Newspaper Page Text
J
Friday, January 19, 1N2
THB SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Pag*
Dr. Wexler Tells of Visit
"In 4 Iron (lurtain Lands
From Savannah Evening News
SAVANNAH A Savannahian
who visited four Iron Curtain
countries in the fall told the
Savannah Kiwanis Club today
he "was surprised to find Rus
sia loaded with Africans, Asians
and South Americans going to
school ”
I)r. William A. Wexler, optom
etrist, made the observation m a
speech scheduled for delivery at
1 o’clock The doctor toured Mos
cow, the city of Kiev m the Rus
sian I'kraine; Warsaw, Poland;
Prague, Czechslovakia, and Bud
apest, Hungary, on a trip with
about 30 other Americans in late
August and early September.
Tile students are attending So
viet Friendship University and
other Russian colleges, Dr Wex
ler said.
“Ultimately these young peo
ple will be the leaders in their
countries." he said. "They are
being definitely indoctrinated to
the Communist point of view.
This is a great menace to demo
cracy "
Dr Wexler said he flew from
city to city, but within cities
rode taxis, buses and subways
"anywhere without a guide."
Wherever he went he was hos
pitably received, he said Coun
tries outside Russia “seemed to
be extremely friendly” and it
was Wexler’s opinion “they
would be very happy to get rid
of the Russian yoke.” He em
phasized he referred to "the
people and not the Communist
leaders” he interviewed.
Wexler said he was also sur
prised to find Moscow modern,
“with lovely boulevards, hotels,
universities, and the like.” He
noted that the fear that existed
in prior years because of the
secret police “was not nearly so
bad" as he had thought He did
"not see any signs of revolt on
the part of the people, although
living standards, though improv
ing. are still very poor.”
Dr Wexler said the questions
Russians most ofter asked him
were about military bases, war,
American economic conditions
and the Negro situation in the
south. They wanted to know, he
said "why we have them sur
rounded with military bases,
why we want to wage war
against them, what about Ameri-
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Made Dry
Without Digging
VULCAN-OSER
WATERPROOFING CO.
A Division of
OSER PEST CONTROL, INC
000-0000
ca’s poor econojnic conditions
with millions of peoples unem
ployed?”
He said they know all about
Little Rock and New Orleans,
"but don’t know anything good
about us ”
"That's the kind of stuff
they’re* being fed " be said. "1
don’t know how much Radio
Free Kurope is getting through
There were some signs that they
don’t swallow whole all their
papers feed them.”
He said bis group found no
publications written in English
in Russia except the “London
Daily Worker,” a communist
Ifniblication and a few magazines
and publications published by
the communists.
"All this,” be said,”- the mis
information they are given, the
foreign student education pro
gram. the improved living condi
tions of the people, the indus
trial advancement of the country
makes me realize they are a
great danger to us.”
“We will have to wake up,"
he added, "to the fact that wo
can't ignore the Asians, Africans
and South Americans because
their clothing isn't cut as well
as ours ”
Birmingham JCC Honors Bill Engel
At Annual Meet; President 17 Years
By J S. GALLINGER
Editor, The Jewish Monitor, Birmingham, Ala.
If ever “honor pursued,” it
caught up with its man at the
1962 annual membership meet
ing of the Birmingham Jewish
Community Center held January
7. The Center’s membership and
its officers presented William P
Engel with a suitably inscribed
plaque with a raised gavel sig
nifying his 17 years as its presi
dent, and an oil painting im
mortalizing his image as a dedi
cated and efficient leader as
well as a personal and warm
hearted friend. But beyond that,
a whole community gave him a
standing ovation that would not
end until gaveled into silence by
Sol Rittenbaum, presiding as
master of ceremonies.
At that moment, Bill Engel
could have risen, expressed his
thanks to Center president, Jer
ome A Cooper and his fellow
officers and fellow members,
perhaps cracked one of his fam
ous witticisms, and then sat
down to rest on his well earned
laurels.
But that creative quality in
his character which made him
rise from a clerk’s desk in a
lawyer’s office to phenomenal
success in the fields of real
estate, insurance, finance, bank
ing and many others, that drive
to leadership which lifted him
from enlisted man to captain in
the one and one half years of
World War I, that sense of civic
responsibility which impelled
him to serve as president of the
Jewish Community Center for
17 years and of his Temple, the
Birmingham Chamber of Com
merce and the Birmingham Com
mittee of 100 for repeated terms.
this compulsion “to pay his civic
rent,” as he himself has phrased
it, disdained the soft cushion of
past glory.
