Smolar Interview With Markishes Is Released
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
By Boris Smolar
NEW YORK (JTA) — Peretz
Markish, the outstanding Jewish
author and poet, who, together
with 23 other foremost Soviet Jew-
ish writers and intellectuals, was
executed on Aug. 12, 1952, in the
mass liquidation of Jewish cultural
leaders by Stalin, was, after
Stalin's death, rehabilitated by the
Khrushchev regime. A volume of
his works in Yiddish was published
in Moscow in recognition of the
fact that his "liquidation" was a
"mistake."
`Yet, his wife, Esther, and his
son, David—both literary people—
are still held practically imprison-
ed in the Soviet Union. They have
applied for permission to leave
for Israel, but their applications
have been rejected. They live now
in Moscow in the hope that the
day will come when Soviet high
authorities may reconsider the re-
jection and permit them to leave
the country.
Information reaching the JTA
recently indicated that they are
both no longer practicing literary
professions—probably because they
are being looked upon with sus-
picion in seeking to emigrate to
Israel—and that David was com-
pelled to become an ordinary
porter in order to make a living
for himself and his mother. The
JTA telephoned them Wednesday
from New York to Moscow to es-
tablish how they are being treated
and whether they believe that they
still have a chance to secure emi-
gration visas. We bring the trans-
cription of the telephone conver-
sation which throws light on their
moods and hopes:
Freedom's Jeopardization, New Left
Difficulties, Told in Pfaff's Book
This is the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
speaking to you from New York. Am I
talking to Mrs. Esther Markish?
Yes, you are talking to Mrs. Markish
and David Markish.
We would like to know what are the
chances for you and your son to obtain
the exit visas for which you applied.
Dear friend, if we should only know
what we can do, we would have been
happy. We do not know what to do.
SAY
WHEN
YE S ASKED TO
Join B'nai B'rith
ADL Fights Anti-Semitism
Have your applications for the visas
been rejected?
Yes. We were refused the visas.
And have you reapplied for them?
Upon the rejection of our applica-
tions we wrote several times to the
authorities and asked for a re-examina-
tion. So far, our applications have been
rejected twice. We again asked for a
revision of the refusal but I have
little hope.
Is it true that your son lost his
employment?
My son did not lose employment. He
is a scenario writer. However, after
his application for a visa was re-
jected, he decided not to engage any
longer in literary work. That was his
decision. He is now a porter in a
bakery.
And for whom did he write before
he gave up his literary career?
He had no position with any particu-
lar institution. He was doing his lit-
erary work at his desk at home. Since
neither he nor I are now making a
living from writing, but must live,
he decided to take any work as an
ordinary worker. The income is not
much, but he thinks that it is better
this way. This is his opinion. He does
not want to earn a living from literary
work.
Have you any special message you
would like to convey? The Jewish
Telegraphic Agency serves the Jewish
press. We can carry your message.
One moment, please. I will ask my
son. He is right on my side. Talk to
him. He hardly talks English, how-
ever.
Effects of Cairo Conference of 1921
Evaluated by Jewis h Scholar Klieman
In order to be able to face the
issues that have arisen in the Mid-
dle East it is vital that all Arab
arguments against Zionism be
known, that the records be avail-
able regarding all deliberations,
especially the Arab approaches
which have tended to seek Israel's
destruction and to make a bogey
of Zionism.
Dr. Aaron S. Klieman, currently
a lecturer at Tel Aviv University,
presents valuable data about the
Arab position, especially in its re-
lation to the role that was played
by the British mandatory power,
in "The Foundations of British
Policy in the Arab World: The
Cairo Conference of 1921."
This story, published by Johns
Hopkins Press, details the Cairo
conference which was attended by
experts who outlined the British
position. Winston Churchill, who
had initiated the conference in his
role as British colonial secretary,
was a chief participant and led
in defining his government's posi-
tion.
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Numerous Arab states emerged
soon thereafter, but Dr. Klieman
emphasizes that Great Britain
encouraged, indirectly, a sense
of unity in the Arab world. He
shows how "the Arab world was
dealt with administratively as
a single unit larough the Middle
East department of the Colonial
Office."
Dr. Chaim
Zionist leaders,
Weizmann among them, were
skeptical about results and feared
that British policies were assum-
ing a dangerous position for the
Jewish aspirations. In the ex-
change of views, however, in the
extremely antagonistic anti-Jewish
attitudes of the Arabs, Churchill
made serious efforts at fairness in
outlining his government's posi-
tion.
In this respect, the appendices
to this important volume are very
significant. It is valuable that they
should be made available to stu-
dents of the Middle East because
both the Arab and the British posi-
tions emerge in clarified form.
