THE JEWISH NEWS
(USPS 275-520)
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Assistant. News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 15th day of Iyar, 5739, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 21:1-24:23. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 44:15-31.
Tuesday, Lag b'Omer
Candle lighting, Friday, May 11, 8:23 p.m.
VOL. LXXV, No. 10
Page Four
Friday, May 11, 1979
CURBING THE NAZI SPIRIT
West German authorities, perhaps more than
others, anywhere, are disturbed over an in-
crease in anti-Semitism and the growth of
neo-Nazism, especially among the youth.
It is true that the Hitler activists do not reveal
themselves in multitudes. But those who recall
that Adolf Hitler himself had only a handful of
followers in his early, Munich putsch days have
cause to warn that the limitation in numbers
does not obviate the danger of an increase in the
ranks of the adherents to the detested Nazi idol-
ogy.
From these earlier experiences comes the
strong concern around the world over the im-
plementation of the West German Statute of
Limitations at the end of this year that would
end the prosecution in Germany of Nazi war
crimes. The implementation of that statute
might serve to encourage the violent reactions
becoming evident in the re-emerging anti-
Semitism.
One way of curbing the new growth of bigotry
is to abandon - th a tstatute, to let it be known
that the Nazis of the past will be prosecuted and
the newest evidences of hatred will not be
encouraged.
German authorities make it clear that the
neo-Nazi movement will not be tolerated. There
is legislation prohibiting use of the swastika,
the anti-Semitic emblem, on public structures
and in official documents. Much more needs to
be done to assure continuation of policies con-
demning the Nazi bestialities and providing
punishment for those raising its image anew.
An impressive statement summarizing the
need for elimination of the Statute of Limita-
tions was issued by the president of the World
Jewish Congress, Philip M. Klutznick, declar-
ing:
"As we mourn the victims of this destructive
fury of the Nazis, let us not cease to remind the
world what made it possible for such a mon-
strous destruction of human life to occur in a
civilized age. Such a reminder is made all the
more necessary and urgent as anti-Semitic
occurrences increase in'number and in violence
in some parts of the world. Nobody should be
allowed to forget the part played by anti-
Semitism in making it possible for Hitler to
come into power.
"In view of the recent awakening of public
consciousness in many countries of the
enormity of the horrors of the Holocaust under
the Nazi regime and the correspondingly in-
creased awareness by public opinion • of the
moral and political implications if those respon-
sible for such crimes are allowed to escape pros-
ecution and punishment and appear in public
life, the World Jewish Congress earnestly urges
that in no country should it be possible for
statutory limitations to prevent the prosecution
and punishment of persons accused of such
crimes. It further urges all countries to cooper-
ate with each other in the tracing, apprehen-
sion, prosecution and extradition of such per-
petrators of war crimes and crimes against hu-
manity."
The urgency of putting these views into effect
becomes evident with time and with the knowl-
edge of what is occurring in so many areas of
Germany where the neo-Nazis blatantly defy
law and resort to violence.
The Statute of Limitations has become the
concern of Germans who are not forgetting their
people's guilt and who wish to have the guilty
punished. Now guilt must also be obviated by
letting it be known that Nazism will continue to
be punishable.
The last vestiges of Nazi ideology must be
destroyed. The Statute of Limitations -must be
removed so that former Nazis and their sym-
pathizers cannot erase their crimes against
humanity.
EP
OM
950-Page Survey
Sachar's 'A History of Israel'
Updated as Knopf Paperback
"A History of Israel," the 950-page survey "from the rise of
Zionism to our time," has been reissued by the original publishers,
Alfred A. Knopf, as a paperback.
This encyclopedic work covers the
material, with analyses that provide
background material, leading up to
the most recent events of the peace
negotiations. In an epilogue. Dr. Sac-
har gives a brief summary of the visit
of Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem and the
role of Menahem Begin. While it does
not reach the signing of the peace
treaty, the paperback having gone to
press prior to the March agreements,
in the epilogue, in which the latest
developments are commented upon,
Dr. Sachar concludes:
"Whatever the Scriptural validity of
Begin's claim to Judea and Samaria
(he disdained the use of the term West
Bank), his critics sense that the
human reserves which might once
have populated these territories, have
long since been immolated in Au-
schwitz; and that unless this painful
HOWARD M. SACHAR
reality were confronted and accepted,
Judea and Samaria might easily become Israel's Bosnia and Her-
zegovina. As the Jewish republic entered its fourth decade, then, its
citizens longing for security, even for territorial respectability, was
modified by a widely diffused conviction: that the unique regenera-,
tive impulse of modern Zionism ultimately would achieve fulfillmen'
less in the maximalist revival of ancient boundaries than in the --
minimalist forbearance of compromise and functional peace."
The resume of Zionism, of the history of events that have led up to
the peace negotiations, the world conflicts affecting Israel's history —
all add up to a great study which elevates the latest Sachar book as a
very valuable addendum to textbooks dealing with Israel, Zionism
and modern Jewish history.
-
TRUTH SYMBOLIZED
Public acclaim for two of Russian Jewry's
fighters for justice, Eduard S. Kuznetsov and
Mark Dymshits, on their arrival in Israel, was
hailed at a heroes' welcome. It was much more
than that. It manifested a basic principle: that
of fulfillment of the wishes of emigrants from
Russia to live up to their requests for visas on
the basis of settlement in Israel.
This must not be taken as a blanket condem-
nation of the vast majority of departees who
prefer to go to the United States or some other
Western country. But the -tequests for visas to
leave Russia are as wishes to be reunited with
relatives in Israel and those who adhere to this
wish therefore are the element for whom Israel
craves as potential settlers who will add to that
country's basic needs.
Because Kuznetsov and Dymshits adhered
the basis of their demands for the right to settle
in Israel there is a certain justification for the
campaign for as large an exodus of Jews from
the USSR as possible. The mere fact that so
many indicate a wish to leave their native land
where many generations of their ancestors had
lived is proof enough of an existing prejudice
that forces people to seek abandonment of a
homeland in search for a haven of freedom.
Israel offers the Jews seeking exit visas from
Russia such a freedom. But 60 percent or more
of these Jews, having left the Soviet Union,
aspire to a more certain economic security and
abandon Israel for the U.S. or Canada, or wher-
ever they may. be welcomed. Most of them take
advantage of the hospitality provided for them
by-the United States and the assistance given
by HIAS to come here. They are welcome. At the
same time, those who adhere to their stated
wish to go to Israel earn the heroes' status. For
this element in the emigrants' ranks, Kuznet-
sov and Dymshits are the symbols of consis-
tency.
Random House Series
Holiday Guide Book to Israel
As part of its series of 17 guide books, Random House has issued
"The Holiday Guide to Israel."
This 160-page paperbacked guide book provides background
material about Israel and her people as well as the main attractions,
the manner of preparation for travel, the historic sites.
Of course, there are listings of hotels, restaurants and shops.
Special attention is given to Jerusalem and environs and the
Jerusalem map, completely annotated, is of unusual value for the
tourist as well as researcher in seeking facts about Israel.