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SOUTHERN ISRAELITE;
A MAGAZINE PERPETUATING JEWISH IDEALS
VOLUME VIII. JUNE 30,1933. NUMBER 7.
You Can't Live on Promises
Hitler is setting a new style in international politics. He has de
vised a new method all his own for dealing with indignant world
public opinion. Thus when pressure is brought on him by foreign
representatives to abandon his anti-Jewish policies he simply promises
everything, dons the cap of an innocent gentleman whose good inten
tions arc being misunderstood and naively asserts that if wrong was
committed it will lx* corrected. This Mr. Hitler did most expertly in
connection with Bernheim’s petition to the League of Nations, with
the residt that the gentlemen of the League almost forgot to mention
the hopeless situation of the Jews in the Reich. Again, when the
American delegation to the International Olympic Committee Meeting
at Vienna threatened to take the 1936 Games away from Berlin unless
all athletes regardless of race, color or creed were treated equally,
the representatives of Mr. Hitler hastened to assure the other Commit
tee members that the Jews would be treated in the same manner as
other aspirants to Olympic honors. Thus if one were inclined to be
optimistic one would say that Hitler is on the retreat and changing
his attitude toward the Jewish question in Germany. Such an inter
pretation of recent events in Geneva and Vienna would be not merely
superficial but actually dangerous. The status of the Jews in Ger
many has not changed one iota since the first days of the Nazi ascen
sion to power, even if violence is said to have subsided. Economic,
social and political discrimination against Jewish citizens of Naziland
are in flower no less than two months ago. The Bernheim petition,
skilfully drawn up, forced Mr. Hitler and Company to the wall as far
as the Jewish question in Upper Silesia is concerned, and Mr. Hitler
had no course open but to submit or challenge the League of Nations.
The same applies to the Olympic Games matter. Insistence on his
privilege to discriminate against Jewish athletes would have aroused
American, French and British public opin
ion to new heights of indignation. This
Hitler cannot afford on the eve of the
London Economic Conference and in the
midst of the financial negotiations carried
on by the President of the Reichsbank,
Herr Schacht. So he has found it much
easier to promise without the slightest in
tention of keeping faith. Were Mr. Hitler
serious about his obligations to the League
of Nations and the Olympic Committee he
would not hesitate to promulgate officially
a new domestic policy towards the Jewish
population of Germany. But Hitler, Goeb-
bels and Goering are cynically winking at
each other. Their cold pogrom is a splen
did success. The censorship they have in
stituted is working on cylinders, and no
report of violence crosses the border. The
Jews in Germany, 'for patriotic reasons,
are helping to silence the cry against the
German Government in foreign countries.
A few promises, skilfully distributed at
conferences and iu several chanceleries are
calming the most indignant voices against
Hitlerism. And thus, as Franz Simonds,
the distinguished observer, implies, Ger
many under the cover of anti-Semitism is preparing the next war. T
European Governments that are closing their eyes to the anti.h .
war of the Hitlerites will reap the benefit of their political bland..,
before long.
The Plea for Palestine
Not since the Balfour Delegation have such eminent world pi‘re
alities joined in a plea for Palestine as were represented on tin- ap;»
issued last week in London for the immediate launching of ‘*a Pala
tine fund for the Jews of Germany.” Sir Robert Cecil and Genera
Jan Smuts, who helped to frame the Balfour Declaration, and forn. •
Premier Lloyd George, who was helpful in getting League of Nations'
support for the project, are among the signers, with whom an* aU*
Lord Reading, I)r. Chaim Weizmann and Felix M. Warburg. Th
appeal includes a stirring description of the progress that has already
been made in the upbuilding of the Jewish homeland, and conclude
with a recital of the means by which Palestine can serve as a have
of refuge and security for thousands of Jews who must flee from Na.;
terrorism. It is to be hoped that the Jews of America will respond
generously and sympathetically to this appeal. When the riots of
1929 took place, a Palestine Emergency Fund was created and the n
suits were extraordinarily successful. The response today to this new
Palestine Emergency Fund must be on an even larger scale, for th
need is of an incomparably greater scope.
This new emergency fund adds to the responsibility of Jewish con
munity leaders who are being subjected to pressure from all sides for
a division of funds from emergency campaigns. In many towns, local
leaders are too weak to resist the combined pressure from variou*
sources. The result is that from limited funds available, distribution'
are made to the Joint Distribution Committee, the American Palestir.*
Campaign. The American Jewish Con
gress, the American Jewish Committee,
Ilias and even less well-known institu
tions. The really important work of re
lief, such as can be provided by the Joint
Distribution Committee and the Jewis'
Agency for Palestine, inevitably suffer'
In the meantime, new organizations are
constantly being created, which are like
leeches on the Jewish body politic, an:
which merely serve the personal political
ambitions of their individual organizer?
It is this regrettable phase of Jewish li ! '
—although the intentions of a few of
those involved may be honorable-—that
has sapped the life blood of the Jewif*
community to the extent that it now i*
exceedingly difficult for the average p' r ‘
son to recognize the organization worthy
of support. Now is the time when leader'
in the communities must show judgment
and discrimination and not permit them
selves to be blackjacked into support
enterprises which are trying to noun* 6
themselves on a people’s tragedy.
In This Issue
PAGE
This Modern Free Age
By Ludwig Lewisohn 5
Free Zionism From Politics
By William Ernest Hocking 6
Maurice Hindus—An Interview
By Joseph A. Loetvinsohn 7
About People
By Alexander IVoollcott 8
Will Civilization Be Restored?
By Heinrich A1 anti 9
Hallelujah! A Rabbi Is Born
By Rabbi Jacob Freedman 10
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