62 January 24 • 2019
jn

Looking Back

“The Holocaust Unfolds” — An Exhibit from the Pages of the Jewish Chronicle/JN.

Mike Smith
Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation 
Archivist

W

e are going to try something new 
on the “Looking Back” page. 
Instead of my usual column 
that focuses on an interesting bit of Detroit 
or Michigan Jewish history I find in the 
pages of William Davidson Digital Archive 
of Jewish Detroit History, for the next 12 
issues of the JN, we will present an exhib-
it — “The Holocaust Unfolds.” This exhibit 
is also drawn from the Davidson Digital 
Archive and was on display at the Holocaust 
Memorial Center in Farmington Hills from 
October through December 2018. 
The exhibit began with two questions and 
an idea. 
The question: When did the Holocaust 
become known as the Holocaust, the Shoah? 
This question was a topic of discussion 

at a meeting with HMC CEO Rabbi Eli 
Mayerfield and then-Director of Education 
Robin Axelrod, along with Arthur Horwitz, 
JN publisher/executive editor and me.
Well, the answer to the question is that 
the Holocaust did not become a commonly 
known, agreed-upon term of description until 
a decade or so after World War II, when the 
magnitude of Nazi atrocities against the Jews 
and other groups came to light. 
And, we asked ourselves another question 
that led to the creation of the exhibit: How 
did the Detroit Jewish Chronicle and the JN
report about the Holocaust as it was hap-
pening? The short answer to this question is 
that, indeed, the Chronicle and the JN con-
stantly reported on events that make up the 
Holocaust, from Hitler’
s rise to power and 

Kristallnacht, to the atrocities against Jews 
and the stories of survivors — reports most 
often ignored by the mainstream American 
press. It is also the story of how Detroit Jews 
supported the war against the Nazis, fight-
ing in America’
s armed forces and helping 
the millions of displaced persons afterward. 
This, then, is the essence of “The Holocaust 
Unfolds.” 
I hope you will find the exhibit panels as 
they appear on the “Looking Page” to be most 
interesting and informative. Never forget. ■

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 

archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

Detroit was known as the “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II, as nearly 25% of 

the Allies’ war material was produced in Southeast Michigan. 

 

Detroit’s Jewish community did its part to support the war effort. Its members worked in 

factories building tanks, planes, guns, and ammunition, while also managing life at home 

in the midst of rationing of foodstuffs. Despite the difficult times, the community 

provided millions of dollars for the war effort. 

 

The front page of this issue of the Jewish News was devoted to a call by The Jewish 

Welfare Federation of Detroit for unity and service. This was the forerunner of today’s 

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. The Detroit Jewish community heeded its call. 

Slowly but surely, the world began to understand the horror and scale of the Nazi 
atrocities. The headline for the front page of this issue of the Jewish News described 
protests from the Allied nations and the western world. But was protesting enough? 

 

The front page also featured a headline about another aspect of World War II – Jews 

fighting against the Nazis. As the War progressed, the Jewish News reported on 

Jewish resistance in Europe. 

 

Slowly but surely, the world began to understand the horror and scale of the 

Nazi atrocities. The headline for the front page of this issue of the Jewish News 

described protests from the Allied nations and the western world. But was 

protesting enough? 

 

The front page also featured a headline about another aspect of World War II – 

Jews fighting against the Nazis. As the War progressed, the Jewish News 

reported on Jewish resistance in Europe. 

The escalating danger to European Jews was reported in this issue of the Detroit 
Jewish Chronicle. Here we see reports of Nazi-inspired rioting against Jews and the 
destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned stores and property. An early report, 
“Brown War Clouds Over Europe,” warned of the looming war in Europe as well as a 
threat to Jews. 

 

World War II was still four years away, but evidence of Hitler’s growing territorial and 

military ambitions – and his increasing support for and orchestrating of anti-Jewish 

activities – was there for those who could see it. 

