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Page Four THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE Friday, December 11, 1942 The Southern Israelite Published weekly by Southern Newspaper EalcSBtUM, lac.. Suite Uf*lll Palmer Building, Atlanta. Georgia Walnut OffUrOdM M. Steghen SeMOer. publisher; Willy Pels, business manager; Entered as saeond <2ass saeMae at the post office at Atlanta. Georgia, under the A at of Marsh 3, 1MB. Yaeety subscription. Three Dollars. The Southern leaeahte Invites literary cam tel - buttons and correspondence, but Is not to be eonstdered ss shaetng the views expressed by writers. All material should be resolved by Wednes day noon to insure publication In Issue of that week. The Diary Of A Monster The eminent Russian writer and war correspondent, Ilya Ehren- burg, writes the following to his paper in Moscow: > “I have before me the diary of Friedrich Schmidt, secretary of the secret field police attached to 620th group of the 1st German Tank army. Friedrich Schmidt kept his diary while being stationed in Nazi-oc cupied Budennovka, a small community near Marioupol, on the much contested Rostov front. Permit me to reproduce several excerpts from this notable document: Feb. 25th. Communist Catherine Skoroedova expressed her scorn of the Russians who are cooperat ing with us. She was shot at noon. An old man, Savely Stepanenko, and his wife, from Samsonovkl, has also been shot. At 4 p. m. they brought to my office four 18-year-old girls. These Russian girls had crossed the frozen river from Yeisk . . . Later in the after noon my men brought six young men and one girl. The young men are quite docile. Four of them are students, very handsome too . . . Although they were beaten most frightfully, they would not talk. The girl did not whimper, did not shed a single tear • . . Three kilo meters north of Budennovka the gendarmes caught five 17-year-old boys. These were brought before me. I beat them with my whip. The handle of the whip was brok en in two. Another man helped me. My hands has been sore all dny. March 1st. Was summoned to appear before General Von Fer- ter . . . Evening, March 3rd. Another group of five people were brought in from Yeisk. Like the rest, these were also very young. Resorted to body punishment again. The weather got a little warmer. March 7th, Our life here is pleasant. We receive butter, eggs, chickens and milk every day. I change my menu daily. March 8th. Two non-commis sioned officers, Springwr)ld and Reidman, had returned from Ma rioupol. They brought the mail and a written order for executions . . . Have this day already executed six people. v March 9th. Today I am con fronted with the task of shooting 30 captured young men. At 10 a m. two more girls and six boys were brought up . . . Had to beat them again. Then began a mass execution- Yesterday there were six, today—thirty three. 1 am not able to enjoy mv meals. Should they catch me. it would bo too ba i for me. I feel unsafe here in Bu dennovka. The gutter is full of corpse. How heroically they die, these Bolshevik boys . . . Some of them, especially the young girls, don’t cry at all. This is real bravery. They were ordered to undress (we sell their clothes). On account of having so much to do, I have not written home for a long time. To tell the truth, I have no desire to write. Today I ordered the 17-year-old Ludmila Chukanova to be shot. I am com pelled to kill these people and therefore 1 am afraid 1 am de veloping a little heart trouble. March 17th. The day began with my ordering a Russian parachu tist out of the hospital and execut ing him on the spot near his grave. After dinner took a walk. March 19th. Ate fine pork chops. Ordered some sausage. March 21st. We never Imd such a terrible day before in Buden novka. Yesterday evening there appeared a Russian plane, drop ping star shells and 12 bombs. I felt frightfully worried. March 22nd. Questioned two Russian youths who tried to cross the frozen river to Rostov. They were shot. April 10th. Again beat several boys and girls for a failure to reg ister with our authorities. Among them was a daughter of the village mayor. At night my mind is troubled with the thoughts of an other possible attack by the Rus sian bombers. * April 12th. Every morning we have omelet and milk for break fast. There is a little less work now. The usual punishment— severe lashing or shooting. April 16th. A quiet day. Served as a peacemaker between the vil lage mayor and the head of mili tia and afterwards whipped three men and one woman The woman ' was middle-aged. She confessed to being n medical nurse. At long last Groshek has conferred on me a military cross of the second [grade for my conspicuous services. April 17th. Whipped two girls in my office. They were beaten while naked. April 18th. A rainy, cloudy day. Had a few women called to my office and had them whipped with their clothes off. They had been complaining about our field police. ( “It’s been a frightful ordeal for' me to read these lines,’’ writes Ilya Ehrenburg,” and I think that the world literature had never portrayed such a terrible, con temptible criminal. He calmly, without a quiver, murders de fenseless boys and girls in their ’teens and at the same time he cowers at a mere thought of the Russian bombers. He fully de served his military cross, for he has often displayed courage in torturing the Russian girls. He even bravely killed a four-year -old child. He does not even possess a semblance of human feelings. He does not even feel kindly toward his own relatives. He has not a kind word for his own accursed | fatherland. Indeed, this is not the} first diary of a German soldier containing references to tortures and executions. But others were merely formal documents. Here the Nazi reveals his real face in the true light.” Mr. Ehrenburg asked newspa pers of all free countries to publish this diary. JEWISH CALENDAR Capitol Spotlight PITRIM, Sunday, March 21. PASSOVER (First 2 Days), Tues., Wed., Apr. 20. 21. PASSOVER (Last 2 Days), Mon., Tues., Apr. 26. 