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The Nazi Who Passed As A Jew
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By MICHAEL BAR-ZOHAR
(Distributed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The following is a chapter from “The Avengers,” a book by the
Israeli writer, Dr. Michael Bar-Zohar, who spent several years
and visited 15 countries in tracing postwar efforts to bring Nazi
war criminals to justice. It is reprinted here by special arrange
ment with Hawthorn Books, New York, whose American edition
was published in February. The text is copyrighted by Librairie
Artheme Fayard.
Nazi fugitives had many ad
ventures getting to South Ameri
ca, the Middle East, or Spain.
Some chose Sweden or South
Africa, and a surprising number
were daring enough to settle in
the United States. But most ex
traordinary was the case of a
man who chose to hide away in
the last country one would have
expected—Israel.
In September 1949 a family of
immigrants landed at Haifa.
They were four—the father, tall
and fair, the mother, and two
children. The father told the
officials of the Jewish Agency
that although he was a Jew his
wife, bom in Argentina, was a
Gentile, and that he wanted his
two children to be brought up in
the Jewish tradition of his fore
fathers. He presented a valid
passport in the name of Dr.
Alexander Egon Firth, medical
practitioner. He had no other
papers, and said he had lost
them all except the passport. He
spoke good Yiddish.
The Firth family was sent to
a transit camp and then to the
new town of Ashkelon, where
large, modern blocks of flats had
been built on the site of the
Philistines. The new town was
short of doctors, and Firth was
given work in the Kupat Holim,
the Social Security service. But
he stayed in it only a year, then
opened a private nursing home.
The Firth family seemed to
lead a very ordinary life. The
two children went to the local
primary school, and their father
attended the synagogue every
Saturday. The mother, in the
meantime, had adopted the Jew
ish religion.
However, rumors began to
i spread that Dr. Firth was not
very competent, that he some
times beat his wife, and that she
had tried to kill herself. And
there was the fact that he had
never produced any certificate
of his qualifications, only a pass
port. Still, at that time there
were hundreds of thousands of
people in Israel in no better situ
ation. And inquiries made in
Europe had confirmed that a
Dr. Alexander Egon Firth, a Jew
of Austrian nationality, had been
in Theresienstadt concentration
camp in Czechoslovakia.
In 1953 Dr. Firth sold his home
and furniture and a picture
collection that he had brought to
Israel with him. Then, having
obtained a new passport from the
Austrian Consulate in Tel Aviv,
he left Israel with his family and
went to Argentina.
He continued for some years
to write to friends in Israel. But
he seemed unable to stay in one
place for long. In 1962 he left
South America and went to live
in West Germany. There fate
caught up withTum! ^Fhat same
year, a certain Frau Firth ap
plied to the German authorities
for a widow’s pension, alleging
that her husand, Dr. Alexander
Egon Firth, had been murdered
by the Nazis while in Theresien
stadt concentration camp. In
quiries were made, and the ex
istence of the second Dr. Firth
came to light. When asked to
prove his identity, he soon ad
mitted that his real name was
Wilhelm Hermann Schmidt and
that he had assumed the iden
tity of Dr. Firth, who had died
in Theresienstadt concentration
camp.
The man was telling the truth,
but by no means the whole
truth. An Aryan, born at Tub
ingen, he had joined the Nazi
Party very early, in 1933, and
was the author of a booklet en
titled From Socialism to Na
tional-Socialism. He was in fact
a doctor, but had been in prac
tice for only a year or so, in
1938-1939, in Saxony. Previ
ously, he had been in the Gesta
po at Kassel. When war broke
out, he rejoined the Gestapo and
served in Poland, Belgium,
Holland, Russia, and then again
in Poland. While in Warsaw in
1943 he forced a rebbi to teach
him Yiddish, prohably thinking
that a knowledge of the lang
uage would enable him to track
down Jews more easily. Or was
he, even then, considering a
cunning “conversion" should the
need arise?
The crimes that Schmidt had
committed were never properly
established. There was incom
plete evidence that he may have
taken part in the massacre of
Russian prisoners and the kill—
' ing of mental patients in Russia.
It was probable, too, that he had
held a leading position on the
staff of Theresienstadt camp,
which would explain his taking
the identity of Dr. Firth, who
may have been one of his vic
tims. However, the West Ger
man authorities did not pursue
his case, and he was soon re
leased from prison. He disap
peared again and his present
whereabouts are unknown.
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XLIV
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August 1, 1969
New Moon Prayer Death of UN Observer Could
Altered by Apollo 11 Presage Suez Withdrawal
NEW YORK (JTA)—'Thought
ful Jews have speculated about
the impact on Judaism’s religious
outlook that would be made by
man’s successful exploration of
space. In a small way the
answer began to emerge within
hours of the historic Apollo 11
moon landing and exploration by
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and
Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.
