INFORMATION - The Association of Jewish Refugees

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Page 2 AJR INFORMATION October, 1973 THE PAST AND THE PRESENT Continued from page 1 connected. Emotions cannot always be controlled, they intrude through a back door. Of events of the near past, which we ourselves have witnessed, we find often strongly different versions, even on such matters as the merits of Churchill and Roosevelt. It may become very difficult already for the very next generations to decide how it really was. It is a melancholy thought to reflect how the past forty years of Germany may possibly be represented as authentic history fifty or a hundred years hence, perhaps under the impact of new factors or of constellations we cannot foresee. It wLU be very gratifying if the method of history, as explained by Dr. Plumb, prevails in such circumstances to prevent falsification. In Jewish historiography distortions undoubtedly occurred, mostly by people who admittedly did not regard themselves as historians in the scientific sense of the word. The Bible itself is an example of naive presentation of "facts," and the conjectiu-e that parts of the so-called historical books abound in tendentious material is quite convincing. It is appropriate that one modem writer, Stefan Heym, used the story of King David as the pretext for a parody actually less concemed with ancient Judaea than with autocracies of oiu" own time where those in power dictate what to tell and what not to tell about a certain historical figiu-e, and how to manipulate evidence and documents.* Heym also indicates that threatening and intimidating writers has been practised through the ages. The questionable credibility of documents created by mehods—here exaggerated and humoristically adorned—is apt to arouse distrust against any Past handed down to posterity. The thesis of Professor Plumb is that because of the unreliability of the sources the Past is "dead", at least since these shortcomings were discovered from the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century onward. He comes to the conclusion (p. 16) that the aim of conventional historians of the pre-critical sort had been to establish a past as "a created ideology with a purpose, designed to control individuals ... to justify . . . the subjection and exploitation of men and women, to torture them with fears, or to stifle them with a sense of their own hopelessness . . . Nothing has been so corruptly used as concepts of the Past". But does that not also apply to other ideologies which have to do less with the past and more with the present? They, too, cannot be forgiven when they are used for intimidating and for "torturing men and women" simply for the sake of political power. On the other hand, has not the Past also been used for the sake of nobler purposes? To come back to our Jewish situation and to topical matters, it is certainly legitimate to invoke the Past in order to strengthen the teaching of our Sages. The saying of Hillel not to do to others what we do not want to be done to us is not merely a philosophical maxim like a similar formula of Kant. It is based on the Jewish past which is rich with events where Jews were unjustly treated or discriminated against. It conveys the message : remember the cases of maltreatment, which are documented by History and hardly disputed in their essence. We are constantly reminded that we, i.e., our forefathers with whom we are identical ("so eins mit 4 Stefan Heym: Der Kdnig David Bericht. Kindler Verlag. MCinchen. 1972. (The bool( will be reviewed in this paper shortly.—The Ed.) mir als une mein eignes Haar"), were slaves in the land of the Pharaohs, and that we, throughout the centuries, should never forget the mood of such helpless people. Our New Year is called the Day of Memory, Yom ha- Zikkaron. Memory is the link with the Past. And if we distrust the accuracy of the far distant stories of the Jewish people's bondage in Egypt, we have, nearer to hand, examples of the maltreatment suffered by Jews at a time which the older among us vividly remember from our own experience. We Jews of the 1970s have entered a new stage of our history owing to the re-entrance of the State of Israel into the world of socalled political reality. This is everywhere the classical world of misuse of the Past in defence of nationalism or "raison d'etat." In this respect, the extraordinary position of Jewry as a community held together mainly by a common Past is the parallelism of Israel and Diaspora, two different social categories. This fact also imposes duties. Loyalty to Judaism does not require overt or tacit approval of every step taken—^for whatever reasons and perhaps erroneously—by functionaries of the State of Israel. World Jewry, too, has to retain its spiritual power and its own independent moral judgement. If the Diaspora is regarded as an indispensable ally of Israel in the struggle for a Jewish future, it must not confine itself to taking part in material achievements. Its voice must be heard, not only in order to defend Israel against hostile and cunning outside forces (this should be self-understood), but also in advice and warning in matters which affect the image of Judaism. Last Rosh Hashana I mentioned in these pages the case of the Christian villagers of Biram and Ikrith whose demands to be allowed to return to their homes and churches after their deceptive and illegal expulsion 25 years ago, have been denied. Strong public support was voiced in Israel, particularly from Jewish youths, and I ventured the suggestion that this incident might acquire for Israel importance similar to