Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
XXXIII
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JULY 18, 1958
NO. 29
Rabbinic Parley Encouraged
By Resurgence of Orthodoxy
Gurion Holds Top-Level Meeting
On Possible Effects of Iraqi Revolt
Late Developments
MIAMI BEACH—The Rabbini
cal Council of America, meeting
for its 22nd annual convention
at the Deauville Hotel in Miami
Beach heard several stirring re
ports about the resurgence of
Orthodox Judaism in the United
States.
The reports noted the fact
that among the manifestations of
the renewed vigor of Torah
Judaism was the fact that twen
ty-three synagogues have in re
cent past returned to the Torah
form of worship by erecting
Mechitzas (separate seating).
Among these congregations
were two of the most prominent
in their areas—the Riverdale
N. Y. Center, and Congregation
Agudath Achim of South Shore
in Chicago. The list included
synagogues in the far West, Mid
west, Southeast and Canada.
The report concluded, “The
return to the norms of Torah
among our young people is an
indication that the trend towards
the secularization of the syna-
Seek Revocation
Of License of
Nazi Camp Doctor
KIEL, Germany, (JTA)—The
Schleswig-Holstein provi n c i a 1
Ministry of the Interior an
nounced this week that it had
moved again to revoke the medi
cal license of Dr. Herta Ober-
hauser, a physician who served
a five-year prison term for war
crimes against Jewish and other
women in the Nazi RavenbTeuck
concentration camp.
The Ministry’s announcement
came after a protest by the Brit
ish medical society against Dr.
Oberhauser’s being permitted to
practice. Earlier efforts by Nazi
victims to have the woman doc
tor barred by German govern
mental and medical authorities
proved unsuccessful. As late as
last year a German court killed
a move to revoke her license.
Dr. Oberhauser was convicted
by an American war crimes
court in 1947 of having carried
out “experiments” on prison in
mates while she served as a
physician at Ravensbreuck. Some
of the women and children
whom she infected with bacteri
al cultures and bits of inorganic
foreign matter like wood or
glass placed in incisions on legs
and elsewhere on the body sick
ened and died. Some survived as
cripples.
gogue has been halted.”
The convention also heard a
paper by Rabbi Emanuel Feld
man of Beth Jacob in Atlanta,
who declared that the “modern
rabbi is becoming an executive
whose job it has become to
market a product called reli
gion. ... In many instances,
commercial more and norms
have crept into synagogue life,
and the standards of business
and not Torah standards have
prevailed.
Rabbi Feldman decried the
commercialization of religion and
called for a return to Torah.”
Buchenwald Doctor
Seeks Egypt Asylum
MUNICH, (JTA) — Dr. Hans
Eiscle, former Buchenwald con
centration camp doctor who fled
Germany to escape trial by a
German court for the murder of
at least 200 Jews during his
period of service as a physician
at the Nazi death camp, claimed
political asylum from the United
Arab Republic this week.
Dr. Eisele, arrested in Cairo
this weekend on an international
police request for his extradi
tion to Germany, claimed that
he was a victim of persecution
by the Jews who “are using”
his case for “political ends.” The
reports of Dr. Eisele’s pleas were
received by news services here.
The ex-Nazi doctor is seeking
legal aid from fellow former
Nazis who are making their home
in Cairo and have positions of
importance in the Egyptian ser
vice.
It was understood here that
Dr. Eisele was due to be inter
rogated officially by Cairo po
lice and that the Ministry of the
Interior of Egypt would decide
two questions simultaneously:
the request for his extradition,
and his plea for political asylum.
(In London it was reported
that the international police or
ganization known officially as
Interpol had forwarded docu
ments pertaining to Dr. Eisele
to Cairo and expected his ex
tradition in a matter of days).
It was learned here, mean
while, that the Nazi physician
had been “denazified” by a Ger
man tribunal sitting in Freiburg
while he was still serving a ten-
year sentence in the Landsberg
Prison. The Freiberg court’s ac
tion was based on the fact that
an Allied military court had
commuted a death sentence and
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Premier
David Ben Gurion Monday par
ticipated in a top-level meeting
at the home of Forc-gn Minister
Golda Meir held to appraise the
Iraqi revolt developments and
their effects on Israel.
Reportedly, a chief question
was Israel’s policy in the event
that pro-Nasser Iraqi troops
overrun and occupy the King
dom of Jordan and take up posi
tions in the Western areas bord
ering Israel.
An afternoon newspaper
quoted Mr. Ben Gurion as hav
ing said in a brief interview
that the Iraqi developments
would be decisive for Lebanon,
Jordan and Israel. Brigadier
Chaim Laskov, chief of staff of
the Israel Army, declined any
comment on the situation, say
ing it was “too early.”