Dr. Klieman states in the
course of his comments on the
British position: "Britain's in-
terwar policy toward the Middle
East, with its recourse to bal-
ances and compromises, reflect-
ed the primary emphasis in Lon-
don upon immediate advantage
and short-term interests. By
localizing and deflecting region-
al discontent, by appeasing Arab
nationalism only when compell-
ed to do so under pressure, and
by supporting conservative lead-
ers and classes, the British suc-
ceeded in fostering an impres-
ion of imperial order and calm
throughout the 'Arab world in
the period 1922-29, only to delude
themselves."
In the course of time, as Dr.
Klieman shows, the United States
broadened its contact in the re-
gion and U. S. influence com-
menced here.
Zionists were not blinded by the
British attitudes and appeasement
to the Arabs, and the detailed ac-
counts of the Jewish position help
explain the events pursuant to the
Cairo conference of 1921.
A review of that period is vital
to an understanding of the Jewish
position as well, since it is indi-
cated in the course of an analysis
of British policies that tended to
be anti-Zionist because of the great
urge, in spite of the position of
Churchill's and that of a few other
Britishers, for the British to be
pro-Ar a b P.
.--P S.
e•#..-
Ernest Drucker
Summer hours
Ope n •• .
He can talk to me in Russian.
Very well.
David Markish starts:
(In English): I am David Markish,
do you speak Russian.
Yes, I speak Russian.
Fine. Then talk to me in Russian.
There is an interest in our country
to know in what work you are engaged
now. Your mother told me that you
gave up your literary career and be-
came a porter in a bakery.
That is correct.
She also told me that your applica-
tion for emigration was refused twice.
Yes. We received a rejection of our
second application for exit visas.
Were you given any explanation
for the rejection?
No. No reason was given.
And what is the attitude generally
toward you and your mother?
Generally, we are among friends who,
like me, want to emigrate to Israel.
It is also natural that people of the
intelligenzia and honest people should
maintain a normally good attitude to-
ward us. We did not encounter honest
people who are not friendly toward us.
I want you and your mother to know
that the fate of both of you is being
watched by many here. They would
like to see both of you being granted
Soviet exit permits. Both of you will
be received with open arms.
We are very grateful for thinking of
us. We hone that your interest in us
will be of help to bring about our emi-
gration. Thanks to all for remember-
ing us.
Closed Monday
Durhig August
Ph one
642 - 0460
J
Service at Shiffman Clinic
The Shiffman Clinic of Sinai
Hospital, a Torch Drive service,
treated 8,293 people on an out-
patient basis in 1970, for a total
of 29,428 visits.
Friday, August 13, 1971-17
Freedom is jeopardized, there
are dangers to our liberties, the
New Left is failing—the Western
way of life is collapsing. But free-
dom is worth fighting for.
This is, in essence, the theme
developed by William Pfaff in the
new Random book, "Condemned
to Freedom."
Pfaff deals with all aspects of
the current issues affecting our
democracy. Noam Chomsky, Her-
bert Marcuse and their followers,
the leaders and the ideas of mod-
ern movements are analyzed.
"The New Left," Pfaff states,
"will not take over the world, or
even the universities. Its hostility
to serious programs is an inherent
bar to success, even if the ambi-
tion of alliance with the industrial
working class were not fantasy.
It trades on the inhibitions of lib-
eral government, a wrecking tac-
tic of great importance. The
power of the weak, whether it is
in Vietnam or at the university,
depends upon the contradiction
that the powerful will not use their
ultimate means of power. But
there is a penultimate threshold:
the powerful can violate their
ligentsia, we have genuinely
new factors in the contemporary
situation . . . For some of the
extravagantly committed in the
New Left it is 1938 again, the
storm troopers gathering to at-
tack, and 'we are all Jews."
Pfaff asserts: "We need to give
ordinary men a renewed connec-
tion with the political action of
their society. Whether they cus-
tomarily make use of that connec-
tion or not, it should exist, so
that when the occasions arise
which touch and move ordinary
people, awakening them from in-
difference or preoccupation, they
can make their will be felt."—P.S.
Sign up for
U.S. SAYINGS BON,
FREEDOM SHARES
BETH YEHUDAH
TRAVELS
avowed values and repress, jail,
terrorize; the powerful can make
total war. The war in Vietnam,
like the war in the universities
and cities, could be 'won' in a
way that would -indicate New
Left theory whit 'iminating the
theorists."
There is this i. resting obser-
vation by Pfaff: "With the re-
vival of a revolutionary left in
the West, and a radicalization
among the young and the intel-
it
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