Celebrating 50 years of growth with the Detroit Jewish Community

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7 SHEVAT 5753/JANUARY 29, 1993

Spartan Group

Jewish students organize at MSU.

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

Aside

BACKGROUND

Golan Peace?

Are Syria and Israel
inching close to an accord?

Page 33

ewish students at
Michigan State
University are or-
ganizing a politi-
cal presence on
campus.
"We're forming
a student voice," said stu-
dent P.J. Cherrin, who
spearheaded the forma-
tion of the Jewish
Student Union.
Mr. Cherrin said Jew-
ish students do not have
adequate representation
in student government
and to the university's
administration.
He referred to inci-
dents during past years
he feels should have
elicited more Jewish re-
) sponse, including campus
appearances by Louis

Farrakhan, leader of the
Nation of Islam.
The B'nai B'rith Hillel
Foundation sponsors im-
portant social and service
activities, but does not
satisfy the need for polit-
ical activism, said stu-
dent Rachel Bordman,
who serves as president
of Hinds student board.
Miss Bordman and
Hillel's Executive Direc-
tor Mark Finkelstein
support JSU and hope
members will use Hillel
as a resource.
Fourteen members of
JSU met last Sunday
with a representative of
the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan
Detroit. Council's As s o -
SPARTAN page 10

BUSINESS

B2 + A2 Success

Two U-M grads 'byte'
the software market.

Page 37

ENTERTAINMENT

Sephardi Baton

Brazilian and Sephardi
music are featured Sunday.

Page 71

Contents on page 5

Bringing Back Memories

Local Jews from Czechoslovakia fear a new wave
of anti-Semitism in their divided homeland.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR

oon after the Slovaks
joined forces with the
Nazis during World War
II, an employee showed
up at Emery Klein's fa-
ther's office. He had an
announcement. "I'm tak-
ing over your business."
More than 40 years lat-
er, Mr. Klein watches with distress as
the nation where he was born splits
with the Czech republic. It doesn't bode
well for the small Jewish community
— including Mr. Klein's cousins — sfill
residing there.
"The Slovaks," he says, "are horrible
anti-Semites."
This month, the former Czech-
oslovakia — founded in 1918 — split in
two. Cooperation between the two republics like-
ly will continue, but observers fear the moral in-
fluence of the Czechs will not.
"The Slovaks were always worse," says Mr.
Klein, of West Bloomfield.
Not long ago, he was in Czechoslovakia for

business and visiting his cousins. They met up
with "a big husky guy" in a revolving door.
Perhaps recognizing Mr. Klein's cousins, per-
haps just a guess — he growled, "You dirty Jew
bastard."
Slovakia became a satellite of the Nazis in
1939, when Hitler forced the breakup of the coun-
try. By 1940, the Slovaks had established their
own institutes to "solve the Jewish problem," and
more than 10,000 Jewish busi-
nesses were shut down. Two years
later, Slovakia deported 60,000
Jews, many of whom went straight
to Auschwitz.
Among the unique aspects of the
Slovak-German relationship dur-
ing the war was the Slovaks' agree-
ment to pay 500 Reichmarks for
each Jew deported. The Nazis
claimed the money was needed for "vocational
training." The Slovaks consented payment —
with the stipulation that the Jews would never
return home.
Emanuel Mittelman was among the Slovakian
MEMORIES page 10

The Slovaks
agreed to pay
the Nazis for
each Jew
deported.