64 Friday, January 1, 1983 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Intent of Holocaust Revisionists ' Is Exposed By REV. FRANKLIN H. LITTELL His name is Austin J. App, and he has been National Institute associated with anti- on the Holocaust PHILADELPHIA — Semitic and Fascist Since 1959 I have taught, "fronts" for many years. In his numerous tracts he each year, at least one leaves no doubt as to his course dealing with the Nazi assault on the Jewish basic loyalties. In one of people and upon such Chris- them he writes, "the truth is tians as stayed Christian that in World War II the during the Third Reich. Third Reich fought for jus- Certain basic themes reap- tice, and the Allies fought to pear regularly, as young prevent justice . ." In an- students try to come to other he writes that Hitler terms with the meaning of and the Third Reich were "basically Christian." the Holocaust. In his recently published When we turn to the les- autobiography, printed on sons of the Holocaust the same thing happens. And his own press, he displays a the denials are predictable, picture of himself proudly at first. Rarely does any accepting a cash prize from student, even an under- a contemporary German graduate, even at the be- Nazi leader. ginning of the course, deny App hates the memory of the truth of the Holocaust. Woodrow Wilson as rabidly But more and more fre- as he hates the memory of quently reference is being FDR, and he wrote in the made to "those people who first issue of "The Journal of deny the Holocaust." In Historical Review": "The short, the so-called "histor- unhappy mission of the Re- ical revisionists" are get- visionists will have to be to ting attention today that show that we got unjustly they did not get a decade into both World Wars ago. • against Germany . ." One of the most prolific There are the two pre- "revisionist" writers over sent - themes that App decades is a now retired (like Butz of Northwest- Roman Catholic aca- ern University and other demic who taught for "revisionists") returns to years at LaSalle College. again and again. The key REV. LITTELL that unlocks all closets and passageways is a seething hatred of Jews. The recurring themes are: first, criticism of Israel at every opportunity; sec- ond, anxiety about the fu- ture of "Christian America." Both of these themes have political potential today that reaches far beyond the oddball cir- cles of marginal academics who want simply to deny the Holocaust. App's understanding of Israel's wars for survival is as twisted as his under- standing of the AEF in World War I and D-Day in World War II. He tells us in one of his articles that Israel has several times attacked the Arabs (1956, 1967, 1973!) and is now oppres- sing "the Palestinians." In "The Six Million Swin- dle" he tells us that Bol- shevism and Zionism are the world's most evil ideologies, that the Morgen- thau Plan was a Jewish- Communist plot against Christian Germany, and that the Holocaust is a fab- rication to squeeze repara- tions out of the Germans for help to Israel's economy. App's understanding of American religious history is equally bizarre, until we remember that hatred of Jews is the real motor of his motivation. In his cave, "Christian America" is threatened by Jewish control and "mongrelization" of the human stock. As he writes in another tract, "Can Christianity Survive When Jews Control the Media and the Money?" "Can the Christian Ameri- can way of life be main- tained . .?" ". . . whether America can long remain the Christian country its founders envisioned . ." The notion of a return to the "good old days" of "Christian America" has a much wider appeal than "historical revisionism," just as paranoid visions of Zionist conspiracies have standing in many circles that today look for every opportunity to attack Israel and its government. It is not at all uncommon today to hear some "liberal" churchman, who has never examined himself for anti- Semitism, hold forth at length to explain why he is critical of "Zionism" and Is- raeli policy — but of course has no anti-Semitism in his heart. The expressed aim of the "historical re- visionists" is to challenge the facts of the Holocaust. But the real aim is elsewhere: the true goal of the "historical re- visionists" is political, not academic or educa- tion. The political aim is this: to rehabilitate Nazism, to undermine the American-Israel alliance and to continue the anti- Semite's war against the Jews in America. Yad Vashem is publish- ing a research paper of mine which exposes the finances and organizational initia- tive that founded the Insti- tute of Historical Review and its journal. Helping students to an informed judgment is of course impor- tant. But the real questions are political, for the aims of the "historical revisionists" are political. Politics is the science of power and conflict and order and, hopefully, justice to some measure. Where are the laws to deal with the overt actions of Nazis and anti-Semites? (To publish and distribute denials of the Holocaust is a crime in the German Fed- eral Republic.) Where are the academic disciplines which prevent fascist and anti-Semitic in- filtration into our colleges and universities? (The great universities of the Weimar Republic waffled this issue too.) Where are the church disciplines which, enforced, purge the "Body of Christ" of its betrayers? (The Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders in Ger- many fumbled this issue too, during the rise of the terrorist movement which was the NSDAP — before it ever became a criminal government.) The "historical re- visionists" are serious, not