litera-
ture on the Holocaust. When all the docu-
ments are published the Roosevelt admin-
tration will be judged more fully.