Deceptions of Anti-Semitism

Citation preview

DECEPTIONS OF

ANTI-SEMITISM BY

RABBI SHLOMO GLIKSMAN

Formerly

:

Principal of Seminary for Jewish History, Bible and Talmud in Danzig; Official Consultant for Danzig, Polish and Palestinian

Economics

and

Law in

Free City of Danzig, but Limited to )ews and Poles. Not permitted German clients of "pure Aryan blood."

Published by the Author

Detroit, Michigan

October

1948

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface by Sponsors

Page

Foreword by Author

3

Page

5

Etc

Page

9

I

Page

11

Page

13

Anti-Semitism

Page

20

Jew Hatred in Antiquity

Page

23

Classical Anti-Semitism

Page

23

Page

27

Page

30

Page

31

Page

35

Page

36

Page

40

Page

49

Opinions of Famous Men on Anti-Semitism

Page

67

Bibliography

Page

69

Page

71

Page

81

Nationalism

Page

83

Part

I

— Forgeries,

Introduction to Part

Who Was

Eisenmenger?

Jew Hatred in Middle

Ages

and

in Modern Times

Emancipation of the Jews

.... ....

Anti-Semitism in the 20th Century

What

is the

What

is

Old Testament?

The Talmud?

.

.

and Falsifications of the Anti-Semitic Literature

Forgeries

Kol Nidre

II My Lawsuit against Julius Streicher Part III "The Jew in a New World" Part

—

-

.

Citizenship

Page

85

Assimilation

Page

88

Punishment

Page

89

Legal Relationship between

Nations

.

.

Security Correspondence with Foreign Embassies

.

Page

90

Page

93

Page

101

September

1, 1948

PREFACE The author of this book has established for himself a reputation of scholarship and service to Jewish causes, both in Germany and in our country. This most monumental evidence of his zeal is exemplified in this book. In it Rabbi Gliksman presents the theory of the classic anti-semitism and forgeries designed to besmear Jews, Juda ism, and their sacred literature. In this book is also presented the author's lawsuit against Julius Streicher, as well as documentary evidence of historic significance, articles on nationalism - citizenship - assimilation. The undersigned joined in sponsoring the publication of another edition of these valu able scholarly efforts which will be a con tribution to the total documentary literature of our tragic times. and falsifications Forgeries befog the atmosphere and prevent the establishment of wholesome intergroup relations. They should therefore always be countered by a wide dissemination of the truth. Rabbi Joshua Sperka Congregation B'Nai David Detroit, Michigan Rabbi Morris Adler Congregation Shaarey Zedek Detroit, Michigan

Rabbi Max A. Lipsbitz Congregation Agudas Achim Madison, Wisconsin David Naimark, Editor Detroit Jewish Daily Forward Detroit, Michigan Rabbi Harry J. Peiman Congregation Bnai Israel Saginaw, Michigan

Rabbi Leizer Levin Congregation Beth Tikvah Detroit, Michigan Dr. Leopold Neuhaus, Rabbi Congregation Gmiluth Chasodim, Detroit, Michigan Arthur Hudson Abe Nusbaum Morris Mohr David Silver Joseph Borys Morris M. Goldberg Soberman Harry Sosnick Jacob Morris Fisher iarry Stolsky David Finkelstein Judah Lachar Solomon Braitstain Elimelech Lipsbitz

TO THE READER I think

you will find much in this book to provoke your interest, many ideas worthy of your earnest consideration. A few years ago I published two books on anti-Semitism and other Jewish problems. These were so well received that my good friends have persuaded me to combine excerpts from these, believing that a reprint is justified by the facts presented and the bibliographical sources.

Part I, "The Forgeries and Falsifications in the Anti-Semitic Literature," was first printed in the German language in 1934 in Danzig, to which city I had fled from Berlin a year previously. Needless to say, the book was banned in Germany by Dr. Joseph Goebels, Minister of Propaganda, but jt circu lated freely in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, etc. In fact, many thousands of copies were bought by members of the National Socialist Party in Danzig, and also in Germany before the sale of the book was prohibited. Heartened by this fact and being of the naive belief that in the Free City of Danzig I was entitled to freedom of expression, I instituted legal proceedings against Julius Streicher as publisher of the "Sturmer," because of the malicious decep tions in this organ and its abundance of alleged "citations" from Talmudic literature which were obvious forgeries. However, Streicher

my lawsuit against Julius shattered any illusion regarding 5

the political status of Danzig as a Free City. The opinion of the Danzig Attorney General clearly rested on the perversion of a legal

statute. An appeal from the decision was legally not possible because I personally was not directly injured by the acts of the

"Sturmer."

