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2 Friday, July 6, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
The Martyrdom of Gisi Fleischmann:
The Service to Truth in the
Expose by Joan Campion
Joan Campion is a Christian lady residing in
Bethlehem, Pa., who calls herself an "obsessed gentile."
The obsession is the resentment suffered from the crimes
committed against the Jewish people.
Her name is not new to readers of The Jewish News.
She authored the first of the articles about the tragedy of
Anne Frank, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
Anne's birth. She has exposed the guilt not only of the
Germans under Nazism but also of the nations who permit-
ted crimes, including our own.
In this issue, The Jewish News is privileged to publish
Miss Campion's revelations linked with the life of Gisi
Fleischmann, a fighter for justice who was martyred under
Nazism and who was among the famous of this generation
in the libertarianism of Zionism. •
Few writers of this decade — and there were many who
wrote about the Holocaust! — so thoroughly reviewed the
background of the struggle for freedom, as exemplified in
the life of Gisi Fleischmann so thoroughly covered in the
Joan Campion essay which is to be the basis for a book she is
writing about the martyred heroine.
It is necessary that the Gisi Fleischmann story should
be known. It is equally necessary that an "obsessed gentile"
should be recognized for the service she renders with her
'expose about the crimes committed against Jewry and
mankind.
From the Minds of Children
Could Come Weapons of Peace
Agonies of warfare during the many years of Israel's
difficulties with the Arabs who were waging war against
her were especially traceable to the hatreds which resulted
in poisoning the minds of children.
Turn back the pages of illustrated magazines, wherever
they may be published, during the threatening years of
saber-rattling, and children of 5 or 6 are portrayed bran-
dishing guns and shouting venomously in the direction of
Israel.
Now there is a new hope emerging from the Middle East.
The road to peace between Israel and Egypt, although
strewn with thorns, now has its bright side. There is evi-
dence that the minds of children are being attuned to a
desire for good neighborliness. A new hope for amity be-
tween two peoples who had hitherto been at war comes from
A Christian's Obsession for Justice ... Egyptian
Children Recognize athe Justice of Living in Peace
With Neighbors ... The Jewish Chapel at West Point
Jerusalem. The cast of characters in a peace-inspired
drama is linked with Cairo.
In the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, 50 paintings are on
display. They were brought from Egypt. They include
drawings by 12-to-15-year-old children. Accompanied by
essays, in Arabic, with translations in Hebrew, they con-
tain salutes to Israel. There is such a sentiment, after
recalling sufferings by Jews through the ages, in reading:
"At long last the people of Israel received a country of their
own and a homeland and they have the right to live in
peace."
One of the Egyptian art students' essays also asserts:
"The truth must be stated and in a loud voice: Israel exists
and is a state, even if we in the past tried to deny this fact.
Therefore, it is better that we express our desire for a just
peace through negotiations rather than pursue the road of
useless bloodshed."
Amos Elon; the prominent Israeli author and journalist,
having brought these pictures for exhibition in Jerusalem,
said, "There absolutely was no manipulation." He had the
cooperation of the Egyptian Ministry of Education in col-
lecting the art works, some from schools in slum areas. He
was given the freedom to go "wherever you like," and this,
too, is an indication of a good-will spirit in the process of
bringing to Israel the nobility of children addressing them-
selves to neighbors.
Until now, the textbooks for Arab children were filled
with venomous advocacy of hatred and encouragement to
violence. In one land, in Egypt, there is a change. It is cause
for rejoicing wherever there is desire for peace.
It is when the minds of children are poisoned that civili-
zation is endangered. When children speak with kindness
they utter prophecy of better days. That is why Jerusalem's
Mayor Teddy Kollek welcomed the paintings and drawings
from Egypt and arranged to have them displayed the entire
summer. It is good news from both Jerusalem and Cairo.
A Jewish Chapel at West Point
Viewed as a Necessity
Progress is reported in a movement instituted to estab-
lish a Jewish chapel at West Point. The West Point Jewish
Chapel Fund has been organized under the chairmanship
of Edgar M. Bronfman.
An appeal for support of this fund is issued by Chaim H.
Friend, executive director of the chapel fund committee. He
states:
Speak of the Jew as contributor and fighter and
hero and you are regarded as someone with two
heads.
By Philip
Slomovitz
The fact is that there isn't a country in the world
where the Jew has been allowed to live that he has
not contributed to its richness and culture — in
science, philosophy, art, music, finance. And the
battlefields.
In America, the Jew has been a part of the fight
for freedom since pre-Revolutionary days. He has
fought and distinguished himself with his
single-minded dedication and heroism, going on
to win the distinguished Congressional Medal of
Honor, the highest recognition afforded an
American by the United States government. From
the first graduating class at West Point, half of
which was Jewish (there were two cadets in the
class) and through every war large and small, 4100
Jew as soldier and hero has left his mark with lx.
blood and his life.
The Jew as coward? Hardly!
But prejudice dies hard!
Pre-conceived notions are passed on from gen-
eration to generation and it is only the person
with a truly curious and independent mind who
will venture out to investigate, probe and, ulti-
mately, accept or reject the stereotypes foisted
upon him by society.
