THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
IIIL Rosa Luxemburg
Friday, March 15, 1974-41
Stamp Arouses
German Dispute
DP Camp Experience Motivates
An orange — not red
Rosa Luxemburg postage
stamp issued in Bonn, Ger-
many, has aroused renewed
disputes. Executed on Jan.
15, 1919, after the Communist
uprising in Berlin, Rosa Lux-
emburg has been associated
in the leftist movements with
K' •..Liebknecht. West Ger-
With its setting in Munich,
"Oktoberfest," a novel by
Frank De Felitta (Double-
day), is a thriller that draws
upon the Nazi era to recall
the tortures in concentration
camps.
De Felitta's Novel `Oktoberfest'
man Postmaster General
Horst Ehmke said many peo-
ple refused to buy the stamp
- over the counter, but the
30,000,000 printed stamps are
expected to be sold out in
five instead of the allotted
six months. The critics, al-
ready branding Chancellor
Willy Brandt's government as
iiiseudo-Communist, are thus
adding to the bitterness cre-
ated in some ranks over the
issuance of this stamp in
memory of the Jewess who
became famous in post-World
War I German history.
1
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A survivor from Ausch-
witz, after 25 years in a
mental institution, escaped
and, seeing the resemblance
of Nazis in Germans he con-
fronts, commits a series of
murders.
It is another instance of
resort to a Jewish Documen-
tation Center in the search
for Nazi criminals. The
police manhunt, the riotous
Oktoberfest, the realities of
a post-war experience invol-
ving a naturalized Israeli
who suffered in Auschwitz—
these combine to lend power
to this story.
De Felitta, who conducted
a CBS-TV natural history
program, won the Peabody
Award and is writing screen-
plays, explained the back-
ground of his story by point-
ing to his experiences in
World War II, in which he
served as a pilot flying
DC-3s. He asserts that the
novel is not autobiographical
but that he was deeply
moved by what he had seen
in Buchenwald. Treblinka,
Dachau and other death
camps.
Relating the sight of "sym-
bols more tellingly terrible
than actual cadavers," when
he saw tens of thousands of
children's shoes piled high
in three warehouses — evi-
dence of the mass murders
and the accumulation of
clothing for use by the Nazis,
De Felitta described how he
accompanied lawyers who
went to the camps to witness
the Nazi-imposed tragedies,
thus being "compelled to
witness the full spectacle of
man's descent into hell." He
then related, explaining the
effect of the experience that
results in writing his novel:
"There is no doubt that
those three months changed
the entire course of my life,
and in some measure helped
forge the backbone of the
novel, `Oktoberfest.' How-
ever, there was one incident
that truly inspired the book,
an incident that occurred to-
ward the end of the tour and
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Let The Professionals Perform
DICK STEIN Inc
Jeep Sm ith — Dick Stein,
Shelby Lee — Patty Grant
Mori Little — Leonard McDonald Etc.
From one to any number of musicians
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358-2777
"Music T he Stein Way".
took place on a loyely Sep-
tember afternoon. We had
landed outside the town of
Bergen, home of the in-
famous Belsen Concentration
Camp, a death factory re-
sponsible for the liqUidation
of over a half million inno-
cent people. The British had
already liberated Belsen, and
the camp was now under
their authority as a Dis-
placed Persons Camp hous-
ing some 1,500 inmates. While
the camp had undergone a
superficial transformation in
terms of housing, food and
medical care, the pervasive
stench of death still clung
to the grounds like an in-
visible shroud. Upon ar-
riving, we found ourselves
in the midst of a small
brouhaha — the British
authorities had been thrown
into a tizzy by an event that
had occurred only a few days
before. An inmate of the
DPC, a Jew, who had man-
aged to survive four years
of concentration camp life,
had 'escaped' from liberated
Belsen, and had gone roam-
ing throughout the country
side on a killing spree. In
all, he had brutally murder-
ed 12 German civilians. Cap-
tured and incarcerated, the
British were now at odds as
to what to do with him. His
defense was .simple and
logical — he had no realiza-
tion that he was escaping
from a liberated camp. De-
ranged from his terrible ex-
periences under the Nazis,
he literally thought that he
was escaping from the bad,
Nazi Belsen, and not the
good, British Belsen, and
that he had a perfect right
to kill Germans, as that was
the whole point of the war,
and but for the matter of
several weeks, he might have
been decorated for his ef-
forts. As I said, all very
simple and quite logical.
"I never did find out what
became of that man, but his
bizarre case took ro,ot in my
mind and, through a process
that took 27 years, finally
grew into the basis of
`Oktoberfest.' "
Stamp Honor Asked
for Philosopher -
BONN—The Catholic Wom-
en's Society of Germany, the
Society for Christian-Jewish
Co-operation, the Edith Stein
Archive in Cologne and the
Collectors' Guild of St. Ga-
briel affiliated with the Fed-
eration of German Philatel-
ists, have applied to the Ger-
man Postal Administration
for the inclusive of German
philosopher Edith Stein in
the special stamp series of
"outstanding women."