About the significance of this book the well-known Senator and Professor Moses Schor, of Warsaw (who later died in Si

beria) thus expressed himself to me in a letter of October 25, 1934:

"You

in bringing to gether in a few words, the most essen tial statements and facts that can be pitted against the Antisem.itic catch words and party slogans. You have fulfilled, in a most satisfactory manner, the dictum 'Know what answer to give to the unbeliever.' Your treatise, I am certain, will not miss its mark." have succeeded

Although my suit was unsuccessful,

democratic press all over the world showed up Streicher and his co-workers in their true light, and in 1938, when the Nazi Gestapo in Danzig became more open in their reign of terrorism, my name was one of the first on the black list. I learned of this in time and hurriedly left for America. Had I stayed there, I would have perished with the other 10,000 Jews exterminated in Danzig by the Nazis. Danzig, of course, is now called Gdansk and belongs to Poland. At the present time there may be possibly the

about ten Jews remaining of the old Jewish historical community of the city. Safe with my family in the land of liberty, translated the German edition into English and published along with an account of my lawsuit against Julius Streicher Company.

&

it,

I

is a

After reading this book, the unprejudiced reader will easily conclude that democratic nations are today paying the cost for their failure to understand the true nature of anti-Semitism. The impression has been that Antisemitism was merely an "ideological" persecution against Jews alone, simply be cause they were Jews. In reality, antiSemitism chronic disease which pits the strong against the weak and helpless, re The Jews were gardless of nationality. persecuted solely because they were weaker than their oppressors and because they be lieved in the ideals of God, peace, civilization and democracy.

III

is

I

a

I

a

Part of this book contains excerpts from published in 1945 volume which New World." under the title "The Jew in While some of the ideas presented in these be studies are naturally now outdated, lieve they contain much that still merits Reprinted from the same consideration. correspondence during the year volume 1944 with various embassies in Washington regarding the future of Jews in the countries represented by them. We now know that in many of these countries there are no Jews

whatsoever; six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in their gas chambers. In other countries where some Jews still survive, political and economic conditions make it impossible for them to continue living there. The only solution is immigration either to the new State of Israel or to the United States of America.

In conclusion, I wish to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends whose names appear in the preface as a sponsoring committee for this publication. I am very grateful for their confidence in me and trust that in some small way I have contributed to a deeper appreciation of the Bible and the Talmud and their eternal verities. Also, with all other peace-loving people, whether Protestant, Catholic or Jew, I pray for a better understanding between men and be tween nations, that the day may soon arrive when the prophecy of Isaiah will be realized. "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more."

—THE AUTHOR

September

6, 1948

PART

I

FORGERIES AND FALSIFICATIONS in the

ANTISEMITIC LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION The ever-recurring persecution of the Jewish people has never confined itself to

the destruction of their economic status and

their social rank. The Hydra of anti-Semi tism has raised its shameless head every where. It has defamed and calumniated the spiritual treasures of Judaism; the Bible, preeminent in world literature because of its incomparable poetic splendor and ethical and moral worth; the Talmud, the most admirable monumental work of post-Bibli cal days, the culmination of the writings of Numerous anti-Semitic Jewish tradition. authors have in the past sedulously occupied themselves with the "professional" rewrit ing of the Biblical and Talmudic doctrines. In order to cloak the materialistic motives of the authors, these theses have sown the seeds of horror-stirring lies and fabrications in the minds and hearts of the unsuspecting, unprejudiced common people.

The first fiddle in this anti-Jewish orches tra was played notoriously by the "Sturmer," an organ which audaciously humbuged its readers to believe that it battled for the truth ( ?) when in reality it contained noth ing but hate and malicious deception. Al most every issue of this demogogical publi cation, whose publisher was the notorious Julius Streicher in Nuremberg, the most malicious and maniacal persecutor of the Jews in modern times, contained besides the usual defamatory assaults on Judaism and 11

the Jews an abundance of alleged "citations" from the Talmud and Talmudic literature, which were obvious clumsy forgeries and inventions. They dealt mostly with such attacks which have been branded as libels and calumnies of the most mischievous sort by Papal Bulls, by opinions of internation ally famous scholars of the "Ayran Race," and by judicial verdicts. The false teach ings fraudulently ascribed to the Talmud and Talmudic literature have their basis mainly in the work of Eisenmenger "Entdectes Judentum" (Judaism Discovered).

