Community Views
Editor's Notebook
Because It Is
The Right Thing To Do
Missing Percy Kaplan:
A Beloved Colleague
JAMES R. LYONS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
PHIL JACOBS EDITOR
The phone call
was simple. A
group of Danish
teen-agers, along
with their Amer-
ican counterparts,
would be coming
to Detroit. Would
I be willing to take
them through the
Holocaust Memorial Center? The
answer, of course, was easy and
immediate — yes.
I've always been fascinated by
the Danish experience in World
War IL When we seek to learn the
lessons of the Holocaust, the Danes
have a great deal to teach us.
hi October of 1943, some 8,000
Danish citizens who were Jewish
lived in Denmark. Up to that time,
accommodation had been made by
the Danes and the German occu-
pying forces that as long as Dan-
ish citizens had justice in the
courts, the Danes would not rise
up against the Nazi regime. When
word went out that Jews
were to be rounded up, the
following happened quickly:
Of the 8,000 Jews, 7,200
were taken by a variety of
means to Sweden. Individu-
als in Danish hospitals who
could be identified as Jews
immediately were dismissed
from the hospitals, taken, of-
ten by ambulance, to other
hospitals where they were
readmitted under false
names and false credentials.
Approximately 500 Danish
citizens who were Jewish
were taken to Theresienstadt
where, under pressure from
the Danish government, 450
survived.
Professor Leni Yahil of the He-
brew University in Jerusalem
wrote, "The rescue operation car-
ried out by the Danes in October
1943 is unique in two important
respects: 1) more than 98 percent
of the Jews were saved; 2) there
was a basic consensus among the
Danish people that the Jews must
be saved."
Over and over the Danes them-
selves refused to think they did
anything heroic and asked the sim-
ple question, "What else could we
have done?"
Here is a country which is iden-
tified as Lutheran, inheritors of
the teachings of Martin Luther,
but whose religious community re-
jected Luther's "teaching of con-
tempt." Their Lutheran teachers
taught a positive understanding
ofJews and Judaism. How did this
happen and what can we learn
from it?
To understand the background,
>1' we must go to one of the great in-
tellectual and religious figures in
The Rev. James Lyons is the
director of the Ecumenical
Institute.
Danish history, N.F.S. Grundtvig
(1783-1872). Grundtvig brought
together a rare combination of na-
tionalism, Christian commitment
and humanism. All three worked
together.
The humanism was theologi-
cally based on Genesis, where all
humans were created by God.
Therefore, people ought to be treat-
ed with respect as creatures made
in God's image.
The religious dimension recog-
nized that Jesus and the early dis-
ciples were Jews, and without
Jews, we, as Christians, would
have no understanding of God and
that the family of Jesus (i.e., the
Jews) became our family and had
to be respected and accepted in
love.
The nationalism argued that all
people were equal in Danish law,
and while the church and the state
were united, church membership
or attendance was not required for
state protection.
Since state protection was guar-
anteed to all citizens, including
Jews, the church in Denmark saw
the question ofJews as a "weath-
ervane" about the intentions of the
Nazis to fulfill their agreements
with Denmark to justly deal with
Danish citizens.
Long before October 1943, Dan-
ish clergy were writing, preaching
and reading from their pulpits af-
firmative statements about their
fellow citizens who were Jews.
They were asking questions about
their responsibilities if a crisis
should arrive. As Nazi anti-Semi-
tism increased, Danish pastors
openly questioned how their wor-
ship services could be broadcast on
the same radio stations that car-
harangues.
ried
Thus the church, prior to the ac-
tual crisis, dug deep into its tradi-
tions, its understanding of the
nation and the rights of all indi-
viduals, its humanistic approach
based on a theology of God's cre-
ation and its rejection of the anti-
Jewish writings of Martin Luther.
They were intellectually and spir-
itually ready when the crisis came.
What lessons can we learn from
the Danish experience? I think, in
the first place, we need to be cau-
tious about attributing to all
Lutherans the anti-Semitism of
Martin Luther. It has been and
continues to be repudiated, and
the Danish church shows it does
not have to be at the heart and core
of the Lutheran religion.
Second, Danish nationalism
was very strong, but it did not iso-
late others into small groups. Se-
rious questions have to be raised
about the question of multicultur-
alism in society. The Danes saw
all members of their society as part
of the Danish culture, even though
groups lived out that culture in
their own ways.
I think there are times when
multiculturalism is used as a tool
to divide us. It is an easy way out
for those who don't want to see
American culture defined in its
broadest, most inclusive sense.
Listening to some, I think they
support the multicultural point of
view because, "It is nice if you
(file in the blank) can main-
tain your wonderful tradi-
tions," adding silently "though
they are not part of our Amer-
ican culture." Third, we need
to understand what we mean
when we say the United
States is a Christian nation
or Israel is a Jewish nation or
Egypt is a Muslim nation. In
Denmark, Jews, as well as
others who chose not to at-
tend the official state church,
were not ostracized.
