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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.