Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE January 17, 1986
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Since 1925
Vida Goldgar
Editor and Publisher
Luna Levy
Associate Editor
Leonard Goldstein Eschol A. Harrell
Advertising Director Production Manager
Lutz Baum
Business Manager
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc.
Second Class Postage paid at Atlanta, Ga (ISSN 00388) (UPS 776060)
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Southern Israelite, P.O Box
77388, Atlanta, GA 30357
Mailing Address: P.O. box 77388, Atlanta, Georgia 30357
Location: 188 15th St., N.W., Atl., Ga. 30318 Phone (404)$76-8248
Advertising rates available upon request.
Subscriptions: $20.00, 1 year; $35.00 2 years
Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency; Religious News Service;
American Jewish Press Assn.; Georgia Press Assn.; National Newspaper Assn
Disastrous decision
The report on page 7 that plans are afoot to build a Carmelite
convent on the site of one of the most infamous blots on the
history of humankind—Auschwitz—is appalling.
Millions of human beings — including more than two million
Jews — were put to death in this place. We cannot believe that the
Polish Catholic Church is so insensitive as to believe that it is
appropriate to build on these grounds a convent which reportedly
would symbolize: “Love, peace and reconciliation. ...”
Auschwitz must stand in all its stark images as a reminder to
all of the consequences of a world gone mad.
We will look forward to word that the Catholic Church will
rethink this disastrous decision.
Right on!
We commend those organizations who have joined together in
statements published on page 1 condemning and repudiating the
racist anti-Arab views of Meir Kahane.
I here are those who say, “We agree with his goals but we don’t
agree with his solutions.” We see this attempt to divide the
message as no dillerent from others who say “We oppose Louis
Larrakhan's anti-Semitism but we support his economic policies.”
Both men use fear and insecurity to advance their own careers.
The Jewish community statement calls Kahane’s views “a
mockery of Jewish law and tradition.”
We agree.
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Vida Goldgar
It takes all kinds
“Cancel my subscription and send me a refund,” a
caller said to our circulation manager this week. 1 he
reason? “You pay too much attention to blacks.
Perhaps it was naive of me to
believe that our readers despite
(or perhaps because of) recent
f rictions brought on by such hatemon-
gers as Louis farrakhan would
do well at this time to be reminded
that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
was a staunch ally of the Jewish
people w ho spoke out against anti-
Semitism, against the “spiritual and
cultural genocide" perpetrated against Jews in the
Soviet Union, and in favor of “one of the great
outposts of democracy in the world. . . (because)
Peace for Israel means security and that security must
be a reality."
His widow, Coretta Scott King, has continued to
espouse his views and to be a friend to the Jewish
community, even when many black leaders were
fearf ul of condemning black anti-Semitism.
Our reader did not cancel his subscription when
we ran numerous pieces condemning Louis Parrakhan.
Nor when we challenged Jesse Jackson for his
“Hymietown” and other remarks. Only this week did
he cancel, when we chose to use several columns of space
to carry tributes, both national and local, from Jewish
leaders recalling the impact of a unique figure in this
country’s history who chose to forego the violence
that might have rocked our nation and led us through
non-violent means to right the injustices that threatened
our social fabric. Jews were involved in this cause
from the beginning.
We get our share of disagreement on any number
of issues and either provide a listening ear on the
telephone or space in the “letters" column for varied
opinions. We’ve been accused of being “too Reform,"
“too Orthodox,” "too liberal,” “too conservative."
We’ve even been accused of being “too Jewish."
This week we’re accused of “paying too much
attention to blacks.” So be it.
The issues that bind our communities have always
been stronger than those which separate us. Hut it
should be possible to disagree on issues such as
affirmative action and quotas and work together
toward mutually acceptable solutions. And it also
should be possible for black leaders—fearlessly and
publicly as well as privately—to disavow those who
build their power on hate-filled spewings as the
majority of the Jewish community has done with Meir
Kahane.
A lot of things should be possible. But none will
happen by closing our eyes, or turning our backs.
It’s long past time to put bigotry aside. And this
first national observ ance of the birth of Martin Luther
King Jr. is a good time to get started.
Hannah Senesh
by Stanley M. Lefco
In 1944 in a Budapest prison.
