•
•
20 Friday, April 18, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Syria Jews Emigration Doubtful
NEW YORK (JTA) —
_ Sen. George McGovern (D.-
S.D.) raised the possibility
of the emigration of Syrian
Jews to the United States at
his recent meeting with
President Hafez Assad in
Damascus but found As-
sad's conditions "utterly
impossible," Mrs. Charlotte
Jacobson disclosed here at a
meeting of the Conference
of Presidents of Major
Wedding
Bar Mitzva
MOVIES
very reasonable
626-2767
Gary Sussman
McGovern said that As-
sad told him he could not
allow Syrian Jews to go to
Israel . and thereby
strengthen a nation with
which Syria is in a state of
war.
it's Nice
To Deal With
Joe Slatkin's
DEXTER
CHEVROLET
20811 W. 8 Mile
between Southfield & Ttlograph
534-1400
Our Promise To You:
BETTER SERVICE!
American Jewish Organiza-
tions.
Mrs Jacobson, chairman
of the American Section of
the World Zionist Organiza-
tion, said that she and Mc-
Govern were both in Israel
at the same time last week.
The senator, winding up a
fact-finding tour of the Mid-
dle East in his capacity as
chairman of the Senate For-
eign Relations Committee's
subcommittee on Middle
Eastern Affairs, disclosed
his conversation with Presi-
dent Assad in which he
brought up the question of
Syrian Jews and the possi-
bility of their emigration
from Syria.
.
McGovern said he told the
Syrian President that ar-
rangements could be made
to admit Syrian Jews to the
U.S. Assad replied that he
would permit such emigra-
tion on condition that the
U.S. enacted a law forbid-
ding these Jews from ever
going to Israel. McGovern
told Assad that that was
"utterly impossible," Mrs.
Jacobson said.
When the need is highest,
God is nighest.
VACATION IN YOUR OWN YARD ... with a beautiful
built-in pool by Miami Blue Water. Constructed
of only the highest quality material and workmanship,
a Miami,pool means carefree fun for the whole
family. Custom built to beautify your home and meet
your individual needs, Miami means QUALITY!
Michigan's Oldest Original Pool Builder
miami blue water
14 ools, inc.
fr b •.•
.
Main Office:
33060 Northwestern Hwy. (just N. of 14 Mi. Rd.)
W. Bloomfield, Mich. 48033 • 313/626-5131
Sales Office: Phone: 313/358-0012
Sobell's Book Does Not Prove Innocence
Editor's Note: The re-
viewer of Morton Sobell's
"On Doing Time" was
The Jewish News city edi-
tor when Mrs. Sobell con-
ducted her campaign in
her husband's defense,
and is especially knowl-
edgeable about the Rosen-
berg-Sobell case. He han-
dled all defense materials
in reports sent to The Jew-
ish News.
By FRANK SIMONS
Just a few weeks after Ju-
lius and Ethel Rosenberg
were executed in the electric
chair of Sing Sing Prison on
charges of delivering atomic
secrets to the Russians, a
pretty, dark-haired, quiet,
tired-looking woman
stopped at the office of The
Jewish News.
The year was 1953. The
woman's name was Helen
Sobell. Her husband was
Morton Sobell, convicted
with the Rosenbergs as an
atom spy and sentenced to
30 years' imprisonment.
At the time of her visit,
Sobell was serving the first
few months of his sentence
at Alcatraz where he was to
remain for five of the 18
years he spent in prison.
Now, 22 years later,
having been released in
1969, Sobell has written a
lengthy account of his ar-
rest in Mexico, his forcible
deportation back to the
United - States to stand
trial, the trial itself, his
sentencing and, finally,
the emptiness and frustra-
tion of his years in prison.
He tells his story in the
recently-published "On
Doing Time" (Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons).
There is a naivete about
the Sobell book, a character-
istic that also marked the
visit here of his wife follow-
ing the Rosenberg execu-
tions.
