looking back

From the DJN
Davidson
Digital Archive

Hebrew Free Loan has been providing interest-free loans since 1895. It started in the backroom of a shoemaker’s
store but soon outgrew the space. By the 1930s, it had an office on East Kirby in Detroit, where this photograph
was taken. The 1930s saw an increase in demand, between the Great Depression and Jews fleeing Europe. Some
of the most needed items included a mode of transportation, housing and funds to book passage from Europe for
family members still stranded. •

T

he front page of the Sept. 4, 1942,
issue had several headlines, but one
very large feature. It was an image of
a certificate to the JN from the United States
Treasury Department for
“distinguished services
rendered in behalf of the
National War Savings
Program.” It is good to know
the JN did its part to achieve
victory in World War II.
There were, of course,
other
war-related head-
Mike Smith
Detroit Jewish News
lines on the front page as
Foundation Archivist
well as stories on the same
topic inside. One brief
item was about a subject
still controversial today and a source of
great debate among historians. An editorial
argues that the conclusion from “reliable
diplomatic and religious sources” was that
Pope Pius XII had taken a firm stand against
“atrocities perpetrated by the Hitlerites.” In
the editorial, it was reported that the Pope
had threatened to remove his nuncio, or rep-
resentative, from Germany.
Pope Pius XII maintained formal diplomatic
relations with all the Axis powers during the
war and provided clandestine support for the
opponents of the Nazis as well as for their vic-
tims. He was in a tough spot, to be sure. When
the Church openly supported a group of rabbis
in Poland early after that nation was occupied,
those particular rabbis were rounded-up by
the Nazis and sent to concentration camps.
But the question remains and is debat-
able — did he do enough? As a world reli-
gious leader, should the pope have taken a
stronger stand? Or would this have resulted
in even more deaths? Was he better off
working behind the scenes? Rabbis in Italy
thanked him for his efforts. I am not an
expert in this historical field, but I know
that I certainly would not want to have been
in his position. •

Want to learn more?
Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

86

August 31 • 2017

jn

Photographer, Grossman-Knowling, Inc. Courtesy Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives.

Historic photos are curated by the
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.

