Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israe’*
a9
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - T
Vol. XXXVU
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY JUNE If
1962
V
NO 24
Home Police Cuaril Jewish Serlion
Of City to Prevent New Clashes
ROME, (JTA) — Strong police
units guarded this week all ap
proaches to the midtown district
ol the former Jewish ghetto in
Rome as an aftermath to two
days of violent clashes between
neo-Fascists and Jews in which
two Jews and seven Rightists
we re wounded.
Four Jews were arrested in
the first clashes and one was still
under arrest. None of the mem
bers of the Movimento Sociale
Italiano were arrested The dis
orders erupted when Rightists
campaigners in Rome’s hard-
fought election campaign came
into the Jewish area. Jewish
community leaders said that the
neo-Fascist propaganda m the
5,000 Children
Open Shavuot
JERUSALEM. (JTA — Some
l.OOO children took part in the
'first fruit” assemblies held here
as part of the public observance
< f Shavuot both in the capita:
and throughout Israel.
The holiday commemorates both
the giving of the Ten Command
ments on Mount Sinai and the
traditional festival of the first har
vests. Dressed in white the child
ren marched through the streets
i arrying baskets of fruits. They
later attended a ceremony with
a special program of songs and
dances.
Knesset OKs
Economic Policy;
Mandatory Savings
JERUSALEM. (JTA ) -— Israel’s
Knesset (Parliament) has voted
‘ upport of the Government’s new
economic policy, including com-
( ulsory savings, worked out as
the result of Israel’s devaluation
ef the pound last February. The
vet* was 56-39.
A stormy debate preceded the
adoption eif the motion supporting
tin new policy, most of the fire
being directed at the compulsory
savings plan proposed by Finance
Minister Levi Eshkol.
The latter staunchly defended
the plan, insisting the funds de-
r ve-ei from the forced savings will
not be used for current expendi
tures. but will be impounded in
ttie State bank to keep down mon
ey circulation and, thereby, pre
vent inflation. He told the Knes-
se t that the savings will be re
fill.liable after three years.
ghett’o section was clearly prr-
vocatory
Witnesses said the Rightists
shouted anti-Semitic slogans and
that a shot was fired from one
of the campaign cars which came
into the Jewish section. Angry
Jews attacked and mauled the
campaigners.
Another file of rightwing elec
tion cars were driven past the
main synagogue and occupants
showered stones on the building.
The wounding of the two Jews
occurred in a clash at that time.
Police planned special protection
for the synagogue until after the
municipal elections.
Dr. Elio Toaff, Chief Rabbi of
Rome, issued the following state
ment in the name of the Rome
Jewish community:
"After all that Jews, and es
pecially Rome’s Jews, suffered
from Nazism and Fascism, any
provocation would inevitably re
sult in a violent reaction. The
events proved it again and it is
only due to the tact of the pol
ice force and its efficiency and
the moderating action of Jewish
community officials that no
worse incidents occurred. The
Jews of Rome want only to be
left in peace and to dedicate
themselves to their occupations.
The best way to achieve this is
to avoid vexing contacts.”
The area of the clashes is a
lowermiddle class district which
was once the compulsory dwell
ing place of Rome’s Jews. About
a third of Rome’s 12,000 Jews
live in the old ghetto.
Washington Or<h r Ends Export
Of Israeli Cotton-Yarn to U.S.
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—The ex
port of Israeli cotton yarn to the
United States, which reached
some 250 tons during the last
year, has been stopped by an
order of the U.S. Government as
an indirect result of the attempt
to slow down the influx of cheap
cotton goods to the United States
from the Far East, it was learned
here Monday.
The United States has an
nounced it will freeze import of
cotton goods at the 1960-61 level
Since Israel did not export any
cptton to the United States in
that period, the effect is to give
no quota to Israel at all, thereby
cutting the export of Israeli cot
ton yarn to the United States to
zero. Shipments of Israeli cotton
yarn to the U.S. constituted about
50 percent of the entire yam
exports.
The United States order is a
severe blow to Israel’s cotton
spinning industry, which was al
ready reeling, along with other
Briefly .
