I PURELY COMMENTARY I

`Jewish Anti-Semite' Exposed As Stalin's Henchman

hating "Jewish anti-Semite" in Kahan's
description. Kahan went to Russia to in-
terview him and found him still alive,
in his 90s. This is the uncle described
by the nephew who dared expose him
and therefore now is persona non grata
in Russia, as Kahan reveals in his book:
After all, how many people
have an uncle who remained in
power in the world's largest
country for over forty years?
How many people have an uncle
who was the right-hand man of
the most hated dictator the
country ever had? How many
people have an aunt who was
the dictator's wife and another
uncle who was this dictator's
commissar of aviation?

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

F

or four decades, whenever an
effort was made to link Jews with
Communism, in every attempt to
prove that Jews had domination and in-
fluence in the Kremlin, the name
Kaganovich always headed the list.
Soon it was the only name thus utiliz-
ed by the biased. Now the man who was
the medium for hatred of Jews is reveal-
ed in a most sensational expose by a
nephew.
In The Wolf of the Kremlin: The
First Biography of L. M. Kaganovich, the
Soviet Union's Architect of Fear (Mor-
row), Stuart Kahan reveals the horrify-
ing story of a terror-creating uncle.
Stuart Kahan, who previously was
associated with the Philadelphia
Bulletin and the New York Times and
is now the managing editor of McGraw
Hill publishers, is the nephew of Lazar
Moiseyevich Kaganovich. His aunt,
Lazar's sister, was Stalin's third wife.
Another uncle, Mikhail, Kaganovich's
brother, was Commissar of Aviation
under Stalin.
Kahan worked on his book for about
ten years. It is receiving high acclaim
and Harrison E. Salisbury, who head-
ed the New York Times bureau in
Russia for a number of years, encourag-
ed him: "Go ahead and write the book.
Don't just do an outline. Write what
needs to be written. It's a story that
must be told. There will be someone out
there who will understand what this is
all about and will believe in its impor-
tance." Kahan followed Salisbury's
guidance and the book is truly a
sensation.
In his preface, Kahan writes about
his uncle who is a "devil," stating:

The villains: Kaganovich and Stalin in 1935.

Some of my own family will
not like what they read here.
That's unfortunate but realistic.
When most people set out in
search of their "roots," they look
for relatives who were members
of a royal family, or perhaps a
physician who discovered a
cure for a dread disease, or a
great statesman who kept the
peace. In my own family, I found
a number of these "good" peo-
ple, including honest tradesmen
and laborers. But the leader of
the clan, the one relative who
towered above them all, was, to
put it mildly, a devil. That
relative exuded evil, an evil that
put millions of people to death,
an evil that turned against his
own people.
Kaganovich emerges as the self-

Although Rosa and Mikhail
were important, it was Lazar
who controlled the center stage.
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich,
Stalin's closest confidant, the
chairman of the Soviet
Presidium, the man who set up
the amalgamation of the state
security forces that later
became the infamous KGB, the
man who personally supervised
the purges that ran rampant
through Russia in the thirties
and forties, the man who in-
stituted more restrictions and
quotas on the Jews than anyone
else, the man who urged and or-
chestrated the deaths of 20
million people, the man who
brought Khrushchev to power,
the man who was in charge of
building this fantastic subway
system — which bore his name
for over twenty years — the
ultimate Jew-hater himself, and
the only Jew in the hierarchy.

