12 Friday, January 21, 1983

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Best-Seller Strips Myth of Canada Aid to Jewish DPs

By ARNOLD AGES

TORONTO (JTA) —
Shock waves are still rever-
berating over Canada in the
wake of a book published in
Toronto a little over four
months ago. The book,
"None Is Too Many" (Lester,
Orpen and Denys), by histo-
rians Irving Abella and
Harold Troper, both resi-
dents of Toronto, reveals
that before and during
World War II the Canadian
government pursued a pol-
icy of actively excluding
Jews from entry into the
country.
This revelation, the re-

suit of monumental archi-
val excavations conducted
by the two researchers in
Ottawa, has come as a sur-
prise to most Canadian
Jews. While there was a
perception that the Cana-
dian government between
1933 and 1948 was reluc-
tant to facilitate Jewish
immigration to Canada, no
one before Abella and
Troper ever realized the
scope and intensity of
Canada's anti-Jewish bias.
Abella and Troper
indicate in their book
that one man, Charles
Blair, was the major

executor of Canada's
exclusionary immigra-
tion policies towards
Jews. As a deputy minis-
ter for immigration, as-
signed, for obscure
bureaucratic reasons, to
the Department of Mines
and Technical Surveys,
Blair had the responsibil-
ity to discharge the
policies of the govern-
ment of Prime • Minister
Mackenzie King.
Blair discharged them
with a cruel zeal. Authors
Abella and Troper show in
their devastating indict-
ment that Blair was an un-

