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Friday, May 31, 1985

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

THE JEWISH NEWS

Serving Detroit's Metropolitan Jewish Community
with distinction for four decades.

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Suite 240, Southfield, Michigan 48076
Telephone (313) 354-6060

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Donald Cheshure
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1985 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520)
Second ClaSs postage paid at Southfield, Michigan and additional mailing offices.
Subscriptions: 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 — Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35

CANDLELIGHTING AT 8:41 P.M.

VOL. LXXXVII, NO. 14

Trials Must Continue

While the wisdom of Israel's decision to exchange more than 1,100
Palestinian prisoners for three Israeli prisoners of war can be debated, it
would be a mistake for Jerusalem to give in to the emotions of the moment
and release the 27 alleged members of a Jewish underground network on trial
or already convicted for crimes of violence against Arabs in the West Bank.
A number of leaders of the more right-wing and religious elements in
Israel are demanding that the government release the Jewish suspects now
that it has freed convicted Arab killers. But while the strong sentiments are
understandable, it would be a mockery of the judicial system to declare
amnesty for the Jewish suspects. No democratic system can exist without an
independent judicial system.

Compassion Fatigue

Misery soon wearies people. Emaciated Ethiopian babies, painful
memories of the Holocaust, Soviet Jews held captive, are more than anyone
can bear, much less comprehend on a global scale. In self defense, in the
interest of personal survival, we tend to be selective. We cannot absorb such
cosmic agony, so we turn it off.
A surge of compassion, a generous gesture, and the public craves a
change of pace. Our attention wanders, we look away, we seek respite and
some of us look for avenues of escape. Sadly, the victims of oppression, those
unfortunates who are caught up in the fire storms of obdurate natural or
political forces, lack the luxury of retreat.
As an issue, the plight of Soviet Jewish refuseniks may be losing its hold
on the sympathies and imaginations of many American Jews, despite the
"Free Soviet Jewry" efforts of local and national organizations. So perhaps it
is fitting, in the context of the recent Holocaust commemorations, the Bitburg
blunder and Elie Wiesel's eloquent testimony on behalf of moral
responsibility, to remember the following:
The USSR released fewer than 1,000 Jews last year, a number that went
down from 51,000 in the late 1970s. Only the resumption of U.S.-Soviet
negotiations in Geneva and the recent, unexpected granting of visas to 20
Muscovites — the first in years from a major Russian population center —
suggest a possibility of accelerating movement.
The steadfast commitment of the Reagan Administration and the
majority of the U.S. Congrgss to the cause of Soviet Jewry has been
reassuring. But when success seems dubious and the dilemma persists over
decades, interest invariably flags.
The campaign for freedom, though, ought to proceed as if the current
stagnation is merely a temporary lull. The pressure of public opinion on
Soviet authorities should be exerted in every appropriate forum. Scientists,
academicians and other professionals need to know that their vigilance and
verbal support for oppressed Soviet colleagues often yields striking results.
And those who can visit and sustain refuseniks not only perform a service,
they bear witness.
Finally, Israeli and American Jewish leaders ought to use this time to
determine a policy toward so-called dropouts, those Soviet Jews who prefer to
come to the United States despite the fact that they hold Israeli visas.
Squabbling in public among ourselves over issues of freedom of choice and
ultimate goals only hands the Soviets a propaganda tool to use against us.

OP-ED

The Survivors' Children
Freed Us At Bergen-Belsen

BY CHARLES SILOW
Special to The Jewish News

In 1945, just 40 years ago, the
Second World War was coming to its
tragic end. That year, after being at
Auschwitz, my mother was a pris-
oner at the concentration camp of
Bergen-Belsen.
One morning in 1945 she was
not able to make it to the daily roll
call because of typhus. The German
officer said that she must come out
or else she would be killed. So her
friends came and dragged her out
and she collapsed.
That same day, the British lib-
erated Bergen-Belsen. By a miracle
my mother survived. She later was
taken to a hospital in Sweden where
she eventually recovered. She was
taken in by her only surviving rela-
tive, a great aunt in Belgium. Her
entire family had perished in the
Holocaust.
Forty years later, in 1985, just a
few weeks ago, a new and different
set of historical circumstances were
set in motion in Europe and
America. As we are all aware,
President Reagan decided to visit a
cemetery at Bitburg in which mem-
bers of Hitler's SS are buried. Fol-
lowing a storm of controversy, he
tacked on a visit to the concentra-
tion camp at Bergen-Belsen. Many
felt outraged that our President was
playing politics with the Holocaust
_as well as symbolically appearing to
pay homage to Hitler's SS.
The International Network of
Children of Jewish Holocaust Sur-
vivors decided that it was important
to respond. A plan was conceived for
children of survivors across the
country to make a peaceful, dignified
protest to President Reagan for what

Charles Silow is founder and current
president of CHAIM — Children of
Holocaust-Survivors Association in
Michigan.

was felt to be acts of gross insen-
sitivity to the suffering and murder
of ourpeople.
Bernie Kent and I decided to
travel to Bergen-Belsen. As children
of Holocaust survivors we felt it was
important to be a part of this pro-
test. And for me, Bergen-Belsen and
Auschwitz were iaot just pieces of
tragic Jewish and human history.
They were very real places within
me.
My mother did no want me to
go. She said that the ground of

Our bus was stopped just
a mile outside
Bergen-Belsen. A van full
of West German soldiers
pulled up alongside.

Bergen-Belsen was soaked with
blood and she wanted to protect me
from going. She feared that I would
be harmed if I went to Germany. I
listened, I felt her fear, but I still
decided to go.
A group of 40 traveled together
to Hamburg, West Germany, and
took a two-hour bus ride to Hanover.
It felt very strange being in Ger-
many. I needed to remind myself
that this was 1985, not 1945. This
was a new Germany, Hitler was
dead, the Holocaust was over, and
the Jewish people had survived.
We planned to hold up signs of
protest as Reagan and Kohl entered
Bergen-Belsen. We wanted to serve
as a reminder to them that we were
here, that Jews would not fade
away, and that we felt their actions
to be morally offensive and rep-
rehensible. While we were in

Continued on Page 38

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