JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 15

Small in stature, Slomovitz towered over 
others as a ferocious fighter for and defender 
of justice and Jewish causes. Slomovitz con-
tacted Danny Raskin, then a young reporter 
with the Detroit News, to join the new pub-
lication. Raskin didn’t think there was room 
for two local Jewish weeklies, But Slomovitz’s 
determination soon melted Raskin’s reluc-
tance. Raskin’s first column in the first Jewish 
News on March 27, 1942, was titled Jewish 
Youth’s Listening Post.
It was a difficult time to launch a new 
Jewish weekly as hundreds of Jewish men had 
recently departed to do their part in the war 
effort. 
Manuel Merzon, a respected, observant 
attorney, published the Detroit Jewish Review, 
a small bimonthly religious-oriented mag-
azine. Merzon, famous for wearing a large 
yarmulke around town, also began wearing a 
yellow Jewish star arm band similar to those 
worn by the Jews in Europe. He wanted to 
keep the plight of the Jews on the other side 
of the ocean in the public eye. However, with 
two local Jewish weeklies on the scene and 
diificult economic conditions, Merzon ceased 
publication.
Twenty-five years later in 1967, I was work-
ing downtown in City Hall for the Wayne 
County Treasurer’s office. Merzon would 
often come by and check properties for his 
legal work. I mentioned that my father picked 
me up daily as he worked nearby, and we’
d 
be happy to take him home. My father loved 
taking him as they were about the same age, 
and I got to hear stories and discussions about 
WWII, politics and the state of the local 
Jewish community. 
My father was impressed with Merzon, 
who for years helped low-income people with 
legal advice at very little or no charge. Merzon 
imparted his love and devotion to the com-
munity and its establishments to his grandson, 
Gary Torgow, who later wrote a book about 
his mentor titled Raising the Bar.

THE WAR CONTINUES 
President Roosevelt wanted Major League 
Baseball to continue even though players were 
either enlisting or waiting to be drafted. Teams 
filled out their rosters with several who were 
too young or too old to be major leaguers in 
normal times. At the ballpark, fans were urged 
to return foul balls hit into the stands so the 
balls could be shipped overseas to soldiers. 
Fans received a 25-cent war stamp for each 
baseball. In a show of patriotism, “The Star-
Spangled Banner” was played in every ball-

park prior to every game.
With Hank Greenberg serving in the mili-
tary for the second time, Murray Asher (Moe) 
Franklin made the major leagues with the 
Detroit Tigers for the first time for a full sea-
son. The veteran Jewish minor league infielder 
compiled a big-league average of .261 with 
two home runs before enlisting in the Navy. 
He would be gone for three years and never 
would play in the big leagues again.
Captain Ruben Iden survived the Japanese 
attack on Pearl Harbor. However, the three- 
year Marine Corps veteran dive bomber pilot 
was killed at Guadalcanal on Sept. 20, 1942, 
while on a photo reconnaissance mission. The 
24-year-old Iden was one of the first — if not 
the first — Jewish Detroiter killed in action 
after war was declared.

 
HORRIFIC NEWS FROM EUROPE
There was a lot of crying among Detroit 
Jewry as they heard and read about the 
heart-wrenching reports from Europe. 
Five thousand Jews from the Minsk ghetto 
were forced to stand beside a large pit as 
children were thrown in. Then adults were 
machine-gunned to death, falling on top of 
the children who ultimately died of suffoca-
tion. Reports from Greece confirmed that 
thousands of children had died of starvation 
since the Nazi occupation began; 1,500 Jews 
in Radom had starved to death and 13,300 
Jews were murdered in Lwow.
More than 16,000 Jews of Poniewiesch, in 
Nazi-occupied Lithuania, were massacred 
over a three-day period. The Nazis were con-
verting thousands of talesim (prayer shawls) 
into winter underwear for German soldiers. 
In a New York Times page 10 article on 
Nov. 25, 1942, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, chairman 
of the World Jewish Congress, said, “The State 
Department finally made available the docu-

ment which confirmed the stories and rumors 
of Jewish extermination in all Hitler-ruled 
Europe.
” Wise stated that sources confirmed 
about half of the estimated 4 million Jews in 
Nazi-occupied Europe had been slain in an 
extermination campaign.
While the State Department confirmed 
reports of mass extermination, it didn’t make 
public Breckenridge Long’s policy of blocking 
Jews from getting visas. 
Over two years earlier, on June 26, 1940, 
the antisemitic Long, the Roosevelt-appointed 
assistant secretary of state, sealed the fate of 
thousands and thousands of Jews with this 
memo: “We can delay and effectively stop, for 
a temporary period of indefinite length, the 
number of immigrants into the United States. 
We could do this by simply advising our con-

suls to put every obstacle in the way and to 
require additional evidence and to resort to 
various administrative devices which would 
postpone and postpone and postpone the 
granting of the visas.
”
Within a year following Long’s memo, 
immigration was cut in half, and all immi-
gration requests were bogged down in a State 
Department-controlled Washington office, 
subject to a system of reviews and reviews of 
reviews. Long masked his antisemitism by 
claiming he feared Hitler would send spies 
to America through the visa program that he 
was in charge of.
When the war ended and records were 
eventually examined, it was estimated that 
200,000 European Jews lost their lives because 
of Breckenridge Long. 

Irwin J. Cohen is the author of 10 books, including 

the iconic “Echoes of Detroit’s Jewish Communities: A 

History.” He headed a national baseball publication for 

five years and interviewed many legends of the game 

including Hank Greenberg. He may be reached in his 

dugout at irdav@sbcglobal.net.

JEWISH BASEBALL MUSEUM

Murray 
Asher 
(Moe) 
Franklin

Captain 
Rubin Iden

WIKIPEDIA

Breckenridge Long

