Purely Commentary

Duty of Responsible Authors to Make an End of
'Deir Yassin' Libel . . . Shocking Arab Threat
Helps Expose Issue ... Normalcy of Jewish Vote

Heine's Glory Redeemed in Germany, With a Kaddish Posthumously Restored to Him
Another chapter is being added to the German factual repentance by Heine himself who is now

atonement story. The Nazi crime is continually be- regarded as having been a Baal Teshuva—a peni-
ing relegated to a state of condemnation. The New tent. His "Rabbi of Bacharach" proved it. His "He-
brew Memories" keep resounding with glorification
Germany repudiates t h e
of his memories as a Jew.
Hitler insanities, and the in-
He was the superb satirist, and he did not spare
anities even of the less guil-
other Jews who had become baptized. For example,
ty are rejected as abomina-
when he heard that Felix Mendelssohn had embraced
tions.
Christianity, he said: "If it had been my good for-
As example of the new
tune to be a grandchild of Moses Mendelssohn, I
attitudes is the honor being
would not have prostituted myself and my talent."
accorded to one of the great
Heine kept thinking about his past, his fore-
heroes of the moral resis-
bears, his act of conversion. In the last years of his
tance to terror — Janusz
life
he
especially wrote about Jews, and he wrote
Korczak.
regarding the people from whom he stemmed:
Now we are about to wit-
"I have never spoken of them with suffi-
ness a new demonstration
cient reverence. I now perceive that the Greeks
of decency: the renewal of
were only handsome youths. But the Jews were
recognition of the genius of
always men—powerful, stubborn men, not alone
Heinrich Heine.
in the days of yore, but even at the present day,
His name had been erased
in spite of 18 centuries of persecution and mis-
from German records by
ery. I have since learned to know them better
the Nazis. The most popu-
and to value them more highly; and if pride in
lar of all German songs,
Heinrich Heine
one's descent were not always a foolish contra-
"Die Lorelei," . . .
diction, I might feel proud of the fact that my
Lich weiss nicht woss zoll es bedeuten
progenitors were men of the noble house of
Das ich so traurig bin . . .
Israel, that I am a descendant of those martyrs
had been credited to an anonymous author by the
who have given io God and a morality to the
Ilitlerites. Whatever existed of knowledge about
world, and who have combatted and suffered
Heine had been hidden. Now, Germany worships
on all the battlefields of thought."
hit-it anew, and the man who has been called Ger-
Of course, he must have retained a knowledge
many's greatest poet-singer has been returned to
the legacies of Germany's great literary accom- of some Hebrew, else he could not have been in-
spired by the Sabbath Eve liturgical selection of
plishments.
Early this year it was announced in Bonn that "Lekho Dohdi" for his "Prinzessin Sabbath." And
under the leadership of A. D. Otto Schoenfeldt the his "Jehuda ben Halevi" is believed to have been
Dusseldorf Citizens Committee • succeeded in its autobiographical.
He had a craving for Jewish home life, and
efforts to have the West German Post Office issue
a stamp honoring Heine. Federal Minister for while he had repudiated his mother's un-Jewishness
Postal Services Georg Leber dropped his opposition, —in a letter to Mother Betty Heine he had written:
and it was decided that a Heine stamp be issued "I was never prepared to second your antagonism
to the Jews"—he recalled with relish the Jewish
on Dec. 13, 1972.
Heine was born in Dusseldorf in 1797. He died foods and the sanctity of Jewish religiosity as was
a pauper in Paris In 1856. The International Associ- expressed by his father, Samson Heine. In "Ludwig
ation for the Protection of German Language Writ- Boerne" he wrote about the renegades in Jewry:
ers, of which Dr. Edwin M. Landau of Zurich, Swit- "It is the 'tsolnt' alone which unites them still in
zerland, is the chairman, simultaneously with the their old covenant."
campaign for a Heine postage stamp, inaugurated
And when he explained how and why Isaak
a drive to have the University of Dusseldorf cele- Abarbanel, the apostate in "Der Rabbi von Bacha-
brate Heine's 175th birthday date with "the utmost rach," was attracted to the Judengasse in Frankfurt,
solemnity" in the city of his birth. While efforts to he wrote in that famous Jewish story:
have the university renamed in Heine's name have
"My nose has not become disloyal. When chance
rm. day brought ine into this street at noon and the
failed, the celebration is becoming a reality.
familiar odors from the Jewish kitchens tickled my
As a starting point for the Heine Dusseldorf
nose, I was seized by the longing which our fathers felt
when recalled the (let/toots of Egypt, savory memories
celebration, a Heine Congress will be held there
of my youth rose up within me: I saw again in my
