2 Friday, August 8, 1975

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Purely Commentary

Golda Meir's Defense of Historical Truth . . . Israel's Dedi-
cation to Ideal of Religious Freedom Contrasted with
Egypt's Bias . . . Martyrdom at Auschwitz and Babi-Yar

By Philip
Slomovitz

Respect for Historical Truth: Golda Meir's Proper Action

Auschwitz and Babi-Yar: Indifference to Memory of Martyrs

Golda Meir's $3 million libel suit against Commentary magazine must not be viewed
as sheer sensationalism. The former Israel prime minister has been maligned in an article
which quoted, apparently irresponsibly, a claim that she had submitted a list of names
to Stalin of Jews who wished to settle in Israel. Such submission was interpreted as
having led to persecutions and the deaths of many Jews. It is to be assumed from Mrs.
Meir's charge that the story was totally untrue, that she had never spoken to Stalin and
had been at a gathering with him only once but had never entered into conversation with
him. Her claim is that a story concocted out of someone's imagination, if permitted to
stand unchallenged, might easily be accepted as fact in the course of time. Therefore the
need to set the truth straight.
Not only should Mrs. Meir be commended for an effort to assure elimination of fables
from historical. records, but her action should be viewed as setting necessary guidelines
in the writing of history.
All-too-often, unqualified writers undertake to make a record of events and to inter-
pret them, without certainty that their authorship and research is correct. Many so-called
historical documents have been permitted to remain unchallenged in the chronicles of
time. Too many untruths and distortions have thereby infiltrated into history books.
If Mrs. Meir had not demanded a correction from Commentary she not only would
have besmirched her own noteworthy record; she would have been a collaborator in the
distortion of truth. What she has done in filing suit for a shocking libel on her character
was to set an example for strictest adherence to honorable treatment of events that affect
the policies of an entire nation and the ethical codes of the representative of that nation.
All glory to Golda Meir's courage and good judgment.

Memories of the Holocaust, reviewed by President Ford's all-too-brief visit at Ausch-
witz, also gave emphasis to a very sad reaction to Jewish losses and sufferings in the very
countries where the Nazis performed their bestialities.
The Six Million were not the only victims of the Nazis. The German beasts had 15,-
000,000 victims. But the Jews were the chief targets. It was for Jews that the Hitler
hordes had a Final Solution.
Nevertheless, both in Poland and in Russia there have been the tendencies of ignoring
the Jewish sufferings. Policies of emphasizing only the Polish and the Russian heroisms
had led the respective peoples to speak only of Nazis and Polish or Russian victims and
resisters.
Jews had fought in the underground. They battled against the Nazi invaders in tilt_
forests of Poland and Russia. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising may well be judged in history
as the most heroic uprising by a handful of people against the mightiest armed force in
the world.
Is it any wonder that for a time, while President Ford was approaching the Ausch-
witz camp remains, the comments were not about the millions who were burned in the
Nazi ovens of Auschwitz and Treblinka but as if the victims had been a mass of unknown
soldiers.
Not that there is glory in speaking of Jewish sufferings and of martyrdom. The cry
the Poles had inherited from the Jews of "Never Again!" emerged from an aspiration for
an end to martyrdom.
Nevertheless, the crime must not be forgotten, and if the cruelties against Jews will
not be kept in the memory of mankind a similar one may recur.
The Poles seem to have adopted an unofficial policy of ignoring the Jewish sufferings.
Only Jews speak of the Jewish leadership in the underground, of the Warsaw Ghetto
Revolt.
That symptom of forgetfulness was in evidence dur-
ing the few minutes of President Ford's and Secretary of
State Kissinger's brief stay at Auschwitz. They had not
even visited the camp structure which contains the evi-
dence of the horrors perpetrated mainly against Jews!
That's how it is in Russia. Tens of thousands were
murdered, most of them buried alive, at Babi-Yar, in
Kiev. But. Russia has hidden the truth. A visiting tourist
must find his own way to Babi-Yar. For the Russians
there were no Jewish victims, only Russians and Ukrain-
ians! — just as the Russians have consistently and insis-
tently clouded the facts regarding the many heroic fight-
ers against Nazism, including some of the most prominent
generals in the USSR army who were Jews.
One brave young Russian poet, infuriated by the sil-
YEVTUSHENKO
ence and ignoring of the Jewish tragedy at Babi-Yar,
wrote protesting verses and excoriated anti-Semites. Yevgeny Yevtushenko's "Babi-Yar"
remains a classic outcry against bigotry. It is an indictment of the Russian indifference.
There was risk for a Russian to write it but he spoke his mind when he published his
"Babi-Yar" which needs recalling and reprinting at this time. In a translation from the
Russian by Marie Syrkin, Yevtushenko's "Babi-Yar" follows:

Israel's Treatment of Religions Contrasted
With Persecution of Bahai by the Egyptians

