PURELY COMMENTARY PHILIP SLOMOVITZ The Statue of Liberty Centennial: A Personal Reminiscing Echo Echoes of the excitingly emotional ob- servances of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty will surely continue to reverb- erate in the months ahead. Formally, it was a long week-end cel- ?bration. In the nation's experience it will surely be an entire year's acclaim to Lib- erty and to the American genius that per- petuates it. That is why every recollection of the trek via Ellis Island became a portion of the resporise of newcomers to this Land of Freedom to the glories shared in the proc- ess of continuing the ideals inspired by the acquired unalienable rights. That is why the enthusiasm of the immigrants who have become a factor in this nation have been drawn upon for Sharing with the millions who became the audience for these salutes in the media. Therefore, why not a personal note to 3hafe in these enthusiastic acclaims on this page? This_ isan appropriate time to recall ;he expression of pride in his Americanism by this columnist when he celebrated an occasion that became means for the pride and gratitude when I cele- brated Fifty Years as an American, on Nov. 29, 1960. It is an assertion that gained Con- gressional recognition as well as in these columns. Even no`w, 26 yeais later, pride flourishes. _ That's when I decla'red_ in my gratitude to my adopted country: Fifty years as an - American meant 50 years of freedom — free- dom to speak the mind . and to ex- press.views without hindrance; 50 years- of service to causes that fit into the American way of life and therefore help in the uplifting of the less fortunate; 50 years that were not without their battles and debates — but they were disputes and arguments of such a nature as to echo what the-strjver for justice acquired as part of his immersion into Americanism. The last 50 years revolu- tionized the world. They were politically stirring. The half cen- tury began with challenges un- paralleled in - history. They changed' the fabric of America's acts and thoughts. They trans- forMed our land into a new mold. - Two world wars claimed the lives of millions of our fellow Americans. Smaller conflicts and some calamities also were costly in human lives. While the world was being remolded, the Jewish people underwent even graver changes. Our kinsmen were threatened with extinction. We lost a third of JeWry in the course of the victimi- zation of mankind by the most de- A Taal Thank You The privilege of this page enables us to thank family and friends, rabbis and the community's many agencies, for the kindnesses shown Anna during her serious ill- ness and now in her recuperation. I share with Anna the deep apprecia- tion for the warm messages of friendship and for the generous gifts in her honor to many worthy causes. ANNA AND PHILIP SLOMOVITZ 2 Friday, July 25, 1986 vilish minds that ever inflicted themselves upon us. As Americans, we were part of a generation that revolted against bestialities. As Jews, we had the obligation of coming to the aid of the afflicted. As American Jews, we were destined by history to be the rescuers of the oppressed. But while we were rescuing, we, too, were the targets of bigots. We were charged with the task of saving lives, and, at the same time, of repudiating bigots. In this coun- try were were free to speak our minds against intolerance, to battle the anti-Semites, to demand justice wherever and whenever it was due. In that battle, we soon learned the greatness of America. We were not alone in the fight. We soon learned that there is such a genuine principle as fair play in this great land of our adoption. We are grateful for that idea. It has helped to sustain us in our Americanism, and it has given us pride in our loyalties to this great land and its deep-rooted princi- ples. There was much more to our pride. When, you fight the anti- Semite, you seek to eliminate the negative aspects of American life. It is when one searches for the positive, when one aims to do the creative things in life, that one is faced with the true test of Ameri- can greatness. Your commentator has found the genius of America in the freedom to act in behalf of his fellow Jews through the Zionist ideal. America spells freedom, but it does not qualify it by saying that it is to be freedom only for Ameri- cans. It is an established and sac- red American principle that one who has his freedoms must not deprive others of their freedoms. More than that: he who has his freedoms must aid others to ac- quire similar just rights. During the five decades of his Ameridanism, before acquiring citizenship and during the many years of his enfranchisement, your commentator labored for the Zionist idea. No one hindered him: the best Americans assisted in the great aspirations. Presidents, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, governors of states, and members of both Houses of Con- gress often - gave him their blessings. It was the greatness of America that its leaders always gave us comfort in our work. The handful of Jews who were frightened, who, in their panic, could not assist in the greatest humanitarian effort in history, did not matter. They were unworthy., of concern. They do not count now, although they still seek to obstruct justice. But there are so few of them that they are insig- nificant. But even the few could have been helpful in rescuing many more people than we have suc- ceeded in saving since our great Zionist idea became a reality. Nevertheless, we are grateful — for the millions of our kinsmen who recognized the immensity of the task and assisted in it; for