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October 28, 1983 - Image 76

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1983-10-28

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

16 Friday, October 28, 1983

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

40—BUSINESS CARDS

FURNITURE REPAIR
& REFINISHING

EXPERIENCED
LOCK SERVICE
Residential—Commercial.
Exterior & Interior.
Insured—Low Prices.
PHIL
728-0356

Complete bedroom &
dining room sets
Chair re-glueing
Caning and Rushing

PIANO TUNING-REPAIRS

-
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
Courtyards, plant mate-
rial, decks, stone work.
References
Insured
646-9493
C.P.A.

Graduate - of "Detroit
School for Piano Techni-
cians" -.

Reasonable Rates
Laurence Eisenberg
534.5657

Call the
TROUBLESHOOTER
Appliances &
Plumbing Repair
MICHAEL
398-8950
All Work Guaranteed

LEO'S PLUMBING
& SEWER SERVICE

Free Estimates
Full line of plumbing.
No job too-small.

Call LEO

557-8730

a ciric

K. KENT

LANDSCAPE

Experienced C.P.A. with
master's degree in taxa-
tion is available for Ac-
counting and Tax work at
very reasonable rates.

JEWISH typewriter. Hardly used.
Reasonable. 280-0797.

NEW CREDIT card! Nobody re-
fused! Also Visa/Mastercard.
Call (805) 687-6000, ext.
C-3069.

53 — ENTERTAINMENT

VERSATILE sophisticated party
music. Call 893-9667.

BIRTHDAY PARTIES

273-6716

SUYICI

CARTOONS

CARICATURES

COMPLETE ELECTRICAL
SERVICE

BY

JULIUS
2q3-1723

SID FELDMAN
STUART WEISBLATT

711 E. 8 MIL* Rd. - Forndal*

CARPENTRY

Quality work
at low prices.

Small and large jobs.

Repairs, remodeling,
alterations.
Roofs, siding and gutters.
Insulated security doors.

Flat roofs —
12 yr. guarantee

FOR ANY OCCASION

Bach to Cole Porter.
Classic guitar and bass
duo. Receptions, open-
ings, intimate gatherings.

Call Robert
758-1232
PIANO-FLUTE DUO
Music for all social occa-
sions. Popular and light
classical.
Reasonable Rates.
661-4648

54



CEMETERY LOTS

Windows and inside storms.

Four cemetery plots.

RICHARD M. HYMAN

Adat Shalom Cemetery

557-7059

Large discount.

Licensed & Insured

427-2241

* • * * * * * * * *

*

& .7.•; ;PLUMBING
iplete Plumbing

-,

I , !vork.
• Sewer & Drain'Clean
ing.
• Hot Water Heaters.
• Faucets, Toilets.
• Disposals, Etc.. •
• Free PhOne Estimates
R & S APPLIANCE
SERVICE
• Refrigerators -
Freezers.
• Washers - Dryers.
• Gas & Elec. Ranges.
• Dishwashers, Etc.
• Elec. Repairs

559-1581
00000000000

l ''""r1LWINIkt

51—MISCELLANEOUS

Clowns, juggling, magic,
music dance, Puppets,
balloon sculpture.

I 398-5100

Trained as a serious book
editor, historically inclined
and blessed with a sensitive
literary imagination,
James A. Michener began
writing by producing an
amalgam of history with a
fictional overlay. By com-
bining real and imaginary
characters in a significant
historical setting, he suc-

645-1147

And other Special Occasions.

Free

Estimates

By CHARLES MADISON

Free Estimates
474-8953

C OMpalty

Cf
GREATER
DETROIT

James Michener's 'Poland' Significant,
But Novel Skimps on Polish Jewry

55



ART FOR SALE

Three piece collection
Pen and Ink on Canvas
by Howard Weingarden.

