Newspaper Page Text
Page Six
The Southern Israelite
Friday, September 25, 1936
The
Southern Israelite
Published weekly by the Southern Newspaper Enterprises, Inc. M. 8. Miller, Edi*
tor; Orin Bomten, Aanorinto Editor, M. Stephen Srhlffer, Publisher; Nathan Lipton.
BusineM Manmrer. Executive office*, 101 Marietta St. Building. Suite 613-14, At-
lanta, Ga.
ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO MAIN OFFICE IN ATLANTA, GA,
Entered aa second claaa matter at the Post Office at Atlanta, Ga.. under the Act
of March 8, 1879. Yearly subscription one dollar. Simcle copies, five cent*. Canada
and foreign subscriptions, one dollar per year.
The Southern Israelite invites correspondence on subjects of interest to the
Jewish people and literary contributions, but the editor is not. to be considered as
•haling the views expressed by the writers, except those enunciated in the editorial
columns.
The Red Myth
A concerted campaign that will sweep the world with
charges against Jewry of being the founder and chief pro
ponent of Communism is now in preparation behind the locked
doors of Streicher’s propaganda offices in Nazi Germany. Al
ready agents of the Brown Network in all countries which
have a Jewish population are secretly laying the foundation
for the new German bombshell.
Germany, in short, is desperate. The minds of “das
deutsche Volk” must be detracted from an approaching econ
omic collapse, and the attention of the civilized world must be
diverted from Hitler’s crimes against liberty. There is only
one way out: utilize again the “Jewish-Bolsh-evist” myth, but
on a vast, unprecedented scale.
Recent events point to the intensity of the forthcoming
campaign. The Nazi congress won front-page space with its
keynote of the “Jewish-Bolshevist” charge. Here in the
South, the Asheville Conference of Christian Clergymen and
Laymen (see Southern Israelite, August 21) indicated, by
linking Jewry with the Communistic movement, that Amer
ica will be a fertile ground for the propaganda scheme of
Streicher.
Jewry must now prepare to combat this deadly poison
being concocted in the propaganda laboratory of the Third
Reich. Measures must be taken to teach everyone how far
from the truth are the charges that Jews are the founders
and chief proponents of Communism.
Here are facts unearthed by the chief opponent of Com
munism in this country—William Randolph Hearst:
“Of the approximately 250 district and section organizers
of the Communist Party, less than one-eighth are Jews. In
the Metropolitan area of New York, where 2,000,000 Jews re
side, there are only 2,000 Jews enrolled in the Communist
Party. Of the Central committee, which is the supreme ruling
body of the Communist Party, composed of 29 members and
6 alternates, there are no more than four or five Jews. In or
ganizations like the International Labor Defense, Trade
Unity League, International Workers’ Order, Young Pioneers,
Workers’ Ex-Service League, National Students’ League, etc.,
the Jewish membership is under three per cent. In Phila
delphia, having a Jewish population of 250,000, less than 100
Jews belong to the Communist Party. In Pittsburgh, with
45,000 Jewish inhabitants, there are approximately 50 Jews
in the Party. In Chicago, which next to New York has the
largest Jewish population in America (300,000), approxim
ately 250 Jews are members.”
To Mr. Hearst’s findings, we can add that the percentage
of Southern Jews who belong to the Communist Party is in
significant, and that Southern Jewry has been foremost in
combating Red teachings among high school and college
students.
As to the charge that Jews are the founders of Commun
ism, it must be said at the outset, that Lenin was not Jewish.
The fact that he attended the “gymnasium” at Simbirsk, a
school which never admitted Jews, is sufficient proof of the
falsity of the charge. Ample evidence exists to support the
fact that the Jews of Russia were opposed to the revolution.
Nor did they join hands with Trotzky, who gained his success
from the cooperation of the old Czarist army and ex-Czarist
officials.
A Soviet publication in the latter part of 1918 disclosed
the following makeup of the St. Petersburg Communist
Party:
Russians—74.2 per cent.
(Continued on Page 8)
A Profound Loss
The death of George A. Gershon in Albany, Ga., last week
deprived Southern Jewry of one of its most esteemed and dis
tinguished members. Until the end, he was the same thought
ful, generous person who had won a high place in the hearts
of Atlanta citizens as a public benefactor.
George A. Gershon’s unselfish devotion to the cause of the
poor and under-privileged, his contributions to worthy chari
ties, his inspiring leadership in Jewish affairs—these marked
him as a man of tremendous influence.
Whenever a building project concerned the Jewish com
munity, George A. Gershon was on the scene, ever ready to
offer beneficial advice and to lend his financial support. It
wjus his sincere desire that all movements and plans for the
betterment of Atlanta Jewry be fulfilled.
His work in helping unfortunate Jewish transients was
notable, and paved the way for a fund to give assistance to
them. He could be relied upon to offer valuable advice to
these men and women without homes or money, and to ar
range to have them reunited with their families.
A man whose decisions were always made with the benefit
of the Jewish community in mind, George A. Gershon’s kind
ness and thoughtfulness will be missed by all who knew him.