repentant anti-Semite who Abella-Troper document
The Abella-Troper vol-
was so secure in his position differently. During his days
ume,
written deliberately in
that he left behind ample in London, England (as an
documentation filled with official Canadian diplomat), a flat prose style without a
scurrilous anti-Semitic re- he sent cables to Prime suggestion of hysteria, has
been widely praised by
marks.
Minister King aspersing
At one point during the the quality of European Canadian critics. The only
early years-of the war, Blair Jews in language of an un- exception is a recent review
described Jews trying to get savory tone, and suggest- in the Canadian Forum in
into Canada as "pigs at the ing that Sudenten Germans which the reviewer
suggests in an unbelievable
feeding trough."
would make much better non sequitur that Canadian
While Blair was the main immigrants for Aryan soldiers died fighting to
instrument in blocking Canada.
save European Jewry.
Jewish immigration into
Charlotte Whiton, now
Abetla indicates that his
Canada he was not, accord- deceased but once the most research has already pro-
ing to Abella and Troper, flamboyant and feisty duced three results. Ron
acting unilaterally. In fact, mayor of Ottawa, worked Atkey, minister of immi-
he was expressing the views indefatigably in the early gration in the short-lived
of the Cabinet and the 1940s to prevent the rescue Joe Clark government, said,
Canadian people, especially of Jewish children from the after being exposed to Abel-
the inhabitants of Quebec, European cauldron. Her la's revelation, that he did
Canada's French-speaking interests were devoted ex- not want to go down in his-
province.
clusively to saving British tory as "the Charles Blair of
institutions without the
During the 1930s more children.
the 80s" during discussions
involvement of Lorincz.
than 100,000 signatures
Lester Pearson (later to about the admittance of
The Aguda newspaper were collected on a peti-
Hamodia refused to publish tion organized by a become prime minister), Vietnamese "boat people."
Canada's current
a paid advertisement from French-Canadian group the winner of the Nobel
the Rabbi of Gur and his to protest the prospective Peace Prize in 1956 for Minister of Immigration
Hasidim, accusing the immigration of European his role in the creation of Lloyd Axworthy, said re-
paper of supporting de- Jews. Newspapers in the the United Nations cently in a meeting where
puties Lorincz and Porush. province of Quebec pub- Emergency Force, is por- Abella had spoken that
The Hasidim plan to pub- lished flagrantly anti- trayed as an ambitious he wished to apologize
politician who was ready for the conduct of his
lish a separate newspaper.
Semitic articles.
to go along with Macken- government during the
The followers of Lorincz
In their meticulous re-
and Porush called a meeting search into the period, zie King's anti-Jewish war years.
In addition, the Canadian
and decided on steps against Abella and Troper have un- rulings.
Ernest Lapointe, King's government, as a result of
the Hasidim of Gur, espe- earthed details about cer-
cially their leader, Knesset tain Canadian political fig- Quebec colleague, is de- the Abella-Troper book, has
member Rabbi Abraham ures who later rose to great picted in the Abella-Troper removed a sentence in its
Shapira. They accuse him of prominence in Canada. The volume as the representa- advertising brochure which
not keeping Shabat laws information does not reflect tive of Quebec's fiercely boasted about Canada's role
anti-Jewish public opinion. in rescuing European Jews
and watching television well upon them.
He
warned the Canadian during the war.
shows like "Dallas."
Vincent Massey (brother
The Abella-Troper vol-
The Gur Hasidim main- of movie great Raymond prime minister that the
tain that a split in the Massey), lionized by the entry of Jews would ume is now into its fourth
Aguda is unavoidable. The Canadian Jewish Congress alienate Quebecers, the edition, an unprecendented
original program and aims in the 1950s as "a righteous major supporters of the Lib- development for Canadian
of the Aguda founded by gentile," emerges in the eral Party. King accepted books, and an unusual one
Lapointe's warning.
for such a scholarly volume.
Rabbi Itche Meir Levin are
quite different from those
represented by Rabbi Shach
and his Lithuanian
Hasidim, they say. It is be-
By LEONID KOSSMAN
chairman of the KGB for tration "continues to do a
lieved that the Gur Hasidim
(Copyright 1983, JTA, inc.)
more than a decade, An-
and Poalei Agudat Yisrael
(Editor's note: Dr. dropov succeeded in disservice to the cause of
human rights. During its
could get three mandates in Kossman, a former assis-
the next Knesset election if tant professor at the turning the endeavors of first two years, the Ad-
they have their own list Moscow State Institute any Jewish would-be- ministration lost credibil-
without Lorincz and for Foreign Languages, is emigrant into an unpre- ity as an advocate of
dictable gamble.
human rights.
Porush.
presently a freelance
From the start of the mass
Therefore, it seems im-
translator
and
journalist.
The weekly of the
emigration in the early
Hasidim from Belz pub- He is a political analyst 1970s to the present-day dif- portant for the major
lished an article by Yis- for the German-language ficult situation, no single American Jewish organiza-
sakhar Dov Rokach newspaper, Aufbau, pub- -Jewish would-be-emigrant tions, in concert with the
against the position of the lished in New York City.) (as well as German or Congress, to negotiate with
The selection of Yuri V. Armenian applicants) could the Soviets in concrete
"Aguda" faction in the
terms.
Knesset in respect to the Andropov as secretary gen- be sure of the outcome. The
The Kremlin, rightly or
war in Lebanon. They eral of the Communist risk of an exit visa refusal is
wrongly,
has high regard
Party
of
the
Soviet
Union
differ from the Likud and
always present.
for the American Jewish
the "Aguda" faction who (CPSU) marks a new era in
About 270,000 Soviet
supported this policy Soviet history. The ap- Jews took their chances and lobby. In that way, serious
progress could eventually
pointment
of
a
former
chief
during the war.
got out. But more than
The newspaper of Rabbis of the KGB as the new party 10,000 visa applicants be- be secured for the fate of the
Lorincz and Porush in Bnei leader is symptomatic of the came the victims of this Prisoners of Conscience, for
Brak, Tmura, criticized new balance of power in the KGB strategem. The lot of thousands of refusniks, for
the reunification of families
Shapira and the Gur Kremlin.
dozens of Soviet Jews has and for a promotion of
Hasidim. It refuted the
What impact could the become especially harsh:
claim of the Rabbi of Gur changes in the Kremlin they have been arrested and Jewish culture in the USSR.
Nobody can be sure of the
that the Council of the have on Soviet Jewry, its sentenced to many years in
outcome
of such negotia-
Torah Sages had decided prospects and hopes?
Soviet labor camps.
tions. But it is worth trying.
that Lorincz and Porush
When frying to predict
As a non-dogmatist, An-
have to give up their man- Andropov's future ap- dropov is probably flexible
War Casualties
dates to other Aguda lead- proach to the emigration enough to revive Jewish
ers.
issue, one should keep in emigration if such a course
TEL AVIV (ZINS) —
The conflict has become a mind that it was the KGB seems expedient to the
Since Sept. 29, when Israeli
bitter fight.
under whose direct con- Kremlin. American-Soviet
forces pulled back from west
trol about 270,000 Soviet relations are the focal point
Beirut, 17 Israelis have
Jews left the USSR in the of Jewish emigration from
been killed and 70 wounded
last 12-15 years. An- the USSR. A well-balanced
in hit-and-run terrorist at-
dropov's goal was clear American human rights
tacks. This is in addition to
and understandable policy is the sine qua non of the 76 killed and 27
enough — even to an out- the emigration issue.
wounded in an accidental
sider's view. His efforts
gas explosion at IDF mili-
As Ariyeh Neier, vice
were aimed at making chairman of the Ameri-
tary headquarters in Tyre.
sure that the reunifica- can Watch and the Hel-
Since Operation Peace for
tion of families would not sinki Watch, wrote in the
Galilee began on June 6,
turn into a free emigra- New York Times (Dec.
455 Israelis were killed and
tion movement. Being 10), the Reagan Adminis-
2,460 wounded in Lebanon.