This city in whose trade area
he was born, in whose vicinity
he grew up and in whose streets
walk and work his friends, his
admirers, and the masses who
look to him for leadership, his
beloved Birmingham was writh
ing in the throes of new prob
lems—partly of its own making
—which were holding back its
further growth and stultifying
its progress. Thus, Bill Engel
rose from the seat of honor and
went forth into another fight
The old artillery^ captain trained
his big guns on bigotry, stub
borness, cowardice, and incom
petence:
“My conscience and my love
of Birmingham will not permit
me to Ignore our present plight,"
he said, zeroing in on his target
"For every job created by new
industries, Birmingham has lost
three by industries cutting back
or moving away.”
"We have already had more
nationwide unfavorable publi
city because of our mishandling
of today’s problems than any of
our largest cities of the South."
The shot was true on the tar
get "And this is adversely af
fecting the daily lives of every
one of us."
But then there is the hope
that his fire is not destructive
but constructive. "I cannot ' be
lieve that Birmingham will fall
by the wayside It will take
time and tears, sweat and strain
and heartache, but it must be
done. Either we go forward or
we go back, and if we go back
we go back into the depths.”
And then he points the way
to a solution he sees. He cites
crises in other Southern cities
and instances of how leaders in
New Orleans, Dallas, Houston
and others had faced similar
problems.
"In the face of these prob
lems, leadership in these cities
stepped forward and took the
necessary steps no matter how
painful," he warns. And then
the challege; Birmingham now
awaits, he says "the strong, clear
call of its leadership clergy,
educational, press, business and
professional.”
The next day, the press takes
up the challenge. The Birming
ham News writes editorially*.
"No man in Birmingham could
be said to have done more than
BiU Engel to try to keep at
white-hot pitch an awareness of
what Birmingham is, can do, in
deed must do, to serve its peo
ple Bill Engel chose to draw
attention to our problems, cur
rent and future. This was in
keeping with his record He has
always been blunt and willing
to say and even do the unpopu
lar. It is fact . . . that because
too few have done so our
troubles now are multiplied.”
This was William P. Engel at
his best, standing out up front
at the firing line. Perhaps he
half expected that he would be
awakened—as he was — in the
middle of the same night by a
raucous ring on the telephone
and threatened by the abusive
voice of a benighted detractor
hiding in cringing anonymity.
Yet he stood brave and tall and
unafraid because he knew that
he was right
The rest of the evening was
background, well planned, effi
ciently executed, instructive, en
tertaining Karl Friedman pre
sented several routine resolu
tions which were adopted. Hy
man S Miller offered nomina
tions to the board which were
approved. Wallace Cohen de
scribed the all-inclusive program
of tin' Center which cares for
about 1200 members and their
kin of air ages illustrating his
talk with slides of actual activi
ties, Harold E Katz, the Center's
executive director, gave his re
port. promising bigger and bet
ter things yet to come.
Then Mayer Newfield intro
duced the guest speaker of the
evening, Sanford Solender, ex
ecutive vice president of the
National Jewish Welfare Board,
Tenderness Test Proves
Sunbeam
Best!
it’s batter whipped!
who delineated "The Unique
Role of the Jewish Community
Center” as the agency best fitted
to utilize usefully and construc
tively the increasing leisure time
accruing to Americans of this
generation for: the reaffirmation
of the Democratic values of
American life; the reinvigoration
of public opinion in civic issues;
and—especially for its Jewish
listeners—the return to mean
ingful Jewish belonging.
When the spotlight finally
tinned upon the honoree, Presi
dent Cooper introduced George
\ Styles, school principal of
Cottondale. Ala., Mr. Engel’s
birthplace, Mr. Styles spoke of
Mr. Engel’s contributions in
time, energy and money to his
native village where he founded
and endowed one of the finest
libraries available to any small
school in the Southland.
Irving Engel, Bill’s elder bro
ther, followed with a humorous
word picture of their early be
ginnings, their school years,
their military service and finally
their careers which lead them
in different directions yet simi
larly into positions of outstand
ing leadership. A reading of
telegrams followed, from such
organizations as the American
Jewish Committee which Bill
Engel serves as national vice
president, and from such friends
as Senators Lister Hill and John
Sparkman and Congresman
George Huddleston Jr
Any honors that could be be
stowed upon William P. Engel
seem puny. The only honor such
a man wants, needs and event
ually will receive is the coopera
tion of his fellow citizens—in his
own words — “to follow our
course already established as a
progressive city,” and from keep
ing it "to become a city of in
famy known for violence.”
William P Engel will deem
himself truly honored on that
day when Birmingham again
takes its rightful place among
the great cities in the South.
'r r r ,
r
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY—Savannah’s Dr. Wexler in Budapest while on an investigative tour as
a part of the recent B’nai 'B’rith United Nations Eastern European Survey Mission with Endre Sos,
(center) president of the Hungarian Jewish Communities, and Bernard Simmons, (left) national
public relations director for B’nai B’rith.