Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
Established
1925
VOL- X-
-NO. 30
ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, MAY 24, 193 5.
Price Five Cents
BOYCOTT STOPS SHIP CALLS
Rutgers Professor Dropped For Opposing Nazi Propaganda
University Officials
Probe Reasons
For D i s c h a r g e
VISITS AMERICA
Inquiry Is Ordered After
Storm of Protest
y e w Brunswick, N. J. (WNS)—
Following charges that Dr. Lien-
hard Bergel, non-Jewish instruc
tor of German at the New Jersey
College for Women, an affiliate of
Rutgers University, had been drop
ped from the faculty because the
head of the German Department
and most of its members are Nazis
who are spreading Nazi and anti-
Semitic propaganda which Bergel
tried to counteract, Dr. Robert C.
Clothier, president of Rutgers
University, appointed a committee
of the university’s trustees to in
vestigate the matter. Representa
tives of the American Civil Liber
ties Union were invited to sit in
with the committee, which includes
J. Edward Ashmead, chairman;
Philip M. Brett, Mrs. A. Haines
Lippincott, John W. Mettler and
John H. Raven.
The inquiry was ordered after
a storm of protest broke over the
Rutgers campus when Dr. Bergel
was informed that he would not be
reappointed to the faculty at the
end of the college year. Dr. E. J.
Hauptmann, head of the German
department, said that Dr. Bergel
was dropped because of incompe
tence, but Dr. Bergel, who has been
a member of the German depart
ment for three years, pointed out
that details of his alleged incompe
tence were refused. Dr. Bergel has
the support of the students, four
hundred of whom signed a petition
praising him as a teacher and de
manded his reappointment. When
this petition was published in the
college newspaper Dr. Hauptmann
charged the reason for Bergel’s
dismissal to one of economy. This
too was dropped after the college
Taper printed letters from students
of German, charging that “the
teaching of German is used as the
Point of departure for a eulogy
of Fascism.” and that the dissem
ination of Nazi propaganda in the
classes has caused a decrease in
the enrollment in the German
classes. Every member of the Ger
man faculty is a German citizen.
Hr. Bergel who has been in this
country since 1031 has taken out
his first citizenship papers and is
married to an American.
In discussing the matter Dr. Ber-
? el ^aid that “at first I was just
unsympathetic to the Nazi culture.
■ hen. when Dr. Hauptmann and
others used a lot of classroom time
•° r Nazi propaganda I tried to
counteract it. That antagonized the
res t of the department. When I
'poke with President Clothier he
admitted the department was pre
dominantly Nazi, but defended the
: 8ht of professors to make prop
aganda on the ground of academic
•reedom (Dr. Clothier said he did
; r, t recall such a conversation but
r; admitted he may have said we
P ®ve in academic freedom here).
r> f'ergel also asserted that a
?" eat stack of pro-Nazi and anti-
^emitie pamphlets was left in the
■orman department's office, past
^ ! , ch all students had to pass to
ne ! r classrooms. The pamphlet is
—titled “A Foreign Visitor’s Im-
U ess ion of Germany,” and extols
• azi culture, and takes the posi-
: I( $ l hat Germany must rid her-
,0 ’ of the Jews who are Marxists
‘Gmg to force their culture on the
'^vman people.
DAVID BEN GURION, Pales
tine labor leader, who is in this
country, emphasizes the impor
tance of more land to further mass
rural colonization in Palestine.
Early Results
Of Campaign
Indicate Success
June 9 Zionist President
Will Speak In Atlanta
Aviator Sets A New
Glider Record
REVISIONISTS SECESSION
SUICIDE FOR THEM,
BEN GURION PREDICTS
New York (NWS)—The seces
sion of the Revisionists from the
World Zionist Organisation will
not hurt the Zionist Organization,
but is a blunder which may mean
the suicide of the Revisionist
movement, David Ben Gurion,
member of the Jewish Agency Ex
ecutive and Palestine labor leader,
declared at a luncheon in his honor
by the Palcor Agency. Recalling
that Jabotinsky had left the Zion
ist Organization twice before and
returned each time, Ben Gurion as
serted that the Jewish masses of
Eastern Europe will not follow the
Revisionist chieftain out of the
Zionist Organization. Reviewing
the present situation in Palestine,
he expressed satisfaction with the
economic development, reporting
that Jews had invested $50,000,000
in 1934, but warned that the prob
lem of additional land was crucial.