Oct. 15-19, and 250 scholars from all over the world,
mi• the carp. in brown rattin sauce, which my
aunt so edifyingly prepared for Friday evenings; I saw
including 24 experts on Heine's writings from nine
nce more the stewed mutton with garlic and the
countries, are expected to address the sessions next
horseradish lit to a.oaken the dead and the soup with
week. They will discuss the style and content of
the meat balls floating in it so dreamily—and my soul
melted like the notes of an enamored nightingale."
Ileine's works, and it is to be hoped that Heine's
Indeed, he was the great wit, the humorist who
Jewish loyalties will be reviewed. It is a mark of
expiation and reconciliation that the Heine Con- found comfort at laughing at himself as well as the
life
that
embiterred him, especially in his last years
gress has been organized by the German literature
department of Dusseldorf University in cooperation of a life he endured in sickness and agony.
He may not have been as effective as a prophet.
with the Heinrich Heine Society and the Dusseldorf
In 1837 he wrote in a letter to a friend: "I shall
municipal authorities.
probably
become one of the number of those noblest
Heine was given Jewish education, and he knew
some Hebrew. His father was a loyal Jew, but his and greatest men of Germany who go to their graves
mother sought assimilation and she suffered from with a broken heart and a torn coat. In Dusseldorf
self-hating Jewish attitudes. Heine was baptized in they will then probably build me a monument."
But there will be no monument for Heinrich
the Lutheran Church of Heilingenstadt when he was
25. H- was anxious for a legal career from which Heine in Dusseldorf. Greater than a monument of
Jews were barred and he was thereby "buying" his stone, however, will be the Heine Archives in the
way into a profession he was never to practice. But Dusseldorf State and City Library. Under the di-
he regretted his act. He considered it "a disgrace rection of Prof. Manfred Windfuhr, there are be-
ing completed 17 volumes of Heine's works. There
and a stain upon my honor."
When eminent personalities who had become will be on display the poet's works published in 37
converts to Christianity are referred to as Jews, languages. A collection of 4,000 volumes contain-
there are frequent protests. When Felix Bartholdy ing Heine's writings will be on view. Of the collected
Mendelssohn or Benjamin Disraeli are spoken of as 3,466 manuscripts to be displayed, 1,908 are in
Jews, there are objections. In the Instance of Hein- Heine's own handwriting. His books were burned
rich Heine there is a difference of opinion. The by the Nazis, but they have come to life again.
Heine called himself a German poet, but he had
feeling is that he always felt himself a Jew, that
he had erred, that he should be judged as one of occasion to revile "the philistinism of Germans," and
in 1834 he wrote a critical essay of the German men-
the people from whom he stemmed.
He had suffered anguish in his Christian affili- tality in which he seemed to foresee what was to
happen
under Nazism a century later.
ation. While some Jews who had abandoned their
In his lifetime, Heine already had earned the
faith had encouraged him to adopt Lutheranism,
many of them afterward ridiculed him, and his fel- recognition that came from the greatest writers of
low Christians reviled him. Perhaps it was because his time. Matthew Arnold paid him this tribute:
of his anguish that he said: "Judaism is not a re-
"The spirit of the world,
ligion, it is a misfortune," but he also criticized
Beholding the absurdity of men—
Their vaunts, their feats—let a sardonic smile
Christianity and on one occasion he said: "When
common sense ends, Christianity begins."
For one short moment wonder o'er his Lips,
That smile was Heine!"
in one of his last written statements he dis-
- There was a slow process in reinstating Heine
played emotion, alluding to his Jewish attachment,
when he deplored an anticipated fate — that no as one of Germany's great creative writers. Because
masses would be sung for him, that the Kaddish he had been so critical of Prussianism and Germanic
would not be recited in his memory. This is how Pantheism, he was reviled and rejected. He is being
reclaimed now by Germany, on the 175th anniver-
he asserted it:
sary of his birth. Jewry was quicker in acknowledg-
Keine Messe wird num singen
ing him. He is considered a penitent, a Baal Teshu-
Keincn Kadosch wird man sagen,
va, and as such he is revered for the beauty with
Nichts gesagt and nichts gesungen
which he often constructed his unforgotten loyalty
Wirci an mesnen Sterbetagen.
Now there is a strong sentiment that Heinrich to his Jewish kinsmen. The Kaddish is not being re-
Heine had earned the kaddish, that much more cited for him, but in the spirit of the People Israel
important than the expiation by Germans is the it is no longer being denied him.

