▪ ▪ c

Attention Kremlin: Guess
Who Had a Jewish Mother

With Soviet anti-Semitism--offi-
cially termed anti-Zionism—on the
increase, the idea that the great
Soviet leader Lenin might have
had Jewish origins would prove
embarrassing for government offi-
cials.
Deified after Stalin's death, Lenin
became supreme authority for So-
viet leaders—one surely without
the flaw of Judaism in his heri-
tage.
And yet in 1964, just after
Khrushchev's fall, a Russian jour-
nalist of Armenian descent obtain-
ed evidence showing that Lenin's
mother, Maria Alexandrovna, had
indeed been born a Jew.
The story is told by Marcin
Wyziemblo, in Mark Liwszyc's
translation, in the April issue of
Dissent Magazine.
Marietta Shaginian, the jour-
nalist, drew her conclusions
about Lenin's past from investi-
gation in the Leningrad State
Historical Archives. While doing
research on a Russian trade fair
dating back to the 1800s, she
noted that a member of the fair's
organizing committee, Sender
Blank, had changed his first
name to Alexander. She per-
ceived the event as probably co-
inciding with the Jew's conver-
sion to Christianity.
Miss Shaginian took a closer
look at Blank's background and
found that he had been a merchant
and physician of Simbirski, now
called Ulyanovsk, which is the
birthplace of Lenin.
Furthermore. Lenin's mother's
maiden name had been Blank. On
further investigation, Miss Shago-
nian discovered what she felt was
the connecting link to Lenin's Jew-
ish past: Maria Alexandrovna

Blank, known widely as Lenin's
mother, had been born in Simbir-
ski in 1835, a Jewess. It was only
before marrying Ilya Nikolaevich
Ulyanov, that she became a con-
vert to the Greek Orthodox faith.
Her intention to help curb anti-
Semitism in the Soviet govern-
ment, Miss Shaginian had the
documents she discovered publish-
ed in the monthly magazine Vo-
prosy Istorii.
The censor, seeing the political
implications of the documents, took
the case before the Political Bureau
of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of the Soviet
Union.
On reviewing the matter, the
Central Committee followed the
least embarrassing course; it re-
fused to- believe the State Archives
or the set of documents confirm-
ing the baptism of Sender Blank
that also were produced.
The Central Committee con-
cluded that Lenin was not Jew-
ish because be "never wrote
about his Jewish origins. Since he
did not, he must have considered
it improper to do so. And Lenin's
wish has always been sacred to
us."
The Archives also was- warned
to put itself in order and not make
100-year-old documents so readily
available to researchers.
Although Miss Shaginian's dis-
covery has been "hushed up" to-
day, the rumor about Lenin's
mother persists in the Soviet
Union.
"Was she Jewish?" Wyciemblo
asked Comrade X, a man known
for his frankness. And Comrade X
answers:
"Many of us knew about it a
long time ago." —E. A.

Swiss Engineer on Trial for Selling
Secret Plans for ts1 irage Jet to Israel

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (JTA)
—Alfred Frauenknecht, a 44-year-
old engineer, went on trial here
Monday for selling Israel the sec-
ret plans for a Mirage jet engine
manufactured for a Swiss firm.
- The trial opened in the Federal
Criminal Court, Switzerland's high-
est penal court where Frauenk
necht pleaded guilty to the facts
but not guilty of having commit-
ted a breach of law.
The defense attorney, Manfred
Kuhn, said he would ask for

Miami Jewish School
Enrollment Goes Up

MIAMI (JTA) — Registration
in JeWish schools of Dade and
BroWard counties showed an, in-
crease for the current school year,
in contrast. to the trend in many
Jewish communities where such
registration has declined in - recent
years, according - tcr a report by the
Bureau of Jewish Education here.
Total registration for the 1969-
1970 school year pas 11,939 and
for the 1970-71 school year, the
total was 12,552, Leonard Zilbert,
bureau president said. Pre-school
departments listed 1,330 pupils.
Elementary Hebrew departments
listed 4,977 pupils. One-day-a-
week schools have 4,771 students.
The high school, which includes
the sixth grade of Hebrew depart-
ments, totals 508 students. One-
day-a-week high schools, which
include ninth and tenth grades of
weekend schools, listed 968 stu-
dents.
The official also reported that
there are now more girls now at-
tending the schools, compared
with last year, 5,094 girl students
to 5,418 this year. The data also
showed that the one-day-a-week
departments totalled 5,739 students
and the afternoon departments had
a total of 5,485 students. The in-
tensive school department enroll-
ment was 48 per cent of the total
Jewish student body, which Zilbert
said was higher than the national
percentage for that category.