His children have been left a fine legacy in the record of his
many achievements, and will, as was his wish, carry on his
work.
Southern Jewry mourns the passing of George A. Gershon.
At the beginning of
BIOGRAPHY the last two decades
that closed the 19th
century in America, a young wo
man turned her back upon the glit
tering world that sought her tal
ents to answer the urgent call of
her people, began a career that was
to establish her as one of the out
standing Jewish women of modern
times.
Today, Hadassah announces the
forthcoming publication of the bi
ography of its founder, Miss Hen
rietta Szold, now seventy-five, calls
upon Southern Jewry to submit all
letters and writings of the beloved
woman Zionist, to author Marvin
Lowenthal.
As biographer of frail, white-
haired Henrietta Szold, Marvin
Lowenthal will draw a vivid picture
of America following the Russian
pogroms of 1880 when thousands
of immigrants came to these shores,
when Henrietta Szold became a
pioneer in Americanization and im
migration education in her native
city of Baltimore, Md. For twenty-
five years she directed the Jewish
Publication Society of America,
gave first start to Israel Zangwill,
Sholem Asch, and others. Obsessed
by a great ideal, she founded Ha
dassah, was instrumental in estab
lishing the great medical and
health system in Palestine, is today
head of Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah
movement which gives haven to
thousands of refugee children.
Southern friends and co-workers
of Miss Szold are requested to send
her letters and writings to Hadas
sah’s New York office, 1860 Broad
way.
search work in cancer, often send
him to far corners of the earth.
This year, soft-spoken, modest Dr.
Cutler was singled out, will leave
next February for China for a ten-
month period.
In Chicago this week, with Sir
George Lenthal Cheatle and Dr.
Henri Coutard, Dr. Cutler is lead
ing symposiums on cancer treat
ment in the Postgraduate Course
at the Michael Reese Hospital, is
revealing the newest discoveries in
the concerted fight against the
dreaded disease.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Sam
Cutler, native Atlantian Dr. Max
Cutler’s appointment by the Rocke
feller Institute is hailed by the
medical world. With announcement
of the award here, friends confided
that upon his return from China,
a fully equipped hospital for can
cer experimentation will await
him.
HONOR
To Dr. Max Cutler,
famed cancer spe
cialist, has come the
most highly coveted honor in the
medical world—the Rockefeller In
stitute research appointment,
stamps him as the leading Ameri
can expert on malignant diseases.
Each year, officials of the Rock
efeller Institute select one man
from all world physicians for re-
Non-Aryans Finance
Nazi Film Venture
Prague (WNS)—Isaac Lustig,
a refugee frohi Germany, and
Wilhelm Auerbach, a Czech,
both Jews, are the financiers of
the Nazi film “Port Arthur,” the
daily Telegraf reveals. Because
of the Nazi ban on non-Aryans
the picture was produced with
out any Jewish actors or direc
tors.
Roumanian Cabinet To
Issue Additional Bans
Should the people of
SURVEY America join in an
organized effort to
protest Hitlerism? Should the or
ganized protest take the form of a
general boycott of German goods?
If you do not approve of the boy
cott, what alternative do you sug
gest ?
These questions, sent out by the
Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League to
Champion Human Rights, reached
noted American leaders during the
past three months, drew response
from governors, senators, congress
men, and clergymen in all Southern
states.
Over 71 per cent of all responses
were in favor of the boycott as the
most effective protest against Na
zism and the one most likely to
destroy the present regime in Ger
many. Protest, the survey found,
was advocated in most cases.
Out of the four thousand people
of whom the questions were asked,
only one, the ghost writer for a
great industrialist, issued a state
ment that might be construed as
approval of Hitler.
A Great Artist Passes
By Philip Slomovitz
Ossip Gabrilowitsch was given a
non-Jewish funeral. He was buried
at Elmira, N. Y., in the family plot
of his late father-in-law, Samuel L.
Clemens (Mark Twain).
Nevertheless the name of Gabril
owitsch will long live in Jewish an
nals because in a period of less
than ten years since his visit to
Palestine he made definite contri
butions to the cause of the upbuild
ing of the Jewish National Home,
and was one of the most ardent de
fenders of Jewish national aspira
tions.
He was not only a great musi
cian—he has been called the “poet
of the piano”—he was an idealist,
devoted to the cause of Palestine,
and during the last few years of
his life made it his chief hobby.
When the National Council of
Jewish Women asked him to be
their guest artist at the convention
banquet in Detroit on March 29,
1932, Mr. Gabrilowitsch said that
he would be pleased to play for
them, but he made a condition: He
wanted the sum of $500, to be used
for the Palestine School of Music.
For some reason or other the wom
en did not publicize this fact. An
alert reporter approached Mr. Gab
rilowitsch to learn whether he had
any objections to the use of this in
formation, and he made an emphat
ic answer: ‘‘I not only have no ob
jections to having this made known;
on the contrary, I am anxious that
it become known because of my
devotion to the cause of Palestine’s
reconstruction and because I am so
anxious to further the Palestine
music movement.” He did not stop
at that but proceeded to laud the
pioneers, eloquently to describe his
interest in Palestine and to plead
for whole-hearted interest on the
part of all Jews in the movement
for Jewish national regeneration.