Hannah Senesh wrote her last poem:
One — two — three. . ,
eight feet long,
Two strides across,
the rest is dark . . .
Life hangs over me
like a question mark.
One—two—three. . .
maybe another week,
Or next month may
still find me here,
hut death, I feel, is very near.
I could have been
twenty-three next July;
/ gambled on
what mattered most,
The dice were cast. / lost.
What mattered most was saving
her fellow Jews. With 3 I others she
parachuted into Yugoslavia. f rom
there she and a few. disguised as
British soldiers to hide their mission,
made their way into occupied
Hungary on June 9, 1944. It was
only a short time later that she was
captured. She was tortured. Her
palms and the soles of her feet were
w hipped. She was bound and forced
to sit motionless for hours. She
was beaten all over, losing a tooth
during the course of her torment.
But she refused to reveal information
about her mission. She was coura
geous and unyielding. When asked
by one of her tormentors if she
wanted clemency, she responded.
“Clemency from you? Do you
think I’m going to plead with
hangmen and murderers? I shall
never ask you for mercy.”
On Oct. 28, 1944, she was tried
by Hungarian officials for her alleged
war crimes. She was found guilty
and executed by firing squad on
Nov. 7, 1944 She was just 23.
Hannah Senesh was born on July
17, 1921, in Hungary. She was
remarkable. An outstandingstudent,
she wrote poems, at least one plav.
and kept a diary. On Oct. 27. 1938,
at the age of 17, she declared
herself a Zionist: “1 now consciously
and strongly feel 1 am a Jew and
am proud of it." Having resolved
that she could no longer live in
Hungary, she immigrated to Israel
and became a chalutz, a pioneer. It
was a painful decision, for she
would be separated from her belov ed
mother. Her father, a noted play
wright, died at age 33 when Hannah
was 6.
She worked on a kibbutz on
different assignments. Por a time,
she worked in the kitchen. Later,
she worked in the fields and in the
bakery. She was completely dedicated
to the land and its development.
She loved Israel, which she fondly
called "Eretz." Hannah loved life.
Although a number of young
men showed an interest in her, she
never found the right one. She
never truly had a boyfriend and
never experienced that kind of love.
It was something for which she
vearned. She dreamed of being a
writer, but accepted the life of a
kibbutznik. When she realized that
she had to do more for her people,
she wrote her brother, George,
" 1 here are events without which
ones lile becomes unimportant, a
worthless toy; and there are times
when one is commanded to do
something, even at the price of
one’s life.” Clearly aware of the
risks, she joined the military.
After she was captured, her mother
was arrested and thrown into the
same prison with her. Although
they were kept in separate cells,
they managed to communicate with
one another and to be together on
a few occasions. It was hoped
Hannah w ould reveal the details of
her mission if she was convinced
that her mother would be tortured.
A member of her mission described
her as self-assured, fearless and
having remarkable courage. She
displayed the same traits in prison,
even to her death. Her last wish
was to have a Hebrew Bible, and
though her mother, who was later
released, scoured Budapest, she
could not find one.
Hannah once wrote: “Despite
everything, 1 believe the world was
created for good.”
On Sunday, March lb, theSci ond
Generation / Children of Holocaust
Survivors will he sponsoring the
critically acclaimed off Broadway
play, "Hannah Senesh," at the
Atlanta Jewish Community Center
Tor tickers, call 872-4689.
Poland miffed by settlement -y
BONN (.11 A) 1 he Polish Press Agency said Monday that it
was not acceptable that the Flick industrial conglomerate, now
owned by Deutsche Bank, will pay reparations only to Jews who
were used as slave labor by one of its subsidiaries during World
War II
According to the Polish Press Agency, most of the slave
laborers were Russian and Polish inmates of Nazi concentration
camps. I he Deutsche Bank. West Germany’s largest, agreed last
week that Hick pay 5 million marks equivalent to $2 million to
surviving . ewish concentration camp inmates forced to work for
subsidiary, Dy namit-Nobel, under brutal and dangerous
conditions.
Die agreement culminated nearly 20 years of efforts bv the
nference on Jewish Material C laims Against Germany to get
compensation from I lick