OTHER VIEWS
The Making of Hate
time, they turned into sworn
stand how the hate slipped
Nazis. They refused to listen to
into the lives of all the seg-
the slightest criticism of Hider."
ments of the German popula-
this happened in 1939 amid the
he story Address Unknown by
The author asked herself "how
tion and how it happened
blitzkrieg; within months, a great part of could this happen? What could
Kressman Taylor was first pub-
that so many Germans were
Europe was under the domination of
lished in its English version in
cause these initially good people
influenced by that hatred to a
Hitler. As a result, the Dutch translation, to change that way?"
September 1938 in Story magazine, and
degree that they partook will-
it proved an instant success. It was made for instance, suddenly vanished into thin
Irwin Shaw, then a young
ingly in the most horrible
air and Address Unknown was soon
RA CHEL
up of letters, spanning 1932-34,
student in Detroit, read Address
genocide in human history".
banned
by
the
Nazi
Germany
regime.
KAPEN
exchanged between Max Eisenstein, a
Unknown after it was first pub-
And how is the book doing
Corn munity
Jewish American of German descent liv- Consequently, Address Unknown, despite lished, and it made an indelible
in its Hebrew-Israeli address?
its initial success in the United States
Per spective
ing in San Francisco, and his former art
impression on him. For years,
It seems that it was accepted
and Britain, was virtually unknown in
gallery partner and good friend, Martin
he used to buy many of its
with a great deal of interest. It
the 60 years that followed.
Schulze, a German who returned to his
copies for friends and acquaintances.
was also adapted to the stage and the
In 1992, the still existing Story mag- As the executive director of the Jewish
homeland with his family after living
play travels all over the country, to kib-
azine decided to reprint Address
for years in the United States
Community Center of Metropolitan
butzim, moshavim, high schools, etc. It's
Unknown and it met Detroit for many years, he used to
The history of the story since then is
a steady companion to counselors taking
with enthusiastic
worth revisiting as we mark the first
organize readings of the book, and he
high school students to visit the German
response. The maga- didn't stop throughout his life.
yahrtzeit of Detroiter Irwin Shaw on
concentration.camps in Poland.
zine's editors
Feb 2.
The re-emergence of the book in
New Beginning
believed that the
As a result of the story's success,
Israel also generated a revival of sorts
book's message held
Reader's Digest decided to publish
In 1992, he gave a copy of the book to
in other countries with translations
an even greater sig-
Address Unknown in 1938 and it was
his Israeli friend Asher Tarmon, a
proliferating in French, German,
nificance after the
read by 3 million people. This double
Hebrew educator and author who was
Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian,
bitter lessons of the
a shaliach (Israel emissary) in the JCC
success led the prestigious Simon and
Japanese
and a myriad of other lan-
Irwin Shaw
Shoah.
Schuster publishing house to publish
in the late 1960s. Asher read the book
guages. It was adapted to the stage in
the story for the first time in book form
and was deeply affected by it. Irwin
different countries, including an off-
.Author's Roots
in 1939 and it sold 50,000 copies, an
wanted him to translate it into Hebrew
Broadway production. Last year, on
The name Kressman Taylor, which the
impressive number at that time. This
and Asher didn't need much persua-
the eve of Yom HaShoah, a special TV
author used, was chosen by her as a
initial publication in book form drew
sion. Asher translated it, and in 2001,
production based on the book, was
pseudonym most likely to obscure her
the attention of a British publishing
the book finally came out in print.
shown on Israeli TV.
gender.
company and it, too, published Address
Asher explains the reason for translat-
All in all, Address Unknown, after 60
She was born in Ohio as Kathrine
Unknown with similar success, which,
ing the book into Hebrew and the
years of almost totally being unknown
Kressman; Taylor was her married name. relentless efforts on his part till it saw
in turn, precipitated its translation into
or forgotten, is enjoying a comeback
As for the reason she gave for writing
various foreign languages.
