2 friday, November 17, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Remarkable Emergence of Centrality in American Jewish Life
Is Evidenced in the Unity of Purpose Affected in the CJF
General Assembly where Traditions and Israel Gain Priority
By Philip
Slomovitz
CJF General Assembly: U.S. Jewry's Central Forum
SAN FRANCISCO — Uniformity has never been an acceptable ideology in Jewish life.
It there is a single factor that emphasizes Jewish attitudes it is insistence on the right to
differ. That, perhaps, is why the assembling of Jews with all conflicting opinions in a
single conferring body is so impressive, even if not so unusual when one becomes
acquainted with its purposes and backgrounds.
This assembling of Jews of all views with manifold diversities and many conflicting
opinions becomes evident in what is now being called the Council ofJewish Federations,
the previous lengthy name of Council ofJewish Federtations and Welfare Funds having
been abandoned at the meetings here.
When some 3,000 Jews from perhaps as many as 1,800 communities throughout the
United States and Canada gather to review their links one with another and to discuss
the major Jewish obligations, their assembly assumes the role of centrality ofJewish life.
Hardly a topic of importance has been overlooked in planning the CJF General
Assembly. Now it even assumes a role of unity in Jewish ranks, giving credence to the
term One People.
Now it is a Jewish assembly. Less than 20 years ago, the then CJFWF General
Assembly was dominated by the Yahidom Yahudim. They were the assimilated Jews. A
yarmulka was then considered an abomination. Now it is a domination at many of the
assembly seminars.
Less than 20 years ago one would be laughed at if he asked for a kosher meal at these
assembly dinners. Now it is a must, and no one dares speak of trefa food.
These could be considered minor points in viewing the General Assembly agenda and
practices. The most significant factor about the changed attitudes is that.while prior to
Israel's rebirth it meant isolating oneself from society if he called himself a Zionist, now it
is a matter of pride and anti-Zionism is anathema.
Therefore, Israel's role has become the prime factor in General Assembly deliberation
and out of the assemblies usually develop the loyalties which make such slogans as
Jewish Renewal and Project Renewal realities in Jewish life.
On the national, every-day political front, concerns with Israel-American-Egyptian
negotiations and with other elements in the Middle East situation remain in the hands of
the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. But, it is the
leadership that develops in great measure at the CJF assembly that becomes effective
when dealing with the Israeli and American government representatives.
Theodore Mann is the new spokesman for the Conference of Presidents and he exudes
considerable strength. He gains comfort in the support he gets at CJF gatherings at
which he is able to indicate that the effectiveness of the movement he heads is not
diminishing.
It is the similar influence exerted by CJF upon all leading tasks in Jewish life that
makes the Council of Jewish Federations a power, and the power is evident in the
representative delegations that include the social, welfare, political and philanthropical
aspects affecting Jewish life.
Because the centrality ofJewish life is rooted in these assemblies, what has just taken
place in San Francisco becomes a matter of great significance in viewing the emerging
leadership and the unity that is assured for Jewish tasks.
Professor Michael Selzer Exposes Dachau Death Camp Terror;
His 'Deliverance Day' Indictment of the German People's Guilt
Michael Selzer, professor
of political science at Brook-
lyn College of City Univer-
sity of New York, provides a
valuable chapter on the last
hours at Dachau in "Deliv-
erance Day" (Lippincott).
The historical record of the
Holocaust would be incom-
plete without this impor-
tant addendum.
Himself a survivor, hay-
, ing suffered for five years in
concentration camps, Prof.
Selzer writes authorita-
- tively.
"Deliverance Day" is the
record of the American
tasks of rescuing the rem-
nants of the Hitler victims
at Dachau.
Based on many inter-
views with survivors, re-
cording the story of the
years of horror perpet-
rated by the Nazis, this is
a volume based on ac-
cumulated facts.
It is a tale of terror, and it
also contains the evidence of
resistance.
The American role of re-
demption is as thorough as
the long chapter of
tragedies imposed on the
sufferers.
The author has called to
witness the cast of suffering
characters iii reconstruct-
ing the bestialities and plac-
ing on the inerasable record
the guilt that keeps ac-
cumulating for Germany.
"Deliverance Day" also
serves as an , indictment
of how the basic facts are
being covered up with
flower gardens where
there are mass graves.
Prof. Selzer depicts the
current state of Dachau's
environs. His indictment:
"At one end of the parking
lot, a prettily crafted sign
beckons. You go over to read
the inscription, which is in
English. 'Visit Dachau,' it
says, somewhat superflu-
ously, since you are already
there, 'the 1200-years-old-
artists' center with its castle
and surrounding park offer-
ing a splendid view over the
country.'
"Reality?
"Vnli an tar fha catri_n_n_nri
tears well up in your eyes at
the thought of the desperate
pain which had been here.
The brutality. The starva-
tion. The torture. The mur-
der.
"The first building you
see is a huge U-shaped
structure, solidly built,
well lit with large win-
dows and with a rather
charming high-pitched
roof that makes it appear
like an enlarged version
of the quaint houses you
might find in any of the
• neighboring villages and
small towns. Once the
home of kitchens, show-
ers, barbershops, and
other amenities for the
prisoners, it is now the
Dachau Concentration
Camp Museum.
"You move on to see the
camp itself, not a museum
about it. You cross the large
assembly ground in front of
it — the Appellplatz — on
the other side of which are
two long gray barrack
buildings that seem to be
made of some kind of asbes-
tos and concrete mixture.