Neither Helen Sobell in
her 1953 interview nor Mor-
ton Sobell in his new book
felt it necessary to state
positively and unequivoca-
bly that he was not, indeed,
an atom spy.
As Sobell reveals his
story, many questions are
raised as to actual guilt or
innocence. If, as Sobell ad-
mits, his only guilt was
membership in the Com-
munist Party during his
student days and perjury to
secure a classified job as an
engineer at a defense facil
ity, why was he so afraid as
to uproot his family and
leave for Mexico?
Sobell asks that the
reader accept his innoc-
ence even though admit-
ting that he attempted to
flee Mexico for Europe
when he learned of the ar-
UNBEATABLE DEALS
Le
GENERAL ELECTRIC
SONY
SINCE 1949
WESTINGHOUSE
PANASONIC
KITCHEN AID
SAMSONITE
CORNING RANGES
SMITH CORONA
TIMEX WATCHES
EUREKA
30825 GREENFIELD RD.
BLACK & DECKER
642-4466
HOOVER
OPEN 9:30-6:00 — Sot. 'til 5
HITACHI
KODAK
ROPER & OLIVETTI
(JUST SOUTH OF 13 MILE)
AMANA & CRAIG
—GENUINE DISCOUNTS—GENUINE DISCOUNTS—GENUINE DISCOUNTS-
rest of Julius Rosenberg,
even going to the extent of
using aliases so that he
could not be tracked.
Admittedly, the early
'50's were frightening to any
public figure who was a 'lib-
eral let alone for any citizen
who had a record of Corn-
munist Party affiliation.
This was the heyday of Sen.
Joseph McCarthy and his
Red witchhunts. It was the
day of the Richard Nixons
who were willing and eager
to make political progress at
to the 18 years he spent .in
prison. Here, Sobell reveals
the dreariness of day by day
life in prison — first at the
Tombs while he awaited
trial and then at Alcatraz
and the Atlanta Peniten-
tiary.
It is most revealing — if
not at times a bit boring —
to see how an intelligent hu-
man being can survive such
an ordeal,. the games he
must play, the little things
that become important, the
yearning for" visits from
family.
One of the major points
that Sobell contributes in
his book is the need for
major prison reform. He
even suggests at the con-
clusion that many of the
abominations he suffered
when he first entered the
penal system have been
changed and that progress
is being made — at least in
the federal prisons.
While Sobell makes nu-
merous references to his
Jewish roots in a most cas-
ual manner, it seems some-
MORTON SOBELL
the expense of anyone who
could be identified as left of
center.
Sobell claims that both he
and the Rosenbergs were
"framed." What doesn't ring
true is: Why the Rosen-
bergs? Why. Sobell?
It seems incredible that a
man guilty only of one-time
Communist Party member-
ship and perjury to cover up
that association would an-
ticipate prosecution and flee
to Mexico before the charge
or the fact.
It seems equally incredi-
ble that the FBI would want
to frame Sobell to the extent
that they would beat him,
kidnap him and accuse him
of divulging atomic secrets
unless there was some basis
in fact for bringing him
back from Mexico to stand
trial.
Sobell charges that he
and the Rosenbergs could
not receive a fair trial in the
charged atmosphere of the
"red herring" scare. He
claims he could not get a
competent attorney (Who
would jeopardize his legal
career in such a political
climate?) He claims that the
Jewish judge leaned over
backward to satisfy the
prosecution and even sug-
gests that he meted out the
severest possible sentences
under the law. He feels that
the Prosecutor was making
political 'hay out of the trial
for personal advancement.
In reading the book, one
wants to believe Sobell's in-
nocence. Yet, Sobell takes
the position that he has
nothing to prove, that he
was simply a victim, a clear-
cut instrument used by the
government to manufacture
a Communist conspiracy.
There is rarely anger,
hardly ever indignation, no
thought of revenge. It seems
impossible to believe a man
could live through 18 years
of an injustice and not once
in 525 pages proclaim loud
and clear: "I was innocent.
