looking back

In October 1945, hundreds of protestors marched in front of the National Bank Building in Detroit, which housed the office of the British
Consulate. They were protesting the British White Paper, which restricted the immigration of Jews into Palestine and was in favor of a
Jewish national home in the land of Zion. The protest was followed by a rally in front of city hall, which was attended by thousands of
people.•

Courtesy Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives, JCRC.28.1.

From the DJN

Davidson Digital Archive

R

ecently, Arthur Horwitz, executive editor/publisher of
the JN, told me about a note he received from Eugene
Driker, who found an obituary in the Davidson Digital
Archives for his cousin, who died during the Anzio invasion of
Italy in May 1944. This was a fierce battle. Although he was a
child at the time, Driker related that he still remembers the grief
following his cousin’s death in World War II. Of
course, he was not alone. Families throughout
America faced the same terrible news from
1941-1945.
During the past year, when I went back 75
years into the pages of the JN every week, I sort
of lived with World War II. Notice I said, “sort
of.” Reading about history can only provide
an impression of the era. It’s not like living
Mike Smith
through the experience.
Detroit Jewish News
I thought about this story, especially since
Foundation Archivist
last week was the 74th anniversary of another

66

June 14 • 2018

jn

famous landing, the largest invasion in recent history, June 6,
1944, “D-Day.” This was the day during World War II when
the Allies invaded what Hitler had declared to be “Fortress
Europe.” And, I wondered, what was the Jewish participation
in this monumentally historic event?
The second headline on the front page of the June 16 issue
of the JN in the Davidson Digital Archives gave me the answer:
“Jewish Youths First to Land During Invasion.” So, yes,
young Jews were there, fighting and dying, on the beaches of
Normandy, France. And they would continue to fight in Europe
for another year, but D-Day was the beginning of the end for
the Nazis.
None but the men who were there can really understand what
it was like. But we can read about them and honor their memory
and their sacrifice. •

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