2 Friday, February 16, 1919 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary Journalism as History, the Press as the Medium of Exposing Distortions ... Effects of Holocaust Television Programs in Germany and a Reminder of the Nazi Horrors in Czechoslovakia By Philip Slomovitz Journalism in All Its Glory: Resort to Truth Assists in Historical Exoneration some Eleven Million, including the Six Million Jews who be apportioned for the atrocities committed dur- ing the war, Mrs. Heydrich said ono, "it was an were Hitler's chief target. It provided a platform for the neo-Nazis to renew their order." venom, for many of the guilty to sneer and to charge "I don't think Himmler did it all by himself," she said. "He must have asked Hitler: I can't imagine American newspapers are often put to the test. In an "Fraud," as they did when confronted with the Six Million anything else. One couldn't have done it alone." anxiety not to be censored, in their aim to publish the news, dead as an accusation of inerasable guilt. A notable example is the case of the Nazi criminal who As a visitor leaves, Mrs. Heydrich offers a book distortions often creep in which cause heartache. she wrote about her husband called "My Life With It was difficult to understand, some months ago, why was a chief architect of the Hitler extermination policies. Lina Heydrich, the widow of Reinhard Heydrich, now a War Criminal," in which she says he was not the now (temporarily?) defunct London Times should have one. given a platform to charges that Israel was brutally mis- holds great wealth on an island at Todendorf, West Ger- A publisher's appendix in the book contains treating Arab prisoners, then failing to share with its read- many, off the Baltic. She ridiculed the Holocaust programs. details not touched on by Mrs. Heydrich. After the ers the opportunity to learn the true facts in a muddied She read the facts as if it were a novel. She described her war, Czech authorities accused Lina Heydrich of case. Now the U.S. State Department has re-opened the husband, who was killed in an anti-Nazi reprisal in having been responsible for the murder of 9 torture charge. Fortunately, the press gave due considera- Czechoslovakia and whose death resulted in one of the most Czech "prisoners after the death of her husban tion to the Israeli reaction which indicated that by opening tragic cases known as the Lidice episode, as not responsible and of having escaped from the country with sto- the doors for International Red Cross inspections it be- for the "Final Solution." The mass murder of innocent Czechs in Lidice by the len gold, jewels and pieces of art. In 1947, the comes apparent that Israel is not hiding facts. When the British military command in Germany rejected newspapers react with facts they render a service. It is Nazis resulted from the act of vengeance against Heydrich. the extradition request, asserting that there was when, as in the instance of the American visit of a Libyan The New York Times quoted Lina Heydrich's views, in a no evidence to substantiate a murder charge. delegation, when the media fail to match their anti-Zionist cabled story from Todendorf, and proceeded to eloborate on In an afterword to the book, a German histo- attacks with the Libyan record of terrorism, that an injus- the facts related to the horror perpetrated at Lidice. Lidice has been a symbolic accusatory term against rian, Werner Maser, wrote: "Lina Heydrich has tice is performed. not only covered up many deeds of her husband, History draws from journalism and is dependent upon Hitlerism for 37 years. The memory of that event is revived fantasized and turned him around completely, the media. Therefore, journalism assumes an historical by the attempt of a widow to exonerate the murderous acts but omitted very clearly significant factors." aspect. It has a duty to be factual and not to permit distor- of her husband. It is to the credit of newsmen who, as in this instance of "The Reinhard Heydrich that she presents cer- tions to blot out realism and authenticity. justice in resorting to facts by the New York Times, allow tainly never lived." Heydrich and Lidice Murders truth to dominate when distortions threaten the memory of This is the treatment that is necessary to make the man. After giving a platform to Mrs. Reinhard Heydrich, in the Holocaust Perspective media, especially the newspapers, true to historical de- the NYTimes article presented this expose: The media have been put to the test on many occasions. mands. If distortions are not to pollute the pages of au- Permitting spokesmen for the murderous Libyan govern- thoritative history, untruths must be nipped in the bud the On June 4, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich died from wounds after an assassination attempt in Prague ment to appear as if they were saintly diplomats did not moment they are uttered. In the case of Heydrich, the by two Czech partisans. "When Heydrich was Idl- speak well for telelvision interpreters. Anti-Semitic prop- Holocaust and Lidice, the NYTimes did just that. led in Prague, they didn't want to kill the private aganda recently distributed by bigots who treated the Six There are too many 'occasions to criticize. Let this be Heydrich but rather harm the Reich," Mrs. Heyd- Million who were first terrorized- then murdered by the proof of an obligation to give due credit when it is due. And rich said._ "This resulted in the idea of revenge." Nazis as fiction was to the discredit of contemporary inter- in the process let