12

WHO WAS EISENMENGER? Johann Eisenmenger, born in Mannheim in 1654, studied Oriental languages in Am sterdam and distinguished himself by his zeal for Hebrew studies. In Amsterdam he met three Christians who had been con verted to Judaism, and this filled him with So he engaged .in violent indignation. polemics with Rabbi David Lido of Amster dam who favored their conversion. Eager for revenge, Eisenmenger devoted himself for almost two decades to the study of Talmudic literature in order to be able to pub lish a criticism on the attitude of the Jews to Christian doctrines. He went to Heidel berg, but fled the city when it was captured by the French in 1693, and came to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he was active as keeper of the records of the Electral Office. Having collected from Rabbinical litera ture all that was calculated to bring it into disrepute and to give justification for antiJewish prejudices, he published his "Endectes Judentum" (Judaism Discovered) which has remained the arsenal for the de tractors of Talmudic literature and Judaism down to the present day. It was published in Frankfort in 1700. The Prince Elector took great interest in this work, appointing Eisenmenger as professor of Oriental lan guages in the University of Heidelberg. However, as a result of the intercession of some prominent Jews, the Emperor ordered the entire edition to be placed under lock 13

and key and prohibited its circulation. In 1704 Eisenmenger died suddenly of apo plexy. Finally Eisenmenger's heirs applied to King Frederick I of Prussia, who ordered a new edition of the book to be printed at his own expense in Koenigsberg. And al most forty years later the original edition, kept in Frankfort, was released. Eisenmenger claims to have collated the material from 196 works of Jewish scholars and from eight converted Jews. This work, "Judaism Discovered," presents among many other calumnies the reports that the "stubborn" Jews blaspheme the Holy Trin ity, treat scornfully the holy Mother of Christ, the Apostles, aye, the entire Chris tian religion with mockery and derision, and hold all Christendom in contempt. This work, in two volumes, did not pass through In 1874 abstracts were a second edition. made by August Rohling, a Catholic theo logian, professor at the University of Prague, in his book "Der Talmudjude" (The Talmud Jew, Muenster, 1874).

This work, although merely a rehash of Eisenmenger's "Judaism Discovered," be came a standard work for anti-Semitic au thors and journalists and was circulated in hundreds of thousands of copies. In West phalia alone more than 38,000 copies were distributed gratis. It passed through sev eral editions. Besides this Rohling wrote: 1.

Five Letters Concerning the Talmud and the Blood Ritual of the Jews (1881). 14

2.

The Polemics and Human Sacrifice of

Rabbinism (1883). My Replies to the Rabbis (1883). 4. On to Zion (1901). The book "The Talmud Jew" became a political force when anti-Semitism made its appearance in the Tisza-Eszlar ritualmurder case in 1882, when an accusation of ritual murder was brought against the Jews of Tisza-Eszlar, a Hungarian town where a Catholic servant girl was sent on an errand from which she did not return. Rohling ex pressed his readiness to substantiate under oath the existence of blood-ritual among the Jews. Thereupon Doctor Joseph Samuel Bloch, the learned Austrian rabbi and Par liament deputy, who was at that time en gaged in an exceedingly animated defense activity against anti-Semitism in Florisdorf near Vienna, came out with a series of articles in which he publicly accused Rohl ing of having offered to commit wilful perjury. He denounced him, moreover, as a literary forger and a person utterly ig norant of Talmudic literature, never having read a single page of the Talmud and totally incapable of doing so.. Furthermore, he charged, Rohling's quotations from the Tal mud, the Shulchan Aruch and the Zohar were wilful falsifications and partly pure inventions. Bloch challenged Rohling to sue him in case his charges did not correspond with the facts. It actually came to an action of libel by Rohling against Bloch, but at the final trial at the Court of Vienna Rohling 3.

IS

suddenly withdrew his libel suit. The court acquitted Doctor Bloch and ordered Prof. Rohling to bear all the costs of the case. As Rohling's statements were abandoned by Rohling himself, he was shortly afterwards retired from his professorship at the Uni versity. Even German scholars, such as Franz Delitzsch, Ad. Merx, Theodor Noldeke and August Wunsche, and other eminent Chris tian Hebraists, took up the cudgels and exposed Rohling's unscrupulous forgeries. Apropos of the above-mentioned TiszaEszlar affair, Franz Delitzsch, one of the most profound scholars of Hebrew and rabbinic literature among the Christian theologians, published a series of polemics against Rohling, exposing and denouncing his ignorance and malevolence. In his treatise entitled "Checkmate to the Bloodlibel Liars Rohling and Justus" (1883) De litzsch makes, among others, the following declaration : "Seldom

has the blood-libel

been raised

with such an array of laboriously concocted evidence as in these essays which fill four whole sheets of Rohling's treatise 'My an swer to the Rabbis.' And never yet, since the blood-libel made its appearance, did it win a representative who could compare with Professor Rohling in scientific erudi tion. This resolute appearance, staking both human dignity and Christian honor, and de claring itself ready to substantiate the truth of the allegation even under oath, is indeed 16

new phenomenon. By these Rohling has assured himself of an imperishable memorial in the history of religion — Whether a memorial of honor — that is doubtful." a