light in the Jewish state: "Every Israeli
all over the world as it brings to the
Address Unknown, she recounts: "A short is familiar, to a certain degree, with the
However, one should not forget that
fore a vitally important message, and
time before the war, some cultivated,
history of the Shoah and what preceded this at a time when anti-Semitism is
Rachel Kapen, an Israeli native and
intellectual warm-hearted German
the most horrible tragedy of our peo-
dangerously on the rise; widespread
daughter of Israel pioneers, is a West
friends returned to Germany after living
ple. Yet, I doubt whether people who
Arab and Muslim hatred of Israel and
Bloomfield resident.
in the United States. In a very short
were born here (in Israel) really under-
Jews only add fuel to the fire. El
T
Roe Vs. Wade's Religious Impact
New York
ast weekend marked the 32nd
anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the
historic Supreme Court decision
that affirmed a woman's right to repro-
ductive choice. The late Justice Harry
Blackmun described Roe, for which he
wrote the majority opinion, as "a step
that had to be taken on the road to the
full emancipation of women." What
may have been less apparent to Justice
Blackmun was the important step Roe
also made on the road to religious free-
dom in the United States.
As Jews, we celebrate the religious
freedom we enjoy in this country. This
year, American Jews commemorate the
350th anniversary of our arrival on
American shores in search of religious
freedom — freedom to practice our reli-
gion without government interference.
Religious freedom speaks to the right
of individuals to be respected as moral
Marsha Atkind is the president of the
National Council of Jewish Women. Her
e-mail address is president@ncjw.org
1/27
2005
24
decision-makers, able to make choices
based on their religious beliefs and tradi-
tions as well as their consciences. Views
on reproductive issues vary among reli-
gions and even within religions. For
government to interfere by imposing a
single belief compromises the freedom
to abide by our own religious teachings
on this deeply personal issue.
Today, reproductive freedom is
under attack in the federal courts.
With vacancies on the Supreme Court
a foregone conclusion, we fear that
the narrow balance in favor of
upholding Roe will tilt to the detri-
ment of women's reproductive rights
and our religious liberty. We must
take action before it's too late. Anti-
choice groups have chipped away at
Roe vs. Wade for years and are now
poised to destroy it. We must refocus
our efforts and re-energize our com-
mitments.
As President Bush begins his second
term, we hold out hope that his nom-
inations to the Supreme Court will
evidence true compassion and allow
women freedom of the most
their clergy, families and
basic kind: the freedom of their
physicians — but not by
bodies and their beliefs.
politicians or judges.
President Bush is a man of faith
This is the impetus behind
— he talks about his faith, his
the National Council of
prayers and his God. We, too,
Jewish Women's BenchMark
are people of faith and belief
campaign to save Roe vs.
who look to our own religion
Wade. The campaign edu-
for guidance and strength.
cates, mobilizes and advocates
MAR SHA
We believe in the morality of
on the importance of funda-
AT KIND
protecting women, their health,
mental freedoms, including
Sp ecial
their right to privacy and their
Com mentor), women's right to reproductive
religious beliefs. As the U.S.
choice, because we know the
Senate gets ready to vote on
future will be set by judges
judicial nominees for the federal
who hold lifetime seats on the federal
appellate and — perhaps very soon —
bench. During the next few months,
the Supreme Court, rabbis from more
we will be working with rabbis across
than 75 communities from all parts of the country to ensure that their voices
the United States have come together
are heard in the Senate, where critical
to ask their senators to remember that
decisions will be made that will affect
Americans cannot have religious free-
all of us for generations.
dom without reproductive freedom.
This president has done much to ele-
The rabbis warn that imposing a
vate the issue of faith in the public con-
single belief of reproductive rights
sciousness. His inaugural address
compromises our freedom to abide by
focused on the importance of extending
our own religious teachings. We have
freedom throughout the world. It
said it time and time again: The deci-
would be ironic and very troubling if
sion to have an abortion is a deeply
the freedom to practice one's faith with-
personal choice to be made by
out government intervention were to be
women, perhaps in consultation with
compromised or lost on his watch.
❑