H istorical
sis of ewis Press ut
By JOSEF FRAENKEL
PM:elan; .7ithrsmar,:.
world had to move 'their head- Week:bled
Amsterdamm Were Ahsfriri: - Der,Neue4eg, juilisd*
Mosly, Unzer Wort, Neste Sloivo,:; .
quarters - to-neutral countries.The such Papers.
Rundscheu;Oifgang. :
(Copyright by the author, U72)
In 1675, two years before the Zionist -Organization moved its
Belgium:. Bulletin &Information; Dror •
Here and there "underground
death of Baruch Spinoza, the first headquarters to Copenhagen , papers" appeared,. in theghet-, 'Proclamation, Unser Wort, „Atidi,
}tORTILIIIII: - __Rentuiterea, Jayne
where
Mitteliungeir
(Informations)
Jewish newspaper appeared - in
•t--
ton, In the -new :and hi 'the
Darheng.
Amsterdam. It is no historical ac- - -was* published in three languages
toneentrathili'MPP,-Qnc tsar" mar, Jeunisse; Libre.
Arid Many'otherlinidic,inchrd-
cident that'Amsterdam, of all cities —English, French and German-- :titular ifeenitlee Aseltioesed. It _ •
-and,
li
•Czechoslovakia: Vestri c,: LIashci- uNt.,
in Europe, should have been the under its auspices. Reportss -Mid was - Published:in
Hebrews xider,
cradle of the Jewish press. Several news' put out "by Mittellungen Were. 'the ' name of "NUMMI' (Spark) mer Hatzair, fiesta, lismiclic,i3n-
dujemo.
With two , -or :finme exceptions,
years earlier the young Menasseb reprinted by Jewish papers in during the, year the Rus-
ben Israel, the great • Jewish the Allied as well as in the coun- sian occupation, of. Lithuania in
Germany: Our Word,..Undreg laal-Aew.,publicsOons - ceased AA- -
tries
tithe
Central
Powers.
Other
concentration camps , :
statesman of the 17th Century, had
1949. Mappeenial hi: the Wort Zum.Sieg, Unser :Stymie,, :Jews left
set up the first Hebrew printing; news- agencies followed and the ghetto of Mohan* it different' Deggendorfer Center, Our Life;' Palestine or other countries.-
best
organized
news
coverage
was
press in the same city; thereby
form. It closed down these, but -Revue, Tinier Lebn, Der-,WeIG: All Atte ts hi- publish.* daily
providing a means for - Jewish probably that of the •Juectische Mann concentration. camp, and
Feldafinger Magazin, Dos .:,:Frajt: Inge& Archigy:
scholars, writers and poets to Pressezentrale in • Zurich. All once again reappeeared in the Wori, UnterWega, Pus ..Jiddische ' Spud* .appeared':
.appeared':Mai tor' 11 fery
translate their hopes and ideas into these agenciel distributed usually
Wort
(Gauting). _ sJiticiLsehe menthm-•:-'Altirtargh - the 'Yiddish
after the liberation it was pub-
tangible and lasting shape, i.e., once a week, essential informa- lished in Muidcli.
Wort (Feldafing), liajnt,. -Extra pressin -declining, nevertheless, all
books to be passed on to posterity. tion, but they found it impossible
Ojsgabe, Bamidbar, Aheim, :The dailies are in Yiddish.
to enlarge their press service.
No sooner did the liberators ar- Jewish Review, Nocham, Unzer
Amsterdam that
It was also
A good editor and journalist is,
Welt; Unser Weg, Hacived, Off der in Herd's words, "a man who
rive
than
Jewish
papers
sprang
Their
correspondents
and
contrib-
refugees from many countries
found hospitable asylum and help- utors were few in number but up. First came the Landsberger Frei, Der' najer moment; etc.
writes today what the world-will
Italy: Hechalutz, Baderech,
ed to make the city into an 'out- the agencies' main task was to Lager Zeitung, and soon after-
Ifinkloriorrow:7 Not, , that' it, A
standing Jewish center. First scan the world press for informa- wards there were papers in almost lethn della Comita Israelite., SIM!: ignast ,Agho merely- . ee heesi -,,ffiarr*.
came • Sephardim, among them tion of Jewish interest and to all DP. camps and major cities. lom.
liker the sentiments of the:Great
many Marranos, persecuted by the pass it on to the Jewish press.