the many millions of Christian Ameri- THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS cans who, by their actions and by their encouragement, upheld the American principles of justice and the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of all mankind, and give us cause for gratitude and thanksgiving on this sacred day. There is another cause for re- joicing. During his fifty years as an American, this writer had the right to adhere to the faith of our fathers — at preparatory high school, at college, while working on newspapers, in the course of travels — wherever the Stars and Stripes fluttered for us as a sym- bol of our citizenship. The pride of your commen- tator's Americanism has accom- panied him abroad, where he was able to hold his head high as an American Jew, and in Israel, where he enjoyed the fruits of his labors and witnessed the fulfill- ment of the dream of an American Jew for whom Zionism was akin to Americanism — because the aspi- rations of both are kindred in spirit — and where he saw the realization of the ideal that all men have a right to pursue happiness and enjoy freedom. This Commentator's Credo, A news commentator's, an editor's, duty is to strive for the truth and to establish it. This has been and is my aim as a working newspaperman. I do not carry grudges. I abhor anything akin to ter- rorism, Nazism, or any form of bigotry. In the process, I recognize the right to differ. I do not "hate" Arabs. I deplore their enmity and the failure to grant Israel the right to live. In the libertarian aim, Zionism remains a major principle in my life. In its advocacy, I sought under- standing from fellow Jews, coopera- tion from non-Jews, many of whom have given me personal comfort in the assistance I enrolled for the movement. To ascertain truth, in justice to the Jewish people and to Israel, I am obliged never to be silent when there is the merest semblance of injustice anywhere . . . and, to speak out with- out malice. Such was My Credo as an American written on the 50th anniversary of my ar- rival in this country. Such is My Credo today. Blessed the land that gave me proud citizenship. A Duty To Keep - U.S. Doors Closed To Kurt Waldheim Should it happen that the indifferent to truth will militate in favor of the new Austrian president's quest for a wekome to this country, it will be the most crimi- nal endorsement of silence in treating Nazi accomplices. With all the tongue-in-cheek at- tempts to exonerate him, even every de- fensive statement was marked by conces- sions that he lied. Therefore adherence to justice and truth demands that the Austrian President Kurt Waldheim be kept out of this country and that he be held in con- tempt wherever he may seek diplomatic immunity. In a joint statement in the New York Times, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Arthur Goldberg and a former U.S. chief delegate to the United Nations and Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman presented an ac- cumulation of diplomatic precedents out- lawing accused criminals from visiting this land. Their article, entitled, Wal- dheim Can Be Kept Out of the U.S., con- cluded with the declaration: "Our country should not and, must not be host to any person, whatever his or her office, who has participated in or as- sisted in Nazi atrocities." A beginning has already been made in the anticipated steps to bar Waldheim from this land when the U.S. Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder stayed away frorb the accused Nazi's inauguration as president. Evidence indicting Waldheim, meanwhile, is accumulating. While the Austrian press and the country's officials are disturbed by the American ambas- sador's absence from the inauguration, it has the overwhelming endorsement of the American press and people. The Los Angeles Times, in its acclaim of Lauder's action, introduced additional facts giving support to the mounting accusations against Waldheim. In an editorial, pub- lished on the eve of the inauguration, entitled Snub for Waldheim, the following additional accusatory details are suggested: Whether Lauder's absence re- presents a private protest against Waldheim's Nazi affiliations or a high-level policy deciiion isn't clear, and doesn't matter. The message of disapproval that it de- livers speaks for itself. The inauguration will take place just days after Luxem- bourg's Foreign Minister Jacques Poos shed further light on Wal- dheim's long-obscured past. Ac- cording to Poos, the doctoral thesis that Waldheim wrote in 1943, when he was 25, called for the elimination of Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as independent states and their incorporation into a "Greater German Reich." At the time only Switzerland among these countries had not been occupied by Germany. Does this advocacy of empire mean that Waldheim was a committed Nazi? If nothing else, it adds to the im- pression of a committed oppor- tunist who saw a future domi- nated by Nazism and wanted to be part of it. Good U.S.-Austrian relations are not likely to change when Waldheim assumes the largely ceremonial role of president. But neither will the increasingly well-documented record on Wal- dheim's Nazi-related past change. Austrians made their choice when they votedlast month. Now Am- bassador Lauder has made his, and it is the right one. The evidence is mounting. The accused Nazi is persona non grata. The charges against him keep gaining substantiation. U.S. officialdom should always keep this in mind and not only shut the door for Waldheim but keep the accusatory link- ing him with Nazi criminality on the in- erasable record.