Newspaper Page Text
[The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry
Established 1925
VOL. XXII
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1947
No. 3t
UNSCOP Group Will Make 8-Day Inspection of Jewish DP Camps
'DO NOT MOURN'
Three Irgundists Approached Death
With Quiet Hearts—Message to Families
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Jewish
a$ well as neutral quarters here
Interpreted the hanging of the
three young Irgunists as a move
by the Palestine government to
provoke large-scale extremist out
breaks in the country, which all
sources agree will follow shortly.
It is understood that the decis
ion to execute the three was made
immediately after a conference in
London betwen Palestine Chief
Secretary Sir Henry L. Gurney and
Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-
Jones, despite the fact that the
Irgun still held two British sol
diers as hostages.
The bodies of the three executed
Jews were delivered to the Jewish
cemetery in Safad. The entire
Jewish population of Safad r.t-
tended the burial ceremony at
which the fathers of Abshalom
Habib and Meir Nakar—two of
those executed—recited Kaddish,
while Rabbi Shlomo PodhOrzerl
of Safad prayed for Jacob Weiss,
the third Irgunist. who had no
male relatives in Palestine. The
bodies were laid to rest in graves
adjoining those of Dov Gruner
and his comrades who were hanged
in April.
Although the relatives of the
three youths attempted to go to
Acre Prison last night when in
formed of the impending execu
tions. the British authorities re
fused to admit them and shunted
them off to Safad.
A number of hours before the
executions police officials ap
proached Rabbi Marcus of Haifa
and asked him to administer the
(Continued on Page Eight)
By GEROLD FRANK
Jewish Telegraphic Agency Correspondent
GENEVA (JTA)—The United Nations Committee on Pal
estine has appointed a ten-man sub-committee to visit dis
placed persons camps. The inspection is expected to take
only eight days, during which the group will visit camps in
the British and American zones of Germany and Austria.
The camps in Italy will probably
not be visited.
(Reuters reported that the main
task of the sub-committee will be
“to discover whether pressure to
emigrate to Palestine originates in
the DP camps themselves or is the
result of outside propaganda." The
members of the sub-committee will
concentrate more on the moral
and political attitude of the dis
placed persons than on camp con
ditions, the report said.)
Heading the sub-committee is
John D. L. Hood of Australia. The
other members are Dr. George
Granados, of Guatemala, Prof. En
rique Fabregat, and the alternates
of Sweden, India. Czechoslovakia,
Canada, Iran, the Netherlands and
Yugoslavia.
A resolution calling for emerg
ency interim action on the Pales-
BLOODY RETALIATION
Agency Condemns Britons Hanging
As Abominable Murder of Innocent
Honored Again
JULIAN BOEHM, distinguished
Jewish communal leader, who
has been appointed a “Lieuten
ant-Colonel" on the staff of
Acting Governor Thompson.
This is the third time Mr.
Boehm has been so honored by
Georgia governors. He served
also with Rivers and Arnall.
By BERL CORALNIK
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Nathanya
was a dead city as apprehensive
residents moved to Tel Aviv or
neighboring settlements, fearing
retaliation bv British troops for
the hanging by the Irgun of the
two sergeants whose bodies were
discovered in an orange grove
three miles from Nathanya. Ear
lier. the local district commission
er had said that “there will be
no reprisals or military law."
High Commissioner Sir Alan G.
Cunningham called Mrs. Goldie
Meirson, political chief of the
Agency here, to urgent talks at
Government House, during which
it is reported he demanded com
plete cooperation of the Jewish
community in ferreting out the
persons responsible for the hang
ing and threatened severe meas
ures. At the same time, the Tel
Aviv district commissioner sum
moned Mayor Israel Rokach to
his office, and the Jerusalem dis
trict commissioner called on Chief
Rabbi Herzog.
A spokesman for the Agency
appealed to the government not to
take steps which would plunge the
country into “additional suffering
and misery, which could only serve
to aid and comfort those irrespon
sible criminals who committed this
outrage."
Jewish institutions and spokes
men, including the Agency and the
Jewish National Council, issued
strong statements condemning in
uncompromising terms the “execu
tion” of the two Britons. Laborite
circles demanded that the Hagan-
ah Immediately launch a full-scale
campaign against the extremists,
who announced that every reprisal
taken by the government would be
met by further attacks. “The sit
uation today is so grave that we
will attack day and night," the
Irgun warned this afternoon.