In similar

sharp vein Franz Delitzsch with Dr. Justus, a baptized Ru Jew, whose name formerly was

takes issue

manian

Aaron Brimann,

gave his wife and children the slip, became Protestant, then changed to Catholic, and in 1865 was sen tenced in Vienna to imprisonment and ex pulsion from the country for forgery of documents. Against him too the treatise "Checkmate to the Blood-libel Liars" is directed. Referring to the passage which Justus cites as evidence that the blood of a non-Jewish virgin is a precious offering,

Delitzsch

who

says:

"I compared again and again the HebrewAramaic text of the passage translated by Dr. Justus with his translation and again

is

17

a

I

a

I

is

is

.is

and again I had to tell myself that his trans lation is such a forgery, that boorish mis not sufficient for an ex understanding planation. What he claims to have trans in reality put into the text. The lated so startlingly brazen that hesi forgery tated long before grasped the pen as witness for the defense. Even now this malicious denunciation of the Jewish people by a Judeo-Christian physchological riddle to me. The blood-libel was raised hundreds of years ago, but Dr. Justus thinks that he has succeeded where every polemist in the course of centuries has failed. He has

to light a recommendation sanc tioning the slaughtering of Christian vir gins, a passage which, if it existed at all, would surely not be found only in Justus' writing; it was one of the recipes according to which in the Tisza-Eszlar affair virgin-

brought

blood was received and filled in bottles as a spice for Matzos, and as a nostrum for women in confinement. On the part of the Jews I will receive thanks for having ex posed the lie. But how about the Christians? Eisenmenger's "Judaism Discovered," and Rohling's book "The Talmud Jew" are the

foundations of the pseudo-science of the special anti-Semitic literature of more recent date.

No proof is therefore needed by any rea sonable person that the scurrilous attacks of the anti-Semitic demagogic writings, as the "Sturmer" and its ilk, are without any foun dations. The "Sturmer" itself complains that the educated people laugh at its warning cries. But by means of the pseudo-scientific cloak, namely, the ostensible sources in this Talmud, Maimonides, Zohar, etc., which is thrown over the anti-Semitic myths, doubts are aroused in the minds of unsuspecting people which threaten to de generate gradually into mass-suggestion. The "Sturmer," therefore, rightly declares that it does not care to write for the educated classes; the plain people listen to it and understand it. Especially mischievous is the atmosphere of suspicion which has been aroused by the absurdity of the existence of 18

racial antagonism between Jews and nonJews; since it might possibly lead the ignoriant masses, who are utterly incapable to check even a single reference, to glorify the gross falsifications as historical monuments.

It is therefore an urgent need, nay a ne cessity, to react to the contemptuous treat ment of the Bible and Talmud, the two household medicine-chests of civilized men, not only with helpless indignation, but with mighty counter-weapons. It is an impera tive duty to strive by all means to direct the attention of all civilized people of the earth to the worth of the Bible and Talmud, pre eminent both as culture and ethics. The author has therefore set himself the task in this book to expose openly the forged, or distorted Biblical and Talmudic quotations, especially before the eyes of all truth-loving Christians. At the same time it is his desire to present, in place of the forgeries and falisifications, the true Jewish teachings and doctrines. He fondly hopes that the indubitable clarity which the book presents to the objective-minded, will induce those Christians who consider the protec tion of the honor of all who are created in God's image as an ethical command of com pelling force, to follow the impulse of their conscience and oppose boldly the defamation and libeling of the Jewish religion.

19

ANTI-SEMITISM The quasi-scientific term "Anti-Semites" designates the opponents of the characteris tics and strivings of the Semitic peoples. The term, which has its origin in the as sumption that there is a Semitic race, di vergent from other races, was evidentlycoined for the purpose of justifying the The Jews are alleged to be Jew-hatred. long to the Semitic race and are therefore foreign to the Aryan, or Indo-European The word implies that the populations. not are because of their re divergent Jews ligion, but on account of their alleged char acteristics, concerning which even anthro pologists are not agreed. Since, however, the Semitic character does not represent a unit, and the concept has come to the fore only in recent years, taking its rise in Germany and Austria, antiSemitism can only be regarded as constitut ing hostile sentiments of a religious, social, political, cultural or economic nature toward the

Jews. The concepts "Aryan" or "Semitic" are originally not derived from natural science, but from linguistic science, not from anthro pology but from philosophy. They are not ethnic designations but philological. Scien tifically, the two concepts "Aryan" and "Semitic" designate the relationship to a language family. The great philologist Max Mueller and the distinguished anthropolo gist Luschan in vain protested that to speak 20

of an Indo-European skull was like using terms dolichocephalic or dictionary brachycephalic grammar. Max Mueller thus expresses himself concerning the concept "Aryan": "In my eyes the ethnologist who speaks of an 'Aryan race,' 'Aryan blood,' 'Aryan eyes and hair' is as great a sinner as a linguist who speaks of a dolichocephalic (long-headed) dictionary, or a brachyce phalic (broad-headed) grammar. It is con fusion worse that Babel — it is plain fraud ! When I speak of 'Aryans' I mean neither blood nor bones, neither hair nor skull. I mean thereby simply those who speak an Aryan language." the

Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, foremost British anthropologist, said in 1934: "Those who insist upon the moral and intellectual quali ties of the so-called 'Aryans' and talk about primitive Aryan culture should be reminded that it is more than doubtful whether the Aryans did invent a primitive culture in any other way than by borrowing from the Babylonians (a semitic-language people)."