Call
776-5581 anytime

Brandeis Fund

WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA)
— A $1 million endowment
for scholarships designated
exclusively for students
from middle income
families has been awarded
to Brandeis University by
Lew Wasserman, the head
of the Music Corporation of
America (MCA), Inc.

e,6V4

CHARLES MADISON

ceeded in infusing them
with the aura of authentic-
ity as well as genuine
human interest, so that
each of his novels gained
wide readership.-
In "Poland" (Random
House), his newest book, he
depicted the history of that
colorful and unhappy land,
sparked by a realistic por-
trayal of a large number of
characters, historic and fic-
tional. Significant periods
of its history are treated at
length and in attractive de-
tail.
The book thus provides an
absorbing account of the
country's thousand-year
history, highlighted by a
narrative studded with fas-
cinating characters and
crucial events. Forced upon
it are the wars with the
Mongols, Tartars, Teutonic
knights,Swedes and Turks.

Also discussed are Po-
land's expansion into the
Ukraine and Lithuania
and the cossacks revolt in
1648, in which Poles and
Jews were slaughtered
by the thousands.

Poland's tragedy inhered
in its unique social organ-
ization and consequent
political ineptitude. Unlike
its immediate neighbors,
who in time developed auto-
cratic governments and
large armies, Poland not
only lacked natural fron-
tiers but remained for cen-
turies politically disor-
ganized and without a cohe-
sive army.
From medieval times to
the 19th Century its feudal
government consisted of a
small group of villages
along with their peasantry.
Exceedingly wealthy and
jealous of their power, they
possessed their personal
armies and met with their
fellow magnates, usually
when it was necessary to
elect a new king — mostly
not a Pole because they
cherished their "Golden
Freedom" and wanted to
avoid the possibility of de-
veloping a hereditary

dynasty. They therefore
exercised their right to veto
any proposal not to their lik-
ing. This kept Poland from
developing the power and
army to stand up against
their jealous and powerful
neighbors.
It was this situation in
the late 18th Century that
enabled Russia, Prussia and
Austria to join in attacks on
Poland and brought about
the final partition of the
country in 1795, causing the
demise of its independence.
This situation continued
until the end of World War I
in 1918, when the victorious
allies made Poland once
more independent.

Twenty-five years la-
ter, however, the inva-
sion of the country by the
Nazis again robbed it of
its independence. The
victors of World War II in
1945 failed to prevent the
Soviet Union from mak-
ing Poland one of its
satellites in Eastern
Europe.

sacrifice.
"Poland" reads with con-
tinuous fascination. One is
impressed by the clear and
realistic delineation of •
Polish history and its
people. The numerous char-
acters, real and imaginary,
emerge with authentic ver-
ity and interest. Those with
roots in Eastern Europe will
find the book not only

