Nazism in WWII France
Documented in Film
Its (.1 01:1.1 ) till OM ‘'S
op.ri011
■ •
pet!. sl 5. in, i
Chagrin et la Pitit• '
sorrow and the Pity
-The
t'ineina 5,,
ix ti 4. hour long study td Nazism
in Clermont t'errand
insights are well worth
the
France .
Directed by French Jewish Mar-
cel Ophuls, it's composed largely
of interviews with 36 Frenchmen,
Germans and Britons, including
ex Prime Minister Pierre Mendes-
France, who recalls his prison es-
cape and his run-ins with anti-
Semitism; Dennis Rake, a homo-
sexual actor who turned to spying
to prove his manhood. Helmuth
Tausend, who still treasures his
Wehrmacht medals. Christian tie
la Maziere, a French rightist who
regrets joining the Waffen SS; a
Leautician tortured by the Nazis;
and Maurice Chevalier. who denies
collaborating with the enemy
effmt
Ile is Jewish. Yon ran tell that
right near;. Ile has the name and
the (err and even the avinnerts-rris
Ile tit! , a J. n it'd nose and his
cues seen, to dart ereritivhere at
once . (Ski earnest. so Intense
...I felt sorry for (him,. lie looked
so pathetic.'
-
Since the piece was sympathe-
tic, the columnist is probably not
consciously anti-Semitic; but at
the very least he's egregiously
ignorant, at age 44, of the stupid-
ities and dangers of stereotypes.
Controserss Over Israelis'
Interpretation of `Shylock'
TEL AVIV--It is an established
fart in the theatrical world that
Shylock, the Jew in the drama
"The Merchant of Venice." who
demands a pound of flesh from a
Christian, is a tragic figure and
a proud Jew, who protests with his
unconventional demand against
the persecution of Jews by Chris-
tian society which regards him as
an inferior helm•. mocks him and
deprives him of human rights.
The young Israeli director, Josef
Israeli, has siven Shakespeare's
drama
a different interpretation
in the production at the Tel Aviv
chamber Municipal T h e a t e
Critics and theater lovers in Is-
rail base accused him of having
performed an anti Semitic play.
I'hy lock arpears as an inferior
type. a miser of the lowest class,
a man without self-resne , t a
cruel money. lender. The Christian
society of Venice appears in a
positive light as a noble class of
humans. The critics said that even
in Shylock's famoas monologue,
in which Shakespeare expressed
the woes and pain of the persecut-
e.1 Jew, artist Aver Yeheskiahu
has made a mockery out of it with
shouts and cries, in order to make
no impression on the public.
Critics and public were dis-
appointed with the performance
and maintained that if such act-
ing would have been shown
abroad in this form, Jews and
liberal Christians would certain-
ly have demonstrated in front
of the theater to protest against
its anti-Semitic character and
would have compelled the thea-
ter to stop performances.
The director tried to explain his
approach to the play He said that
the play had been written in face
of a certain Christian background
in Europe, with Shy kirk as a comic
and not a tragic figure, a char-
acteristic theatrital type of those
times, representing an old father
and a wretched man, whom they
want to rob of his daughter.
The director wanted to show up
socic'y, which represents itself as
moral, humanitarian and perfect.
The conflict between the Chris-
tian and Jewish religions finds its
expression in the play in showing
41—Friday, May 26, 1972
— Correctly —Clearly- —onrincingly
in Modern, Up-to-Date Hebrew?
GET YOUR GUIDANCE THROUGH
"TO ISRAEL WITH HEBREW"
ON CHANNEL 56
A Course in Functionl Hebrew
Tuesdays — 6:30 p.m.
A Public ServiCe of
Not Julius Streicher patronizing
his Hebraic domestic, but Detroit
sportswriter Joe Falls describing
Roger Kahn, author of the baseball
hook "The Boys of Summer." in
the April IS, 1972, Sporting News.