The foremost scholars have protested against the assertion of the anti-Semitic racial theories, e. g. Alexander von Hum boldt, Baer, Virchow, Kollman, Johann Ranke, Luschan, Balz, F. H. Buckler; the founders of Indo-Germanic philology, Pott, Schrader, the priofessor of law Ihering, the political economist Werne Sombert, the ethnologists Fr. Mueller and Ratzel, the pro fessors of ethics Penzig, Jodl, the sociolo gists Weber, Mueller-Lyser and others. 21

Jodl says: "No more fateful

madness

can be

imagined, and none that we must more energetically combat than that which makes moral excellence or moral baseness the al leged heritage of any particular race or nation." Nietzsche, too, expressed himself very sharply against the pseudo-ethnolo gists. He said "How untruthful and in famous it is to bring up race problems in the hotch-potch which is Europe!" One of his maxims was "Do not associate with any one who has any share in the mendacious race swindle" (vol. XVI, 374). It is worthwhile to observe here the un mistakable attitude of the Holy Bible on the race question. The book of Genesis be gins with the story of Creation and the early history of mankind. In the story of the cre ation of Adam and Eve, the first human couple from whom all the nations of the earth originated, it is clearly implied that any presumption of the superiority of one people, based on physical characteristics, i. e., an allegedly better descent, is utterly groundless. According to the Bible the su perior man is distinguished from the inferior solely by his moral qualities; The history of moral progress commences therefore with Abraham, the ancestor of all men who strive for moral perfection.

22

JEW-HATRED IN ANTIQUITY The first typical

enemy of the Jewish in the Diaspora was Haman, who arraigned the Jews before the Persian King in the following words: people

"There is one people scattered and separated among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom ; their laws are different from those of every other people; they do not obey the King's laws; therefore it is not proper for the King to tolerate them. If.it pleases the King let an edict be written for their destruction" (Esther 3:8). As a result of this indictment Haman him self was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

CLASSICAL ANTI-SEMITISM The learned Greeks were naturally in sympathy with monotheistic doctrines of the Jewish religion. Many had words of praise for the religious beliefs and for many of the institutions of Judaism. They saw in the Jews representatives of a higher philosophy and morality. However, the re ligious isolation of the Jews and their con tempt of the heathen belief created much antagonism. This unfriendly feeling toward the Jews found expression in the literature of antiquity from which the following chief accusations against the Jews may be culled: (a) ATHEISM, i.

enemies

e.,

the

Jews are the

of the gods of the nations. 23

Mane

thon,

Egyptian

high

priest

and Temple

scribe, at Heliopolis, who lived at the time of the two Ptolmies, Soter I and Philadelphia,

reports in his History of Egypt, written about 170 B. C. E., that Moses adjured the Jews to obey him under all circumstances. He forbade them most strenuously the wor ship of other gods. Tacitus, Roman his torian, in his history written about 108 C. E., describes the Jews as an irreligious nation. Florus, Roman historian who flourished at the time of the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian, adds that the Jews are not only irreligious, but also "blasphemous."

(b) SLOTH AND INDOLENCE. To world the Sabbath rest was .in comprehensible. They thought the Jews ob the pagan

served it as a feast day (Strabo, Geography XVI, 2). Tacitus reports that the leisure on the Sabbath day is in memory of "the famine to which the Jews were at one time exposed."

CIRCUMCISION. Tacitus

perceives in this physical mark the intention to bring between about a physical differentiation Jews and pagans. "In order that they may be known by a distinctive mark, they (the Jews) have established the practice of cir cumcision."

(d)

ABSTENTION FROM PORK.

Several writers perceive in this prohibition a divine adoration of the swine. Others, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the prohibition of the flesh of the swine is .in 24

memory of the plague of leprosy to which the swine is especially exposed. The observ ance of this prohibition is nevertheless pro scribed by pagan literature. (e)

THE ALLEGED HATRED OF

MANKIND.

The segregation and pur ported solidarity of the Jews led the classical work to nurture lingering suspicions that all Jews were imbued with hostility to the Gentile world. The Jews are reproached that they consider all members of other nations as enemies. This attitude is con ceived as a Mosaic command. In extriemely violent language Tacitus condemns the al legedly Biblical statement that a Jew may not seat himself at a table with a stranger. Philostratus (180-250 C. E.) says: "People who do not share with others their table, their libations, their prayers, their sacrifices, are farther removed from us than Susa, or even farthest India . . . From olden times they have been opposed not only to Rome but to the rest of humanity."