Meanwhile, troops poured into
the Nathanya areas, every foot of
which was combed. Mayor Oved
Ben Ami expressed the sorrow and
indignation of the city’s popula
tion to the British commander,
who replied that he did not hold
the residents responsible for the
outrage, but considered the per
petrators of the crime to be
“murderers."
Isaac Bmi Zvi, president of the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said
that “the Yishuv has heard with
the utmost indignation the news
of the abominable murder of two
innocent people committed despite
the strong warning issued by the
Council. The mark of Cain has
been engraved upon the murder
ers’ forehead by this act."
A joint Agency-Council state
ment said: "We have no words to
express execration of the dastard
ly murder of two innocent men by
a band of criminals Impervious to
the voice of conscience, who have
arrogated to themselves the power
to decide matters of life and death,
We call on the Yishuv and the
whole Jewish people to stand on
our side, fighting the ghastly evil
which has befallen us until its
complete eradication. We express
our deep and heartfelt sympathy
to the relatives of the innocent
victims and beg them and their
people not to identify the Jewish
people, engaged in an effort to rc-
(Continued on Fag* Eight)
tine problem was circulated among
members of UNSCOP by Prof. Fa-
begrat. The draft resolution called
for the immediate entry into Pales
tine of Jewish children now held
at Cyprus, in DP camps on the con
tinent, on refugee ships now on
the seas; secondly, for entry into
Palestine of the children’s parents
on provisional certificates; and,
thirdly, that those parents and
their children be placed under
the care of the Jewish Agency. A
vote on the resolution was post
poned until UNSCOP convenes to
consider interim proposals on
Palestine.
At a press conference, UNSCOP
Chairman Emil Sandstroem de
clared that “what we have seen
in Palestine urges upon us the
need for a speedy solution. In
response to a question whether the
committee would take action if the
Palestine situation became much
worse, he said that it would "de
pend on what happens," adding
that the delegates are keeping in
touch with the situation there
through the Palestine press, the
Jewish Agency and British liaison
officials. He emphasized that the
commission’s general problem is
the future of Palestine, therefore,
it is taking no action in individual
cases such as that of the Exodus
refugees.
He outlined a three-page work
ing plan to be used by the body
in drafting its report. Firstly it
will conduct a discussion of the
historical and factual background
of the problem. Secondly, the dele
gates will attempt to analyze a
possible solution. He adaed that
the report would contain recom
mendations for implementation.
Sandstroem told the press confer
ence that he could see no need for
(Continued on Page Eight)
AND NONE TOO SOON
Propose New Crucifixion Version
FROM ATLANTA JOURNAL
SEELISBERG, Switzerland, Aug.
6—A radical revision in religious
instruction and preaching by both
Christians and Jews, including
changes in the story of Christ’s
crucifixion, has been approved and
will be proposed to religious lead
ers of the world by an interfaith
conference of some 65 prominent
HEARD IN THE LOBBIES
A Heck of a Journalistic P unch forHecht
By Arnold Levin
Give Ben Hecht the Partisan
Medal for sniping at Jews. Re
member his A Jew In Love, a vi
tuperative, savage caricature of an
American Jew, one of the meanest
attacks on Jews in American fic
tion? Having planted his literary
mine, Ben Hecht did not wince
over the consequences and went
on to Hollywood, boogie-woogie
tempo’d fiction and scenarios and
COMBINING OFFICIAL BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE
Donald Oberdorfer Winding Up Western Tour
In Behalf of Joint Defense Appeal
Donald Oberdorfer, national
chairman, is winding up a tour of
west coast cities in behalf of the
Joint Defense Appeal.
He appeared at various organi
zational affairs in Los Angeles,
Seattle. Portland and San Fran
cisco and neighboring Jewish com
munities. discussing “protection
of Jewish rights."
Mr. Oberdorfer. a leader in At
lanta communal affairs, told a
Seattle. Wash., gathering, "Post
war America faces social and eco
nomic problems of unprecedented
nature. Evil forces, headed by ene
mies of democracy, are seeking to
take advantage of current social
disturbances and are using anti-
Bern i ism as a means to gain pow
er and destroy our democracy."
“These evil forces," he said,
“must not aceogeplish their aims.
They must be uprooted and ex
posed. American Jewry, therefore,
has a two-fold task. We must
safeguard the democratic ideals of
our country and make it impossi
ble for the lies of the hate mon
gers to poison the minds of our
fellow citizens."