"Professionally he declines and
falls"
--
Dickens. "Our Mutual
Friend."
As the Sporting News is the
The film's length may deter "bible" in its field, call this mi-
ni:any, but most of the inter- umn its Apocrypha.
By MOSHE RON
Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
OH SAY, CAN YOU SAY IT .
the Jew as responsible for crucify-
ing Jesus, and not anly Shylock
a money lender for interest, but
he tries to take revenge on Chris-
tians Shylock's mistake is that he
tries to get back his money and
his pound of flesh with the aid of
a Venetian. The moment his daugh-
ter is kidnaped and his fortune
confiscated, he is filled with a
wish for vengeance. He believes
in justice, but the Venetian court
acts according to court procedure
in Eastern European countries.
The director thinks that Shylock
does not try to defend Jewry, al-
though the play portrays the fight
for existence of a small minority
persecuted by society.
Israeli said he wanted "to
show a macabre ccrnedy. The
worst anti-Semite in the play ap-
pears as an angel. They do not
send the Jew to a death camp.
They only cripple his character. It
would have been much easier for
me if I could have portrayed Shy-
lock in the play as a great and
proud Jew, with whom the Israeli
public could identify itself.''
Thirty years ago there was a
certain justification in represent-
ing Christians in 'The Merchant of
Venice' as Nazis," the director
claims. "Today it would be ridi-
culous. The younger generation
o sisd the theater, accept this
production in a natural way. It is
not overshadowed by dark mem-
ories of the Diaspora and it is not
afraid to see a Shylock On the
stage as he has been and as the
people of Venice treated hint I
did only what I understand and
what I consider to he right. f do
not take into account whether a
performance would be a success
or not. - In my opinion the play is
an expression of protest against
the Christian establishment of
Venice. They are not noble figures,
as the critics maintain. They make
Shy lock the Jew stiffer in an ele-
gant manner_ Shylock is not only
a suffering Jew. Ile fights and
even wishes to take revenge "
The controversy continues In
some newspapers a demand ap-
peared not to open the new modern
theater in Jerusalem with such an
"anti-Semitic play." Such a per
formance. the critics maintain,
would disgrace the capital of Is-
rat I.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Zionist Organization of Detroit
and The Detroit Jewish News
"To I.rael 11 ith
Hebrew" i. .1hansored and
produced h.
he Tarbuth
Founda
for
the
1alvancement of liebre. Culture and the Department of }:ducation 8: Culture. tmerican
Section. Uorld Zioni.t Organisation.
This is the Vocabulary for Lesson 3, Tuesday, May 30
LESSON 3
t I 1
UNIVERSITY
(UNIVERS ITAH)
THESE (ONES)
(E ILEH)
OF
(S HEL)
STUDENT (S)
(TALMID , TALMIDI
EVERYTHING
(HAKOL)
THERE IS, THERE ARE
(YESH)
ARABS
(ARAVIM)
NEAR, NEFT TO
(AL YAD)
SHRINE OF THE BOOK
(HE ICHAL HA SEFER )
SCROLL (S)
(MEGILA , MEG ILOT )
THE DEAD SEA
(YAM HAMELACH)
FATHER
(AV)
STATE
(MEDINA)
STATE Or ISRAEL
(LIED INA f ISRAEL)
STANDS
(OMED)
REMEMBRANCE, MEMORIAL
(ZIKARON)
HOSPITAL
(BEIT CHOLLM)
SICK
(CHOLE , C HOL TM)
DOCTOR
(ROF EH)
NURSE
(AC HOT )
SCHOOL
(BET SEFER )
I.ED IC INE
(REF UA H)
WALL
(KOTEL)
WESTERN
(MA A RA I )
TEMPLE
(BET HAMIDASH)
BUILT
(BANAH)
THE ENT IRE WORLD
(K01 HAO LAM)
A MOSQUE
A CHURCH
(ui zsivAH)
(1 11 SCAD )
** ir•
•77,
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