Many schools, student hos-
tels and roads have been
named for Miss Stein, who
died in the gas chambers at
Auschwitz.
"And to Jerusalem, thy
city, return in mercy, and
dwell therein as thou hast
spoken; rebuild it soon in our
days as an everlasting build-
ing, and speedily set up
therein the throne of David.
Blessed art thou, 0 Lord,
who rebuildest Jerusalem."
—From Daily Prayer Book.
out
ews
Five Brothers
Make Aliya
JERUSALEM — Philip,
David, Daniel, Marc Eliot
and Joel Barach, five brothers
from Chicago, are pioneers
of a new sort. They left be-
hind parents and friends to
make a new life in Israel.
Philip, David and Daniel
are students at the Hebrew
University, Marc Eliot at-
tends high school here and
Joel lives on a kibutz. Their
parents live in Chicago.
The boys appeared before
Hebrew University President
Avraham Harman to present
the university with a gift of
Israel Bonds from their
father in honor of his five
sons in Israel.
According to Philip, a grad-
uate student in business ad-
ministration at the university,
their interest with Israel
started in 1969, when his par-
ents, Irving and Sara Barach,
decided to spend a trial year
in Israel.
For 12 months, the Barach
boys attended Israeli schools,
spoke Hebrew to their Israeli
friends and absorbed Israel
into their blood. At year's
end, when the family left for
the States, Philip knew that
he could not leave. He de-
cided to stay on and continue
his studies at Hebrew U. Dur-
ing the next five years his
younger brothers followed.
`Holocaust Colloquium' Printed
by IDropsie's Handleman Center
Dropsie University has is-
sued a pamphlet containing
the proceedings of the April
11, 1973, "Colloquium on the
Passover" that was conduct-
ed jointly by Dropsie Univer-
sity and Villanova Univer-
sity.
The colloquium was part of
the activities of the Dropsie
University Joseph and Sally
Handleman Communications
Center that was established
with funds by the former
HILLEL
HAPPENINGS
By HARVEY WEISS
On Friday, March 9, Hillel
celebrated Purim differently
than in the past. Grades 5-10
each made their classrooms
into a different country.
Part of the fifth grade
made one room into Hawaii,
serving Hawaiian punch,
pineapple and cocoanut. The
other fifth grade homeroom
became Africa.
The sixth grade homerooms
were China and served tea
and fortune cookies. One half
of the seventh grade made
their classroom into Saudi
Arabia and served _felafel.
The rest of the seventh grade
sponsored a U.S.A. carnival,
in themes of red, white and
blue with their own Uncle
Sam. They even had a Las
Vegas casino with E 11 e n
Cash acting as croupier.
The eighth grade became
the palace of King Ahasuerus,
with Mark Spalter portraying
the queen, Vashti. (He had
the best costume of all.) The
ninth grade took everyone on
a trip to the moon, which
they pictured as very green
and dark.
In keeping with the theme
of the trip around the world,
the 10th grade boys invented
a German bunker, circa 1944.
Everyone in these grades
dressed in costumes appro-
priate to their country. The
younger children, dressed in
costumes, too, were taken on
a tour of the different coun-
tries by their teachers, who
also dressed up for the day.
Mrs. Arela Levitan and Mrs.
Marilyn Levy had the best
teacher costumes. Everyone
had a lot of fun.
Bnai Moshe to Host
USY Region Rally
Detroiters now residing in
Florida.
With an introduction by
Dr. Abraham I. Katsh, presi-
dent of Dropsie University,
the colloquium texts contain
the addresses of the partici-
pants—Prof. Salo W. Baron,
Dr. R. Roy Eckhardt, Dr.
Carroll V. Newsom, John
Cardinal Krol, Dr. Jacob B.
Agus and Father John M.
Driscoll.
An addendum to the pam-
phlet contains three essays
on "Sources of Spiritual Re-
sistance." The introduction
by Dr. Solomon Grayzell is
supplemented in this section
by Dr. William Glicksman's
"Auschwitz: An Account of
Personal Experiences" and
Dr. Driscoll's "The Holo-
caust,"
Bnai Moshe Senior United
Synagogue Youth will host
the Greater Detroit USY re-
gional rally 9 p.m. Saturday
at the synagogue.
"Kol Yisrael," a combo,
will perform Hebrew and
Cultivate good driving
English folk and rock music. habits—drive to live always.
The regional rally precedes
w *
*_ _* _* *
the regional convention in
INVITATIONS
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Cincinnati. Local candiates
•CARICATURES
for regional office will speak
and refreshments will be
•ASTROLOGER'
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•CLOWNS
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Million Hospitalized Veterans
•VARIETY SHOWS
Admissions to the Veterans
BY HATTIE
SEYMOUR
Administration's 170 hospitals
S C HWAR TZ
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passed the 1,000,000 mark for . 356-85
AGENCY
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the first time in 1973, the party Favors __356-8525.
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