PURELY COMMENTARY
Never Again A Nazi-Engineered Kristallnacht
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
A
tragic reminder of the Nazi-
engineered tragedies, with an
aim for a "Final Solution" for
the Jews, in on the calendar of human
events that admonishes mankind that
anything that it planned for our
destruction is merely the paving of the
road to human annihilation. When the
German-Nazi-manipulated "Kristall-
nacht" of Nov. 9-10, 1938, was enacted,
it was to the disgrace not only of the
German people but of the world powers
who failed until that period to function
in rescue efforts that could have served
as an advance warning to those enac-
ting bestialities in what had been judg-
ed a civilized society.
It was on that day and continuing
night of horrors perpetrated in the Nazi-
enacted massacre that 275 synagogues
were burned. More than 100 Jews were
murdered while cries of "Death to the
Jews" were the murderers' shouts.
Some 7,500 Jewish owned businesses
were destroyed.
Is this sufficient reminder that if
synagogues are burned today the chur-
ches could be victimized the next day
amidst hooliganism that does not value
human life?
To this record of Germany's
Hitlerism there are 16 million
Holocaust victims, the six million Jews
among them. Isn't this a warning to
mankind for all time to come that the
cruelties imposed on so many millions
of innocent people do not differentiate
between religious and national origins?
West Germany's Chancellor
Helmut Kohl is among the leading
spokespeople for the post-Nazi German
era who does not hide his people's
shame. He emphasizes the obligations
to admit the crimes and to add to the
"Never Again" commitments. He calls
the Kristallnacht a "pogrom" and he
labels the Hitler brutalities "That terri-
ble milestone on the road to the
genocide perpetrated on European Jews
in the name of the Germans. We Ger-
mans are filled with shame by the
events of that day, Nov. 9, 1938."
Kohl's plea for tolerance to present-
day Germany must also add to the
"never again — never forget"
obligation.
The obligation is among the duties
that compel the teaching of the
Holocaust to young and old from
earliest childhood. To Chancellor Kohl
it is major in the atonement to the
Jewish people. In his dutiful commit-
ment on that score he places the obliga-
tion upon the entire German people:
Change presupposes that we
pass on what we learned from
our past to future generations.
We owe this to the victims whose
suffering must never be forgot-
ten. Therefore, we in the Federal
Republic of Germany are mak-
ing every effort to ensure that in
our schools and universities,
and in developing a sense of
citizenship, our young citizens
are informed about the
calamitous past and come to
realize their duty to treat our
history in a responsible manner.
It is not by forgetting but by
remembering the past that we
can muster the courage to resist
the forces of evil in history and
together pave the way to a bet-
ter future.
This is the unlimited, unrestricted
duty that must be viewed for all
mankind.
Deploring his nation's sinfulness,
Chancellor Kohl writes and speaks
about the guilt of genocide. A grateful
act by the United States Senate, on Oct.
14, ended a sorrowful delay in approv-
ing the American enrollment with 97
other nations who already approved the
Genocide Convention.
It took 40 years, from the im-
mediate endorsement of the genocide
principles by President Harry Truman,
Raphael Lemkin
to make its senatorial approval an
American principle. The adopted act
makes genocide a federal offense. Any
intent to destroy a national or racial
group now calls for severe punishment.
The legislation provides punish-
ment of a $1 million fine and life im-
prisonment for a killing under the code
and a $1 million fine and 20-year im-
prisonment for causing bodily harm, at-
tempting to cause mental impairment
through torture or drugs or trying to
destroy national groups. It has strong
endorsement from President Ronald
Reagan.
For nearly 29 years, Senator
William Proxmire of Wisconsin, who
decided on retirement from the Senate
at the end of this year, was the chief ad-
vocate of a positive action on genocide.
For 19 years he opened every senatorial
session with his plea in support of this
act. He was mentioned for the Nobel
Peace Prize in appreciation of such
devoted labors and it's a pity that it did
not materialize.
The name that is primary in the
genocide proposal is that of its creator,
Prof. Raphael Lemkin. What a pity that
he is not remembered with greater ad-
miration! While he was proposed for the
Nobel honor before his death in 1959,
his name now needs renewed emphasis.
His and Senator Proxmire's jointly
merit greatest distinction in American
records.
Lemkin coined the term "genocide"
as an act to destroy racial groups.
Lemkin took it from the Greek word
which means race plus the Latin that
defines killing.
Raphael Lemkin is a name never to
be forgotten. The Encyclopedia Judaica
helps keep it honored with the follow-
ing biographical facts:
Raphael Lemkin (1901-1959),
international lawyer who in-
itiated the use of the term
"genocide." Educated in Poland,
Germany, and France, he
became secretary of the Court of
Appeal, Warsaw, in 1927. Early
in his career he tried to mobilize
support for the international
penalization of genocide, despite
his view that crimes committed
by acts of sovereign states are
not subject to international
jurisdiction.
Returning to Warsaw in 1933,
after the Madrid Conference
for the unification of penal
law, he was compelled to give
up his official position. He
suffered under Colonel Beck's
pro-German anti-Semitic gov-
ernment.
In the early part of World
War II most of his family were
murdered in Warsaw by the Ger-
mans. Lemkin fought in the
Polish underground, eventually
escaping and finally reaching
the United States in 1941. There
he taught at Duke and Yale
universities and served on the
Board of Economic Warfare,
under Henry Wallace.
In 1944 he published his Axis
Continued on Page 40
Liberalism An Unending Factor In American Life
G
radually, item by item, thought
by thought, the principles that
are vital and should have
emerged predominantly in the current
political campaign are rising into
voters' concerns.
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Vol. XCIV No. 10
2
November 4, 1988
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1988
There is much that remains
unresolved. One idea that has always
been an "ideal" will remain to
challenge some, plague others. It is the
manner in which the term "liberal" has
become a byword, for some a means of
accusing; therefore, to some degree a
curse.
As a life's experience, most Jews
might have felt insulted if their
liberalism was questioned. A study of
relations to the present presidential
campaign conducted for the American
Jewish Committee maintains that
liberalism remains a dominant source
of idealism for American Jewry.
Prof. Steven M. Cohen of the
sociology department at Queens Col-
lege, City University of New York, in his
study of American Jews' political views
and their determinants, maintains that
"Jews will be motivated both by their
liberalism and by their concern over
their own security and that of Israel."
Therefore anti-Semitism and
Israel's security are major concerns in
judging candidates and their parties'
platforms.
It is on the liberal trend that this
ideological attitude that Prof. Cohen's
conclusions are vital for an understan-
ding of the Jew as a liberal.
The American Jewish Committee
points out upon releasing the Cohen
views: "His analysis identifies several
factors that account for the Jewish tilt
to the liberal side of the political spec-
trum, the most prominent among them
being parents' politics, education and
secularism."
Prof. Cohen makes these assertions
in his emphasis on continuing Jewish
devotions to liberalism:
Jews are more liberal, part-
ly because more of them had
liberal parents (and fewer had
conservative parents) than did
other Americans.
Jews are also more liberal
because they have attended col-
leges and universities far more
than have other Americans.
Moreover, higher education has
a greater liberalizing impact on
Jews than it does upon others.
Jews are more liberal
because they are so secular, that
is, non-religious. Although deep-
ly attached to other Jews as an
ethnic group, Jews report
reigious service attendance
rates far lower than other
Americans. Generally, the more
religious are more conservative.
In a sense, these findings reduce the
element of conservatism in testing the
Jewish role in social as well as political
attitudes by American Jews. Perhaps
they are indications of the uninter-
rupted liberalism that will remain
guidelines of their vote on Tuesday.