The word came from Israel
where Gen. Shlomo Goren, the
Armed Forces’ Chief Chaplain,
issued instructions about a
change in t.ie prayer for the
blessing of the new moon which
is said each month. The old
blessing was worded: “As I
dance before you and cannot
touch you, so my enemies will
not be able to touch me.” It now
reads: “As I dance against you
and do not touch you, so others,
if they dance against me to harm
me, they will not touch me.” The
new version of the prayer is ac
tually an old one found in the
Talmud in Masechet Soffrim,
chapter 20.
Commenting on the scientific-
Turn to page S
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y.
(JTA)—The most pressing ques
tion on the United Nations’
Middle East agenda—will Secre
tary-General U Thant seek to
withdraw his observer corps at
the Suez Canal—went unanswer
ed earlier this week. That ques
tion has been asked in the wake
of the death of a Swedish ob
server who, the UN says, was
killed by an Israeli shell.
The first action taken by the
Secretary-General, a UN spokes
man said, was an informal meet
ing between one of his high Sec
retariat political aides and rep
resentatives of the seven nations
whose troops constitute the ob
server mission. They conferred
with Brian E. Urquhart, director
of Mr. Thant’s office for political
affairs, to discuss developments
at the Canal following the death
cf Maj. B. Roland Plane.
The question of withdrawal of
the 90-95 observers was not on
the agenda but may be consider
ed at a formal meeting planned
later this week by Mr. Thant and
representatives of the seven na
tions. Mr. Thant, who has been
recuperating at his home from
an operation, hopes to be in his
office later this week.
The session was also devoted
to past suggestions made by the
becretary-General to insure the
safety of the observers on both
sides of the Canal. Mr. Thant
warned July 7 that he might ask
the Security Council to bring the
observers home if they continue
to come under fire from Israel
and Egypt during cross-Canal
fighting. Present at the meeting
were Argentina, Austria, Chile,
France, Sweden, Finland and Ire
land.
Sweden has not signified any
desire to have its contingent
withdraw since Maj. B. Roland
Plane was killed at his observa
tion post on the Canal’s west
bank during an artillery duel
near Port Tewfik, a UN spokes
man said. It was also reported
that an attempt has been made
to strengthen the shelters housing
the UN personnel on both sides
of the 103-mile-long waterway,
as requested by Mr. Thant. Eut
Israeli Scientists
Promised Samples
Of Moon Dust
JERUSALEM (WITP) —
Prof. Yaaoob P.entor, Geo
logist at the Hebrew Univer
sity. has disrlosed that
American space authorities
have promised to supply Is
raeli scientists with moon
rock samples to be brought
back by U. S. astronauts in
flights following that of
Apollo 11.
another suggestion—that of es-
tabling “safe perimeters” has not
been dealt with.
Mr. Thant sent condolences to
the Swedish Government, and Lt.
Gen. Odd Bull, chief of the ob
server team, has transmitted his
condolences to the wife and two
children of Maj. Plane who live
in Cairo. Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s
Ambassador to the UN, sent a
brief note to Mr. Thant express
ing “profound grief and condol
ences.” He said that Maj. Plane
died “in the cause of peace, in
an endeavor devoted to the
maintenance of the cease-fire es
sential for the establishment of
Continued on page 5
Weizmann Institute
Scientists Methods
Used at Houston
HOUSTON (JTA)—When the
Apollo 11 astronauts returned to
the earth with their moon sam
ples, a scientist of the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Rehovot,
Israel was on hand. His analyt
ical method will be used to probe
for manifestations of life in the
material. The method developed
by Dr. Emanuel Gil-Av and his
chemistry department team per
mits the detection of amino acids
in trace quantities and the sim
ultaneous determination of op
tical activity in the acids.
Dr. Gil-Av spent a year, on a
grant from the National Aeronau
tics and Space Administration, in
the laboratory of Prof. John Oro
of Houston University’s depart
ment of physical sciences, return
ing to Tsrael at the beginning of
1969. He was invited back to
Houston to participate in the
examination of the lunar sam
ples.
The purpose of his Houston
slay was to adapt the procedures
developed at Rehovot to the spec
ial requirements of analyzing lu
nar samples. Meteorites and sed
iments of the Precambrian age
served as model substances on
which the sensitivity and relia
bility of the methods were test
ed. A Weizmann Institute team
was trained to carry out the
analysis, and research was initi
ated to refine and extend the
method.
Faces of AJCC Leadership
tiring president Bernie Howard, obviously pleased over the progress made during his three years,
I Sidney Feldman somber over the responsibilities of taking office. (Photo made at annual meet-
} This week these responsibilities rose to the heat comparable to summer temperatures as the
CC board resolved to open Zaban Park pool on Saturday afternoons. , Promptly there was heated
rtion. See page 9.