PURELY COMMENTARY
Highlights In Nine Decades Of Jewish Journalism
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
A
90-year record of Jew-
ish journalism in De-
troit marks a remark-
ably interesting anniversary.
Recollections of productions
and participants commence
from the very first year of this
century. Scores of periodicals
appeared and one was a week-
ly newspaper that drew na-
tional attention. While it
lasted only three years, hav-
ing been absorbed by its
predecessor, the functioning
Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish
Herald gave emphasis to the
eminent in U.S. Jewry. Its edi-
tion of March 24, 1927, gave
it preservative status because
of the prominence it gave to
the 50th birthday of Fred M.
Butzel.
Special attention was
drawn to this journalistic an-
niversary by numerous fac-
tors. The first was the atten-
tion drawn to the Jewish
Herald. Then there was an
obituary relating to the
daughter of one of the earliest
pioneers in Detroit jour-
nalism, Dr. Joseph Beisman.
His daugher Trudy, who died
last month in San Diego, as
Mrs. Melvin Casper at the
age of 88, had prominence or
a national scale. Anothe -
reminder: Honors now being:
accorded posthumously to
Milwaukeean who was an
organizing leader in the na-
tional Jewish ranks, Irving
Rhodes, had a commendable
role through his life's work in
the Jewish press.
About Trudy: It was a
Beisman that she already
rendered important services
assisting her father in his
journalistic tasks, as a creator
in 1904 of the Jewish Ad-
vancer which was a pioneer-
ing supporter of Zionism. She
exhibited such interest as the
wife of her first husband, Josh
Sarasohn, who authored a
humorous column in the
Jewish Herald entitled "Nu."
As the wife of her second hus-
band, Melvin Casper, Trudy
had a national role on the
staff of the United Negro Col-
lege Fund. The last 15 years
of her life were devoted to
writing and research for the
San Diego Jewish Historical
Society, which honored her
with numerous awards.
As Trudy Sarasohn she was
the first public relations
director of the Detroit Jewish
Welfare Federation. She
followed it as PR director of
the Detroit Community
Chest, and in both roles work-
ed closely with Isidore
Sobeloff, the Federation direc-
tor. Sobeloff, now residing in
Los Angeles, paid tribute to
the memory of Trudy by call-
ing her one of the truly ac-
complished in community
services. A journalistic an-
niversary therefore also re-
tains her memory.
Trudy took great pride in
her son, Prof. Stephen
Sarasohn, who acquired high
academic status in his late
20s in political science as a
Wayne State University facul-
ty member and as an author
of a textbook. He died in his
early 30s.
There was a funeral service
for Trudy Sarasohn Casper at
Beth El Cemetery Monday,
Jan. 8. In his eulogy, Leonard
N. Simons said the entire
Trudy Casper estate was be-
queathed to Wayne State
University, earmarked for the
Stephen Sarasohn Political
Science Scholarship Fund.
The recognition to be ac-
corded with high honors by
Milwaukee Jewry remembers
Irving Rhodes also as a native
Detroiter and the national
leader in journalism. He had
remarkable organizational
skills. He was briefly
associated with the Jewish
Chronicle here and had roles
in St. Louis, Kansas City and
Toledo before calling into be-
ing the Milwaukee Jewish
Chronicle. He was one of the
organizers of the American
Association of English-Jewish
Newspapers, whose name has
been changed to the now
dominating American Jewish
Press. There is good reason
for recalling the earlier name
Irving Rhodes;
Honored journalist.
because it used the designa-
tion "English-Jewish." There
still is a tendency to call the
Jewish newspapers "Anglo-
Jewish," which Rhodes and
we branded as wrong. The
British are Anglo-Jewish. We
are English-Jewish.
The honors now being ac-
corded to the name of Irving
Rhodes are being incor-
porated as an indelible page
in the history of American
Jewish journalism. An impor-
tant note about him was
prepared for me relating to
his important roles as a pro-
fessional journalist and as a
volunteer leader in Jewish
causes. The informative,
authoritative memo states:
Memorabilia from the
late Irving Rhodes, a
native Detroit who was co-
founder and publisher of
the Wisconsin Jewish
Chronicle, is included in
the Jewish communal ar-
chives established recently
in Milwaukee, Wis.
The archives, for the
study of Milwaukee's
Jewish heritage, are
located in the Samson
Jewish Community Center
on the recently created
Max and Anita Karl
Jewish Community Cam-
pus in the Wisconsin city.
