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could erupt into pogroms like those Jewish 
immigrants had experienced in Eastern 
Europe and Russia. For these members of the 
diaspora, a Jewish homeland was necessary as 
a place of refuge for Jews, a state devoted to 
Jewish religion and culture.
Prominent members of Detroit’s Jewish 
community were decidedly and openly 
Zionist. Rabbi A.M. Hershman founded the 
Zionist Organization of Detroit, and Rabbi 
Judah Levin, Chief Rabbi of the United 
(Orthodox) Jewish Congregations of Detroit, 
organized the Religious Zionist Mizrachi in 
Detroit. Rabbis Leon Fram of Temple Israel 
and Morris Adler of Shaarey Zedek were also 
among Detroit’s early and openly supportive 
Zionists.
Philip Slomovitz was editor of the Jewish 
Chronicle in the 1920s and 1930s, but he 
was not happy. He believed that, although 
the Chronicle was generally supportive of 
Zionism, it was not fervent enough. So, along 
with other leaders from Detroit’s Jewish 
community, such as Fred Butzel, in 1942, 
Slomovitz founded an ardently pro-Zionist 
newspaper: the Detroit Jewish News. 
A great journalist and editor, Slomovitz 
became known as the “Dean” of English-
language Jewish newspapers in America. 
He was a staunch advocate for Israel and 
wrote about Jewish and Israeli affairs until 
his retirement at 94 years old. The JN still 
reports on and strongly supports Israel to 
this day.

THE DEVASTATION OF WWII
Jewish migration to British Mandate Palestine 
remained steady, but slow, in the years before 
WWII. Although the U.K. initially was 
supportive of a Jewish homeland there in 
1917, it soon began to change its perspective. 
In 1939, it even issued an infamous “white 
paper,
” which became official policy, severely 
restricting Jewish immigration. 
The timing could not have been worse. 
By that year, the Nazis had complete control 
of Germany and had instituted laws against 
its Jewish citizens, as well as a propaganda 
campaign that promoted discrimination 
against Jews. The worst was yet to come, 
especially after Nazi Germany invaded Poland 
in September 1939. This was the beginning 
of World War II and the start of the Nazis’ 
wholesale slaughter of Jews.
The Holocaust, as we now understand the 
concept, was not a universally accepted term 
until after World War II. In Nazi Germany, 
discriminatory laws evolved into the “Final 
Solution,
” or the Nazis’ attempt to exterminate 
all Jews in Germany and within the territories 
it occupied such as Poland, France, Hungary, 
Lithuania, the Soviet Union and every other 
nation it had overrun. By the end of WWII, 
the Nazis had killed more than 6 million Jews, 
along with millions of Poles, Roma, Russians 
and members of minority groups.

While most American mainstream media 
remained relatively silent on Nazi atrocities 
until the end of 1942, the Detroit Jewish 
News and the Chronicle reported extensively 
about the rise of the Nazis and the events that 
ultimately constituted what is now known as 
the Holocaust or the Shoah.
Jewish Michiganders did their part to bring 
about an Allied Victory over Nazi Germany, as 
well as fascist Italy and imperial Japan. Local 
Jewish men and women served in America’s 
armed forces; volunteered to support Allied 
troops through a variety of communal 
organizations; and contributed large sums of 
money to the War Chest, the Jewish Welfare 
Federation (now the Jewish Federation of 
Metro Detroit) and many other institutions 
that supported the Allies’ war effort.

AFTER THE WAR
After the war, huge numbers of displaced 
persons languished in camps in Cyprus, 
Germany, the United States and elsewhere, 
including an estimated 1 million Jews. Jewish 
Michiganders provided great support for these 
refugees, settling hundreds in Detroit and 
Michigan. 
At the same time, Detroit Zionists 
supported the growing Jewish community in 
British Mandate Palestine, where many Jewish 
refugees eventually settled. As the JN stated in 
its Jan. 25, 1946, issue: “Palestine today, as in 
the past, stands ready and willing to absorb as 
many as possible of the Jewish refugees from 

could erupt into pogroms like those Jewish 
immigrants had experienced in Eastern 
Europe and Russia. For these members of the 

While most American mainstream media 

remained relatively silent on Nazi atrocities 
until the end of 1942, the Detroit Jewish 

OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER

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