Purely Commentary
Hunters and Hunted Always in Limelight as Warning
Against Re-Emergence of the Nazi Terror .. . Record
of Arab Horrors Perpetrated in Many Foreign Lands
By Philip
Slomovitz
The Holocaust, Hunters and Hunted, the Chaim Kaplan Diary a nd Related Documents
CurreW, anniversaries—the 30th of the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising, the resistance to Nazism in many areas that
were under Nazi rule now being recorded, the historical
data regarding the Holocaust that has become more readily
available — combine to add to the attention being given
the Shoa, the Khurban — the horror and the calamity
that caused the death of a third of the Jewish people.
A vast amount of material is being published, and the
recollections of those who have suffered during the Hitler
years are demanding greater attention.
When scholars met in New York four years ago to
define the meaning of the catastrophe, the years of death
and destruction from 1933 to 1945, they were admonished
by Elie Wiesel to view the events as an historic Jewish
experience.
It was an inspiration for another significant work on
the. Holocaust. and a noted historian, Prof. Gerd Korman
of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor
Relations of Cornell, compiled the many, views of those
with roles in the Khurban in a volume published by Viking
Press under the title "Hunter and Hunted — Human His-
tory of the Holocaust."
It is significant that this volume should appear simul-
taneously with the reappearance as a paperback of "The
Warsaw Diary of Chaim Kaplan," which was translated
and edited by Prof. Abraham Katsh, president of Dropsie
University. and published by Macmillan.
Chaim A. Kaplan, a Warsaw Hebrew teacher and
author, who was murdered either in late 1942 or early
1943, began his diary on Sept. 1, 1939, when the Nazis,
invaded Poland. Mr. Kaplan had lived in Warsaw for
40 years. He witnessed the brutalities and inhuman-
ities and he recorded them up to August 1942. His
chronicled story of the Nazi terror in Warsaw was
found in a kerosene can. The papers were well pre-
served and the Jewish archives are blessed that an
eminent scholar—Dr. Abraham I. Katsh, the president
of Dropsie University, one of our most noted Hebra-
ists — did the translating from the Hebrew.
The Kaplan Diary is a first-hand account of what had
happened. Objective, factual, day-to-day • reporting, it is
one of the most important records of an era of horror.
It is no wonder, therefore, that in "Human History of
the Holocaust," which has been included in the Bnai Brith
Classics Series, the Kaplan Diary is represented by im-
pressive selections, which include this deeply moving
paragraph as an expression of faith:
"I will write a scroll of agony in order to remem-
ber the past in the future . . . I feel that continuing
this diary to the very end of my physical and spiritual
strength is an historical mission which must not be
abandoned . . . Even though we are now undergoing
terrible tribulations and the sun has grown dark for
us at noon, we have not lost our hope that the era of
light will surely come. Our existence as a people will
not be destroyed. Individuals will be destroyed, but
the Jewish community will live on.'!
There are 27 essays in Korman's "Hunter and
Hunted." "Chimneys" and "Liberation" are as liberally
represented as the refugees, the people who were in flight,
the resistance, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
There is the work of the hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, and
the recollections of the horrors in Dachau, Mauthausen,
Westerbork and other torture and death camps are chill-
creating episodes that are so vital to preserve the memory
of a dark era.
This stirring account of the "human history of the
Holocaust" incorporates the evidence of Quentin Reynolds
(before a congressional committee) and Elie Wiesel, the
agonizing accounts of sufferers from the brutalities, the
views of historians of the Nazi years, such as John Toland,
Raul Hilberg and others.
It is not happy reading, but it is a must for acquaint-
ance with the worst in history.
It is important also because it compels retention of
interest and the memories of what had happened. On
the occasion of the reprinting of "The Warsaw Diary of
Self-Criticism Vital .. . But The Record Pleads for Vigilance
Are we immune from criticism and is there sufficient self-criticism in Jewish
ranks? Do we rebuke Israel when necessary? Are we so calloused that we do not
recognize human obligations?
We are always certain of attack by the anti-Israeli blocs at the United Nations,
and we can always expect our "friends" to go along with the attacks on Israelis.
None would call for a Security Council meeting when Israel is endangered, but there
is no hesitancy in calling the UN body into action whenever there is retaliation.
Another question must be posed: Is retaliation justified, at any time, at any cost?
Indeed self-criticism is vital. Even Golda Meir can be challenged if and when
she glories in successful retaliatory actions against Israel's enemies, the terrorist gangs
who are quartered in Lebanon. We rather share with her the feeling — when she
expresses it — that we can never forget the enemy for making it necessary for
Israelis — for Jews — to retaliate in self-defense.
