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Special Interests
Are Always Right

We've been reading a lot about the right wing in
recent weeks — the religious right, the conser-
vative right. (See Community Views on page 5.)
As the Republican Party tries to enact its Con-
tract With America, many groups have jumped
in to take credit, to trumpet their influence.
All have their eyes on the 1996 elections. Each
group is trying to stake out its territory, field
of influence, or share of the votes before Mr. and
Mrs. John Q. Public trek to the polls once again
next year in an effort to shape America.
The problem with 1990s politics is every group
and no one is ever wrong, or can af-
is right
ford to be wrong, or can admit to being wrong.
If we look back through history, being right all
the time has its limitations. Just ask any king.
We have placed such terrible demands on our-
selves and our representatives. Our society al-
lows no mistake, no failure. One false step and
the voters will throw you out. No matter that it's
an honest mistake, a well-meaning error, a dif-
ference of philosophy. No matter that the per-
son has a long track record of public service.
Take the case of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr., Pres-

—

ident Clinton's nominee for surgeon general of
the United States. He is under heavy political
attack for having performed 40 abortions dur-
ing his long and distinguished medical career.
He has also been pilloried for admitting that he
performed hysterectomies on mentally retard-
ed women in the 1960s and 1970s, a common
and accepted practice at the time.
Dr. Foster has had a 38-year career as both a
physician and medical school administrator.
That does not mean that he is the perfect can-
didate for surgeon general. But neither should
he be disqualified because he does not fit the nar-
row, one-issue politics of special-interest groups
who claim to have the ear of the political oppo-
sition.
If the criteria now in vogue on Capitol Hill
were used to scrutinize our elected representa-
tives, no one would qualify for the job. Our citi-
zens would be far better served if we got on with
the nation's business, rather than with public
policy and pronouncements geared toward win-
ning the next election.

ADL Reports Disturbing
Rise In Anti-Semitic Acts

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The Anti-Defamation League's recent audit of
1994 acts of vandalism and harassment against
Jews shows a dramatic 10 percent increase from
1993. The ADL reported that hate crimes na-
tionwide in these two categories were up to 2,066
in 1994 from 1,867 in 1993. Besides slurs
scrawled on public places, 25 arsons and 10 at-
tempted arsons took place last year, up from one
arson and two attempts the previous year.
Of the anti-Semitic incidents, 58 percent in-
volved harassment of some sort with an over-
whelming percentage directed at individuals.
The ADL survey also reported an alarming
continuation of an increased trend of campus
anti-Semitism.
What surveys and statistics and numbers can-
not show, however, are the victims' feelings of
hurt and violation. There is nothing that can de-
scribe the feeling of seeing one's home or one's
synagogue painted with a swastika. For a stu-
dent, who sometimes finds himself alone on a
college campus, the personal attacks are be-
coming all too frequent.
Michigan had a total of 26 incidents reported.
This was down from 43 reported in 1993.
These hate crimes are not examples of the lit-
tle boy crying "wolf." If we don't learn from these

events that there are people out there who hon-
estly, fervently believe that Jews are the cause
of their financial and social problems, not to men-
tion the very same conditions in this country,
then we are all the more foolish.
Anti-Semitism can be as tragically dramatic
as Rashid Baz's killing of Lubavitch student
Aaron Halberstam. It can be as subtle as a com-
ment made in person or even on the so-called in-
formation highway.
And we cannot sit back and allow it to hap-
pen. Haters don't have to wear armbands or
hoods. They can be the person in the tailored
suit; they can be schoolteachers; they can be par-
ents.
It's our job to report these incidents when we
feel they've happened. But it's also our duty to
educate our non-Jewish co-workers, neighbors
and associates that we all share equally in the
freedom guaranteed by our country's Constitu-
tion. While some use freedom of speech to sup-
port their expressions of hatred, this country
was founded on the principle that in this coun-
try any man or woman of any religion can join
in the pursuit of happiness. To violate that pur-
suit through an act of hate against a Jew or any-
one else is the biggest, foulest slur of all.

Letters

Blame Germans,
Not Just Nazis

The Feb. 3 editorial, "Grim
Tears," dealing with the 50th an-
niversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz, contained numerous
references to the wrongdoers as
"Nazis." One wonders if this des-
ignation, rather than the all-in-
clusive "Germans," is a
manifestation of political cor-
rectness or ignorance.
Whichever it is, the effect is,
that by emphasizing a designat-
ed subgroup, we exculpate the re-
mainder of the group. This is in
accordance with the rule of logi-
cal construction: Inclusio unius
est exclusio alterius," i.e., the in-
clusion of some implies the ex-
clusion of the rest.
This "sanitized" treatment of
the German people during the
Hitlerian period becomes espe-
cially obvious when contrasted
with the treatment of the Japan-
ese. Whether referring to the
rape of Manchuria, the death
march of Bataan, or the treat-
ment of Allied POWs, they are
always described as "Japanese
war crimes," without attempting
to carve out some subgroup such
as "Japanese Militarists." Re-
cently, the Bosnian Serbs re-
ceived the same treatment.
I do realize there are some
who, in the name of fairness, will
argue that it is unfair to taint a
whole people, citing the example
of Schindler or some other indi-
viduals. To those I can only cite
my own experiences in a concen-
tration camp in Baden, to which
I was sent from Auschwitz.
The inmates of the camp were
digging a hole in a rocky hill for
an underground factory. On the
way to and from the workplace
the prisoners, surrounded by
armed SS men and guard dogs,
had to pass through a pic-
turesque town by the name of
Vaihingen an der Enz.
In the fall of 1944, the entire
population of this town com-
prised women, old men and chil-
dren. Daily, they watched
columns of swollen, zombie-like
wretches shuffling down the
road. I often scanned the on-
lookers, searching in vain for
some indication of human reac-
tion, a glance of pity or compas-
sion. Instead, what I saw was
pure unadulterated hatred.

Those, it will be remembered,
were the last months of the war
which the Germans were obvi-
ously losing, but their support for
their Fuhrer and his goals con-
tinued unabated.
In conclusion, let me point out
that, unlike your lenient ap-
proach, the German newspaper
Die Zeit, referring to the same
Auschwitz anniversary, wrote
the following: "Are we shunning,
forgetting or redeeming guilt? .. ,
. Who talks these days about the
unique nature of German war
crimes?" Enough said.

Henry Starkman

Bloomfield Hills

JCC Library
Is A Bargain

I was horrified to learn that the
Detroit-area Jewish community
apparently will not support the
existing and much-used Jewish
library at the Maple/Drake Jew-
ish Community Center.
There is so much well-found-
ed concern about Jewish conti-
nuity these days, and very few
things promote Jewish identity,
foster Jewish literacy and raise
Jewish self-esteem like reading
Jewish books. But you need a lot
of books and other audiovisual
resources and programming —
a critical mass that a well-run li-
brary provides.
Story hours, reading contests,
literacy programs, book-review
programs, volunteer involve-
ment: together, these are the staff
of life for inspiring Jewish inter-
est and developing Jewish com-
mitment. The books, magazines
and tapes provided there inform,
entertain and connect Jews to
each other and to our past all
around the world and through-
out the ages.
For a Jewish population the
size of Greater Detroit, the
Maple/Drake JCC Library would
be a bargain at $12,000 a month,
let alone a paltry $12,000 a year.
We have no right to wring our
hands about the future of Ju-
daism if we deny support to the
institutions that are essential to
its present.

Irvin A. Mermelstein

Ann Arbor

LETTERS page 12