Lauding High Commissioner Wau
chope, Ben Gurion said that 17,000
Jewish immigrants had entered
Palestine in the first three months
of 1935. The discovery of new wa
ter resources, he asserted, will be
an important factor in the future
development of the country. He
warned against concentration of
Jewish settlement in the towns and
emphasized the importance of more
land to further mass rural coloni
zation. Cautioning against too
much optimism with regard to
present achievements, he said
these were as nothing compared
to what is needed to makes Pales
tine a place where millions of Jews
can go in a short time.
POI 4ND B4NS PAPER
ASKING THE GOVERNMENT
TO GO ANTI-SEMITIC
Pledges received during the first
three days of the Jewish National
Fund drive to raise $4,000, inaug
urated in Atlanta on May 21st,
pave the local officers first hand
information as to how the cam
paign will go over and according
to Harry M. Wengrow, Treasurer,
Atlanta will go “over the top.”
Despite the fact nearly two weeks
of hard work are ahead of the
workers, elaborate plans are being
made for the “Victory Banquet” to
be held on June 9th at the Shrine
Mosque, at which time Morris
Rothenberg, President of the Zion
ist Order of America, will be the
honored guest and speaker of the
occasion.
Captains and delegates of At
lanta’s Jewish organizations, who
make up the working teams, start
ed the campaign following an en
thusiastic rally held at the Ahavath
Achim Congregation on Tuesday
evening at which time JRabbi Jo
seph Cohen, of the Or V’Shslom
Congregation. Rabbi Harry Ep
stein, of the Ahavath Achim Con
gregation, Simon J. Levine, of New
York, and Major Ralph L. Willner,
Chairman of”the Atlanta committee
spoke before the gathering and in
spired the workers on to success.
Rabbi Harry Epstein in his ad
dress emphasized the importance
of land redemption work in the up
building of Palestine, declaring it
was imperative that Atlanta do its
utmost to fill the quota set. He
promised, with proper coordination
of effort, and with the support of
every group and organization, suc
cess should be assured.
Progress of the drive will be re
corded each day at 911 First Na
tional Bank Bldg, campaign head
quarters, and get-together meet
ings for the workers will be held
on Monday and Thursday evening
at the Henry Grady Hotel. David
S. Block is chairman of the Men’s
division and Mrs. Sam L. Levy and
Mrs. J. J. Heiman are directing the
women workers.”
Paris (WNS)—Robert Kronfeld,
Austrian Jewish aviator and the
world’s leading glider, completed
the first London-to-Paris glider
flight when he completed the cross
ing in four hours and five minutes.
The glider in which he made the
trip was equipped with only a small
motor cycle engine and the fuel
cost was cheaper than that of any
flight of this distance ever made.
Kronfeld holds most of the world’s
records for gliding. He was the
first to make a round trip glider
flight over the English channel,
accomplishing this feat in 1931.
Warsaw (WNS)-The Gazete
Warszawska, organ of the anti-
Semitic National Democratic Par-
tv, has been suppressed for a week
because it published an article rec
ommending that the government
adopt an official policy of anti-
Semitism. The suppression of the
paper is interpreted m Jewish cir
cles as an indication that the gov
ernment is determined to continue
the Pilsudski policies.
Octogenerian Jew Who
Saved Hoover’s Life
Dies In Poverty
Houston, Texas (WNS)—The
tragedy of an octogenerian Jewish
peddler who was once a millionaire
mine owner in South Africa, and
who saved the life of former Pres
ident Herbert Hoover when he was
a young mining engineer in South
Africa, was revealed for the first
time, after the death here of Sol
omon Stern, eighty-one years old,
who had peddled knick-knacks in
this efty for the last* twenty-three
years. Son of a prominent Berlin
family, Stern graduated as a min
ing engineer from the University
of Berlin in the 1880’s and went to
South Africa, where he accumu
lated a fortune in the gold mines
It was at that time that he gave
a job to Hoover. One morning
Stern found Hoover seriously ill.
Dropping everything else, he rush
ed Hoover to a government hospi
tal, where he recovered. During
the Boer War Stern lost his fortune
and went to London, where he met
Hoover again. Later he came to
America, settling i n Houston,
where he has been a familiar figure
for a generation. When Mr. Hoover
came to Houston during the presi
dential campaign in 1928 Stern was
too proud to disclose himself to the
future president. Recently, how
ever, Stern asked Mr. Hoover to
aid members of the Stern family
in Germany. In reply the ex-presi
dent sent his former benefactor a
copy of his book, “The Challenge
to Liberty.” Mr. Hoover was one
of the honorary pall-bearers at
Stern’s funeral which was conduct
ed by Temple Beth-El and the Jew
ish Social Service Bureau.
