looking back
Play ball! This beloved pastime has brought people together since its inception. In the summertime, it is a sure bet that
there’s a baseball game going on in some neighborhood! Here, kids from Northwest Detroit, c. 1950s, batter up. •
Photograher: Irene B. Bayer. Courtesy Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives.
From the DJN
Davidson Digital Archive
I
t is easy to forget that human history is constructed from
the actions of individuals. Sometimes it is the result of mass
human activities; at other times, it is distinctly singular. The
headlines of the Aug. 7, 1942, edition of the JN were about Nazis
and the plight of Jews around the world, but there were two
most interesting stories of individuals in that
issue.
On the front page, there was this headline:
“Bert ‘Yank’ Levy Teaches Guerrilla Warfare.”
Described as a “120-pound, black haired, mus-
tached” man, this is one Jewish boy that you
would not want to mess with! Levy literally
wrote the book on guerilla warfare. During
WWII, he was employed as a trainer of irregu-
Mike Smith
lar forces for the British and Americas.
Detroit Jewish News
In the same issue, a story about another
Foundation Archivist
individual, who operated closer to home,
50
August 3 • 2017
jn
caught my eye. The “Personality of the Week” was Mrs.
Alexander Sanders, who directed the work of 350 instructors
training more than 3,000 women in the American Women’s
Voluntary Service. Sanders was about to leave to attend a two-
week course held by the U.S. War Department’s School for
Civilian Protection, the only woman to that point to do so.
I did a bit of searching in the Davidson Digital Archives on
Sanders, and found 71 entries over 40 years citing her work on
education with the League of Women Voters and the Women’s
Division of the American Jewish Congress. In 1961, she even
chaired a program at Temple Emanu-El on “Widening Horizons
for Today’s Women.” Indeed, I think she did her part in this
regard. Despite her prominent role in Detroit, however, I could
not find her first name anywhere in the JN. •
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
Historic photos are curated by the
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.