JAMES MICHENER

highly readable but a rich
source of historic informa-
tion.
Of special interest to
This historic overview,
while basic to the narrative Jewish readers is
as a whole, is closely com- Michener's treatment of the
bined with the imaginative Polish Jews. At the begin-
part of the book-: - The lavish ning of the book he merely
and conspicuously- states that medieval Jews
extravagant life of the were money lenders be-
magnatic families is de- cause the Catholic Church
picted with the breadth and prohibited interest. In the
depth of the realistic account of the ensuing cen-
turies, Jews are mentioned
novelist.
Their great wealth only as musicians from the
enabled them to build cas- towns to entertain the mag-
tles and palaces and furnish nate's guests. It was only in
them with works of art from the section after 1918 that
West Europe. They also Jews are dealt with at some
made prolonged visits to length:
"Within the nation it-
neighboring magnates,
especially when they had a self there were the Jews,
young son who needed a a substantial minority of
wealthy wife. Their expan- the total population,
sive dinners for scores of about 10 percent, highest
guests usually ended with in Europe. Jewish influx
concerts by imported musi- -had begun in the 11th
cians and singers. All this is Century, when many
flooded in to escape per-
described in - cogent detail.
An inferior social class secution elsewhere. Here
were the gentry, who owed they were given the right
their allegiance to a mag- to own land, conduct
nate and were empowered business and preserve
to supervise his villages and their unique culture. At
their peasants to make sure one time they operated
that the produce of their the Royal Mint, and in
lands was properly propor- cities they began to form
tioned, with the major share the nucleus of an emerg-.
going to the magnate, a ing middle class, some-
smaller share to the gentry thing desperately needed
and what was left served to in Poland.
"Through succeeding cen-
keep the peasantry in food.
Michener stressed the turies Polish kings ex-
fact that while the gentry tended protection to Jews
was usually poor and de- fleeing other lands, and in
pended on the magnate's what was a pluralistic and
bounty (one became a tolerant climate Jewish life
member of the genry if he thrived as nowhere else in
owned a horse or two and Europe . . .
"But during the partition
perhaps a village). The
peasant class had no Jews fell under the rule of
privileges at all.
foreign powers that were
The penultimate chapter openly and sometimes sav-
deals with the Nazi agely anti-Semitic in their
brutalities in Poland and official policies. During the
with the horrible condition .s entire century excesses
in the concentration camps against Jews were - orches-
of Maidenak and Au- trated by the occupying
schwitz. The heroic opposi- powers, and pogroms, often
tion of some of the Poles is officially sponsored,
stressed, with the peasants, flourished. Inevitably, some
gentry and magnates each Poles were raised in a cli-
struggling against the mate which encouraged
enemy with desperate self- religious prejudice."
There seems to be a cer-
The arch-flatterer is one-
tain naivete in the latter
self.
statement, but as so, many

Poles learned fast and in
time exceeded the an-
tagonism to Jews in the oc-
cupying countries. This in-
tolerance of Poles was as-
serted by Roman Vishniac
in a recent book: "The Nazis
did not have to teach the
Poles about anti-Semitism.
It was already there,
home-grown before they ar-
rived." And this was borne
out by anti-Jewish laws
during the 1930s.
It should also be noted
that during -the Holocaust
section, Michener made
evident his horror at the kil-
ling of Jews:

,

"The methodical mas-
ters of Maidenak saw
nothing preposterous in
recording that on 3 No-
vember 1943, an exact
total of 18,431 people died
at almost the same in-
stant of tuberculosis,
cardiac arrest or the flue,
and that all of them hap-
pened to be Jews."

After 1945, of course, very
few Polish Jews remained
alive, and most of them
went to Israel and
elsewhere. But the Polish
communist government has
been blatantly anti-
Semitic, and in 1968, follow-
ing Israel's victory over the
Arabs, the Polish govern-
ment forced the expulsion of
the few remaining Jews as
"Zionists." Poland is now
practically Judenrein.
"Poland" is deservedly
the leading best-seller on
the Times list of books. It
makes splendid reading,
and regardless of its great
length and much detail, it is
a work of literary distinc-
tion.

Political Polls
Stay the Same

TEL AVIV (ZINS) — A
public opinion poll by the
Dahaf Research Institute
shows that Likud has not
lost ground because of the
resignation of Prime Minis-
ter Menahem Begin.
If a Labor list was led by
former President Yitzhak
Navon, the poll shows that
Labor would defeat a Likud
list led by Yitzhak Shamir
by seven seats. A Labor list
led by Yitzhak Rabin would
win by three seats, but a list
led by Shimon Peres would
lose by six.

$2 Million
Gift for Boston

BOSTON (JTA) — The
Combined Jewish Philan-
thropies of Greater Boston
(CJP) recently received a $2
million gift, the largest
single donation in the social
service agency's 88-year
history, from Abe Gosman
of Weston, Mass., president
of Mediplex Group Inc., a
diversified health care com-
pany.

Zionist Shabat

NEW YORK — The
American Zionist Federa-
tion has declared Nov. 19 as
National Zionist Shabat.

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