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Hank Greenberg's 41 home runs topped
the American League and led the Tigers
to the World Series and to being named
the American League's MVP.
Small stores with colorful awnings lined the streets in residential neighborhoods of
a growing Detroit.
C airo
The Oriole Theater on Linwood and
Blaine was a popular destination for
Jewish movie-goers.
hP War
A look back at a very peaceful Detroit in 1940.
I
Irwin Cohen
eventy-five years ago in 1940,
Americans were humming and
whistling the new tunes of the
year, "You Are My Sunshine," "When You
Wish upon a Star" and "Blueberry Hill:'
Best-selling books included Raymond
Chandler's Farewell My Lovely, Ernest
Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls
and Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home
many buildings in Tel Aviv. The raid
killed 112, 55 of whom were children,
and wounded 151.
The "London Blitz" also began in
September. German planes targeted
the heavily populated East End district
of London. An estimated 2,000 planes
virtually destroyed the Jewish quarter.
Many survivors loaded their possessions
on their backs and sought shelter in cen-
tral London's schools, hotels and public
buildings.
Again.
Movie fans enjoyed Charlie Chaplain's
The Great Dictator, Walt Disney's
Fantasia, John Ford's Grapes of Wrath
and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca. The
latter starred Laurence Olivier, Joan
Fontaine and George Sanders and won
Academy Awards for best picture and
cinematography.
Life was far different on the other side
of the ocean.
More than 200,000 Polish Jews were
confined into the Lodz ghetto. On April
9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and
Norway and, a month later, the Nazis
marched into Belgium, Luxembourg and
the Netherlands. On May 17, Germany
invaded France.
As Western Europe was being overrun
by the Nazis, Winston Churchill became
prime minister of Britain in May. On
June 14, 1940, the Nazis marched into
Paris and six days later the French army
surrendered.
Around the same time, the Soviets
began their arrests and deportations of
198,000 Jews to Siberia. On Sept. 9, 1940,
an Italian bombing mission destroyed
As many buildings and families were
being torn apart in war-ravaged Europe,
Detroit prospered as many families
moved to the Motor City in search of
a better economic life. Many Southern
whites and blacks arrived in Detroit in
search of higher-paying jobs in automo-
bile factories.
Black residents numbered 149,119
or 9.2 percent of Detroit's 1940 popula-
tion of 1,623,452. Almost 20 percent of
Detroit's population was foreign-born,
and most were paying close attention to
events in Europe.
There were conflicting reports on the
number of Jews residing in Detroit in
1940. The 42nd annual volume of the
American Jewish Year Book issued by the
Jewish Publication Society of America
claimed Detroit had 90,000 Jews, and
105,201 Jews resided in the entire state
of Michigan. America had 4,771,000
Jews, according to the Year Book, or 3.69
percent of the country's population.
According to the Detroit Jewish
Chronicle, the 1940 Jewish population
Special to the Jewish News
S
18 July 2 • 2015
Jobs In Detroit
was closer to 85,000. Many of the city's
Jews were moving closer to Dexter
and Linwood, housing many Jewish-
owned businesses centering on the
streets between Chicago Boulevard and
Davison.
The Allied Jewish Campaign set a
quota of $925,000 for 1940. The first
week netted $550,000, but by the end
of the drive, the 20,440 contributors
accounted for $735,970. However, it
marked the first time the number of con-
tributors passed 20,000 and the amount
raised passed $700,000.
The Center Symphony Orchestra
made its debut under the direction of
composer, conductor and pianist Julius
Chajes at the Jewish Community Center
on Woodward and Holbrook.
Temple Beth El's sisterhood organized
a Red Cross unit that became the larg-
est of any congregation in Detroit. Beth
El's membership was smaller than it was
a decade earlier, though. In 1940, there
were 1,613 members, 137 fewer than in
1930. Shaarey Zedek had 750 member
families while the 32 other orthodox
synagogues in Detroit had a combined
membership of 2,977 families.
The Rose Sittig Cohen Building on
Lawton and Tyler, housing the United
Hebrew Schools (UHS) and the Jewish
Community Center, was formally dedi-
cated. Abe Srere, president of Detroit's
Jewish Welfare Federation, presided
over the ceremonies, which included
community dignitaries and rabbis. UHS
pupils previously attending the branch
at McCulloch School were transferred to
the new building.
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, which had 103
students in six grades for Hebrew stud-
ies on Sundays and afternoons, used a
four-family home on Elmhurst east of
Linwood for school purposes. However,
a fire in the house next door prompted
Detroit safety officials to give a deadline
to the yeshivah to vacate its quarters.
Leaders of the yeshivah approached
directors of the Mogen Abraham
Synagogue, who recently sold their
Farnsworth building, regarding future
plans. The meetings resulted in a merger
with plans to construct a synagogue and
school building on Dexter and Cortland.
Hank The Hero
Ira Kaufman, a former milk salesman
and hardware store owner who went to
night school to earn a license to operate
a funeral parlor, opened the Ira Kaufman
Chapel in a two-story flat on Dexter. As
Kaufman was preparing for funerals,
Detroit baseball fans were celebrating
their team and Hank Greenberg.
Greenberg's 41 home runs and 150
runs batted in led both leagues and
led the Tigers to the World Series.
Greenberg, who batted .340 in the regu-
lar season, hit .357 in the series, but the
Tigers were defeated by the Cincinnati
Reds in seven games.
Mel Allen and Red Barber were
teamed to broadcast the World Series
on radio. Allen, whose real name was
Melvin Allen Israel, idolized Greenberg
and spent many a summer day visiting
relatives in Detroit as a youngster. He
was 27 at the time and in his first year
as voice of the Yankees. Barber, 32, was a
Calm Before The War on page 20