In 1948, Rhodes had the
distinction of being chosen
by leaders of American
Jewry to be chairman of
the first-ever mission by
U.S. Jews to European and
Israeli Jewish communi-
ties.
Rhodes' selection as
delegation leader was
unusual because he was a
man of modest means, ac-
cording to Melvin F. Zaret,
retired executive vice
president of the Milwaukee
Jewish Federation.
But, Zaret said, "Rhodes
was a fine writer and
speaker" who "had
trememdous impact on the
Milwaukee Jewish corn-
Continued on Page 42
Romania: For Us The Agonies Tragically Multiplied
G
ive the occurrences in
Romania whatever
designation you wish
— revolution, democratic
reform, social unrest, na-
tional punishment — for the
press it became a priority
that may last indefinitely. For
Romanian Jewry and
therefore for our entire
history it is the hurban, the
calamity, the ruination that
was never ending and it com-
menced 50 years earlier.
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Second class postage paid at
Southfield, Michigan and additional
mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send changes to:
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS, 27676
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48034
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$33 per year out of state
60' single copy
Vol. XCVI No. 20 January 12, 1990
2
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 1990
Our fellow Jews in Romania
were a creative world force.
They were a million and now
they are 20,000 — mostly old,
decrepit, dependent on
welfare.
Jewish communities are
never totally destroyed. The
eternity is never demolished.
Romanian Jewish survivors
retain that designation in
Israel. The 400,000 of them
now in Israel carry with them
the symbol of warning
against the destructive,
pleading for the redemptive,
even now advising world
Jewry never to submit to
those who give comfort to the
would-be destroyers of Isarel,
giving aid to those who keep
creating the haven of refuge
in Israel, presently for Rus-
sian Jews.
The lesson of the hurban
Romanian Jewry is in its
numerology. They were a
million. The American
Jewish Year Book listed them
as 984,213 for 1930. The 1987
Year Book provides the figure
of 21,500.
Humankind can sit and
weep over the calamity. Those
who are now exacting
vengeance ascribe the guilt to
the most recent barbarities
and to Nicolae Ceausescu. It
began and continued much
earlier.
The current developments
have a serious link with
Israel's and world Jewry's
enemies, in spite of efforts to
describe the deposed and ex-
ecuted Romanian dictator as
the single friend of Israel in
the enemy Communist ranks.
The facts were related in the
Wall Street Journal article,
Dec. 27, by Juliana Geran
Pilon, under the heading
"Ceausescu's Men: Trained
by PLO and Libya." The
revealed accusations indicate
the following:
With the help of Libya,
Iran, Syria and Yassir
Arafat, Romania's late dic-
tator Nicolae Ceausescu
succeeded in preparing,
astutely and carefully , an
elite force to strike against
his own people.
According to French
television reports, Arab
commandos have been
shooting people at the
Romanian-Hungarian
border. PLO troops, as is
well known, have been
trained in Romania
alongside Syrian, Libyan,
Iraqi and Iranian units at
a number of locations.
Among these locations
were a camp near Buzau in
the Carpathian foothills,
and camps at Teleajen,
Baneasa and Snagov.
The origin and extent of
Ceausescu's terrorist con-
nections have been amply
documented by Ion Mihai
Pacepa, a former head of
Romanian intelligence
who defected to the U.S. a
decade ago. In particular,
Ceausescu enjoyed an in-
timate personal relation-
ship with Libya's Col. Qad-
dafi. Mr. Pacepa has
reported that he himself
had cemented close in-
telligence and military
cooperation with Libya
through repeated trips and
consultations.
Among the services of-
fered by Ceausescu to Col.
Qaddafi was the provision
of stolen and counterfeited
Western passports for use
in carrying out terrorist
operations — notably
airline hijackings. In ex-
change, the Romanians got
hard cash, which the
bankrupt economy sorely
needed, and instruction in
updated terrorist
techniques.
The exposure of anti-Jewish
crimes by Pilon in the Wall
Street Journal has many
more serious revelations
about the arch criminal and
his cohorts. The Pilon article
also exposes the manner in
which Jews and Israel and
those who were rescued from
Romania to settle in Israel
were blackmailed in the pro-
cess. The article states:
Ceausescu's security
methods seem to have been
drawn from the Iron
Guard, a fascist movement
that dominated Romanian
Continued on Page 42