And yet, even people who consider themselves
historically knowledgeable know little of the con-
tribution of the American Jew.
How many, for instance, know that there is a
statue at the United States Military Academy
which depicts the nine .greatest warriors the
world has ever known, and that three of them —
David, Joshua and Judas Maccabeus — all
Jews, are among them?
The West Point Jewish chapel complex will cor-
rect that much neglected aspect of history.
When it is completed, it will serve not only as a
place of worship for the. Jewish cadets and theit
families — the first such chapel in the history of
the United States Military Academy — but as a
reminder to the nearly three million visitors a
year of the enormous contributions made by the
American Jew to this great country — as scholar,
financier, statesman. And hero.
This appeal makes sense. The interest shown by West
Point Jewish cadets in recent years adds special merit to
the appeal for a fund that will give dignity to the role of
Jews at the military academy.
Convalescent Center for Injured Soldiers
Beit Halohem: Israel's Warriors Home for Disabled Veterans
Shlomo Lador, chairman
From Israel Digest
JERUSALEM — Israel of the Disabled Veteran's
is, as one American social organization and himself an
worker described it, "the amputee, said, "Our experi-
number one spot in caring ence has taught us that the
for the disabled veteran." permanently injured vete-
Part of that success can be ran shies away from normal
attributed to the disabled vacation resorts, so in build-
war veteran's convalescent ing Beit Halohem we kept
center, Beit Halohem — his entire family in mind."
Membership fees are
The Wairior's Home.
Founded in 1973 and intentionally kept low
opened in the midst of the and amount to $5 a month
Yom Kippur War, it sits on for a family. This entitles
seven acres of green farm- members to take advan-
land in suburban Tel Aviv tage of the many rec-
and was constructed at a reational and artistic ac-
tivities that are offered
cost of $3 million.
Members of a Beit Halohem basketball team.
including bridge, chess,
drawing and painting,
photography, billiards,
folkdancing and singing.
"Our whole program is
geared to get the veteran
out of the defensive shell
that he develops as a re-
sult of his injury," ex-
plained Lador.
In order to achieve this
the Warrior's Home has
built one of the finest sports
facilities in the Middle East.
"Physical education," con-
tinued Lador, "is an integ-
ral part, perhaps the most
important aspect in the re-
habilitation of a wounded
veteran. Not only is it excel-
lent physical therapy but it
provides challenges for the
disabled soldier that, once
he overcomes them, become
a source of pride.
"For example we sponsor
an annual bike ride for the
blind that covers hundreds
of kilometers. Those with
vision impairments ride
tandem with a 'healthy'
partner. The feeling of ac-
complishment after one of
those trips is enormous."
Making up the sports
wing is an olympic size out-
door swimming pool and a
heated indoor pool. Both
natatoriums have ramps
and lifts to enable the phys-
ically handicapped swim-
mer to enter the water. The
indoor pool also has one-
way mirrors installed
underwater to allow
physiotherapists to observe
the patient in action.
"Everything here has
been designed to answer
the disabled persons'
needs," said Yoseph
Lothenberg, director of
Beit Halohem. "That
includes elevator call
buttons and telephones
lowered to wheel chair
height, extra wide doors
in all of the rooms, pro-
truding numbers above
lockers for readers of
braille, a wheel chair and
protheses repair shop,
and even a centrally lo-
cated air pump for flat
tires."
The sports department
also boasts a Turkish bath
and Finnish sauna and a
gymnasium with a track for
the blind: "It is made up of
two different types of wood,
laid parallel to each other,"
said Lador. "They guide
themselves by sound."
Inside the gym there are
professional basketball and
volleyball courts.
Israel's team took second
place in the Stoke-
Mandeville Wheelchair
Olympics while the Beit
Halohem volleyball team
won the regular Israeli
league title. They also
toured the States playing
American college teams in-
cluding West Point.
In• addition to the
sports pavilion there is a
ping-pong room with
olympic tables and an in-
door rifle range. "Target
shooting is a favorite
sport here. In our work-
shops we've developed
an apparatus that per-
mits amputees to shoul-
der the rifles as well as a
highly sensitive trigger
mechanism for the totally
paralyzed.
"We have self-returning
targets that work at the
push of a button and we are
installing a sonar target
that will allow our blind
members to take part," ex-
plained Lothenberg. "We
are also forming a parachut-
ing club for the blind that
works on the same homing
principle," he added.
The Warrior's Home is
also a family center, cater-
ing to the disabled veteran's
spouse and children. It in-
cludes a kindergarten for
young children and discus-
sion groups where the in-
valid's partner can with
other wives and husbands
thrash out their mutual
problems.
Located on the premises
is a full-time clinic manned
by a staff that is ready to
deal with any medical or
psychological difficulties.
A fairly recent innovation
that has gained much popu-
larity is the "goodwill dele-
gations abroad" program.
This consists of 15 groups
made up of 20 disabled vete-
rans each, half of them re-
cently injured and the other
half "old timers" who are
invited to spend time with
families in Jewish com-
munities throughout tip
world.
A wheel chair lift at
Beit Halohem.