Feverish consultations proceed
ed from early morning at the
Foreign Ministry as reports on
the still confused picture of the
Egyptian-directed, pro-Commun-
ist revolt in Iraq came trickling
in. Foreign Minister Meir, re
cently discharged from a hos
pital after a serious operation
and still confined to her home,
was unable to participate in these
meetings but was being kept
fully informed and was to at
tend the deliberations in her
home.
While no official comment
was immediately forthcoming on
the dangerous new situation cre
ated in the Middle East by Col.
Nasser’s successful attack on the
pro-Western government of Iraq,
political observers here noted
that although the coup came as
a bombshell, it could have been
anticipated in view of the fact
that Western hesitation to take
action in the Lebanese crisis
gave encouragement, if not the
green-light, to the Nasser forces
to increase their penetration.
There were grave fears here,
openly exposed by the man in
the street, who is acutely cons
cious of the political situation,
that the Kingdom of Jordan,
later a life sentence. This, the
Freiberg tribunal argued, proved
that he had been convicted
“essentially” only because he
had been a doctor in a Nazi
camp. It discounted the evi
dence that he had poisoned and
otherwise done to death hun
dreds of camp inmates.
bound to Iraq in the United
Arab Federation, would fall
within a week, as would Leba
non. This would leave Israel
surrounded on every foot of its
land frontiers by pro-Nasser,
pro-Soviet elements. Only West
ern intervention, it was felt,
could save Jordan.
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Israel
Minister Yaacov Herzog Monday
conferred at the State Depart
ment on the implications of the
Iraqi situation for Israel.
United States officials were in
agreement that the Iraqi revolt
could easily have extensive re
percussions in other Middle
East countries. They avoided
speculation on how Israel might
be affected, except to state that
a change is sure to come in the
present Arab-Israel situation.
The Premier of Iraq’s new
revolutionary military junta was
identified here as a diehard
anti-Israeli, Gen. Abdul Kerim
Kassem, who commanded an
Iraqi brigade in Palestine in
1948. Troops under his command
were accused of atrocities against
Jews. Gen. Kassem a relatively
little known military man, was
identified also as a leftist and
admirer of President Nasser of
the United Arab Republic.
Demands emerged in the Sen
ate for United Nations inter
vention in Iraq to put down the
revolt. Sen. Mike Mansfield, a
Demorcratic member of the Sen
ate Foreign Relations Committee,
called for United Nations action
on Iraq “as soon as possible.” He
said he hoped the possibility of
dispatching a United Nations
emergency police force is “im
mediately considered.”
Sen. Jacob K. -Javits, New
York Republican, said that the
events in Iraq emphasize “the
critical importance of Israel’s in
dependence as the most reliable
free world bastion in the Near
East.” He stressed that the con
flagration in Iraq calls for re
affirmation of the Eisenhower
Doctrine and the development of
alternative oil routes to those
controlled by the United Arab
Republic. He called for reaffir
mation of American determina
tion to stand by the United Arab
Republic. He called for reaffirm
ation of American determination
to stand by commitments to
Near Eastern states.
A measure of blame for the
Iraqi revolt was placed on Israel
and on the Arab nations today
by Republican Senator Ralph
Landing of 5,400 U.S. Ma
rines in Lebanon, and British
parachuters in Jordan was
the answer of the United
States and Britain to the cri
sis in Iraq this week.
The move to bolster the pro-
West administrations of these
two countries brought a meas
ure of assurance to Israel
which would be surrounded
on three sides by hostile Arab
countries if Lebanon and Jor
dan went the way of Iraq.
Flanders of Vermont. He said:
“Israel must cease recruiting
Jews from areas where they are
not in want or oppressed.” He
attributed blame for the present
state of affairs in the Middle
East to policies under which he
said millions of U.S. dollars can
be sent to Israel. He referred
also to what he described as
Arab fear of Israeli expansion
ism.
Looking to the Arab woi’ld,
he blamed the Arabs for refus
ing to recognize the existence of
Israel. He stressed in general
that “we should have the active
cooperation of Israel” in finding
a Middle East solution.
LONDON, (JTA) — Official
British circles admitted earlier
this week that the Iraqi revolt
would necessitate “a complete
reappraisal of the Middle East
ern situation as the regional po
litical map has been completely
altered.”
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Presi
dent Eisenhower interrupt
ed a meeting Monday of the
National Security Council io go
into an urgent top-level confer
ence on the overthrow of the
Iraqi Government.
He left the National Security
Council meeting to confer with
Secretary of State Dulles, Vice
President Nixon, Middle Eastern
experts of the State Department,
and others. Mr. Dulles brought
last minute reports to the White
House.
