looking back

Temple Beth El, Woodward and Gladstone in 1960. Students are learning with Rabbi Harold Hahn, standing. Note the
stained-glass windows in the back of the classroom that are now at the current Beth El in Bloomfield Township. •

Courtesy of the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin Archives at Temple Beth El.

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

From the DJN

Davidson Digital Archive

T

he headline for the Dec. 18, 1942, issue of the JN was anoth-
er headline regarding the growing recognition of the extent
and scale of German war crimes: “Democracies Strike
Back at Nazi Massacres.” Now, to be sure, the JN had reported
about such atrocities almost from its first issue in March 1942,
and it had been a steadfast voice in Detroit and
nationally for the victims of such crimes. This
is before the Holocaust became a proper noun,
as we know it now. What is interesting is that
it was apparent by this point that, eventually
(there were still over two years to go before
Germany and Japan were finally defeated), the
Nazis and the Axis Powers were going to lose
World War II.
There were two articles in this issue of the
Mike Smith
JN that spoke to historic events after the war. In
Detroit Jewish News
Foundation Archivist
short, momentum was building to deal with two

62

December 21 • 2017

jn

critical issues, both related to world Jewry.
One article, on page 7, was about a meeting between a Jewish
delegation and President Franklin Roosevelt, where it was
acknowledged that 2 million Jews had been killed by the Nazis,
and that another 5 million were at risk of being executed. Of
course, these are, sadly, fairly accurate statistics. But, it was good
to read that President Roosevelt pledged retribution for these vic-
tims of inhuman crimes.
The second article, on page 6, addressed the issue of land for
Jews in Palestine. This is one piece of the post-war puzzle that led
to the establishment of the State of Israel three years later.
I bring one other item to your attention — a eulogy from Rabbi
Leo Franklin of Temple Beth El for the recently deceased architect
Albert Kahn. It is a very fine piece of prose about one of Detroit’s
most successful Jews from one of Detroit’s most famous rabbis. •

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