(f) THE RITUAL MURDER MYTH.

Apion, rhetorician and lawyer of Alexandria in Egypt, a Hellenized Egyptian demagogue and most spiteful Jew-baiter of the first century C. E., expressed his evident hatred of the Jews by collecting from whatever

source of current stories unfavorable to them. He represented the laws of the Jews as antagonistic to those of their neighbors. He adds another fable, an invention of his own. He relates that it was the custom of the Jews to capture every year some Greek 25

stranger, to fatten him with good food, then to kill him in sacrifice and to taste entrails and take an oath that they would ever be at enmity with the Greeks. In the following centuries this accusation was leveled by the Romans against the Christians.

In reality classical antiquity was the age of religious tolerance. It respected the gods and the cult of each nation. Only the Jewish religion was excluded from the general har mony and tolerance. The Jewish emphasis on the Unity of God, and its corollary — the denial of all other gods, which was the fundamental principle of the Jewish religion, naturally caused resentment which resulted in anti-Jewish sentiments in the literature of antiquity. All obvious lies about the Jews were believed, no one taking the interest to make himself familiar with the sources. No pagan read the Bible, although it had al ready been translated into Greek and was accessible to all. One pagan copied from another the hatred preached against the Jews. Moreover, the very same accusations which had been hurled at the Jews were later raised against the Christians even in an aggravated form. The early Christians especially were accused by the pagans of godlessness and immorality and they were not even spared the accusation of ritual murder.

26

JEW HATRED IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND IN MODERN TIMES

In the Middle Ages the motives of Jewhatred were also mostly of a religious char acter. Economic motives became visible only in the eleventh century. The history of Jewish persecution in the Christian era may be divided .into three periods. a. b. c.

Up to the Crusades (11th Century) Up to the Reformation (16th Century) Up to the French Revolution (end of 18th Century).

TO THE CRUSADES In the period up to the Crusades the Jews were persecuted mainly as "God-killers." A "conviction" was spread that the entire guilt for the death of Jesus is due to the Pharisees, priests and scholars. Further attacks were hurled against the Jews that they were god less, that they refused to render the honor due to other men, that they avoided Chris tian society, that they are forsaken of God, that they were therefore a superfluous, use less people, destined for slavery, rebellious, cruel, stiff-necked, desecrators of holy ob jects, insolent, cowardly and so forth. The ritual murder accusation was not yet raised, since this accusation was hurled also against the Christians in the early centuries of the Christian Era.

While the pagan polemics against the Jews in classical times bore only a literary 27

character, the Christian polemic also had practical results. Simultaneous with the establishment of Christianity as the official state religion in the fourth century, laws were enacted declaring the Jews to be citi zens of second rank, depriving them of their right to hold public office, extenuating the punishments meted out to offenders against the Jews, and so forth. In the sixth century the anti-Jewish legislation of the 4th century was rendered more severe. Justinian took away from the Jews the right to appear as witness against Christians; the study of the Talmud was prohibited, belonging to the Jewish faith was declared a criminal offense, and so on. Furthermore, Church law forbade Chris tians to intermarry with Jews, prohibited Jews fom eating with Chistians; Christian nurses, man and maid-servants or daily laborers might not be employed by Jews. Jews were not allowed to sell meat or other food-stuffs to Christians. On Sunday and other Christian holidays the Jews were for bidden to engage both in work and trade.

TO THE REFORMATION The centuries preceding the Reformation with massacres and expulsions. A bloody trail marks the path of the Cru saders from Trier in the Rhine Valley. Speyer, Worms, Cologne, Mayence were hit worse. Everywhere the Jews were con fronted with the choice : Baptism or Death ! Entire communities were slaughtered. The are replete

28

intervention of the Bishops John of Spires, Adelbert of Worms, Ruthland of Mayence and Hermann of Cologne — these rare spirits who risked their lives and property to save the Jews under their care — proved unsuccessful.

III

The most degrading and humiliating en actment which placed the Jew for centuries in the position of a pariah in Christian society was the one creating in 1215 for Jews of both sexes a special dress or a dis tinctive sign of shame (a yellow badge) to be worn on their garments. A special form of oath was instituted for the Jews contain ing the worst imaginable curses. The ritualmurder myth, first appearing in the 12th century, cropped up again. And to climax it all, twenty-four carloads of copies of the Talmud were comitted to the flames on the eve of Sabbath in June, 1242.

TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION From the Reformation to the French Rev olution there was little improvement in the position of the Jews. The invention of print ing naturally brought about the publication and dissemination of Anti-Jewish treatises. Martin Luther at first entertained high hopes of converting the Jews and therefore called the enemies of the Jews "thick asses' heads." In 1523 at the height of his conflict with the Catholic Church, he published a pamphlet entitled "Jesus was born a Jew." "Our fools and jackasses, these priests, bishops, sophists and monks," he wrote, 29

"have treated the Jews in such a fashion that if a man wanted to be a true Christian he might better become a Jew. Were I a Jew and saw what blockheads and windbags rule and guide Christendom, I would rather become a sow than a Christian. For they have treated the Jews more like dogs than men. Yet the Jews are kith and kin and brothers-in-blood of our Savior. If we are going to boast about the virtues of race, Christ belongs more to them than to us. To no other people has God shown such favor in entrusting them with his Holy

Word." Luther reasoned that now that the Gospel had come into its own, without "popery and monkery," the Jews would be drawn to Jesus, who was born a Jew. In his closing

years, however, disappointed in his hopes, he inveighed against the Jews and admon ished his followers to burn their synagogues, and to treat the hardened blasphemers with all unmercifulness. In two treatises (1543) he took up again all the malicious defama tions of the Middle Ages. New inciting publications appeared by Johann Pfefferkorn, Victor Karben, Antonius Margaritha, Martin Butzer and others, which were widely disseminated.

THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS Jewish emancipation in Europe was achieved first in France. The States General were convoked in 1789 and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens in the 30

Constituent Assembly established the prin ciple of religious freedom for all. On Sep tember 28, 1791, a decree was promulgated granting the Jews of all France complete civic rights on a par with other citizens.

The example of France was followed by the other countries that saw in this act a

mark of progress, although they were yet unreconciled, because of their instinctive hostility to Jews, to Jewish equality. Ger many, for example, can assent "with a clear conscience" that it never gave up its hatred of the Jews; it distributed it to various cliques which always invented anti-Jewish practices and slogans.

ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY The fact that religious motives were los ing gradually more and more their import

ance shows that causes of anti-Semitism in the 20th century are not identical with the causes of Jew-hatred in antiquity and in the Middle Ages. However, the methods of

Jewish persecution and its practical results — especially in legal matters — can hardly be distinguished. It is sufficient to point to Russia up to 1914; the pogroms of the

Russian counter-revolution in Ukrania after 1918, to characterize these methods. But even after the World War, after the con clusion of the peace treaties in which the rights of all citizens, without distinction of religion or nationality, were formally guar anteed, yet there were, incident to special 31

political occurrences, pogroms of major and minor extent in various countries that took numerous victims. The Terror against the Jews had in no wise abated. By the term "Terror" is meant not only corporal mal treatment, but it includes also legal meas ures created or existing laws evaded in practice, not only in order to imperil the existence and honor of the Jewish citizen, but even to render his very existence in safety impossible.

At

the basis of the ever present ubiquitous

Jew-hatred there lie economic motives. The odious talk of Jewish world domination in

the economic sphere breeds a hatred which is intensified all the more in consequence of the general economic crisis. Jew-baiters

who still continue gabbing about Jewish domination in the world economic life have no knowledge at all of reality. The facts are that there has prevailed for a long time in many lands, long before the world-crisis and more intensely now in the midst of this general breakdown, a special Jewish crisis.

We do not refer naturally to the few lead ing economic figures in the world. We speak

here of the masses, the dependent, non-selfsupporting groups. And it is not so much the Jewish entrepreneurs as the Jewish workers who find themselves at a hopeless

disadvantage in contrast to their Gentile fellow-workers. While non-Jewish workers can look forward to find employment, the Jewish unemployed are handicapped .in ad vance in this competition merely because of 32

their Jewishness, whether they seek employ ment in Jewish or in Christian firms.

The heads of the Jewish firms, the direc tors of factories, the proprietors of shops, the leaders of sundry organizations, con sider themselves obliged, when considering applicants of equal merits, to accept the nonJewish applicant, evidently in order not to give the impression that they prefer oneAnd so sidedly their own "co-religionists." the percentage of Jewish employees, espe cially in the sales personnel, with a few iso lated exceptions in the comparatively large "Jewish" department stores, was almost negligible as compared with the entire num ber of employees, as can be easily verified by statistics. In large establishments Jews were almost entirely excluded as chiefs of the personnel divisions, surely not because they lacked knowledge of human psychology or ability in handling people. Rather it was that the Jewish leaders, just because they were Jews, felt obligated in the interests of personnel discipline, and taking into con sideration the attitude of the public, not to put forward more Jewish talent. And thus the employment market for the Jewish worker was long restricted. Of course, in dividuals were found who rose above these petty considerations, but these exceptions, because of their unusual circumstances, rather prove the rule.