President Eisenhower also met
with Congressional leaders at a
White House emergency meet
ing in connection with the Iraqi
crisis, Present at the meeting
were, in addition to Democratic
and Republican political leaders
in Congress, ranking members
of both parties on the Senate
Continued on Page 8
Editor Abandons Role of Observer and Talks
To Federal Prisoners About English - Jewish Press
Not often do we abandon our
preferred role of being a com
munal reporter to make a talk.
There are so many who wish to
make speeches and so many, lo
cally and visiting who can arise
and sway audiences with exper
ienced eloquence . . .
Sunday, July 13, was the ex
ception. Hymie Jacobs had in
vited me to visit the Federal
Prison when he went to conduct
services and to talk about the
Jewish press.
This is a field for a dozen lec
tures and I fortified my practi
cal knowledge w r ith a few notes
about the appearance of the first
Jewish periodical in Amsterdam
about 300 years ago. I would
have to limit my material to
printed newspapers and maga
zines, eliminating the greatest
Jewish periodical of them all—
the Bible, whose beginning para
graph more noted writers than
I I have characterized as the best
I lead, the best bit of journalistic
I reporting ever set down. . .
Entering the grounds, I drove
I to a parking area and, in accord-
lance with regulations Mr. Jacobs
Ihad learned during his regular
I Sunday visits which began about
46 years ago, locked the doors
as a precaution. (He didn’t men
tion it, but in those first years
he probably arrived in a horse-
drawn hack or walked from the
trolley line). Then, the keys were
left on a hook where a guard
could keep an eye on them.
The gray stone prison had
just shortly been doused with a
sudden thunderstorm and the
drizzle and puddles on the street
should have lent a dismal at
mosphere.
It didn’t. Nor did I get this
feeling inside. We strode up the
steps and as the door swung
open, one guard came out and
left, perhaps having completed
his night shift—it was 8 a.m.—
quipping with the guard who ad
mitted us.
I signed the guest book with
name, address and purpose of
visit, “religious,” Mr. Jacobs in
structed.
He punched a clock. The hour
clock and cards were at the left.
As a paid employee (he’s a
dollar-a-year chaplain) he has to
keep a record of his service.
“Number hundred and eleven,”
he muttered, taking his time
record from one stack, inserting
it in a slot for a printed record
and racking it in a vacancy for
the active cards.
I could not resist a joke about
how much he could get upon re
tirement. It’s 60 percent of his
pay.
Lining the walls in the anter-
room were about a dozen austere
men and women. Wives, mothers
and friends, I surmised. One
woman in her twenties was ac
companied by a six or seven-
year-old boy . . .
I had an official pass now. The
guard jokingly supposed we had
left our guns, knives and tools
outside. I offered to let him ex
amine the samples of The South
ern Israelite newspaper and
magazine and JTA dispatches I
had brought along as illustrative
material.
He showed no interest.
Another set of grated doors
swung open. Mr. Jacobs intro
duced the guard and teased him
about the raise he’d gotten late
ly-
The guard smiled, “Soon, I can
afford to join the Progressive
Club.”
I did a double take. A Jewish
guard? I hadn’t thought of this
angle before. I knew there were
Jewish prisoners.
Looking back, I inquired, “How
long have you been in Atlanta?”
“Sixteen years.”
Well, even an editor can’t
know everything. The door
clicked shut. I wondered if a
feeling of claustrophobia would
set in and lose the mood in in
terest over groups of men vigor
ously pushing mops and brooms
about to gather any dirt on the
floor which looked immaculate
already . . .
Now, we faced an elevator
and were let out.
A Catholic chapel at our left
was filled with worshippers. We
strode into a classroom area and
entered a room where about
twenty men waited.
Prayer books were handed out
and the services began. One of
the men who assisted Mr. Jacobs
did most of the reading, calling
upon others in the group to
share. I thought they read too
rapidly, but it was always with
an air of deep meaning and rev
erence . . . Now it was time for
the Kaddish. One of the men
stood for the Yartzeit of his
mother . . .
An announcement that next
week after services the group
would discuss “great Jewish per
sonalities in the contemporary
scene.”
It was my turn now . . . Copies
of other English-Jewish news
papers lay on some of the chairs.
I longed to be in my repeortorial
role of listening, of asking the
questions. For behind each man
before me I knew was a human
story of great depth and signifi-
cence, stories it was not my
privilege to investigate . . .
For an instant I thought of the
archaicness of our penal system
in our enlightened society, won
dering about the effectiveness of
whatever terms the men were
serving in relationship to the
Continued on Page 3
EDITOR'S IVY TOWER