acquittal on grounds that his
client had acted, to help' a
"friend in trouble," namely the
state of Israel ._which was denied
delivery Of A0 - Mirage jets it had
bought . in France by the arms
embargo imposed by the late
President: Charles de Gaulle.
However, Frauenknecht did not
deny that he accepted $200,000 in
SwiSs francs from Israeli agents
for the Mirage 3-C engine plans.
He is charged with economic
and military espionage, which car-
ries a. maximum penalty of 20
years imprisonment_ at hard -labor.
Frauenknecht told the court of
his first meeting with Israelis in
1966 at a study group in Paris or-
ganized by the Snecma Works,
which Made the "Atar" jet engine.
gine.
The engine was supplied to Sul-
Zer, :where Frauenknecht was em-
ployed. Sulzer-. Manufactured Mir-
age 3-C jets for the Swiss air force
Under license from the Dassault
firni . of France.
The defendant told the five-man
tribunalthat on that and subse-
quent occasions his Israeli
"friends" appealed to him for help
during a "difficult period." He, said
that in April 1968 he met with Is-
raeli Brig. Gen. Menachem Kain
at the Ambassador Hotel in Zurich
and was begged by the general
"not to leave his friends in a
lurch."
Frauenknecht said he failed in
an attempt to get his immediate
superior, a Swiss air force col-
onel named Hans Schmidt to
"exchange information" with
the Israeli.
As a result, he told the court,
he passed on to Israel some 200,-
000 documents and blueprints
which described in detail how to
build the "Atar" engine.
All of the documents were orig-
inals, he said, and were smug-
gled out of Switzerland in 24
crates. They were picked up by
Israeli agents in West Germany.
Frauenknecht said that old news-
papers were burned in their stead
in the Sulzer factory incinerator.

-

Theologian Notes Harbor Island Spa
Larry Paskow, owner-director of to t
Book of Jeremiah Harbor
Island Spa South, has issu- for
ed his annual spring invitation to
Sermonic Activity newcomers to the $5,000,000 health ed N( i

Dr. Ernest W. Nicholson, lecturer
in divinity and chaplain of Pem-
broke College, Cambridge, Eng-
land, develops the theme that there
was an active preaching and teach-
ing ministry during the exilic
period in Babylon, with the Deu-
teronomists as major factors. In
"Preaching to the Exiles," a
SchOcken volume, Dr. Nicholson
provides a study of the prose
tradition of the Book of Jeremiah
and offers an explanation of "the
use of the sermonic form of ad-
dress which characterizes the
method of the Deuteronomic and
Deuteronomistic authors through
whom it makes its first appearance
in the literature of the Old Testa-
ment."
"From a literary point of view,"
Prof. Nicholson asserts, "there is
no compelling reason in favor of
the view that the prose sermons
in the Book of Jeremiah had a
different origin and authorship
from the prose narrative. On the
contrary, there is some evidence
to suggest that, like the sermons
and discourses, the narratives also
owe their composition to the deu-
teronomists."

Theologians will find a vast
amount of data, based on the
Jeremiah text, and taking into
consideration the viewpoints of
many critics of several eras of
Bible studies, to implement the
study on the sermonic thesis.

T s.

spa and is offering a bonus to
former guests who want to make
one more visit before summer
begins.
During the most pleasant time
of year—May and June—Harbor
Island Spa South is inviting guests

sage
and
•
culatE
Golf
offered nea!
by as is free tennis on two al
weather courts, shuffleboard, ba
minton and swimming in two ou
door pools.
For reservations, call collect (
Delta Offering Non-Stop write Abe Marcus, vice preside .
Flight to Ft. Lauderdale and general manager, Harbor I
Delta Air Lines' spring sched- land South, 79th St. Causewa
ules, effective April 25, feature Miami Beach, 305-751-7561.
Detroit's first non-stop DC-8 service
to Fort Lauderdale, and 15 new
jets to Tampa, Miami and Jack-
sonville. The April schedules also
FOE!
include a new total of 35 daily
Detroit flights.
At Mid-America's fabulous resort ...
Vacations include golf and beach
a playtime paradise where you'll enjoy:
trips to Florida, and air/sea
• Terrific food
cruises throughout the Caribbean.
• Beautiful heated pool
and patio
The spring schedules will be high-
• All sports
lighted by 17 daily Atlanta flights
• Gala 110,)1
(including five nonstops), the only
• FREE GOLF
low-cost Owly Bird flight to Hous-
UNTIL JULY 1
ton, and the only southbound night
New Low Rotes!
coach flights to Miami, Tampa,
WHERE VACATION
DREAMS COME TRUEr
Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and New
Orleans.