What happened was a com-
plete travesty of justice."
Half of the book is de-
voted, as the title suggests,
what odd that throughout
his entire 18 years in prison,
he mentions several meet-
ings with Catholic and Pro-
testant chaplains, but men-
tions a Jewish chaplain on
only one occasion.
One has to wonder
whether the Jewish chap-
laincy program in our pris-
ons provides for the reli-
gious contact between
prisoner and outside world
or whether this phase of
Sobell's life was simply un-
important tci
Sobell is now employed
as an electrical engineer
working in the field of medi-
cal electronics. It is obvious
from his book that, while he
will carry the burden of
those 18 years around with
him the rest of his life, he
will not let it affect his fu-
ture. One can only wish him
well.
But one wishes to know
for certain whether Morton
Sobell was truly innocent or
guilty. That question the
book does not answer, nor
does it give any clues of a
certainty.
`Enormity of Nazi Holocaust
Brought Jews Together'
NEW YORK (JTA) —•
Katriel Katz, director of
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust
memorial instutution 'in Je-
rusalem, said that there was
no Jewish solidarity until
after Auschwitz. It was only
after the Holocaust that
Jews considered themselves
as one people, he told some
500 persons attending the
Holocaust Memorial Day
Observance at Yeshiva Uni-
versity.
Katz, a former Israel Con-
sul General in New York
and ambassador to the So-
ciet Union in 1965-67, said
no Jew was left untouched
by the Holocaust since one-
third of the Jewish people
was destroyed.
He said the state of Israel
has proven that Jews will
not be stepped on again and
will never again let them-
selves be cut off from hu-
manity. Katz said that Hi-
roshima and My Lai cannot
be compared to the- Holo-
caust since the Nazi terror
was an attempt to extermi-
nate an entire people.
Israel Ambassador to
the UN, Jacob Barmore
said the world Jewish
community is witnessing
today "a repetition of the
ghost of the past,"
in which circumstances
make_the occurrence of an-
other Holocaust a real and
shocking possibility.
Speaking before 1,500
persons at a "Holocaust and
ResistanCe Day" observance
at the Young Israel of For-
est Hills, Queens, Barmore
discussed the sivation of
Israel.
Representatives of 105
countries at the United Na-
tions, he said, applauded
Arafat, "arch-murderer .of
Jewish women and children.
These nations are the same
people who acquisced in the
Nazi murders, and now look
the other way."
Barmore spoke of the an-
omaly of history. "We,
whose children have per-
ished, sit at the dock, ac-
cused of being the execu-
tioner, only for the crime of
defending ourselfes."
Ambassador Barmore
said that Israel is not af-
raid of being isolated be-
cause that has been a fa-
miliar role in the-history of
the Jewish people.
At Kibutz Lohamei Hag-
eta, Chief of Staff Gen. Mor-
dechai Gur said that the
heroism of Jewish resist-
ance fighters against the
Nazis inspired the genera-
tion that brought into exist-
ence the state of Israel. He
said Israel now has the mili-
tary force to defend herself
but added that he is not sure
she has the spiritual force
which is also needed.
Gur spoke to thousands of
persons who gathered at
Kibutz Lohamei Hageta
which was named after the
ghetto fighters, to mark the
end of the Memorial Day for
the Six Million Jewish vic-
tims of the Holocaust.
The Memorial Day, which
was observed throughout
the country was ushered in
by the sound of air raid sir-
ens. Work stopped, all
traffic halted and people
stood at attention in the
streets.
Israel Protests
Showing of Films
PARIS (JTA) — Israel
has protested to the munici-
pality of Royan against the
anti-Israel films shown at a
film festival held recently.
Town Hall opposition
sources said the protest was
conveyed to the mayor even
before the festival opened
and when its program be-
came known.
According, to
these
sources the mayor replied
saying the festival will try
to maintain an "objective"
attitude. In spite of these
promises anti-Israeli films
were shown.