looking back
Checkmate! On Feb. 27, 1955, chess grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky competed against 50 chess players simultaneously at the D.W.
Simons branch of the Jewish Community Center at Tuxedo and Holmur in Detroit. Only one competitor beat Reshevsky at his own
game: young Daniel Chesluk (seated in center). He may have had a bit of help from his father, Dr. Herman Chesluk (right, beside Daniel). •
Courtesy Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives (JCC.49)
Historic photos are curated by the
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.
From the DJN
Davidson Digital Archive
T
he front page of the Nov. 13, 1942, issue of the JN, which
still had a headline about the War Chest, featured pho-
tos of a unique World War II unit, an all-Jewish “Buffs”
Regiment. The story claims that 47,000 Palestinian Jews were
enlisted this regiment. While there is no doubt a lot of Jews
from Palestine served in the war, since regiments generally only
had 4,000 soldiers, I wonder about the number
reported in this article.
Nevertheless, the excellent photo display on
Page 1 showed the tough training that the Jews
were undergoing, and noted that they were
eager to strike the Nazis. Their time was com-
ing soon, as another story on Page 3 had the
headline: “Nazis Blame Jews for U.S. African
Invasion.” To say the least, the Nazis blamed
Mike Smith
Jews for everything and this was no exception.
Detroit Jewish News
Unfortunately, the Nazis began reprisals
Foundation Archivist
against Jews in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
54
November 9 • 2017
jn
But, the Americans had landed in North Africa on Nov. 8. It
would take some time, but the Americans, British, Free French
and their Allies, including the all-Jewish regiment, would indeed
boot the Nazis out North Africa.
There was also a feature on page 14 on ‘Wartime Cooking.”
The article first encouraged families not to waste a single scrap
of food whatsoever — there were people starving in Poland and
China. But the main point of the column was to suggest how one
might use ketchup, mustard and other sauces to liven up what
food one could obtain.
Finally, it’s been a while since I mentioned a Schmidt’s Beer
advertisement. Well, this issue had one that warned against talk-
ing about war work, and offered a solution: “War Workers — “If
you must talk — talk about Schmidt’s Beer in Quarts.” Problem
solved. •
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.