Poland: Dos Neje Lebn,
At first some were hand-written,
;Ortestef-indaYijn his weekly,' Die
But
they
were
all
short-lived.
inquisition, then Ashkenazim from
then mats were used. In time Arbeiter Zeitung, Slowo
Welt,::Heril championed above ail
Poland, victims of Chmielnicky's
Opinia;-.Tygoci-, 4be rliberty :and- the honor of"-the
In 1919, the Jewish Tele- almost all of them were set in Na Strazy,
man-hunts, and finally German graphic Agency was registered
printing shops. Thus, some 120 nik Informacyjny, Biuletyn:
44)Widit _people,-Without
.
denying
Jews, many of these Mules belong- In Landon and later its head- papers soon appeared. Let us sowy, Nowe Zycie, Biuletyn Mlod;- thelespeet due to opponents of
ing to the intellectual elite.
name some of them:
zie, Folks-Sztyme, Folkscajtung;: igood-faith.
quarters were transferred to
In Amsterdam, refugees or their New York. This agency (JTA)
descendants have for many cen-
turies been among the foremost also introduced a feature serv-
carriers of enlightenment. So the ice. The JTA has correspond-
first Jewish newspaper was born ents and branch bureaas in
By HENRY- W. LEVY
except for the occasional sight- materially different from Justut-
*
there -- In Ladino — and shortly
numerous capitals.
Public Relations Director,
seeing trips to the area and by Ian's originaL Now it is occupied
after the Dienstagische and Frei-
World Zionist Organtration
the
Army
Air
Force.
Before
World
War
II,
the
larg-
by
dozen
a
or
no
caretaker
monks,
American • Section
tagisehe Courant in Yiddish. Ever
(Copyright 1912, JTA, Inc.)
A bus awaits you at the airport whereas it used to house hundreds,
since these early Amsterdam be- est number of Jewish newspapers
If you've pretty well seen Israel for a rough 15-mile trip on a dirt And today still maintains a hostel
ginnings, the Jewish press has and journals came out in Europe,
but
later
the
American
continent
on your one or more visits„„ may I road recently built by the army. with a capacity of 400 beds. The
spread and kept burning a torch
of knowledge and faith which, took over the lead in the Dias- suggest -a new and delightful thrill? Except, for a few stray Bedouins hostel charges about $1 a night
for nearly 300 years, has cast its pora. Pre-war Poland had Yid-
It is the flight to Sharm el-Sheikh, and their camels, and one or two for soldiers; a little more than $2
e
an for others. Th y entry charge is
glow on the heart raid spirit of dish dailies in Warsaw, Lviow, that •all-important strategic spot Bedouin settlements around
Cracow,
Lodz,
Bialistock,
Vilno
Jews everywhere.
which plays so important a role oasis as you approach Santa Cath- less than 50 cents.
and in other large towns. There
arine, - there- is hardly a sign of
About the middle of the 18th also were Polish-Jewish dailies, in the current peace negotiations, life on the road.
'This mignificent set of buildings,
and in the first half of the 19th as well as more than two dozen in the course of which you stop
In this entire-Sinai area, there's mid,. its:-hiscious . garden. in the
Century, as the Jewish fight for weeklies in Yiddish, Polish and at the seaside port of Eilat and
a
population
of
about
8;000
Be-
visit
the
-magnificent
5th
Century
middle ,of the desert, .is one Of the,
equality and the Baskets move- Hebrew, and nearly 100 monthlies.
ment for spreading modern Jewish In Germany there existed about Santa Catharine Greek monastery douins, about a thousand of a Aidest-, -hulldings in the world -in
culture among Jews gathered mo- 60 weeklies, fortnightlies and which is at the foot-of one of the Europeanized tribe of Jebalia in continuous use. -
mentum, Jewish journals began to monthlies. They, and Jewish pap- Sinai Desert's highest mountains. the Monastery area. Aside from "Over, the -years, the monks haie
appear in Germany and other ers in Nazi-occupied countries, Jebel Mousse, generally accepted living off the soil, and the small accumulated a collection of icons
as the. historic Mt. Sinai where animals they shoot or 'trap, they that is unsurpeated and a library
countries until finally all these disappeared.
Moses received the Ten Commad- work for the army or monastery, with manuscripts. that make .it
isolated publishing ventures fused
earning about eight Israel pounds
meats 33 centuries ago.
Some
months
after
the
German
into what could be called a Jewish
and- only to:that-of the Vatican list-,
occupation - of 'Prague, the Yid-
It is available on - a one-day a day (a little less than $2), ibr sigtilfic.ruiCeand .size.
press.
•
whereas
they rent out their eines
dish dallies Habit and Moment flight from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
:'One. of its treasures, the aided
In his brochure, "Press and began to be smuggled in, from
for a higher 12 Israeli pounds a :'One.
known4copy
Heading
-for
Mkt,
you
pass
of
the
Bthle,
was
taken
Jewry" (Vienna, 1882), Isidore Warsaw, and this despite the near
day (a little less thin $3). -
-to :the British Museum 200 years
Singer listed a total of 103 Jewish certainty of death in case of dis- over Bethlehem, Hebron and a
As You approach the manes; - Ago:, On :one. wall .are letters from
number of , smaller settlements
newspapers and journals appearing covery by the Gestapo. I well re-
tery, you see a village built, tsicnfrulers .of disparate lands, ...a,
and
towns
on
thility
to
Beer-.