the Dreyfus case in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Shortly afterwards, other events pushed back this affair from the public mind, and after the govemment veto it sometimes seemed as though the uneasiness had subsided. The problem remained unsolved. But with a growing list of wrongs and of contempt of justice and in view of the steadfastness of the villagers and their enlightened and moderate leadership by the Archbishop Raya the debate has recently been reopened. The Dreyfus character of the affair became apparent again. It means that Justice, like Peace, is indivisible. It is incompatible with national or racist bias stemming from a "corrupting concept of the Past". This was stressed during the last weeks in the Hebrew press in Israel by prominent liberal-minded Jewish figures. In the first place one has to pay tribute to Pofessor Amnon Rubinstein, dean of the Law School at Tel Aviv University, on whose shoulders the mantle of Emile Zola has fallen. Among other university professors raising their voices are many of Central European origin like Hugo Bergmann, Ernst Simon, Martin Plessner. Moreover, it became a battle cry of part of the youth who had fought the battles and achieved the victories of Israel. This is perhaps not widely known outside Israel; but I feel it is a good signal at the arrival of a new year. GERMAN NEWS EAST BERLIN PX.O. OFFICE Mr. Heinz Galinski, the chairman of the West Berlin Jewish community, h^s condemned as " the biggest scandal in German postwar history " the plans to open an pffice of tne Palestine Liberation Organisation in Easi Berlin and other official East German help tor Arab terrorist groups. He pointed out tnav after the horrible events perpetrated by tne Nazis, a German State was now helping a terrorist organisation to continue its canjpaign of hatred and violence against Jewisn people. DR. WEICHMANN'S PREVENTED LECTURE PUBLISHED When, at the invitation of the University o^ Kiel, Professor Dr. Herbert Weichmann wanted to give a lecture on the subject " *^'"^^ji. tiitifvn tution in Danger Danffpr ? "," extremists pxtrpmists in the aUiu ence disrupted the meeting and preven ted him from speaking. Now the text of the Je ture has been puolished and distributed oy the Press Department of the City of Hamburg- In the preface, the Mayor of Hamburg, F^^,* Schulz, states that the undignified scenes » the meeting on June 22 had been particulan-'j depressing because they were directed again , a man " who, throughout his life, had worKe for the creation and development of a Stav which was to be guided by the principles " justice, constitutional order and respect i the dignity of the individual." AWARD FOR RESCUE WORKER The Roman Catholic priest, Eugen Weil^J^ was awarded the German Federal Cross Merit, First Class, in recognition of ^.^ courageous activities under the Nazis. In^gte he illegally brought a Jewish woman, '^^ûy Maier-Lasker, a granddaughter of the P9,'ji. clan Eduard Lasker, from a place near /ô ^ stance to Switzerland. Weiler was caught aw _ had to spend several years in the concenw^jj tion camp of Dachau where, together w * other priests, he was incarcerated in a sPf'lce barrack. He recorded the happenings of ^fiije years in a 1,200-page standard work, ,^:jj Geistlichen in Dachau ", recently publisheo^gj^ Austria by the Missionsdruckerei Sr. Gaon Moedling. Greyhound Guaranty Limited Bankers 5 GRAFTON STREET, MAYFAIR, LONDON, WIX 3 LB Telex: 24637 Telephone: 01-629 1208 Cables: Greyty, London, W.l
AJR INFORAIATION October, 1973 Page 3 NATIONAL FRONT HOME NEWS Mr. Victor Mishcon, outgoing chairman of tne Board of Deputies' Jewish defence and group relations corrunittee, reviewed the work and problems of the committee over the six years of his chairmanship. At the beginning oi his term of office, he said, the committee j'ad been mainly concerned with countering "le attacks of the National Front, the National ôcialist Movement and the Union Movement. Inere were still a number of other smaller groups, but the old enemy, Mosley's party, *as on the way to oblivion. However, the National Front, said Mr. Mishcon, is considerably stronger than it was six years ago. It led on prejudice and social problems which flave been highlighted by coloured immigra- ôn. The recent activities of the N.F. and its torays into parliamentary and municipal elections could not be regarded with complacency. Whenever possible the committee had attacked and exposed the N.F., but no satislaction could be gained from the fact that openly declared antisemitism is no longer a plank in its platform when its two principal 'eaders have in the past expressed adulation jor Hitler and Nazism. Mr. Mishcon felt that fae principal political parties had ejven too little consideration and weight politically to pne N.F. Especially in an atmosphere of disillusionment with the main political parties, me N.F. could represent an insidious menace. IRELAND'S PRESIDENT Mr. Erskine ChUders, the new President of ^reland, is partly Jewish. Addressing an assembled audience received by him, the President referred to his Jewish ancestry through iôrd Eardley, when Disraeli was Prime Miniver of England. [Lord Eardley of gpalding yas formerly Sir Sampson Gideon, son of the "nancier and philanthropist Samson Gideon. (\f.. of his descendants was Hugh gulling Eardley Childers, Chancellor of the "^chequer.] SIR KEITH'S PRIDE AS A JEW gjnterviewed m BBC Radio Four's "Talking he ?- '. ?^r. êith Joseph was asked whetiher ».„-,. "-
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INFORMATION - The Association of Jewish Refugees

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