When Gabrilowitsch returned
from Palestine he turned campaign
er. He solicited his friends—lay
men as well as professionals in the
musical world—for support of the
Palestine School of Music. He ar
ranged concerts, made his personal
contributions to the cause and
emerged the dynamic leader of the
movement to help Palestine create
a musical art.
Bucharest (WNS) — Valerian
Popp, minister of commerce in the
Fascist-orientated Roumanian cab
inet, in preparing a decree to curb
the rights of Jewish merchants, it
is learned here. Decrees already
issued ban all private armed
groups, including that of the Na
tional Peasant party, one of the
country’s principal bulwarks
against Nazism and anti-Semitism;
another decree ends academic free
dom and permits the police and the
army to invade university grounds
to keep order.
President Regrets
Straus Resignation
Washington, D. C. — WNS) —
Jesse Isidor Straus, the first Jew
to be American ambassador to a
major power, has resigned as am
bassador to France because of ill
health. In accepting Mr. Straus’
resignation President Roosevelt ex
pressed regret that Straus could
not “continue the splendid service
which you have given to the Unit
ed States as ambassador to France”
and declared that “if this adminis
tration shall be continued in office
for another four years, I shall
count on your returning as a part
of it.” A former president of R.
H. Macy & Co., Mr. Straus, who is
a close friend of the President, was
named ambassador in 1933.
In an interview granted to the
Detroit Jewish Chronicle and pub
lished there on April 22, 1932, Mr.
Gabrilowitsch again indicated his
extreme interest in the Jewish na
tional movement and urged that 1
the study of Hebrew be propagated
widely. He told his interviewer,
Miss Ruth C. Brotman:
“I regret that in my childhood I
did not study Hebrew, and now, at
this period of my life, you can un
derstand it would require very
much of my time—but to be able
to read the Book of Books, the
Bible, in Hebrew—an accomplish
ment which has been denied me. It
is fine and poetical, this language
of our ancestors, and you may say
for me that I consider it a privi
lege to know Hebrew. I think young
Jewish people should be encouraged
to study the language.”
Asked how Jews in this country
can best help the situation in Pal
estine, Mr. Gabrilowitsch said: “I
think our duty is to help those that
are there at present; give them all
the moral as well as financial sup
port that we possibly can. I can
not speak too highly of the type of
men and women I saw there; in
fact, I think they are saints, and
the sacrifices they made and are
still making left a vivid impression
on me.”
Upon his return from Palestine
eight years ago Mr. Gabrilowitsch
delivered an address before an un
usually large audience at a public
meeting arranged by the Detroit
chapter of Hadassah. It was an
address which was marked by un
usual eloquence and which stirred
his listeners to a high pitch of emo
tionalism. Mr. Gabrilowitsch never
permitted an occasion to pass with
out speaking of Palestine and the
achievements of the Jewish pio
neers. He simply bubbled over with
praise for the efforts of the build
ers of Zion.
One of the great disappointments
of his life had been tragedies
which marked the rule of Adolf
Hitler in Germany. In April of 1934
he was asked whether he would
play in Germany under the Hitler
regime, and his heated reply wasr
“Certainly not!” Smilingly he add
ed: “But I hope to bring my music
Norway To Permit
Leon Trotzky To Stay
Oslo (WNS) —Leon Trotzky,
once commander-in-chief of the
Red Army and now an exile from
Soviet Russia, will be permitted to
remain in Norway, the Norwegian
government has informed the Sov
iet government, which requested
Trotzky’s extradition. Tim Nor
wegian note points out that Trotzky
and his wife have been interned,
and consequently cannot now plot
against the Soviet government.
Not Racial Trait
Hanover, N. H. (WNS)—The
gesticulation usually regarded as a
characteristic of Jews and other
southern peoples is the result of
“cultural stimulation” rather than
an inherited racial trait, Dr. Franz
Boas, anthropologist of Columbia
University, told members of the
American Psychological Associa
tion, who are meeting here.
to German audiences soon. The
Hitler terrorism cannot last. No
reign founded on oppression and
persecution can endure.”
It is interesting to note that he
did not believe that Jewishness is
responsible for specific artistic cre
ations. In an interview three years
ago he said: “I don't know if one
can say Jewishness helps or hinders
art. Jews are better interpreters
of great music than they are com
posers. But again I can’t tell you
why. ‘Eli, Eli,’ whose haunting,
soul-piercing notes have been heard
by millions of Jews throughout the
world, is fine for the synagogue,
but not great music. The only Jew-
ish music I play in my concert rep
ertoire are the works of Mendels
sohn—music by a Jew, but not
‘Jewish music.”
He was a great artist, a great
man and a great Jew. His contri
butions to Jewish welfare more
than overshadow the fact of his
having had a Unitarian burial serv
ice in a non-Jewish cemetery. The
world of art, and especially the
Palestine musical circles will al
ways know how to cherish his mem
ory.
Copyright 1936 for The Southern Israelite