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Dr. Stephen S. Wise as I Knew Him
by DR. JULIUS S. FISHER
Rabbi, Beaufort, S. C.
A Former Co-Laborer of Wise Relates
Some Close Observations of This Man,
Whose Passing Has More Sharply Etched
His Place Among the Peaks of Judaism
He was a great man . . . people would
use all too frequently this term. May I
suggest that before doing so, some thought
be given to what it implies? Were all great
writers, speakers, leaders great men? Was,
for instance, Rousseau a great man — Rous
seau, who in his Emile wrote unforgettable
chapters on child education and put his
own children, all of them, personally and
heartlessly into foundling-asylums.
No, he was not. Neither was, despite his
adjective, Peter the Great, who scourged
his son and caused him to be executed. And
many more great men were not great.
Human greatness postulates a harmoni
ous whole. A great man is like a crystal,
displaying in all directions the same lines
of beauty and symmetry. Outward as well
as inward. In the spiritual field as well as
in private life. Great is the man who com
bines the greatness of the genius with the
greatness of the heart and character.
By this standard I would call Professor
A. Einstein a great man and I feel entitled
to call Dr. Stephen S. Wise a great man, too.
* *
I do not intend to
speak of Dr. Wise’s bril
liant career, fascinating
eloquence or organiza
tional geniu; these are
well known. I want to
speak of that other Dr.
Wise, the man, whom
only those living in his
nearness, could see. For
five years I have been
one of his co-laborers
and I feel in duty bound
to jot down some of my
experiences.
I shall be frank. Be
fore joining him, I
would hear not a few
sarcastic remarks on
him. “Sensationalist”,
“actor” were the most
frequent ones. Later at
meetings and confer
ences I had to see the
falsehood of such re
marks and that he was
moved by deep con
victions.
An outburst of his at
the 1943 Atlantic City
conference of the World
Jewish Congress will re
main unforgettable to me. On the first two
days the delegations of the Jewries of va
rious countries conveyed their messages.
Dr. Wise listened to everyone in his tran
quil, attentive manner. The Belgian dele
gate, a wealthy and gifted man, spoke on
the American Nazis, especially Gerald J. K.
Smith. He just read the statement of their
policies, when all of a sudden Dr. Wise
rose and . . . “Friends,” he thundered, “I
move that this speech should be stricken
out of the minutes!” All were startled. Dr.
Nahum Goldman, who sat next to him,
tried in vain to soothe him. “My friend
L . . . S," he continued turning to the
speaker, “you weren’t still born when I al
ready fought our enemies. And I tell you:
let us either live or die. Let us live like
men or die like men . . . fighting . . . but
we had enough of this everlasting fear and
fright. . . . No, I don’t want in the minutes
either that Nazi or his statements or
declarations!”
He sat down all exhausted, caring little
for the widespread displeasure he evoked
and for the hurt feelings of the entire Bel
gian delegation. No, this was anything but
a scene acted by a sensationalist, this was
fire, deep conviction, erupted from the
depth.
* * *
Last summer I was at the Montreaux
conference of the World Jewish Congress
together with him. The Hungarian dele
gation, foremost leaders of that Jewry,
paid their respects to him in a body. In
view of his Hungarian descent they
pleaded with him to visit Budapest and her
Jewry. They had already taken care of
visa and permits. Dr. Wise thanked warm
ly for the invitation. Then he declared: “I
shall never set my foot on the soil where
the Nazis destroyed 600,000 of my innocent
brethren!”
He was far from proud of his Hungarian
descent. He deeply resented the attitude
of Hungarian Jewry which in her golden
days completely detached herself from
their co-religionists abroad.
Yet in 1944, when Hitler overran Hun
gary, the catastrophe of the Hungarian
Jews shattered him. He called a mass
meeting in the Madison Square Garden;
to a multitude of 40,000 he read President
Roosevelt’s warning addressed to the Hun
garian Government; he went to Washing
ton and succeeded in causing the great
President to take an unprecedented step.
Although Hungary declared war on the
U. S. A., and disrupted all contact and re
lationship, President Roosevelt sent a note
verbale to Hungary’s Regent Horthy con-
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The Southern Israelite