Emphasis on historical truths also demands respect for the realities of current exper-
iences in countries like Israel whose people are so often maligned. One of the shocking
untruths regarding Israel is that the Jewish state practices religious discrimination.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Israel's emphasis on religious freedom matches
that of the most liberal countries. If there are gripes they are from the Conservative and
Reform who are secondary to. the Orthodox in Israel. Time will correct that as well, it is
hoped in the Diaspora as well as in Israel. But the liberties enjoyed by all religions in
Israel is unmatched.
Typical of the form religious liberty is expressed in Israel is the experience of the
Bahai. They are free to worship as they please. Their magnificent Bahai Temple in Haifa
is one of the leading attractions for visitors from all over the world.
Contrasting such treatment for the Bahai is the admitted persecution of that sect in
Egypt. The leading Cairo Arabic newspaper Al Abram published the following self-expos-
ing article:

"The high court for constitutional affairs presided over by the adviser Bad-
awi Hamouda, issued a ruling on the Bahais in Egypt, stating that dissolution
of the Bahai institutions does not contradict the fundamental principle whereby
the Egyptian constitution grants freedom of worship to citizens .. .
"When the court dealt with the substance of the Bahai faith it determined
that there was agreement among Moslems that this religion is not included
among the recognized religions and that any Moslem who believes in it is to be
considered a heretic.
"The principles and sources of Bahi contradict those of Islam just as they
contradict those of the other Semitic faiths. The Bahais legislated their own
constitution in accordance with their zeal. This constitution blasphemes
against the laws of Islam in all that pertains to fasting, prayer, and personal
matters. The founders of the religion (established in 1848) were not content
with that and went on to presume to engage in prophecy and thus challenged
the mission of Mohammed. They also went beyond the bounds of religion and
have engaged in a policy hostile to the Arab nation, in addition to being hostile
to Islam. In their books they include Zionistic propaganda and declare that the
sons of Israel shall gather in the Holy Land and there establish a Jewish nation
formed from all their dispersed numbers. •
"After reviewing the fundamentals of the faith, the court ruled, that the
law obligates the dissolution of the Bahai institutions and centers, and the ces-
sation of all their activity, transfer of their properties and all contained within
them to the authority of the body appointment by the Minister of the Interior.
The law also requires the punishment of transgressors . . ."

Anything approximating such mistreatment of a religious minority is inconceivable
in Israel. Only those whose hearts are filled with hate for Israel and Jewry have resorted
to the spread of libels about Israel's attitude towards non-Jews.
To keep the record straight, insistence upon truth regarding Israel's treatment of
minorities is a must for the news media and for commentators.

The Disputed Sinai Peninsula

from "Present Tense"

- Babi Yar
By Yevgeny Yevtushenko

No gravestone stands on Babi Yar;
Only course earth heaped roughly on the
gash.
Such dead comes over me; I feel so old,
Old as the Jews. Today, I am a Jew .. .
Now I go wandering, an Egyptian slave;
And now I perish, splayed upon the cross.
The marks of nails are still upon my flesh.

And I am Dreyfus whom the gentry hound.
I am behind the bars, caught in a ring,
Belied, denounced, and spat upon I stand,
While dainty ladies in their lacy frills,
Squealing, poke parasols into my face.

Preen themselves in the title they defile:
"The Russian People's Union."
Now, in this moment, I am. Anna Frank,
Frail and transparent as an April twig.
I love as she; I need no ready phrases .. .
Only to look into each other's eyes!
Haw little we can smell, how little see ..
Leaves are forbidden us, the sky
forbidden .. .
Yet how much. still remains; how strangely
sweet
To hold each other close in the dark room.
They come? No, do not fear. These are the
gales
Of spring; she bursts into this gloom.
Come to me; quickly; let me kiss your lips

They break the door? No, no, the ice is
breaking.

I am that little boy in Bialystok
Whose blood flows, spreading darkly on the
floor.
The rowdy lords of the saloon make sport,
Reeking alike of vodka and of leek.
Booted aside, weak, helpless, I, the child
Who begs in vain while the pogromchik
mob
Guffaws and shouts: "Save Russia, beat the
Jews!"
The shopman's blows fall on my mother's
back.

On Babi Yar weeds rustle: the tall trees
Like judges loom and threaten .. .
All screams in silence; I take off my cap
And feel that I am slowly turning gray.
And I too have become a soundless cry
Over the thousands that lie buried here.
I am each old man slaughtered, each child
shot.
None of me will forget.

0 my own people, my own Russian folk,
I know you international at heart;
But often those 'unclean of hand have dared
To brandish your most pure and lofty
name.
I know the goodness of my native land.
How vile that anti-Semites shamelessly

Let the glad "Internationale" blare forth
When earth's last anti-Semite lies in earth.
No drop of Jewish blood flows in my veins,
But anti-Semites will a dull, gnarled hate
Detest me like a Jew.
O know me truly Russian through their
hate'

There was an apparent indifference to the martyrdom of Jews in the commentaries
that accompanied the Ford-Kissinger entourage to the Auschwitz camp on July 29. It is
saddening and depressing that the first visit by an American President to the site of the
most horrible crematorium in mankind's experiences should necessitate taking account of
indifferent attitudes by the reprinting of an historic poem. Would that it had not been
necessary to do this.

