Prof. Rotenstreich's Analyses Kaethe Kollwitz's Works Honored, Nazi Terror Exposed in Kleins' Moving 'Life in Art' Story Kaethe Kollwitz (1867-1945) was a noted artilk. She was a liberal and firm opponent of Nazism. She suffered at the hands of the Hitlerites in Germany. In "Kaethe Kollwitz Lifein Art." Mina C. Klein and H. Arthur Klein relate the dramatic story of a heroine who defied the bar- barians in her homeland and did not hesitate to express her affinity in friendship with her Jewish asso- ciates. In this Holt, Rinehart and Winston volume we have one of the most fascinating stories of bravery in a land of tyranny. For 60 years, Kaethe kept ex- pressing her concern for the down- trodden, and the numerous illustra- tions in the Kleins' volume—repro- ductions from her works—indicate her interests, her love for the just causes, her defense of the op- pressed. When Hitler rose to power she was branded a "degenerate" artist and was forbidden to teach art. She was an impassioned paci- fist. One of her early art works was entitled "Never Again War." The Kleins state that during the darkening days, just before Hitler's triumphs, Kaethe Koll- witz managed to make progress with her work. With Hitler's rise to power, in 1933. "with sickening speed," there were the many arrests. The Kleins describe the effects of the new regime upon the artists after many had fled the country: "The anti-Nazi artists who re- mained were ousted from posi- tions they held and denied the right to show or sell their works. Jewish artists, including some lead- ing figures in the art world, were most bitterly persecuted, even being ordered to stop painting and dra wing. A week before Hitler was named Chancellor, Ernest Earlach (fa- mous - 'German artist and sculptor, 1870-1938, had talked on the radio. indignantly asserting the inde- pendence of artists against the growing Nazi threat. And shortly after Hitler became Chancellor. Kaethe Kollwitz and the venerable Max Liebermann were among those who voted to award Barlach the Prussian order 'Pour le Merit e'. "Stilt more courageous—or rash --she and her husband joined Heinrich Mann and other promi- nent personalities in another appeal to all workers, Socialist or Com- munist, for electoral unity against the Nazis and reactionaries . . . " The Nazi terror reaped its harvest as the Kleins' story indi- cates: "In May 1933 Max Lieber- mann was forced to resign his honorary presidency of the Acad- emy of Arts. In his behalf as well as that of Kaelhe Kollwitz. Ernst Barlach wrote to the Acad- emy's president, composer Max von Schillings. Such protests were in vain. Barlach himself soon became the victim of the full blacklist treatment. Otto Nagel, who knew the Kollwitzes well, said that Kaethe was more stricken by what was done to Barlach than by her own dif- ficulties." The Kleins describe the role of Liebermann, the great and hon- ored artist, "conservative—but a Jew" and they describe his reflec- tions: "A born Berliner, noted for his humor, Liebermann looked past his heavy curtains into the street where brown-clad Nazi storm troopers marched, and made a comment that was later repeated in endless whispered reports: 'I can't eat as much as I'd like to vomit'." Liebermann died, at age 88, in February 1935: "Kaethe Kollwitz paid a condolence call at the Lie- bermann residence, where she looked at the wasted body of her old friend and sponsor. She was one of only two non-Jews who attended the memorial service held for him Quest for Human Rights in Newest Heritage Volume A new Bnai Brith Heritage Clas- sic, published by Norton, edited by Prof. Milton R. Konvitz, is dedicated to a study of Jewish experience in the quest for human rights, including religious freedom. Notable. essays by outstanding scholars. in addition to several by Dr. Konvitz, deal with the causes of liberty and the pursuit of hap- piness, with the freedom of con- science and the democratic ideal. So thorough is the collective effort that the famous article by Moses Mendelssohn (1729- 861, "Freedom of Religion— Absolute and Inalienable," is among the important declara- tions on the Jewish position in the quest for religious and civil freedoms. To give this work additional status, the editor has included as appendices the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Hu- man Rights. Among the eminent authors in- cluded in this collection of valuable writings are Dr. Robert