NEW YORK, (JTA)—Professor Jacob Neusner, chairman of the
department of Hebrew studies at the University of Wisconsin, Mil
waukee, was awarded the $1,000 Abraham Berliner Prize in Jewish
history for his book on “A Life of Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakai”
at the commencement exercises of the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America.
MIAMI, (JTA)—Samuel Cohen, assistant director of the Greater
Miami Jewish Federation and head of the agency’s community plan
ning and budget division, has accepted an appointment as executive
director of the Jewish Community Council in Springfield, Mass.
Jewish Claims Conference
Sets Deadline for
Applications for Funds
NEW YORK. (JTA I — Applica
tions to the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims Against Germany,
by organizations, institutions and
committees seeking the allocation
of funds for the year 1963, must
be filed before June 30. 1962 the
Conference announced this week.
Applications should be sub
mitted in twenty copies to the
Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany, New
York and should contain a de
tailed description of the activities
for which funds are requested. The
organization submitting applica
tions should also include precise
budgetary data and information
on other sources of income which
may be available to the applicant
for 1he projects in question.
US Confirms
Anti-Semitism
In Russia
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — A
highly publicized open letter last
month, denying the existence of
anti-Semitism in Soviet Russia,
and allegedly signed by five
prominent Soviet Jews, has been
refuted by the Department of
State, Senator Jacob Javits of
New York told the Senate this
weekend.
The New York lawmaker, who
made public an exchange of let
ters on the subject between him
self and the Department, said
that the Department has raised
three “imperative points” in
knocking down the Soviet claim.
He said the Department feels:
1 That there “is clear evidence
of the resort by the (Soviet) re
gime to discriminatory measures
against Jews in access to higher
education.”
2. That “the desecration of
cemeteries, closing of synagogues,
dispersing of prayer meetings,
arrests of lay leaders, prohibitions
of certain Jewish religious prac
tices have been well established.”
3 That the Soviet dissemina
tion of the letter “is a sign of in
creased sensitivity to charges of
Memorial Rites Held for Georgia
Jewish Victims of Paris Air Crash
Memorial services were held
last week for all the eleven
Georgia Jewish victims of the
Orly Field, Paris, plane crash
which took the lives of 130 per-
lons
Special services were held on
June 6 at the Temple for Mr.
and Mrs. Sidney A. Wien and
their 22-year-old daughter Joan.
Rabbi Jacob Rothschild officiat
ed
Sptcial services for Mr. and
Mrs Reuben C. Crimm were
held at the Temple on June 7.
Rabbi Jacob Rothschild officiat
ed
Tht regular Friday evening
service at the Temple was devot
ed by Rabbi Jacob Rothschild to
a memorial for the eleven Jewish
victims,” “linked through the
community" with all the other
dead in the crash.”
On Sunday morning. June 10,
memorial services were conduct-
td for Mr and Mrs. Saul Gerson
at Beth Jacob Synagogue. Rabbi
Emanuel Feldman officiated.
Meanwhile in Elberton, Ga.,
hometown of Mr. and Mrs. Louis
Patz. services were conducted
last week by Rabbi Nathaniel
Zimskind, spiritual leader of the
Temple at Athens, in which the
couple held membership.
All three of the Patz children,
Sara Ann, 7, Harry, 10, and Sam
uel 12, were pupils at the Athens
Temple Congregation’s Sunday
School Rabbi Zimskind reported
the older boy had been studying
under him for Bar Mitzvah this
fall.
Meanwhile, word was being
awaited by the families as to
when the bodies of the victims
would be brought home. Identifi
cation was made difficult by the
fire which burst out after the
crash. Fingerprints and other
means of identification were for
warded to speed the process.
It was thought that quiet
graveside rites would be con
ducted when shipment was final
ly made.
This last wekend, the Atlanta
Art Association, under whose
aegis the ill-fated tour was or
ganized, announced a decision to
develop a $1,500,000 art instruc
tion center as a memorial to the
victims and their interest in art
which took them on the trip
anti-Semitism and is no doubt
calculated to counter recent for
eign publicity of deliberate anti-
Semitic actions by the Soviet re
gime.”
