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The Southern Israelite
Jews Enslaved In France
Controversy Over the ‘'Riddle of Glozel” Settled
By PIERRE VAN PAASSEN
Jewish slaves lived in / ranee
some seven hundred years be
fore our present era—this is
the startling outcome of a
protracted dispute between
outstanding European arche
ologists. Ever since the find
ing of mysteriously inscribed
pottery at Glozel, France, a
heated controversy has raged
over the historical significance
of the inscriptions. The noted
correspondent of the Seven
Arts Feature Syndicate and
The Southern Israelite traces
the various views of European
scholars on the Riddle of
Glozel, and gives the final
findings of Professor Voel-
ker, whose opinion about the
Jewish origin of this pottery
has recently been accepted as
final.—THE EDITOR.
result that the French courts of justice
soon heard a number of actions for
slander and defamation of character.
As for the Glozel meadow—all this-con
troversy had brought it such fame that
hundreds of French citizens would
travel miles of a Sunday with the aim
of taking a peek at the mysterious pot
tery. After a while the Fradin family,
in sheer defense, fenced in their
meadow with barbed wire and obtained
a police guard to protect their property
from curious sight-seers. Sometimes the
excitable Gallic temperament of these
latter would get the better of them
and they would start a little war over
the pottery themselves, using the
meadow as their battlefield and the dis
puted pieces of baked clay as missies;
in fact, one of the Fradins was badly
hurt during one of these frays.
Among those who believed in the au
thenticity of the Glozel finds was Dr.
Solomon Reinach, the Jewish scholar,
who is one of the world’s most famous
experts on ancient and prehistoric ob
jects, and who bolds the post of Curator
of the Gallic Museum at Saint-Ger-
main-en-Laye. Despite the ridicule
heaped upon him by many of bis
4—
archeological colleagues, Dr. Reinach
maintained his thesis that the Glozel
pottery was unquestionably genuine and
ancient.
Although Dr. Reinach had not
reached a definite conclusion as to the
date of the pottery, and had not suc
ceeded in deciphering the curious in
scriptions, he is now completely vindi
cated by the theory of the Dutch savant
Dr. Voelker, head of the Semetic De
partment at the University of Amster
dam, 1 lollaud.
In a pamphlet on the controversy,
recently published at Strasbourg, Pro
fessor Voelker points out that there is
no difference between the Glozel in
scriptions and those on the stone tablets
found years ago in the Sinai Desert,
which lies between Egypt and Pales
tine. It was there that the ancient
Jews wandered about for forty years
when they migrated from Egypt to
Palestine under the leadership of
Moses.
The Sinai tablets, which Professor
Hubert Gruenne deciphered some years
ago, told of the slavery of the people
of Israel in the land of Egypt, and are
considered a most authoritative sub-
♦
stantiation of the Biblical stories ,
Ten Plagues and the Exodus. Son
these tablets were of copper, and rht
workmanship on them was such
the scientists were able to trace t
origin to Egypt, where the Hein
had acquired the art of engraving
But the identification of the
pottery as being of Hebraic
brought Dr. Voelker face to face with
another and even greater puzzle: How
could Jews have lived in France seven
centuries before the beginning of the
Christian era? To overcome this dif
ficulty he has advanced the theory that
the prehistoric Jewish colony of France
consisted of Hebrew slaves. For this
he provides the following quite plaus
ible explanation :
The pharaohs of Egypt, as we know
from the account given in the Bible,
grew alarmed at the rapid increase of
the Jewish population in their country.
The Jews, of course, had come to
Egypt in the time of Joseph, leaving
their nomadic life in Canaan.
In order to reduce the growth of this
alien people in their land the Egypt
ians not only made slaves of the lews,
but* ordered that all male Jewish
children be killed. The severity of the
Egyptian decrees can be seen from the
story of Moses who, in his infancy,
was hidden in the bullrushes along the
bank of the Nile by his sister Miriam,
there to be found by the Egyptian
princess, who later adopted him.
Not content with having the male
Hebrew children thrown to the s,
crocodiles, the Egyptians sold large
numbers of Hebrew slaves to their a
lies, the Phoenicians. The Phoei
were a trading and sea-faring people ot
northern Africa, whose ships sailed a
parts of the Mediterranean,
founded a number of colonies i
Western Mediterranean, among the
Marseilles.