Judge Benjamin J. Scheinman
of the Superior Court of Los An
geles, a past president of B'nai
B'rith Lodge in that city, as well
as Mrs. Oberdorfer, accompanied
the speaker to Seattle. Judge
Scheinman is a member of the na
tional executive committee of the
Joint Defense Appeal and spoke
jointly with the Atlantan on sev
eral occasions. -
The Atlanta couple made the
trip by plane, combining the
speaking engagements with vaca
tion trips to points of historic and
scenic interest at points they vis
ited.
riches, and did not think of Jews
again until a tactless gentile lady
scared the Bedevilled Hollywood
success by saying “boo" to him
over a cocktail. The “boo" hit
home, and he suddenly realized—
horror of horrors!—that the good
lady mistook him for his own cruel
caricature. Shocked by the “boo,”
Ben Hecht began to hear other
voices as well, the voices of six
million Jews exterminated by the
Nazis, and to feel that their death
was almost as important as the
insult he so suddenly and unex
pectedly suffered.
When he began to rationalize,
however, Hecht realized that the
crux of the problem is not the
lady’s hatred for the Jew, but
her contempt for Ben Hecht,
and he launched a campaign
to convince her that he is not
the Jew she thinks he is, that
there are as a matter of fact two
kinds of Jews: extremists in
Palestine whose campaign of
violence he regards as a retal
iation campaign against the lady
who offended Ben Hecht, and
other Jews—who are truly des
picable.
In a pro-Irgun advertisement
last week, Mr. Hecht drew that
distinction very clearly. He listed
the Jev/s he hates—“the Jewish
clubs . . . Jewish organizations and
Vereins . . . the Jewish newspaper
publishers, the culture endowers,
the Jewish ladies of charity . . .
the Jewish respectable leadership
. . . the Jewish balebatim ...” In
short, he apparently despises all
Jews, except the dead or those
about to throw their lives away,
the Irgun men. After reading the
exhaustive listing—in full page ad
vertisement in the American press
—of all the Jews he despises, we
find that Ben Hecht’s acceptable
Jews narrow down to a very small
number, so infinitesimally small,
in fact, that even his gentile lady
friend might find some room for
them in this world. His advertise
ment “Requiem and No Sale,” was
a reaffirmation of his anti-Semitic
credo, which he first proclaimed in
A Jew In Love. Consistent man,
this Ben Hecht, he started out
hating the Jew and will end hat
ing him.
If he loves the Irgun so much,
why has not Mr. Ben Hecht con
tributed to Irgun as generously as
the Jews he despises have been
contributing to the cause of relief
in Europe and state building in
Palestine? He has contributed
wordage for ads urging others to
give, but how about his own hard
Hollywood cash?
If Hecht had the slightest com
passion for the Irgun dead, the
opening lines of his “Requiem—
and No Sale" would not have been
as cynically flighty as they were.
“Sholom Aleichem — three tall
young Hebrews hanging in the
Palestine sun,” his ad began.
“Sholem Aleichem?” A true Jew
could never bring himself to be
so wistful at the expense of mar
tyrs . . . Mr. Hecht may be sur
prised by this—but the very Jews
who denounced the Irgun have
shown more true compassion for
its youths who die on the gallowg,
than Hecht has, for those who
love all Jews, barring none.
educators, churchmen and lay
men.
The proposal is intended as one
of the principal means of fighting
anti-Semitism.
Known as the International
Emergency Conference to Combat
Anti-Semitism, the gathering of
Catholics, Protestants and Jews
from 17 countries ended its week-
long sessions Tuesday in this re
mote Swiss mountain village over
looking Lake Lucerne. Adopted
were proposals to reduce and
eventually eliminate anti-Semit
ism through religion, education,
government and civic organiza
tions.
Dr. Everett R. Cinchy, presi
dent of the American National
Conference of Christians and Jews,
declared that the delegates had
met in firm belief that "anti-Sem
itism is a disease that affects Jews
and is part of a wave of pagan
materialism that threatens to en
gulf Western civilization.
The conference approved with
out debate a religion subcommit
tee report that emphasized the
“tragic face that certain theologi
cally inexact conceptions and cer
tain misleading presentations of
the gospel of love, while essentially
opposed to the spirit of Christ,
contribute to the rise of anti-Sem
itism.”
Christian members of the sub
committee declared there was
“need to emphasize the close bond
that exists between Judlasm and
Christianity, to present the pas-
(Continued on Page Eight)
DR. EVERETT R. CLINCllY
American NCCJ President