27. LAG B’OMER, Sunday, May 23. SHEVUOTH (Feast of Weeks), Wed-, Thurs., June 9, 10. TISHA B’AB (9th of Ab), Tuesday. August 10. than ever interested in not antago nizing the Arab world since the North African population is pre dominantly Arab ... On the other hand, it is obvious that the Amer ican landing in North Africa has convinced even the Arabs in Pal estine that flirting with the Nazis is no longer profitable . . . From Jerusalem comes a demand to Zionist leaders in America to press the Allied Governments to permit the immigration to Palestine of llie thousands of Jewish refugees from Germany who were interned j in North Africa by the Vichy re gime for forced labor on the desert ! railroad there ... It is pointed out j that at least 150.000 additional j workers are needed at present for | Palestine’s war industries and j that the refugees from North Afri By CARL 1 Admittedly the temptation is a powerful one. Suppose you had a husband or a father or a son in France, and had been hoping fear fully to bring him to safety. And then an “agent*’ explained to you that there wax some difficulty about the issuance of an exit visa. What sort of difficulty? Just a difficulty. A difficulty of, say $25,- 000. But you haven’t got $25,000: Well, you can raise it, can’t you? Possibly, by selling here and mort gaging there and begging some where else—but is it necessary? Is it? Would you like to get your next European letter from Da chau? Thousands of well-to-do refu gees, forced to leave friends and relatives behind in Nazi-occupied Europe, have faced the same “dif ficulty" and been ofiered the same solution. Many of them, realizing only too well the terrors they themselves escaped, have made the necessary sacrifices, scraped together the money, and managed to buy the freedom of those dear to them. They have handed the agent a roll of large bills, or arranged to have the money deposited in the , name of a respectable lawyer in But many private persons lacked the fortitude of the Dutch cabinet. So the British, Netherlands and United States governments decided that something must be done. They announced that anyone un der their jurisdiction who attemp ted to ramson a victim out of the hands of the Nazis would face the usual penalties for trading with the enemy. Neutrals who acted as intermediaries would go the black list. They explained these harsh measures in this way: 1. The Nazis have organized the collection of blood-money on a scale that threatens the effective ness of the United States’ financial blockade. Millions of dollars in foreign exchange extorted from the friends of refugees have en abled the Nazis to finance their propaganda and espionage cam paigns abroad. to purchase vitally needed supplies there and to run them through the blockade for the benefit of the German war effort. The payment of ransom money to the Germans seriously threatened to prolong the war. 2. Each Nazi success in collect- " - r; • m for a "refugee encour- -r mt for : dditional vie- BETWEEN YOU AND ME By BARIS SMOL.AR The Zionist Front: Zionist lead ers in America seem to be worried over the fact that the negotiations between the Zionists and the non- Zionists in this country for the creation of a united front have suddenly taken a bad turn . . The new development was discuss ed at a session of the American Emergency Council for Palestine at which Dr. Weizmann was prei- ent ... It is understood that Dr. Weizmann is now exploring the possibilities of continuing nego tiations with non-Zionists along the same lines as hitherto . . . All Indications, however, point to the fact that persons among the non- Zionists who favor an all-embrac ing understanding with the Zion ists are becoming a minority in their own ranks . . . Max Warburg, one of the non-Zionists who •would like to see a united front with the 1 Zionists, is consulting some of his colleagues with a view to reaching a compromise which would satisfy all parties involved . . . The new turn in the negotiations between 1 the non-Zionists and the Zionists is especially embarrasing for the latter since it has already been j announced in Palestine that there is a definite understanding among all Jewish groups in America on: post-war Palestine. . . * * * The North African Front: Active again after recuperating from his j illness, Dr Weizmann is now en gaged in studying the possible ef fects of the new situation in North Africa on the Jewish demands with regard to Palestine . . . On one hand it is known that the Al lied Governments are now more ca would, to a certain extent, alle viate this shortage in man power . . . Meanwhile, many of the Jew ish refugees in North Africa,, after being released from the desert camps, are reported to be volun teering in the forces fighting the Axis armies under the direction of American military authorities . . . * * * The Russian Front: The Soviet press has more than once empha sized the rule which Jews play in the partisan groups which harras the Nazis in occupied Russian ter ritory . . . Now* we have a power ful novel describing the tactics and daring activities of the Russian guerrillas and giving a concrete idea of W’hat it means to be 9 par tisan . . . The novel entitled “All Night Long” i written by Erskine Caldwell, noted American waiter who spent some time in Russia during the present war and visited Russian towmships regained by the Red Army from the Nazis . . . (Continued on page 5) snos Aires or in Berne—where I id not remain long. And mira- ously, hundreds or thousands miles away, the “difficulty” ulu be surmounted and the vie-1 i 1 be freed Almc w’ays. The Nazis, of course, would do j iheir best to carry out their part of tile bargain. Victims w’ere plentiful—one would not be miss ed. Foreign exchange was a highly valuable prize and it was not 1 worth while to douhle-cross a ransomer. Others might not co operate so readily afterwards, if , it became known that the bargains wore risky. The Nazis even had the impu dence to approach Netherlands Govcmment-in-Exile with a pro posal Tor freeing 500 Dutchmen for 5.000,000 Swriss francs (about $1,100,000). But they failed. The “indomitable Dutch” replied that their cabinet “reluctantly conclud ed that they could not yield to German fttempts at extortion.” ‘ ">• T Slate Department warn ing qu<-t< ! •’ s account of the Nazi method, from the report of one of our missions abroad: "In the hostage and ramsom sys tem the ims are subjected to terroriz ;tion whereby their desire to find r< ugc in one of the United Nations or 1 neutral country is immeas::'ably increased. First, they arc made the victims of un bearable - frictions designed to make lire not worth living, usually under confinement in vile concen tration camps; and, second, they ire faced w ith the threat of de portation to domains in Eastern Europe, with the prospect of an unknown and possibly horrible fate awaiting them there.” For each refugee freed from the threat of such a fate, the Nazis can find a dozen more with whom to appeal to the generous and hu manitarian feelings of others on neutral and United Nations soiL It is an old trick of theirs to use ;our best impulses against us.