there be a reminder that the Nazi crimes Part of the revenge was exacted from the small preters of the Hitler brutalities. cannot be forgotten, cannot be ignored. The televised Czech mining town of Lidice on June 9, 1942. At Historians and journalists, the media as a complex Holocaust program regrettably leaned on narrative which, Hitler's orders, all 199 men in the town were shot, unit, were put to the test again with the television presen- while taken from the actual experiences, should have been 195 women were sent to concentration camps and tation–of the Holocaust story. The programs gave an oppor- predominantly documentary. What is dealt with is fact, not the 98 children were sent to other camps. tunity to the citizens of the land that is now atoningfor the fiction. Let it be treated unreservedly, in such fashion, Asked whether there was any collective guilt to Nazi crimes to express dismay over the mass murder of always. Aleph-Beth as a Fascination Lends Power to JPS Podwal Volume The Aleph-Beth fasci- nates artists and authors. The late Raymond Katz, who rated among the most eminent of Jewish artists, used the Hebrew letters as the basis for his notable art creations. Harry Lui, De- troit calligrapher, utilized the Aleph-Beth for many of his themes. Most notable currently in the application of the Heb- rew alphabet for art creativ- ity is the new Jewish Publi- cation Society volume, "A Book of Hebrew Letters," in which Mark Podwal shows his love for the Hebrew al- phabet as his theme in an impressive book. Podwal's personal defini- tion of his theme asserts: "The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet have long been a source of fas- cination and wonder to me. As an artist, I have been struck by their vis- ual beauty — a well of in- spiration to generations of scribes, calligraphers, and printers whose vari- ations on the letters' ar- resting forms seem infi- nite. Most of all, I have been drawn to the rich store of legend and folklore that surrounds the letters of the Aleph- Beth." Podwal has exhibited his work in museums in the U.S. and abitoad, jncluding the Louvre, the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, and the Jewish Museum in New York. His political drawings appear regularly in the New York Times. Among the books he has illustrated are "Let My People Go: A Haggada," "The Book of Lamenta- tions" and "Freud's da Vinci." Working in a mode that combines traditional Jewish styles — scribal cal- ligraphy, medieval illustra- tions, kabalistic allusions — with his own distinctive line and vision, Podwal has conceived this series of 22 black-and-white drawings, each illustrating — and il- luminating — a term deriv- ing from the Jewish experi- ence. The sequence follows the Hebrew alphabet. Thus for Aleph, the first letter, the artist has cho- sen to portray Aleph- Beth (alphabet). Tav, the last letter, is represented by Torah. In between are such pic- tures as Tallit (prayer shawl) for the letter Teth; megilla (scroll) for Mem; navi (prophet) for Nun; and shalom (peace) for Shin. The drawings, with the aritst's facing calligraphy, and enhanced by his elucidating notes, together form a cluster of visual metaphors that delight the eye and intrigue the mind, revealing new levels of meaning. "A Book of Hebrew Let- tens" is available in a deluxe hardcover edition, limited to 1,000 copies, and in a paperback edition. Soviet Emigres Find Jobs With CETA Aid the other five either have or pressed with the first are expected to have jobs program, helped arrange A record total of 92 per- soon — like the others, all for re-funding a second cent of 100 Soviet Jewish training-related jobs, as program for the classes which are held at a busi- immigrants who studied CETA rules require. There were 98 women and ness and technical sch English, general office skills and bookkeeping for two men in the program, the in Times Square. T 22 weeks in 1978 in a prog- first CETA-funded training second funding is for ram funded by the Com- program under NYANA $152,000 for 40 women in prehensive Employment auspices. It has the formal the 20-member, 24-week and Training Act have ob- title: "English as a second courses over a period of tained jobs in the New York language and basic office at least six months, start- metropolitan area, accord- skills training program." ing last Oct. 13 and end- ing to a spokesman for the The 'spokesman said that ing next April 13. New York Association for the CETA grant for the first The spokesman said the program was $334,000, pro- smaller funding and the New Americans. The spokesman said that, viding for four classes of 25 fewer trainees was not due based on CETA experience students each over the to lack of potentially qual- with training of minority nine-month period of Jan. ified applicants, who "come in all the time," but because group members, a 70 per- 16 to Oct. 13, 1978. The spokesman said 78 of reduced federal funding. cent employment rate after The initial group of CETA-funded training is of the 92 were placed with required for CETA refund- the help of NYANA and trainees included Jews who ing. He said three of the 14 found jobs on their had jobs in the Soviet Union other eight enrollees went own. He said city and ranging from buyer to on to further education and state officials, highly im-- music teacher to midwife. By BEN GALLOB (Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.) Mark Podwal's conception of Roth Hodesh — the beginning of the month — as determined by the moon, representing the Hebrew letter Resh.