Kaganovich is revealed in The Wolf
of the Kremlin as brutal if not more so
than Stalin himself. On occasions he is
portrayed as having guided Stalin in his
brutalities. There is, for example, the
explanation of the death of Shlomo
Mikhoels, who will be one of the Stalin
victims commemorated at the S. and M.
Friedman Yiddish lecture series at the
United Hebrew Schools on Oct. 25.
Kahan thus reveals the background of
the Mikhoels murder:
The Jewish Anti-Fascist
Committee, which was con-
sidered to have done excellent
work during the war, was now
dissolved, and its leaders were
arrested. The charges were too
easy. They were deemed to be
working against the state. All
Jewish cultural institutions, like
the Moscow Jewish Theater,
were liquidated. The Com-
munist party apparatus and the
ministries at all levels were
purged of Jewish personnel. In
colleges, in scientific institutes,
even in many factories, a quota
system was introduced. The
number of Jews was reduced to
a minimum; in some instances
this number was set at zero.
Lazar's intention was simple.
He would quietly wipe out all
the victories of the revolution.
He would rob the Jews of their
dignity and turn them once
more into second-class citizens,
perhaps even less. In effect, he
stopped just short of
extermination.
Important Jewish figures
were hustled off to detention
camps for "redevelopment and

Continued on page 42

Northern Sage Cohodas Lends Power To Academia

S

am Cohodas has gained the fame
of most glorious popularity in
our state's Upper Peninsula.
Nearly everybody in Marquette,
Ishpeming, Gladstone, Hancock and
scores of other northern Michigan cities
know "Uncle Sam," or "Doctor Sam," as
the universities in this area call him.
His name is on the buildings and
facades of Northern Michigan Univer-
sity, its library, numerous other struc-
tures. His benefactions have become the
links between two nations — the United
States and Israel.
While his chief interests are in the
Upper Michigan academia, the Cohodas
philanthropies are inexhaustible in
Israel. Sam Cohodas has a record of so
much giving and encouragement for
Israel's major causes and needs,
primarily the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, that he is among the giants
in Zionism from this state. Israel Bonds,
the Zionist Organization of America,
Jewish National Fund, Hadassah, and
many other causes, owe him gratitude.
In academia, "Doctor Sam" has
brought together two nations and two
universities — Northern Michigan
University and the Hebrew University

2

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 1987

in Jerusalem and the two countries
where they function. Therefore he is the
link between the two.
Now his light is shining even more
brightly in our state. Dr. James B. Ap-
pleberry, president of Northern
Michigan University, has just announc-
ed the establishment of the Sam M.
Cohodas Chair of Banking and Finance
at the university. It is to function in the
Walker L. Cisler School of Business.
Sam Cohodas' record is like a
Horatio Alger triumph. Born in Poland
92 years ago, he was brought by his
parents to Marinette, Wis., when he
was eight years old. With his brothers
he established the Cohodas Brothers
Company which became one of the na-
tion's largest produce distributors. In
the last decade, already 80, he attain-
ed another mark of great creativity. He
built one of the outstanding banking
corporations. As a leader in business
and finance he is now among the
leaders in public benefactions and
philanthropies. It becomes apparent in
the announcement by Dr. Appleberry
that the Cohadas Chair of Banking and
Finance is to be a $1 million project and
that $700,000 has already been raised

toward it. Dr. Appleberry stated:
Sam had a vision, back in
1974, to create a permanent en-
dowed chair in banking and
finance. Recognizing the value
of this chair to the banking com-
munity, he initially contributed
$263,000. Since that time "Dr.
Sam" has provided additional
contributions to the chair. A
prominent recognized scholar
will be sought to fill the chair
once the endowment goal is met.
Northern Horizon, official organ of
Northern Michigan University Alumni,
paid deserving honors to Sam Cohodas
in an impressive feature article about
him. It called attention to his initial gift
toward the endowment of the Cohodas
Chair and the pursuant gifts toward it.
Now it already earns $60,000 annual-
ly, and the aim is to attain the $100,000
annual interest goal to provide for the
required professorships.
The Northern Horizon article
quotes Ellwood A. Mattson, president
of the NMU Development Fund, which
states: "Through the Cohodas Pro-
fessorships we are striving not only to

Sam Cohodas and James Appleberry

add to the learning experience of NMU
students, but we want to help improve
the economic life of the Upper Penin-
sula. The Northern Horizon article
makes known these additional facts
about the Cohodas philanthropic
actions:
Continued on page 42