In 1880. Of these, 30 were in Ger- member how groups of Czech Jews
behind the. inevitable stone - • wall
man, 19 in Hebrew (16 in the Dias- used to gather in certain apart- sheba.; Then, Over theffest-Gurion " that was the typical Middle Agee . iletter,front Napoleon; dated:- -1799, - .
And 1970 letter from Goldatifeir;
pora and three in Jerusalem), 15 ments, known only to the initiated, home in - Sde Boker the campus
defense. It is an incredible piece ite•AnningAhe Monastery , that IS-_.
of
the:Negev
Ilnaersity,
and
a
in English, 14 in Yiddish, six in to read this Yiddish. message of
of ornate architecture, built -. ,raere.-; customs- -tides -would..- be
good
view
of
the
famous
„King
Ladino, five in French, and the solidarity and hope from another
against -a-crag in the rising 11,50g..; •relaxed in favor_of-the monastery. ,
Sokonon mina about. 20 , miles
rest in eight other languages.
country—but from their fellow before dereendhig at the
foot-high mountain behind
frOderi: the monastery-. is headed
Jews.
The
same
kind
of
secrecy
Built - by the Emperor Jnirdniair :by
In 1897, Theodor Herd, the
port - in Whit, •literalW flying
Beatitude--Gregorius .
had
to
be
strictly
observed
in
the
in
the
5th
'Century
to
'Protect
♦
•
founder of the Zionist argent:a-
through the smoke. of . the long
Archbishop-. ICC
- - 7 .
--the hundreds of monks living
lien, published his weekly Die case of the underground newspa- Solomon' Wan: _ - •
One. of the moittursusisal sights
Welt (The World) In Vienna. pers in many of the ghettos, and - Only a. few-miles away, you see in the area, the site selected is, what can only call- Room -
This paper bad excellent news one of the -first acts -after the the Jordanian.airport. A. half dozen was that width . the- imake.• he-_---
fliMilszzThersinalls. of -alLpioaite
coverage thanks_to replete boat ";liberation _ was, chancterittioallY, cargo ships, ',mainly (ilk:tankers, lieved to be the place .
erheAied Ad the •Inonestertjare_
cerreeposdents in Waist "efery :the launching-- of ' **Mere are in the harbor •after a trip that 'bunting bush _from ,iirideh.;Bod inesersed;-Firatthe body -Is buried,f
and periodicals in many • coricentra--
spoke to Motree:'. :iienrefiess,
country of the world.
took about an hour and• 20 minutes
dug: up after; it, deeempasek
Una camps. • • •
changed from the. Bursdist-BeidO Arian tther'
from Jerusalem:• • •
separateCtroit
The first real agency, the Neue . The Nadi, for their own pur.
to Santa • Catharine bp the 401t•
•
-
• • *
l'eist4/
theidteletan:•The skate
Juedische Korrespondeliz
:poses, Maintained - several Jewish
The Sinai airport is she'd 4,500 Century: after „the *eel 41 ;Ask air el then 41aced
(New Jewish 'Correspondence),
Martyr IV ere elisioled fa lie be desisibeol
.The' Gazette 'Zydointht,
thou.
beep -
above sea level, _and an Yon
was founded in Berlin in 1907 in Cracow; the hifOrniatione JtilVes feet
been hound oat the 21801411
approach
eeeh you lie tl a e
1,41 ,sands; -the- Other btages are Pldc•di
m:
fourr
'
high
and served the Jewish •press un- In Paris, the ".fildischei Nachrich- m ou nt a in peaks above
next
to Mount
;- Jit. 11 different section of this eerie
Santa
til shortly after the • outbreak of tenblatt-.Zidowska Listy:in Prague, Catharine.
Hand built, the monastery, is nok_r - SorR.• - -
- -
the first world war. Organiza- the Judisdies - Nrichrichteriblatt in
This Sinai +irport, only about
tions which were anxious to keep Berlin, the judisches Nichriabten-
64
-
Ftiday,
/Aa rth 24i 19_72 -
DETiOrt smus
in touch with Jews all over the blatt in Vienna, and-the 'Joodsche eight months old, is little used
,
An. Out-of•the-
die- Tour to ; ~ anta
-
mow
Linguistic -Distribution of Jewish Newspapers Thro uglume -the World
• 629 Pa pers
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92
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nls
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erw..
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Diaspora and Israel: 954 Papers
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