Indeed, in a rare action
when the puppet state be-
came anti-Semitic many cler-
gy resigned from their state
functions (remembering that
clergy in many European countries
are part of the "civil service"), there-
by refusing to give the state con-
trol over what they preached or
owing allegiance to a state which
had violated their principles.
Perhaps in the last place I
should indicate that I have been
impressed in reading the materi-
als about the Danish church that
questions were discussed before a
problem arose or a stand was
made. Far too often in today's
world a stand is made and then at-
tempts are made to rationalize
that position.
The very power of mutuality in
the ecumenical discussion is that
learning together we begin to ap-
preciate our common heritage in
terms of ethical and moral ques-
tions while affirming that we live
out our commitments in our own,
differing religious traditions. A
study of the Danish people shows
us the way for us to face today's
problems in a united front.
Maybe the Danes were right;
they weren't heroes; they were or-
dinary people doing the right thing.
Perhaps that's the most impor-
tant lesson of all. El
I don't have the
same history
that many do
when it comes
to Percy Ka-
plan.
He was, after
all, the longtime
executive direc-
tor of the Jew-
ish National Fund. He was also
the longtime aide and friend of
our founding publisher and ed-
itor, Phil Slomovitz. He used to
help Mr. Slomovitz write his
"Purely Commentary" column
each week in The Jewish News
during the later years of Mr. Slo-
movitz's life.
I remember walking in the of-
fice corridor and being intro-
duced to Percy and Mr.
Slomovitz. I remember Percy
saying to Mr. Slomovitz, "Phil,
meet Phil — only you have to
look up to this Phil."
Though taller than Mr. Slo-
movitz and Percy, I responded
that it was the two of them
whom I was looking up to.
That's when I knew Percy on
the periphery. It was after Mr.
Slomovitz's passing that Percy
came to me and asked me if there
was a role for him at The Jewish
News. I didn't have a definitive
answer. Yet, he still kept coming
in.
He died over the weekend at
age 87.
Have you ever had something
at home that you thought was re-
ally valuable, but you weren't
sure how much it was worth?
Then you find out that someone
else sold a similar collectible for
some astronomical amount? You
then empty all of those
junk drawers and desk
files, and you still can't
find it?
Percy Kaplan used
to come into my office
every Thursday like
clockwork. He'd bring
with him stale pieces
of paper, some of them yellowed
or tattered by age. There was a
column on Israel he'd offer up.
Or there was a magazine focus-
ing on Louis Farrakhan, only
this magazine was pro-Far-
rakhan.
I had no clue as to how he got
ahold of these pieces of informa-
tion — some of them treasures
— that he'd bring in. I'd even ask
him from time to time, "Percy
where did this stuff come from?"
He'd always shy away from any
real answer, not wanting to take
credit for finding such valuable
pieces of news.
Percy Kaplan would also take
all of our weekly Jewish news-
papers home with him. He'd
study them, pull what he
thought were important articles
from them and share them.
There was more, though. If
there was someone from a dif-
ferent part of The Jewish News
building, a woman in her ninth
month of pregnancy, a person
home sick with the flu, Percy
would always ask hoiv that per-
son was doing.
Last Thursday, just a couple
of days prior to Percy's passing,
Associate Editor Alan Hitsky
and I visited the Kaplan home
in Southfield. Percy seemed to
drift in and out of consciousness
while we were there. Yet, he rec-
ognized Alan's voice, and he re-
sponded, asking if a Jewish
News colleague had given birth
yet.
At his Monday funeral, Rabbi
Gamze of the Downtown Syna-
gogue delivered a eulogy that
said it all so well. Percy was, ac-
cording to the rabbi, a quiet force
in this city. You probably didn't
know him. But there was a good
chance that if anything was ever
written about you, Percy knew
you.
He was one of those people
who, when a eulogy is given
about him, all the talk about the
good of the person is true. Folks,
there was nothing bad about this
man, Percy Kaplan. He was
everything you saw.
He loved to have conversations
of an intellectual nature. I can-
not tell you how many times we
ran into one another at Border's
Bookstore in Birmingham. One
time, I sat back and watched him
"work" the newspaper section
and then head over to the mag-
azines and the books.
He was also a lover of Israel.
At his funeral were many of his
Zionist Organization of
America friends. Un-
fortunately, their num-
bers seem to be
dwindling. I think it
would behoove organi-
zations such as ZOA or
JNF or any other local
Jewish group working
with education to establish a Per-
cy Kaplan chair or scholarship.
His coffin was a simple, plain
box. It was so typical of Percy. He
would have disdained anything
fancy.
It's going to be a bit different
for us, I believe, on Thursdays
without Percy coming into The
Jewish News office. It's going to
seem strange to dispose of those
newspapers we bagged up for
him.
Percy's not going to be stand-
ing outside of my office door with
those Xeroxed copies of some-
thing he read in the Forward or
some other publication anymore.
It was quiet when he was
here. The quiet seems alarming
now that he's gone.
He was a collectible himself I
wish I could find him now.
"A q uiet
forc e"
❑