The Phoenicians, according to
Voelker’s theory, transplanted the
sands of their Jewish slaves to their
colonies in the south of France,
some of these slave colonists escaped
northward and settled in what i
the Department of Alliere. near >
aforementioned hamlet of Glozel.
This is how Professor \ oelker t
the source of the Semetic inscrip
found on the Glozel pottery. And
this way, many believe, he has >
the dispute in which the learned
archeologists have been engaged
ing the past few years.
Or has he settled one dispute
to give life to a new controvi
another scientific battle, this tinu
cerning the origin of the Jews wh>
scribed the Glozel pottery?
-Copyright 1931 by S. A. F. S.
ldolph S. Ochs Made /lonorary Member
Of l) ''mil /Frith in Honolulu
At last the long controversy, aroused
some years ago by the "Riddle of
Glozel" among French archeologists has
come to an end. It was settled by the
declaration by an eminent authority,
Professor Voelker, of Amsterdam, that
thousands of Jews lived in slavery in
France about seven hundred years be
fore the present era, and that it is to
these slaves that we must attribute the
manufacture of the pottery found at
Glozel and the inscription of it with
mysterious symbols, over which scient
ists have puzzled for years.
Many pieces of pottery bearing these
undecipherable inscriptions were found
in a meadow near the tiny village of
Glozel, France, in 1925. Some ircheol-
ogists, always on the alert for clever
forgeries, refused to accept the find as
genuine and accused the owners of the
meadow, the Fradin family, of "plant
ing the pottery, with faked inscrip
tions, in the field. Others conceded that
no fraud was involved, and stated with
considerable assurance that the pottery
had been part of the sacrificial para
phernalia used by the pagans of ancient
Gaul in their Druidical ceremonials.
For months the question was dis
cussed, with ever increasing violence, in
scientific journals; eventually the two
opposed groups of archeologists lost
their scientific objectivity, as well as
their tempers, to the extent of calling
each other by impolite names—with the
Cincinnait, Ohio.—Adolph S. Ochs,
publisher of the New York Times, has
been made an honorary member of the
Honolulu Lodge No. 112(>, B’nai B’rith.
Mr. Ochs addressed a meeting of that
lodge while visiting Hawaii recently. A
large gathering was present for his ad
dress, which was delivered upon the oc
casion of the first anniversary of Hono
lulu Lodge. Mr. Ochs suggested that
Hononlulu Jewry build a temple to cost
about $50,000, and expressed a willing
ness to contribute to it financially.
"I had never imagined that a man of
Mr. Ochs’ influence, position, and prest
ige would talk so eloquently and en
thusiastically about Judaism as he did,”
said Mr. Harry Baron, president of
Honolulu Lodge, in a letter just re
ceived by national B’nai B’rith head
quarters here. "It was a most wonder
ful and powerful speech. The whole
community here did its utmost to en
tertain Mr. Ochs. Even the army held
a special review to honor him. All or
ganizations vied with each other to se
cure Mr. Ochs for their meetings.
"I feel that B’nai B’rith accomplished
something of genuine value when it
was privileged to have Mr. Ochs at its
meeting. I feel that Mr. Ochs honored
us in the extreme by appearing with
Mrs. Ochs at our meeting. I asked
him if we might have the honor of
conferring upon him honorary mem
bership. Mr. Ochs replied that he con
sidered it a high honor and would
cherish his honorary membership in
Honolulu Lodge.”
Mr. Baron wrote that despite the
short notice given of the event, and re
gardless of the atet that it took place
on a legal holiday, the eminent pub
lisher was greeted by the largest Jew
ish gathering ever recorded in the en
tire history of Honolulu. "\Ye are con
vinced," wrote Mr. Baron, "that the
visit of Mr. Ochs will have a beneficial
and stimulating effect, not only upon
our own B’nai B’rith group, but on the
entire Jewish community.”
London.—The Great Royal Palace,
which Joshua destroyed when he en
tered Jericho 3,400 years ago, has been
discovered in the ancient ruins, accord
ing to an announcement by Sir Charles
Marston, who is backing the archeol-
oogical expedition, of which Prof.
John Garstang is the head.