about history but about power in politics. Where are their serious adversaries? Volunteers Aid 200 Isolated, Elderly Jews in Detroit By BEVERLY WOLKIND Jewish Welfare Federation They live in the Cass Cor- ridor, on East Grand Boulevard, and on West Chicago. Most are elderly; some are mentally im- paired, having spent. years shut away in institutions. And they are Jews. The more than 200 Jews living in Detroit's inner-city nursing hoines and adult ' care facilities are no longer forgotten, however, thanks to the Volunteers for Iso- lated People (VIP) group of Volunteer Joe LaPides and havera Dorothy Umlah share a happy moment at the VIP Hanuka party last month. the Jewish Vocational Serv- ice. VIP is part of the JVS Project Outreach program, initiated in 1980 with a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of United Jewish Charities. Volunteers visit their friends or "haverim," as they prefer to call them, at least once a month, bringing warmth, com- panionship and a Jewish newspaper or a nosh. There also are special programs held monthly for those able to attend. According to volunteers Dr. Leonard Aronovitz and Sam Sobel, who were in- strumental in launching the VIP program, the monthly visits provide their elderly and handicapped friends with positive com- munication, as well as "a sense of pride in their Jewishness." "Some of these people were so desperate for socialization," said Aronovitz, "that they had participated in Christian religious services." He re- lated how the program has made a difference . . . for the elderly man who sud- denly started wearing a yarmulke he had carried in his pocket for years; for an uncommunicative woman who now greets the volun- teers with a kiss. "It makes you realize that all people have the same needs," Arcinovitz added. "It's just a matter of getting through the barriers." The Project Outreach program was seen as a way to break those bar- riers when it grew out of a subcommittee of the Jewish Welfare Federa- tion's Community Serv- ices Division, working in conjunction with Rabbi Solomon Gruskin. As chaplain for the state of Michigan for more than 30 years, Rabbi Gruskin visited Jewish in- stitutionalized persons and was concerned about those who were released and in need of services. "In developing the pro- gram, it was logical for Jewish Vocational Service, which was an important presence in the city of De- troit, to play a key role," said Dr. Conrad L. Giles, chairman of Federation's Task Force on Non- Institutional Services for the Jewish Elderly. JVS is a member agency of Federa- tion and a beneficiary of Al- lied Jewish Campaign funds. Nora Barron is JVS president, and Albert I. Ascher is executive direc- tor. Project Outreach staff worker Faye Menczer and volunteer coordinator Joe LaPides recruit volunteers who generally work in teams. "Our volunteers in- clude housewives, working professionals and senior citizens," said Mrs. Menc- zer. She said that most of the haverim, or clients, are over 70 years old, and 80 percent of them have no vis- itors other than the volun- teers. The program currently involves 210 haverim. Mrs. Menczer hopes to reach other isolated elderly per- sons who may not be in adult care facilities, but who live alone without con- tact from friends or family. She also would like to ex- pand her volunteer force. Volunteers are asked to make a commitment of two or three hours a month. They receive orientation and are in- troduced to their haverim by Mrs: Menc- zer. Some, like volunteer Edwina Davis, visit sev- eral friends at one loca- tion. An assistant to a De- troit City Council member, Mrs. Davis works downtown and visits during her lunch hour or on the way home from work. "I have gained more from this program than I can ever give," said Mrs. Davis. She added that she enjoys the many questions of her new friends, especially those about her family. She re- lated how her haverim gave her notes and prayers to take to the Western Wall on The personal contact of a recent trip to Israel. They the VIP program has also were, of course, eager to enabled the haverim to hear about her experiences relate more to others and when she returned. to feel better about them- According to Mrs. Menc- selves. Volunteer Ed zer, the Jewish contact the Kahn, an area pharma- program affords the cist and businessman, haverim is vital. She noted told about one of his new that 85 percent of the adult friends. "He had been so alone;" care facilities' owners or "providers" are not Jewish. said Kahn, "that he couldn't With frequent visits from believe I was doing this be- Christian clergy, the resi- cause I wanted to. He asked dents "really live in a more if someone was paying me." Kahn visits a number of Christian environment than the general Jewish haverim, bringing them magazines and bagels. population." The importance of Jewish "This is the most satisfying programming was evident thing I have ever done," he at last month's VIP Hanuka added. A "fringe benefit" of the party, held at JVS offices in Detroit. The enthusiasm of program is the advocacy volunteers like Sobel, who role that has grown out of it. greeted the haverim and Anyone interested in vol- gave a helping hand to some unteering or providing handicapped participants, names of persons who could was matched by the joy of 50 benefit from the program guests who proudly recited can contact Faye Menczer at the Hebrew blessing over Jewish Vocational Service, the candles with volunteer 4250 Woodward, Detroit, Lou Barden. 833-8100. Volunteer Sam Sobel, right, is shown com- municating with hand signs with haver William Stark, a blind and deaf inner-city resident.