PURELY COMMENTARY

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

Illustrious Family: Henry Butzel And 'Michigan Daily'

A

truly great event is on
the calendar for Ann
Arbor — the one hun-
dredth anniversary of the
Michigan Daily. The func-
tions planned for Oct. 19-21
are certain to enrich the
historiography of the Univer-
sity of Michigan.
In the planning, under the
chairmanship of Richard
Campbell of the U- M class of
1983, are colloquium of pro-
Michigan Daily alum-
mnent
_ i
ni, a banquet, receptions and
related history projects.
Unusual recollections are
certain to be recorded for the
celebration proceedings. Such
a rich array of journalists
stems from the editorial staffs
that commenced with the
first issues in October 1890
that fascinating history is cer-
tain to emerge.
Campbell's initial an-
nouncement recalls several of
the surviving Michigan Dai-
ly editors. He lists the
following:
1913 — David D. Hunting;
1918 — Philip Slomovitz,
Mildred M.R. Blake,
Frances Rogers.
Another reminder: Abra-
ham Satovsky, who just

celebrated his 60th anniver-
sary as a practicing attorney,
did proofreading for the
Michigan Daily in 1927.
There is a sensation, both
for the Michigan Daily and
our community. It is the
discovery that Henry Butzel,
who later became Chief
Justice of the Michigan State
Supreme Court, was a
member of the first editorial
staff.
The discovery is the result
of the history-minded
Leonard N. Simons' endless
devotion to enrich Jewish
archives.
Leonard Simons has been
researching background
material about Henry Butzel.
He called upon Judge
Butzel's son-in-law, Erwin
Simon, to provide him with
data. Simon loaned him some
manuscripts and a number of
photographs of U-M student
days. Leonard never does
anything halfway. He began
tracing associations, and in a
photograph of the first 20
man editorial staff of the
Michigan Daily of 1890, he
found the photo of Henry
Butzel.
Such is how an unusual
chapter in history develops.

Henry Butzel at 19.

Henry Butzel and his brother
Fred M. Butzel, also a
Michigan graduate, formed a
law partnership. Who would
have imagined that a famous
jurist had a role in
journalism?
The Jewish community and
the initiators of the Michigan
Archives can be grateful to
Leonard M. Simons for such
a remarkable recollection.
Here are early biographical
facts about Butzel from the
Universal Jewish Encyclo-
pedia:

Butzel, Henry Magnus,
jurist, b. Detroit 1871. He
practiced law in Michigan
from the time of his
graduation from the State
University Law School
(1892) until he was ap-
pointed to the Michigan
Supreme Court in 1929 to
fill the unexpired term of
Justice Fellows. Elected to
this office in 1930, he was
re-elected a year later for
the term ending 1940. In
1931 and 1939 he served
as Chief Justice through
the system which automat-
ically rotates that office.
He was again re-elected
in 1939 for a term of
eight years commencing
January 1, 1940.

During the World War,
Butzel was chairman of the
Legal Aid Commission in
Detroit. He was chairman
of the Michigan Judicial
Council. He was president
of the Detroit Bar Associa-
tion for two years. In
Jewish affairs, he has serv-
ed as president of the
United Jewish Charities
and Temple Beth El. Butzel
was largely instrumental
in the founding of the

Legal Aid Bureau of
Detroit.
There is much more to the
Butzel-in-journalism dis-
covery. It encourages interest
in his brother Fred, who
devoted himself to volunteer
social work especially with
the newly arrived East Euro-
pean immigrants. He had
several offers of judgeships
but turned them down,
devoting himself to the social
service commitments.
Interestingly, the earliest
Fred Butzel biographical
item, also in the Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia, was
devoted to his state and na-
tional commitments. Missing
are the later facts about Fred
Butzel the Zionist, the
pioneer, who was viewed at
the outset as an assimilated
Jew, yet responsible more
than anyone else for advocacy
of community support for the
Hebrew schools, and their
enrollment. Here is how he
was listed in the Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia:
Butzel, Fred M., lawyer
and social worker. b.
Detroit, 1877. Taking his
law degree in 1899, he