80 ACRES
OF

-

Cancers of the mouth afflict
some 14,000 Americans annually
and kill about 7,000. Early detec-.
tion and prompt treatment could
cut the death toll, says the Amer-
ican Cancer Society.

SOUTH HAVEN, MICHIGAN
Phone 637-51111 (Ana 616)

Dr. Nicholson maintains that "the
Jerernianic prose material took
shape not at the hands . of indi-
vidual 'authors' and 'editors' but
within the context of a preaching
and teaching activity which arose
in response to the needs of a corn-•
munity and was addressed directly
to` that community." —P.S•

Theater Workshop
in Israel Offered
by Youth Foundation

NEW YORK (JTA)—The Amer-
ican Zionist Youth Foundation an-
nounced the launching of a seven-
week Summer • Theater Workshop
in Israel. The workshop will offer
students, teachers and profession-
als of the theater an opportunity
to develop their acting, directing
and teaching skills while immersed
in the theater and culture of an-
other country.
According to the announcement,
leading Israel theatrical and mo-
tion picture personalities, drama
critics and teachers will partici-
pate in the workshop lectures and
seminars.
Workshop members will travel
throughout Israel to study the
various aspects of Israeli reper-
tory, experimental and commercial
theaters by attending rehearsals
and performances. Classes will in-
clude acting techniques, scene
study, speech, dance and a theater
laboratory. The AZYF announce-
ment said that Jack and Aviva
Davidson will direct the workshop
in coordination wit hthe Interna-
tional Theater Institute of Israel.
Jack Davidson, a graduate of
Boston Vniversity's Theater De-
partment' arid former director of
the., New Theater Workshop for
professionals in New York, played
the leading role this season in the
New. York production of
"AC/DC." He can currently be
seen in the motion picture, "Water-
melon Man, - and last year played
in Eugene O'Neill's "Moon for the
Misbegotten."
Mrs. Jack (Aviva) Davidson, a
graduate of U.C.L.A. Theater Arts
Department, who has taught acting
and directed. plays in New York,
studied in Israel for 10 years. On
stage she starred in Edward Al-
bee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?" when the play was staged
in Bermuda.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, April 23, 1971-19

Come anytime from
April 18 to June 27
Stay 11 glorious days
... Pay only for 7
4 DAYS FREE...

That's right — it's never a gamble,
just a rollicking gambol in one of the
world's great pleasure places.

LARRY PASKOW'S

- HARBOR: ISLAND
SPA 3 COI Ft

79th St.Causeway • Miami Beach, Fla.
Fla.(Call Collect): 305 751-7561
Or See Your Travel Agent

Abe Marcus, Exec. Dir.

Michael Paskow, Resident Mgr.

• Planned programs
for teens & children!
We entertain them
while you play!
•Attractive
accommodations!

ori

ppersink is

• 3 gourmet meals! • Swimming,

• Horseback riding! water-ski school!
• Tennis, boating! • 18-hole cham-

• Floor shows &
dancing nightly!

pionship golf
course!

LOW PRE-SEASON JUNE RATES!

SAVE TO 25% ANY MID-WEEK June 13 to July 2 (Excluding weekends)

• Free floor shows nightly—

• FREE GOLF every day!
• From 518.00 per day der
person!
• Childrenunder 1 5S6perday
(sharing parents' room)!

dancing!

• Planned programs for all-
Teens-Tweens-Tots!

JULY "3 for 2"
SPECIALS

Vacation for 3 . . . the
3rd is FREE! Starting Mon.,
July 5, to Fri., July 30, the
3rd person in room with 2
adults will be entitled to
lodging and food
FREE!

JULY FAMILYBONUS

Mon., July 5 to Fri.,
July 16 only! (excluding
July 9-11 weekend.) In
addition to 3-for-2
special, extra children
under 15 years in some
room—$6.00 per day
including meals.

Only 65 miles from

cago via expwy.

eir persink
anorRo_ort

Genoa City, Wisconsin
Phone or write:

Chicago Office
221 N. LaSalle St.
Ph. 346-1268