French Leaders Point to Community Program 24—Friday, "ma" By MURRAY ZUCKOFF JTA News Editor exponent of Jewish renaissance, pendence from France, the emigra- found little empathy among native tion of Algerian Jews provided a NEW YORK (JTA) — In 1971 French Jews. At the same time, new catalyst for Jewisfi conscious- French Jews displayed a remark- Topiol recalled, the native French ness. The immigration from West- able degree of self-confidence, Jewish writers and intellectuals ern Europe and North Africa re- heightened consciousness and in- were viewed as "goyishe Yidden" stored the French Jewish popula- tensive vigor, unity and dedication by the new arrivals. tion to its pre-war level. in terms of aiding Israel, embark- But the distance between the The Algerian Jews were French ing on aliya, strengthening its two Jewish groups dissolved dur- citizens and conversant with communal activities and partici- ing the occupation of France by French culture. But also they had pating in struggles on behalf of Hitler's arm y . "Suddenly we a solid religious education, Topiol Soviet Jewry. were all Jews in the terrifying said, and view France as their French Jews contributed some realization that we all face an- home rather than their exile. A $10,000,000 for Israel, about 6,000 nihilation. The occupation gave us culture mix occurred, and the persons went on aliya, more than a common destiny and common Algerian Jews, with their own life ever filled the synagogues through- consciousness as Jews, but Jews styles and habits, with their need out the country during the High who were physically united by a for religious schools and syna- Holy days, and increasing numbers physical danger, but not yet gogues, created a new and stronger eagerly sought and purchased spiritually united as Jews. We Jewry. books written by Israeli and French felt ourselves part of the French Unlike their earlier immigrants Jewish intellectuals about life in nation but not yet Jewish Jews." from Russia and Poland who set- Israel and in the Diaspora. It was For a fleeting moment he linger- tled in major cities where Jewish the year of the self-liberation of ed on his activities in the under- life was already in existence, the French Jewry and its rededication grcund Committee for Jewish De- Algerian Jews settled in small to Jewish values. fense during World War II and the towns and opened synagogues that Michel Topiol, prominent decimation of half the total pre- had been closed for as long as 200 French Jewish communal leader, war Jewish population of 500,000. years and developed a network businessman and Zionist, re- After the war, Topiol said, the of Jewish schools and institutions, counted this development during French Jewish community began Topiol said. This spread also ex- an interview here. "The Jewish to rebuild its homes and lives but panded the activities of the UJA, community displayed shtolz a new Jewish community develop.. FSJU, CRIF and established the (pride) in being Jewish," he said ed with the influx of Jews from Association of Jews of Algerian shifting from English to Yiddish DP camps. Later, beginning in Origin (L'Association des Juifs in order better to articulate the 1956, when Algeria won its inde- d'Origine Algerienne). nuances of his enthusiasm. "This -sed on every shtolz fah level of thinking ?lid action." Death of French Official Mourned by Israelis Recalling His Role in '48 The zenith of this pride was ex- pressed when Soviet Communist Party Secretary eonid Brezhnev PARIS (JTA)—A French war his wife who had accompanied visited France and thousands of hero and government official who him to Israel, returned to France Jews old and young poured out was killed in a recent automobile where he resumed his government into the streets to proclaim their accident in the south of France career. In 1957 he was sent to the solidarity with their Russian breth- was identified as a volunteer who Ivory Coast as an adviser to Presi- ren and to demand of Brezhnev fought for Israel during the 1948 dent Houphouet Boigny and later that The he "Let Our People Go." war for independence and dis- was named a minister in the cabi- significant other year ways 1971 too, was Topiol noted. It in tinguished himself as commander net of that African nation. was the year in which the Jewish of a commando regiment that Difree was prominent in the i Telegraphic Agency launched its helped , drive the Egyptian army Gaullist party' in southwest France. out of Ile Negev. Daily News Bulletin and estab- He never spoke publicly of his lished its European Bureau, there- ' Thadee Difree, 60, son of one of experiences in Israel after his re- by providing the Jewish commun- France's oldest families, joined turn to France in 1949. But Israelis ity with incisive information about the Gaullist forces in London in regarded him as one of their its own ongoing activities and those 1940 and eventually won France's staunchest friends. of World Jewry. hiehest order, "Companion of the It also was the year in which Liberation." He interrupted a bud- the -United Jewish Appeal of ding political career in 1948 to France Appel Juif U n i f i e de volunteer to fight for Israel. • France) headed by Guy de Roths- Difree was a senior govern- child, the United Jewish Social ment official in Marseilles when Service Fund (FSJU) and the Con- he approached a Jewish Agency . seil Representatif des Israelites de representative and declared, "I France (CRIF) expended increased want to fight in Israel," circles funds for education, youth pro- here recalled. He was shipped grams, local Jewish needs, integra- to Haifa with a boatload of tion of North African Jews and Polish refugees and enlisted in Israel. the Israel army as private, The energetic, exhuberant and second class. articulate co-chairman of the Col. Itzhak Sadah, then the com- UJA, European president of the mander of Palmach, recognized Confederation of General Zion- his military abilities and commis- ists, and member of the JTA sioned him an officer with the as- board of directors observed: "If signment to create a commando 1971 was any indication of what French Jewry can do, 1972 should regiment of Jewish and non-Jewish vclunteers from France. be even better." Difree's commandos participated At age 60, Topiol scans the ebb and flow of the French Jewish con- in the capture of Beersheba from sciousness and activities and ex- the Egyptians. He set up Israel's presses unbounded cptimism about first armored unit and saw further the future role of French Jewry action on the Egyptian front. When the war ended, Difree, and as a leading one in the world-wide Jewish community. His optimism is based on an objective evaluation of the French Jewish community Indonesian Jews Face during the past 40 years, from the Struggle for Survival time he arrived there from a small NEW YORK—A small group of town in Poland and immersed him- Jews in Surabaya in Eastern Java self in Zionist organizing. (Indonesia) is living under con- Topiol recalled the days when Jewish immigrants from the Pale stant terror from Moslems on the were regarded as strangers and right and Communists on the left. interlopers by the native-born The community faces other French Jews. "There was a wall problems. They have a small syn- between us and the French Jews," agogue, but it is housed in a build- he said. "They didn't accept us ing designed for other uses. Only and we didn't look to be accepted a small plaque on the outside of - by them. Our Jewish life was mold- the building identifies it as a syna- ed by our ghetto existence. This gogue. wasn't the fault of the French Shortly after World War II, the Jews. We simply kept to our own congregation totaled more than 100 organizations, outlook and cul- families. Today it has dwindled ture." to a half dozen who still manage The newly arrived immigrants to get a minyan. spoke Russian and Yiddish. There The Jews have enjoyed religious was no cultural or linguistic mix freedom only in the last two years between the immigrants and the when President Suharto suppressed French Jews. Yiddish writers like the former communist regime and Edmond Fleg ,Flegenheimer), the declared religious freedom. • • 14, 1972 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Deluxe Tour To Israel and Italy Depart March 31, 1972 Return Apr 16, 1972 $995 (Di rectly ,--irect-y to R ..otne Per Person* From Detroit INCLUDING DeLuxe Hotels, two meals a day, many special features. FOR RESERVATIONS AND DETAILED ITINERARY call or write to: BEE KALT TRAVEL 4628 N. 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