Continued on Page 36

Children's Responses To Being Tested As Jews

C

hildren of the third
generation of Jews in
the post-Holocaust
era of our time may be carry-
ing in their minds and hearts
the question of what kind of
Jewishness is to be expected
in the generations ahead.
Answers were procured
from youths aged 7 to 20 from
seven countries. Those selec-
ted were from East Germany,
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ro-
mania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia
and Hungary.
There is a remarkable
totality in the views express-
ed in a volume of unusual in-
terest entitled A Tree Still
Stands. It is subtitled: Jewish

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Postmaster: Send changes to:
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754 single copy

Vol. XCVII No. 21

2

July 20, 1990

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1990

Youth in Eastern Europe To-
day. It is a Philomel-Putnam
book. The author, Yale Strom,
who specialized in Yiddish
studies, is a writer, film
maker, musical composer,
specialist in Klezmer music
and photographer. These are
evident in the research he
conducted for his book which
is replete with photos of the
interviewed and landscapes of
the areas where they live.
Every aspect of Jewish life
and experiences with non-
Jewish classmates and
neighbors is reflected in the
replies to the author's ques-
tions and to reactions to fami-
ly, friends and the peoples
with whom they now ex-
perience their Jewishness.
Mixed marriages are now ig-
nored and like all other issues
touched upon are treated
with frankness. In fact,
parents present at the ques-
tioning either did not in-
terfere or the children in-
sisted on independent
thinking.
Author Strom indicates the
current Jewish population in
the countries he visited
together with the pre-
Holocaust figures. Only one of
the countries, Bulgaria, did
not submit to the Nazi terror

inflicted on Jews. Here is the
interesting note prefacing
Bulgaria:
When you visit the
Jewish club or walk by the
synagogue in downtown
Sofia, you can smell the
strong aroma of Turkish
coffee and hear the chatter
of the ladino, or Judeo-
Spanish, language. The
Jewish community here
has a distinct Mediterra-
nean flavor since many of
the families can trace their
ancestral roots to the
Jewish families expelled
from Spain and Portugal in
the late 1400s. The Jews of
Bulgaria were the only
Jews in all of occupied
Europe to be spared the
concentration camps, due
to protests by the church,
people, and army. Yet by
1950 nearly ninety percent
of the population of 48,000
Bulgarian Jews had
emigrated to Israel. Today
there are 4,000 Jews living
in Bulgaria.

Noteworthy is the mention
of immigration to Israel as
well as the reference to
ladino.
Additionally fascinating is
the age of the youngster from

Bulgaria. He was the
youngest interviewed. How
important is the opinion of
one who is only 6 1/2? Here is
this Bulgarian item from the
Strom book:
Simon Felix Koen, 656,
lives with his parents, who

Every aspect of
Jewish life and
experiences with
non-Jewish
classmates and
neighbors is
reflected .. .

are both Jewish, in the
Gypsy quarter of Sofia.
Simon speaks Spanish as
well as Bulgarian at home.
He learned Spanish from
his mother, who has lived
in Mexico City, Bogota, and
Havana.
I go to the Alliance
School where I am study-
ing English. I hope to learn
Hebrew, too, so I will be
able to speak with people
in Israel when I will go
someday. I was at a
synagogue for my first time
yesterday in Samokov. But
I don't know what people

do in a synagogue. My
parents have never taken
me.
My grandparents have
taught me almost
everything I know about
Jewish culture. They told
me how the Jews were tor-
tured during the Second
World War. And we
celebrate the Jewish
holidays with them. Every
year on Rosh Hashana (the
Jewish New Year) my
grandmother bakes mar-
zipan cakes for us. They
are my favorite.
There is a notable dif-
ference in the first item, the
interview in East Germany.
There is a special vitality in
this prefatory comment.
When you walk down the
oak-lined street that leads
to the gates of the
Weissensee cemetery, the
largest Jewish cemetery in
Europe, the calm that sur-
rounds the thousands of
gravestones in row after
row hints at little of the
grandeur of Jewish life
that existed in East Berlin
before the war. Germany
was once home to one-
million Jews, but in the

Continued on Page 36