Gordis, Dr. Emanuel Rackman, Prof. Wit, liam A. Irwin, Lord Acton, Rabbi Norman Lamm, Rabbi Samuel Raphael llirsch (1808-88), Rabbi Richard G. llirsch and others. NO, YOU WON'T • • • be able to follow a debate in Israel's Knesset, but you will mtise around in the country much more freely., if you will get a good grounding in Hebrew through the Television Coursv " To Israel With Hebrew ', on CHANNEL 56 Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. ..1 Public Service of is Zionist Organization of Detroit th-g.toi,itiwo of 1.merica Des ... i . ) Tradition's Impact on by the Jewish Committee of Ber- lin. When his body was buried in the Jewish cemetery, she was one of four non-Jews from the art world who stood beside the grave. The other three who thus honored Liebennann and themselves were Konrad von Kardoroff, Hans Ourr- man and Karl Scheffler, an art critic and Academy member, who eulogized Liebermann's greatness and humanity. The controlled press and radio of Nazi Germany made no mention of the event." While Kaethe and her husband Karl escaped arrest, they were witnesses to Germany becoming a vast prison. The Kleins state in their valuable work about Kaethe Kollwitz: "To a Jewish friend, she once wrote, 'You are experiencing everything in your own body and soul. I experience it only through (my) friends'. But even that in- direct contact ' ... has often dark- ened my life'." The Kleins' work is about an artist, her works, her noble soul that yearned for justice. It is also an added indictment of the cruel- ties that marked the tragic Nazi era LESSON 11 1117.0 ivy WE SW ( RAINU ) EXCAVATIONS ( CHAF I ROT ) D (CiiitOHt< GCNNEL G Ili /K1 1111 7 43_.-Friday, July 28, 1972 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS EATS, EAT (OCHEL, OCHL ) THEY DISCOVERED ( GILU ) FLOOR ( RITZPAII) SON (BEN) BORDER, BOUND RY ( GVUL ) RIVER ( NAHA 12) LIKE, AS (KMO) TEACHER (MORE/1) HE SAID ( AMA R) MAN ( AD AM ) SHE (HEE) HER ( SHE LAN) NATION, PEOPLE (AM) SONG, POEM (SHIR) RETURNS ( CHOZE R, CHOZERET) MORNING (BOXER) NOON ( TZOHORAYIM) EVENING ( E REV) /3 REAKFAST ( ARUCHAT BORER) LUNCH (ARUCIL'iT TZOHORAYIM) SUPPER nt1 ) I - ? 171 3 r r ntzi DY n7I1n 07. in - 1 711t v:r D117. and The Detroit Jewish News l'ocabulary for Lesson 11, Tuesday, Aug. History to acknowledge the contradictory Prof. Nathan Rotenstreich, for- fact that such an assimilation mer Rector of the Hebrew Uni- is not taking place, and thus the versity and presently teaching in argument that it has taken place American universities as a visiting is no solution." professor, analyzes the effects of tradition in Jewish life in his new- It is a viewpoint that is quali- est hook, "Tradition and Reality," fied by the assertion that "ad- published by Random House. herence to the tradition in times Subtitled "The Impact of History of crises cannot arise from the on Modern Jewish Thought," Dr. norm of the tradition itself. We Rotenstreich's study delves into must return to the basic ideas the Jewish historians' attitudes and from which tradition arose, and the effects achievement of political from which a coherent philosophy and academic freedoms had upon may be evolved." their thinking, The views of Kroch- Prof. Rotenstreich's views gain mal, Bialik,.Dubnow, Graetz, Ahad special significance in his com- Ha-Am and many others—the ments on the traditional values founders of the "Science of Juda- inherent in national revival. For ism" and of Zionism—are under example, he goes into great detail scrutiny in evaluating the theme in outlining the philosophy of Ahad undertaken in this book. Ha-Am. lie states that Ahad Ha- Am's "thinking is more of a com- The conclusion reached by Dr. promise than a synthesis" in pro- Rotenstreich is that the Jew viding solutions to Jewish needs. who rejects the conceptual world Dr. Rotenstreich evaluates the of Judaism to accept full citi- view of Haim Nahman Bialik. He zenship of the Western world emphasizes that Biallic "called "no longer has the right to upon his generation to know the argue that his attachment to past first, selective as that knowl- Western culture is at the same edge might be. Knowledge of the time an allegiance to Jewish past might power a new wave of tradition." He maintains that creativity," but be adds that "it "the Jew who advocates the com- might also be no more than a plete assimilation of Judaism summation." into Western culture is bound EREV) 17.11 0 7:TY niv