England’s Proposal For
League Aid Assured
London (WNS)—Great Britain
is prepared to support a proposal
that the League of Nations estab
lish a permanent office in Geneva
to deal with the increasingly seri
ous plight of the tens of thousands
of refugees in Europe and Asia,
including the refugees from Ger
many, Sir John Simon, British For
eign Minister, assured a delegation
of distinguished Britishers who
called on him at the Foreign Of
fice. Sir John expressed sympathy
with the delegation’s proposal and
promised that the British govern
ment would do nothing to prevent
the establishment of a bureau de
signed to handle the refugee ques
tion as a permanent problem. The
delegation included Lord Robert
Cecil, Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz,
Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz, Prof.
Gilbert Murray, a representative
of the Archbishop of Canterbury
spokesmen for the League of Na
tions Union and the Quakers So
ciety, and Lady Simon.
Bovcott Forces
Closing Calls
At San Diego
Manufacturers Protest
Against Nazi Policies
San Diego, Calif. (WNS)—A
crushing blow was administered to
German shipping on the Pacific
Coast when it was announced that
no more German vessels will call
at the Port of San Diego because
local manufacturers have canceled
orders for commodities shipped on
the steamers of the North German
Lloyd and the Hamburg-American
Line. The goods imported by local
concerns were the only reason for
the German ships to dock at San
Diego. Before the manufacturers
canceled their orders the German
lines figured on docking one of
their steamers here every fort
night. When thL became known a
move was started to get the steve
dores to refuse to unload cargoes
from German ships. The manufac
turers joined the anti-Nazi boy
cott en masse as a protest against
the Nazi regime’s policies.
HEBREW UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS IN LEAGUE
Rome (WNS—Palcor Agency)
—The student body of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem was ac
cepted into membership in the In
ternational Students’ Federation at
a meeting of the Executive Com
mittee of the International here.
FORTUNE IN POCKET,
JEW GOES HUNGRY FOR
LACK OF KOSHER FOOD
Dublin (WNS)—Although he
had in his pocket a ticket for
$72,000 due a friend of his who
won that sum in the last Irish
sweepstakes, Francisco Abrami,
New York Jew, left Dublin hun
gry because he could not find a
kosher restaurant. Abrami came
here to collect the prize for his
friend, but quit the city for the
Continent when he found he
could not obtain kosher food.
Expose Plot to Blame
Jews For Kidnapings
London (WNS)—A Nazi plot to
clear* Germany of responsibility for
the recent wave of kidnapings of
German refugees by alleging that
the reports of these outrages were
canards concocted by Jews to dam
age Germany abroad was exposed
here by Lefia Gothelf, a German
Jewish refugee journalist now on
the staff of the Jewish Daily Post,
whose name was used by Nazi
agents to further this scheme.
About a week ago a number of
Paris newspapers received a cable
from Basle, Switzerland, signed by
“The Committee for the Defense
of Refugees” in which it was stat
ed that a Jewish newspaper man
writing under the pseudonym of
Levi Gothelf had kidnaped seven-
enteen German refugees while they
were on a bus tour in Switzerland
and had lured them to the German
border, where they were arrested
by German agents. The cable also
warned other refugees not to be
lured on such tours. When Gothelf
returned from a visit to Switzer
land he exposed the plot. There is
no such committee as was men
tioned in the cable. Gothelf, who
indignantly denied having any
thing to do with the matter, ex
plained that it was probably a
scheme by the Nazis to spread a
report that they had kidnaped sev
enteen refugees, and then to ex
pose the story as a hoax and lay
the blame for the canard on the
Jews.
GERMAN POLICE NOW
DECIDE WHO IS JEW
Berlin (WNS)—The right to de
cide who is a Jew has been given
to the police throughout Germany
as part of the revived government
war on the Jews. As a means of
singling out Jewish homes and
shops the government has forbid
den all Jews to display either of
the two German flags, the swasti
ka or the black, white and red ban-i
ner. Two anti-Jewish pardaes, led
by bands and participated in by
uniformed troopers were held in
Berlin. The marchers carried signs
proclaiming “the Jews are our
misfortune.”