In order to understand the conditions that make it necessary to retaliate, it is
urgent that the record should be made known and understood. In the words of Alfred
Smith, "let's look at the record."
Here is the shocking record of Arab attacks on Israel and Israelis, from July 23,
1968, to Jan. 31, 1973:
persons were killed and others
DOCUMENT
wounded.
ARAB TERRORISM ABROAD
21.2.70 47 passengers and crew of Swiss-
23.7.68 El Al airline hijacked en route
air airliner died when the plane
from Rome. Landed in Algiers.
blew up in mid-air, en route
26.12.68 El Al airliner attacked at Athens
from Zurich to Lod. There were
Airport. One Israeli citizen killed.
13 Israeli citizens among the
18.2.69 El Al airliner attacked in Zurich.
dead.
One pilot killed and another
21.2.70 An Austrian airliner was miracu-
wounded.
lously saved from a similar fate,
22.5.69 An attempt on David Ben-Gur-
when an explosive charge went
ion's life thwarted while he was
off while it was in flight. The
in Copenhagen.
plane landed safely in Vienna.
17.8.69 An incendiary bomb thrown into
22.2.70 Lufthansa jumbo airliner hijacked
Marks and Spencer in London.
and landed in Aden.
18.8.69 An act of sabotage perpetrated
4.5.70 Terrorists opened fire in Israel
in the Israeli Tourist Office in
Embassy in the capital of Para-
Copenhagen.
guay, killing the wife of the Em-
23.8.69 Sabotage act carried out in Jew-
bassy secretary and wounding a
ish children's school in Teheran.
female employe.
25.8.69 Bomb thrown into Zim office in
6.9.70 Three passenger airliners of Pan
London. A female employe was
American, TWA and BOAC hi-
wounded.
jacked with 400 passengers. The
29.8.69 TWA airliner hijacked to Da-
first was blown up in Cairo and
mascus. Two Israeli passengers
the other two landed at Zarka.
were held prisoners in Syria for
6.9.70 Abortive attempt to hijack an El
many months.
Al airliner en route from Amster-
8.9.69 Hand grenades thrown into Is-
dam to New York. A steward was
raeli embassies in the Hague and
wounded.
in Berne, and into El Al office in
9.9.70 Another BOAC plane — en route
'Brussels.
from Bahrein to London — was
9.11.69 Time-bomb discovered at Jewish
landed at Zarka, Jordan.
community center in Berlin.
6.2.72 Gas tanks sabotaged in Holland.
27.11.69 Hand grenade thrown into El Al
8.2.72 Engine plant blown up in Ham-
office in Athens. A Greek child
burg.
was killed and two Greek civilians
22.2.72 Oil pipeline sabotaged near Ham-
wounded.
burg.
12.12.69 Bomb discovered in El Al office
29.4.72 Letter-bomb sent to Israel Pa-
in Berlin.
vilion at German exhibition.
21.12.69 Attempt to hijack airline in
5.8.72 Oil storage tanks blown up in
Athens.
Trieste.
10.2.70 El Al airliner attacked in Munich.
16.8.72 Explosion in the luggage com-
An Israeli citizen was killed and
partment of El Al airliner after
eight were wounded.
takeoff from Rome.
13.2.70 Jewish home for the aged set
5.9.72 The murder of 11 Israeli partici-
on fire in Germany. Seven aged
,
2—Friday, April 27, 1973
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Kaplan," Prof. Katsh has called upon Jewry to
Chaim
perpetuate the memory of the Warsaw Ghetto and the
other tragedies of the Shoa into daily prayers "to cause
us to remember with humility the millions of our martyrs
who perished in the greatest catastrophe of our time." Dr.
Katsh believes:
"The Holocaust must be a part of our daily awareness
and that of our children who, fortunately, knew it not.
This will enable our young to identify with the martyrs
who, in the very moment
of death, affirmed their
belief in the eternity of
the Jewish people or any
other 'group.
"Just as the memory
of the Exodus from Egypt
is repeated three times
every day in our daily
prayers, and referred to
in the Kiddush prayer
sanctifying the Sabbath,
Prof. Katsh
as well as in numerous
other prayer contexts, the Holocaust should also be
corded unflagging repetition in our worship.
"Just as the mezuza is affixed to every Jewish door-
post, books on the Holocaust should be placed on the book-
shelves of every Jewish home. Since Jewish youths, as
all young 'people, thrill to the triumphs of courage, they
should be encouraged to read and study such books as
they tell of the highest courage in the face of the most
extreme adversity. We must teach our people to remem-
ber not to forget."
These are admonitions to remember, facts not to be
forgotten, obligations to be adhered to.