By Philip
Slomovitz

'0 Jerusalem' and the Emergence of Arab Terror in U. S.

When the co - author of "0 Jerusalem" comes here on Monday to
speak in one of the local synagogues, he will be confronted by a
challenge relating to the chapter in the book on Deir Yassin tragedy.
We call it a tragedy and we reiterate that it was regretted.
There are claims that it was inevitable because the residents of
that Arab village were either misled by their leaders or were them-
selves responsible for the horror they experienced.
The fact is that Israel apologized for it, that Ben-Gurion con-
demned it, that it was an instance in which Israel felt the sting of
what was charged as a misdeed.
It has been indicated time and time again that Arabs them-
selves never apologized for their acts of terror, that while they
are mouthing sanctimony every time they speak of Deir Yassin
they keep condoning mass murders, as at Munich, at the Lydda
Airport, in the attack on a busload of school children..
But there is much more to the story. "0 Jerusalem" was criticized
by Robert St. John, Dr. Jacob Rubin, Sol. Dann. (See Jewish News,
Sept. 8).
Because of strict adherence to reedom of expression, the invita-
tion to one of the authors of the boo ic was defended by the chairman
of the host synagogue's program committee in a letter to The Jewish
News. (See our issue of Sept. 15). Since we are read even by Arabs,
the defender of free speech received a letter from Berkeley, Calif.,
from an Arab League spokesman who wrote to him as follows:
"We of the Arab League were very pleased to hear that you
have invited Mr. Larry Collins to speak at your synagogue. We
hope you will encourage your friends to read "0 Jerusalem" as
we believe the message of the authors is very powerful.
"We have met many Jews in this area who formerly supported
the Zionist conspiracy, but after reading '0 Jerusalem' and seeing
that Jews are quite capable of barbaric acts and atrocities like
those commited at Deir Yassin, they have now joined our cause!
That book has made them ashamed to be Jews!
"By promoting '0 Jerusalem' and the authors you show your-
self a real friend of Truth and the Arab Cause. One hundred
Munichs will not erase the memory of those poor women and
children who were tortured and eviscerated at Deir Yassin!
"It is our fervent hope that when Jews realize that we are
only retaliating for the atrocities commited against our people at
Deir Yassin, they will understand our struggle. Jews like your-
self are our strongest weapons.
"Rest assured that you, your family, and your home will be
protected from any bloodshed in the coming months as we mount
our campaign to win our struggle for our Homeland, Palestine!
"Long live the memory of the martyrs of Deb- Yassin!"
This letter was signed, it carried the writer's address, copies of
the missiles were sent to the speaker who is to appear here and to
the rabbi of the synagogue.
We call these facts to the attention of our readers because of
the veiled threats the message contains, because it condones mas-
sacres while claiming to criticize an incident that occurred shortly
after the compatriots of the Arab League representative had massacres
Hadassah doctors and nurses who were on their way to perform medi-
cal services for Arabs as well as Jews.
When you deal with such acts of terror, when murderers speak
so glibly and do not hesitate to expose themselves in public, is it any
wonder that on orders from the Nixon administration, there "has begun
a major effort to identify Arabs residing in this country who are sus-
pected of planning terrorism and to screen travelers from Arab nations
more carefully" (See front page story in New York Times, Oct. 5).
This U. S. move, according to the report from Washington, is "to pro-
tect Israeli citizens in the United States from terrorist attacks."
But the threat is also to American citizens. It is a threat to all
in this country.
The name of at least one of these terrorists is now on record in
the letter to the local synagogue official.
The guilty have placed themselves in the limelight. Let justice
rule and let there be full expose of the terrorist threat and of the
criminals who place their venom on record so shamelessly.

•••

Zionism Equated With Jews: the Nobility of Liberal Cause

There is a factor that can never be overemphasized. Arab terror-
ists, Russian anti-Semites and the unscrupulous leftists—among the
latter a few, very few, Jews who suffer from self - hatred — are attempt-

ing to brand Zionism offensively. At the same time Jews and Zionists
are being equated by them in their hatred or self-hatred.
When there is abuse of Zionists there is an attack on all Jews.
Zionism was and is the liberation movement. It sought freedom for
Jews in their return to their ancient homeland and Zionists keep pro-
tecting that ideal.
Zionists do not insert bombs in letters to enemies. They do not
inspire mass murders as in Munich and at Lod.
Therefore Zionism is liberalism and a human factor is a glorious
term, and not only Zionists but all who support just causes will con-
tinue to treat it as a badge of honor. So it was and so it shall be.
•
.

'Jewish Vote' Speculators

For three more weeks there will be speculation about 'the Jewish
vote." In the sense that the attitudes of blacks, Italians, and other
groups in this country are being scrutinized, there is nothing specta-
cular about the current sensationalism—except that in relation to Jews
the analysts speak of their financial assistance to the Republicans.
(Apparently the sums are not that impressive in the Democratic cof-
fers). Jewish Republicans first spoke of raising 55,000,000 for their
candidate, now William Buckley speaks in terms of much of $15,-
000,000 for the GOP stemming from Jews. That's how we are kept
in the limelight—because we are Jewish and are voters. Being in the
ranks of both major parties we should be considered quite normal,
don't you think?

2—Friday, Oct. 13, 1972

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

