50 YEARS AGO...

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Zionist Program

SY MANELLO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

he 25th anniversary of
the Balfour Declara-
tion was the occasion
for celebrations world-
wide. Messages were re-
ceived from Secretary of
State Cordell Hull, Wendell
Wilkie, Justice Felix Frank-
furter and General Jan
Christian Smuts of South
Africa.
Meanwhile, the Jewish
Labor Party in Palestine
voted to abolish all faction-
al lines to eliminate rising
friction within the organi-
zation, and a demonstration
at Albert Hall in London
saw Prime Minister Win-
ston Churchill and the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury join
with Jews to protest the
atrocities committed by the
Nazis in Europe.
The Detroit area was, as
usual, also involved in the
war effort. Samuel H. Ru-
biner was elected as the new
chairman of the Detroit
Army and Navy Committee
of the Jewish Welfare
Board. Thirteen organiza-
tions prepared 2,800 sand-
wiches for distribution in
the USO center in the Ham-
mond Building during the
previous three months. The
rabbis of Detroit arranged
to distribute to Jews in ser-
vice kits which contained
Bibles, prayerbooks, writing
paper and other gifts.
Many area young people
were assuming leadership
roles. Shirley Subar was
elected president of the
Zionist Youth Council; San-
ford Perlis was chosen to be
the new head of the Shaarey
Zedek Youth Congregation;
Harold Novak became the
leader of the League of De-
troit Jewish Youth; and Sal-
ly Fields headed the Alpha
Zeta Group.
Young people also were
prominent in the entertain-
ment offered in the commu-
nity. The first Children's
Festival was set for the
Main Public Library and
featured music written and
performed by musicians all
under the age of 16.
Several other programs
were set at this time. The

Jewish Community center
hosted an Armistice Day
dance with the theme
"Flags On Parade"; during
the intermission a Victory
Quiz was conducted by
Danny Raskin. Frederic S.
Marquardt, Far Eastern ex-
pert for the Chicago Sun
spoke about Japan to the
sisterhood of Temple Beth
El. Elly Kassman, New
York pianist, opened the
fall series of concerts at the
Jewish Community Center.
Our servicemen were in
the news for their recent ac-
complishments, in addition
to defending their country.
PFC Henry Cove, on fur-
lough from the Marines, ad-
dressed the Jewish Nation-
al Workers' Alliance; Sec-
ond Lt. Victor H. Goulding
was promoted to Judge Ad-
vocate; Herbert L. Raskin
graduated from Officers'
Training School.
The sports scene was an
active one. The bowling al-
leys at the Jewish Commu-
nity Center became avail-
able for use by clubs and or-
ganization.s for their own
leagues and teams. Don
Ridder of Lawrence Tech
brought his basketball
squad to the JCC for a clin-
ic, exhibition and short
game against a Center
squad. Martin Miller, who
rolled a 259 in the Pisgah
B'nai B'rith Bowling
League, established the
high single game lead.
On the move was one
way to describe some mem-
bers of our community.
When it came to travel, the
following were among the
on-the-go crowd. Mrs.
Louis Krause was visiting
her children in Chicago;
Mrs. Samuel Gingold came
from Temple, Texas, to vis-
it her mother, Mrs. Joseph
Ehrlich; Mr. and Mrs. Moe
Leiter returned from a trip
to Montreal; Mr. and Mrs.
Leo Michelson left for a stay
in Clarksville, Tenn. ❑
This column will be a week-
ly feature during The Jewish
News' anniversary year, look-
ing at The Jewish News of to-
day's date 50 years ago.

The Journey Of Chana:
Warsaw, A Convent, Israel

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

ASSISTANT EDITOR

I

n June 1945, a young
Jewish girl stood before
the altar at a Catholic
Church in Warsaw and
prepared to dedicate her life
to Jesus.
Chana was 14, and she
wore a bridal gown — tradi-
tional garb for women about
to take their vows as nuns.
The room was filled with
sisters from the convent. The
priest presiding at the
ceremony was a man with
whom Chana had served in
the Polish underground. His
name was Karol Wojtyla; to-
day, he is known as Pope
John Paul II.
Chana Mandelberger
Avrutsky's long journey
from a Jewish home to a
convent, then back to
Judaism and to life in Israel,
will be the focus this Sunday
of the Holocaust Memorial
Center's annual dinner,
where Mrs. Avrutsky will
serve as guest speaker. The
program will include an in-
troduction by Archbishop
Maida and a video showing
Mrs. Avrutsky's return in
1989 to the convent where
she spent much of her young
life.
Her story began in War-
saw on April 21, 1931.
Chana's mother, Sarah, was
one of two children; her
father, Meir, was in the im-
port-export business. The
youngest of eight brothers,
he was an avid sports fan
who had little time for re-
ligion. Chana's Jewish iden-
tity became the responsibili-
ty of her grandmother,
Rachel, with whom Chana
was extremely close.
Chana's sister, Miriam,
was born in 1936.
While vacationing with
her two daughters out of
town in 1939, Sarah received
an urgent call from her hus-
band. Come home immedi-
ately, he said. Don't bother
to pack.
They ran out the door and
headed toward the station,
catching the last train for
Warsaw. It was overflowing
with travelers. Nobody could
even open the door to get in.
In the rush, Chana got
thrown on the roof as the
train pulled out. There she
sat day and night. Alone
with strangers, she often
wept. Just before the train

Chana Mandelberger, 8, with her uncle.

arrived in Warsaw, it was
stopped by a bomb.
"People were running
everywhere, running and
screaming, and I was look-
ing for my mother and my
sister," Mrs. Avrutsky re-
members. "I fell, and I lost
my sandal and hurt my leg
but I just kept running.
"Finally, I got to the train
station in Warsaw, where I
saw my father. Later, we
found my mother and sister.
This is how the war began
for me."
For months, the
Mandelberger family lived
in relative peace in Warsaw.
Then the Gestapo came to
their door and demanded to

see Meir. Four days later he
returned from Nazi head-
quarters where he had been
beaten bloody, his nails
pulled from his fingers. Meir
Mandelberger was never the
same man again, his
daughter says.
The Nazis soon established
a ghetto in Warsaw, where
they shipped Jews from the
city and nearby small
villages. Four, five families
often shared a single room.

Chana's days were spent
roaming the wretched
streets of the ghetto.
Then one afternoon she
met two boys who were look-
ing for a partner. They
wanted a girl who could pass
as a gentile, who spoke
Polish and who was tiny
enough to fit through a
small hole in the ghetto wall.
"My job," Mrs. Avrutsky
says, "was to get food to br-
ing back into the ghetto. But
how could I do it? I didn't
have any money. And
besides, it would have been
suspicious for a young girl to
just walk into a market and
ask not for some chocolate,
but for 40 pounds of bread
and potatoes."
At first, she managed to
secure the assistance of her
former nanny, a Polish

woman who had been close to
the family. But then the

nanny's nephew —never
without his Hitler Youth
uniform — came to live with
the woman.
"So I started looking in
garbage cans. I would pick
out the stale vegetables from
among the trash — it was