The Kaplan Diary and the "Hunter and Hunted" are
vital documents emphasizing the obligations. May' they
inspire the determined will of free peoples everywhere
never again to permit holocausts to defile humanity.
Jewish addresses in Britain.
pants in the Munich Olympic
21.11.72 Four letter-bombs discovered in
Games.
Toronto, two of them addressed
19.9.72 Economic adviser to Israel Em-
to Jews.
bassy in London killed in the ex-
Dec. Terrorist group uncovered in
plosion of letter-bomb.
1972 Greece. Planned to arrive by ship
20.9.72 Letter-bomb sent to Israel Em-
in Haifa on a suicide mission. The
bassy in Brussels. Bomb explo-
terrorists came from Lebanon.
sion at Buenos Aires synagogue.
21.9.72 Letter-bomb sent to Israel em- 28.12.72 Six members of the Israel diplo-
matic mission to Bangkok kid-
bassies in Kinshassa, Buenos
naped and held as hostages.
Aires and Phnom Penh.
They were released after 19
4.10.72 Letter-bomb received at offices
hours, and the kidnapers flew to
of the Hias Jewish welfare or-
Cairo.
ganization.
End A booby-trapped motor-car left
10.10.72 Letter-bomb to two Jews in
1972 the Lebanese Fatah base Nahar
Rhodesia, and to a woman head-
Al-Bared and arrived in Europe
ing the Hadassah organization in
in order to sabotage an Israel
New York.
Embassy.
13.10.72 Bomb discovered at El Al offices
9.1.73
Bomb explosion in front of Jew-
in Paris.
ish Agency building in Paris.
14.10.72 Letter-bomb addressed from Ma-
Terrorist group disembarked from
laysia exploded in New York,
S.S. "Messapia" in Cyprus, plan-
wounding a local post of f i c e
ning to carry out sabotage acts
worker.
in Haifa.
17.10.72 Bomb discovered at the entrance
24.1.73 Letter-bomb mailed to Israel con-
to a Rotterdam office building,
sul in Santiago, Chile, wounding
housing the agency of Zim Israel
a police sapper handling it.
Shipping Lines.
25.1.73 Letter-bomb sent to rabbi in
29.10.72 Lufthansa plane hijacked en route
Montreal discovered at Montreal
from Lebanon to Turkey and
Airport.
flown to Yugoslavia.
31.1.73 Three terrorists detained in Vi-
31.10.72 Letter-bomb received at Israel
enna on 20 January, and three
Embassy in Nigeria.
others arrested at the Austro-
4.11.72 Letter-bomb to Zionist youth club
Italian border. All six had trav-
in Frankfurt.
elled from Beirut planning to at-
11.11.72 Five letter-bombs to Israeli dele-
tack Jewish immigrants from the
gation and to Jewish organiza-
USSR.
tions in Geneva; 14 letter-bombs
(We are indebted for this record to Israelis
in the period of 1-11 November to Reply, Tel Aviv).
Why the most recent attacks by Israelis on terrorist hideouts in Beirut? Add to
the above record the following incidents of attacks that were admittedly engineered
in Beirut:
March 1—Murder of U.S. and Belgian diplomats in Khartoum.
March 3—Attack in Beriut harbor on Cypriot vessel carrying pilgrims to the Holy Lar
March 6—Attempts to blow up an El Al terminal and Israeli banks in New York.
March 12—Murder of Israeli businessman in Cyprus.
March 15—Attempt to blow up the Israeli Embassy, Paris.
March 20—Attempt at terror operation (probably hijacking at Rome Airport).
March 21—Letter-bomb in Singapore.
April 4—Attempt at terror operation (probably hijacking) at Rome Airport.
April 9—Attacks on Israel ambassador's home and an Israeli civilian aircraft in Cyprus.
It's unfortunate that there must be a ferreting out of the guerrillas in order to
end the terror and to prevent its continuation. Is there guilt for such actions? It is the
commission of acts necessitated by a kind of war that the Arab antagonists, who are
out to destroy Israel, have invited for themselves. They can be forgiven for waging a
war, but not for intolerable movement to attack Jews and Arabs not in Israel alone—
they have found that task futile!—but wherever there are Jews and Israelis. That's
what calls for counter-action. This is what has instigated retaliation. It is for such
spread of animosities that the Arab murder gangs can not be excused.
Israel is not an unrecognized nation. She sits side by side with the enemies in
the United Nations. She functions among the nations of the world. Differences, terri-
torial adjustments, approaches to peace, can only be attained through proper diplomatic
negotiations and by sitting side-by-side to come to terms. Until and unless that happens,
we may not see a end to the horrible effects of an unnecessary animosity for a long
time to come.