Infighting May, Destroy Aguda

By MOSHE RON
rroeeemembers with
TEL AVIV — A bitter pari.mentary experience
fight is going on among the — Rabbis Lorincz and
Aguda Knesset deputies— Porush.
After the two new de-
between Hasidim of the
Rabbi of Gur and Lithua- puties have become accus-
nian partisans of Rabbi tomed to the work in the
Eliezer Shach, the head of Knesset, a further change
would be possible.
the Ponivesh Yeshiva.
They also argued that
The deputies of the
Hasidim from Gur and Vis- there was no definite deci-
hnitz; Rabbi Avraham sion for a rotation of Knes-
Shapira and Rabbi Shmuel set deputies by the Council
Halpert, demand that the of Torah Sages.
The original protocol of
money which the Aguda re-
ceives from government al- the council disappeared, but
locations to support yeshiva the Rabbi of Gur kept a copy
students should not be dis- of it.
The struggle went even so
tributed by Rabbi Shlomo
Lorincz, who is the chair- far that a short time ago
man of the Knesset Finance unknown persons smeared
Committee. They demand threats on the door of the
that the money should be apartment of Eliezer Shul-
forwarded directly to the singer in Bnei Brak, a son-
in-law of Lorincze
yeshivot concerned.
They accuse Rabbi
Unknown persons
Lorincz of being partial to called
an ambulance to
the religious institutions the apartment of Shul-
headed by Aguda deputy singer, reporting that he
Rabbi Menahem Porush.
suffered a heart attack.
Some Knesset mem- They also invited work-
bers have already ap- ers to make changes in
pealed to the government his apartment and pub-
legal adviser, Prof. lished advertisements in
Yithak Zamir, to investi- newspapers announcing
gate the allocations. The that Shulsinger is looking
two Knesset members for a buyer for his apart-
from Gur and Vishnitz ment.
also accuse Knesset
Shulsinger appealed to
members Lorincz and
Porush not abiding by the police and accused
the decisions of the Rabbi Nahum Kornwasser
Council of Torah Sages. and two yeshiva students.
They want the two to re-
They were arrested and
nounce their seats in the h undreds of Gur Hasidim
Knesset after having d emonstrated in front of
been Knesset members S hulsinger's apartment.
for over two decades.
Rabbi Shach demanded
The Rabbi of Gur had de- th at the Rabbi of Gur order
-reed that in this Knesset, h is Hasidim to stop their
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ab- d emonstrations and attacks
omovitz and Rabbi Shlomo o n Shulsinger. The conflict
]ross should be relieved by h as caused a split in the
the Gur Hasid, Rabbi Ab- A guda.
aham Shapira, and the
The Rabbi of Gur asked
/ishnitz Hasid, Rabbi th e Council of Torah
Shlomo Halpert. But the S ages to order Lorincz
I,ithuanian Hasidim, a nd Porush to leave the
leaded by the chairman of lin esset and be replaced
he Council of Torah Sages, b y two other deputies
iabbi Shach, argued that it a nd the monies received
vas impossible to change all fr om the government
Our Aguda Knesset mem- sh ould go straight to the
)ers and there have to re- ye shivas and religious

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New Kremlin and Soviet Jewry

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