Your guide gives you their
precise measurements, 90
meters by 10, and explains
that these are not the origi-
nal barracks in which the
prisoners were housed, but
reproductions.
"The two rows of 17 bar-
racks each were torn down
some years ago, she says, for
reasons that no one now
seems able to ascertain.
But, she adds, the two that
now stand here are authen-
tic replicas and convey an
accurate impression of how
the prisoners lived."
Perhaps with too surly a
tone, perhaps a little self-
righteously, you say that
you doubt whether any-
thing can convey an accu-
rate impression of how they
lived. And died.
"You walk past the
sites of the other 32 bar-
racks, now razed and
covered with a bed of
gravel. A harsh, cruel
covering. Given the
_raxtecr
you feel a bit surprised
that they didn't lay down
lawns, instead, and plant
lots of flowers on them.
"At the far end stand im-
posing monuments.
Socialist-realist megaliths.
Jet-age modernist con-
trivances. To Polish priests
who were killed here. To
Jews who were killed here.
To . . . There is even a little
convent of nuns atoning.
"You notice that all of
these are privately funded
structures. The Federal
German government and
the Bavarian state govern-
ment 4-lave stayed away
from this Disneyland of re-
morse and remembrance.
Not so much as a small
`We're sorry, folks' plaque.
"You turn left, guided by
operative crematorium
may be seen from nine
to five.'
"Actually, there are two
crematoria: the little one
and the bigger one, which
they built later. This one
has meat hooks attached to
the rafters from which pris-
oners could be hanged for
the greater convenience of
almost all concerned. Fan-
tastic but true, your guide
says, but if you put your
head into the oven you can
still smell something. Skep-
tically, and only out of
curiosity, you do so.
"The smell is like very
rotten cauliflower, and
quite distinct. You don't
even have to sniff hard to
smell it. You go from oven to
oven sniffing each one, with
This U.S. army photograph shows Dachau pris-
oners cheering U.S. soldiers the day after their libera-
tion.
a sign that says: Kre- the same result. You feel
matorium Geoffnet 9:00- ashamed of this activity, all
17:00. Yaur guide's sen- the more so when in one
sibilities suddenly blossom. oven you see an empty and
`Crematorium Open. wholly uncharred Marlboro
They could have worded pack. But it is too late.
that differently,' she re- Other tourists are following
marks with indignation. your example, and soon
You stop, fascinated by the small lines have formed of
those waiting their turn to
challenge.
" 'Well,' you say, 'what sniff an oven.
might one put instead?'
"The meat hooks aren't
" 'Crematorium. Visiting the only signs of efficient
hours nine to five,' she planning. Adjoining the
crematorium — the other
suggests.
" 'Crematorium. Open to end of the disassembly line
tourists who need have no — is the gas chamber. As
fear of incineration, nine to you expect, it is large, win-
dowless, cementlined room,
five," you counter.
"Finally you agree that walls now emblazoned with
the least ambiguous tourists' signatures. At
"You ask them what their
doors painted gray, are
swung back against the out- feelings are about living
side to facilitate the easy and working in this particu-
flow of tourists, as once they lar place. You are surprised
facilitated the easy flow by the readiness of their re-
plies.
from life to death.
"A sign in the gas
" 'Terrible things hap-
chamber identifies it as pened here,' one of the men
such and explains that it says, 'but what can I do
was never used. Your about it?'
guide repeats this. But
you have done your re-
"The other nods, and in a
search, and remember Bavarian accent so thick
photographs of the doors that your guide must trans-
before they got their new late it for you, he adds, 'All
coat of gray. On them — that was nothing to do with
the outer side — were me. It's something the prev-
once stenciled a skull and ious generation did, not
crossbones and the I." "Deliverance Day" must
words Worsicht! Gas! occupy one of the very im-
Lebensgefar! Nicht portant spots in the
offnen! 'Caution! Gas! Holocaust library. The in-
Mortal Danger! Do not dictment remains effective,
open!'
challenging, perhaps more
"Above, in large letters, timely now than on the very
was another inscription: day of the American occupa-
Gaszeit: Zu Uhr; doors were tion and the rescue of the
shut — at 7:36 — and when survivors. Prof. Michael
they might safely be Zelzer earns gratitude for
opened, that is to say, with- keeping the story alive and
out 'mortal danger' — 10 for exposing the terror in all
something, the minutes of its blatancy.
the hour being obscured by
the helmet of the GI looking
Historic Analysis
at the inscription.
"Reality?
"In the anteroom to the When Dr. Bunche
gas chamber is a window
that looks out on a pleas- Rejected. 'Linkage'
antly grassed area, not very
large and enclosed on the
opposite side by a high
hedge. A tree stands here,
and underneath it you see
the back of a nun. Her body
is bent forward from the
waist, and she is qiiite im-
mobile. You prepare to join
your own prayer to hers."
There is also the element
of defense by present-day
Germans who ascribe the
guilt to the generation that.
DR. BUNCHE
preceded them. Here is how
the indictment and the de-
Revealing facts about the
fense concludes:
"You feel you cannot 1949 Rhodes armistice con-
just leave the place. You ference, when Dr. Ralph
try chatting with the two Bunche, as the UN
young policemen on mediator, rejected Arab at-
duty. They are not un- tempts to be linked with the
friendly, but evidently separate Egyptian-Israeli
conversation is not in armistice agreement will
their line. And they seem appear in a special article
suspicious. Or perhaps it by The Editor in next week's