Senator Javits, who was speci
fically named in the Soviet letter
as one who has made charges of
anti-Semitism in Russia, told the
Senate that he too believes the
letter “to be an official Soviet
reaction; and, rather than ans
wering my original charges, it
confirms and substantiates them.”
The State Department letter
labeled as “misleading” some of
the figures used in the open let
ter of last month, citing as an
example the Yiddish language
publication, Sovietish Heim Land,
which the Soviet Government
boasts is evidence of the absence
of official anti-Jewish feeling.
The State Department pointed
out that, in 1935, there were far
more books and periodicals in
Yiddish than those published to
day, and that their combined cir
culation far exceeded the circu
lation of the lone Yiddish pub
lication currently being pub
lished.
Israel’s Population
Reported Inereased
By 82,000 in Year
JERUSALEM. (JTA) — Israel’s
economy during 1961 was marked
by full employment and a nine
percent increase in the gross na
tional product, on the one hand,
and by the steepest increase in
prices in five years and an un
precedented rise in the country’s
trade deficit, on the other, it was
disclosed here this week in the
annual report issued by David
Horowitz, governor of the Bank
of Israel.
During the year, when Israel s
population increased by 82,000
mainly from mass immigration,
the gainfully employed rose 4.7
percent with the demand for
skilled workers in some sectors
of the economy exceeding the
supply. Private consumption,
which increased by 10 percent
during the year, was marked by
a high demand for automobiles
and other durable goods.
Along with the economic
growth, there was during the
year an eight percent increase
in prices over the 1950 level
which was the highest since the
establishment of the State. Also
on the negative side was an in
crease in the trade deficit from
$334,000,000 tc $402,000,000
industries in the country, as a
result of the devaluation of the
Israeli currency last February.
The cotton spinning industry
here, using the most modern
equipment, employs 5,000 work
ers’ on three shifts, working day
and night. Half of the produc
tion had been earmarked for ex
port.
Spinners called an emergency
meeting on June 10 to consider
the new situation which will,
without a doubt, result in the
dismissal of hundreds of workers.
The Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, which informed the
spinning industry of the new
American ruling, held out the
hope that the stoppage of ex
ports to the United States may
be temporary, since Washington
will review the cotton yarn im
port quotas in October. However,
Israel’s economic advisers in
Washington have been ordered
to maintain close contact on the
situation with the American au
thorities.
An offshoot of the new Ameri
can ruling is that it will affect
also Israel’s exports of rainwear
Exports of raincoats from here
to the United Sates increased re
cently by 20 percent The new
American ruling may force the
rainwear industry to cut its U.S.-
bound rainwear shipments down
to its earlier trade figures.
Trade Union Leaders
Condemn Soviet
Anti-Jewish Action
UNITY HOUSE, Pa., (JTA)—
Forty American and Canadian
trade union leaders meeting here
this week adopted a resolution
sharply condemning the Soviet
Union for its anti-Jewish dis
criminations. The session was a
conference of the executive com
mittee of the Jewish Labor Com
mittee’s Trade Union Council for
Human Rights.
Pointing out that Soviet lead
ers have attempted to counteract
w o r 1 d-wide condemnation of
their anti-Jewish acts “by issu
ing propaganda denials,” the
resolution stated: “The wave of
arrests, and the meting out of
death sentences for so-called eco
nomic crimes, and the second-
class treatment accorded Soviet
Jews in every facet of Soviet life,
prove conclusively that the So
viets are catering to the lowest
form of chauvinist and anti-
Semitic sentiments among the
population.”
Jewish Newspaper
Office Gunned
In Buenos Aires
BUENOS AIRES, (JTA) —
Police began a search this week
for the gunmen who fired a
machinegun burst from a fast-
moving car at 2 a.m. hitting the
building of the Yiddische Zei-
tung, largest Jewish daily news
paper in Latin America. The
bullets perforated a metal cur
tain and several windows. Be
cause of the time of the attack,
no one was injured. The build
ing has a permanent guard of a
single policeman.
Three city workers who were
repairing a sidewalk near the
building threw themselves to the
ground when they heard the gun
fire. The gunman also machine-
gunned a clothing shop belong
ing to a Jewish owner but with
out casualties. In Bahia Blanca,
anti-Semites smeared the Baron
Hirsch monument