If

this description

essentially character

izes the conditions in the West-European countries, the question arises: What is the 33

situation in the Eastern lands? In the EastEuropean countries there prevails quite a panicky situation. Sixty per cent of the Jewish population is dependent on support and falls a burden on the community which is not in a condition to alleviate the need in the least. Irresponsible Jew-baiters, to whose in terest it is to make capital of anti-Semitism, flood the harmless masses with newspapers, periodicals, brochures, and even with quasiscientific publications which not only distort these patent facts, but even stamp them as lies and thus breed anti-Semitism. As long as there will be an opportunity for the antiSemitic "literateur" to strike capital of his "spiritual" product, so long will the myth of Jewish world domination not disappear. However, Judaism must never surrender its hope for a better world. Judaism that has weathered so many storms, shall it not be able to withstand the reverses of fortune of the present era?

34

ISRAEL IS ETERNAL* The sun and moon fore'er are in the sky, The laws of day and night remain always ; Lo ! They are signs for Jacob's seed that they Shall ever be a Nation and never die. If with His left hand He doth thrust away, Lo, with His right He doth bring them nigh.

When in distress, let them not fear, nor cry; Let them have faith that they'll not cease before

The laws of day and night shall be no more.

WHAT IS THE OLD TESTAMENT? The Old Testament is divided into three divisions: Law, Prophets and Holy Writ ings. It comprises twenty-four books in the Jewish canon. These correspond to the thirty-nine books of the English Bible, in which Samuel I and II, Kings I and II, Chronicles I and II, Ezra and Nehemiah and the twelve Minor Prophets are counted separately. The Christian religion adopted the Old Testament from the Jewish. Con sequently, these Writings are of great sig nificance not only for the Jews, but for all adherents of all positive religions.

"Law" includes five (Penateuch) which are designated "Torah of Moses." Genesis, Exodus, Leviti cus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The first division

books

*

By Judah Halevi, the greatest Hebrew poet of the Middle bom in 1085 in Castille, lived in Lucena, Granada, to Palestine Toledo and Cordova. In 1141 he journeyed where he died. Ages;

35

The second division "Prophets" includes the older historical writings (Former Proph ets) which record the deeds and influence of the earlier prophets and leaders of Israel: Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and the Kings, and trace the history of the Jewish people from the death of Moses to the fall of the Kingdom of Judah ; and the writings of the Latter Prophets, or prophetical writ ings in the stricter sense: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; the Minor Prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakuk, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

The third division, Holy Writings, or Hagiographs, include the poetical books Psalms, containing 150 hymns, lyrics and epic poems, the Proverbs of Solomon, the theological drama Job, the Five Scrolls, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesi astics, Esther; the historical books Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles.

WHAT IS THE TALMUD? The origin of the Talmud (literally learn ing) is coeval with the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. In that short but momentous period in this history of the Jewish people they became transformed into a united religious, God-fearing people. They

to cherish their glorious national literature — the brands plucked from the fire. These documents of law and faith and history became the immutable center of their lives. began

36

The Torah, revealed by God, forms the basis of Talmudic law; God Himself is con sequently the supreme source of the law. The Talmud is the product of the Pales tinian and Babylonian schools, which con tinued .in existence from the beginning of our era to the fifth century. The impetus to the development of the Talmudic code was given by the study of the Divine Law, the precepts of which had

to be expounded and elucidated even to the last dot on the smallest letter. No other people ever cherished its national literature so highly or guarded it so zealously as the Jews did the teachings of Moses. Numerous scholars of the Law (Rabbis), masters of jurisprudence, all working without compen sation, evolved a legal system which in scope and excellence stands far above many codes even of the present time.

The Biblical public law begins with the sentence: "If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing" (Exodus 21:2). However, the right to such a pur chase is nowhere mentioned. Similarly the Bible does not contain any direct command ment of marriage. Nor is any mention found therein of the legal forms of the marriage contract. The Bible, however, presupposes the existence of an unwritten, traditional law. The Talmud is, therefore, of great religio-legal significance since it elucidates and supplements those Biblical precepts which rest on tradition or require interpre 37

tation. The Talmudic code, then, constitutes commentary, interpreting and supplement ing the Written Law. The Holy Scriptures, which were canonized and committed to writing, constitute only a very small portion of the Hebrew literature. The great bulk of this literature, especially rich in religious and legal lore, continued to live on by oral tradition and forms the Oral Law. This lore was cultivated in the academies of Pal estine and Babylonia and was known as Mishnah, "Repetition" and Talmud, "Learn ing" par excellence. a

Historically the Talmud contains numer ous records of all that happened and was taught in the life and affairs of the Jewish people during a period of more than two millennia. It preserves for us, on the one

hand, traditions, doctrines, maxims and anecdotes of ancient times which reach back to the pre-Biblical era — i. e. to the first centuries of the second pre-Christian Mil lennium. On the other hand it presents be fore us a lively and clear picture of the dis cussions .in the later academies, and of de cisions reached only at the end of the fifth century of the Christian Era in Babylonia.

It

contains predominantly

religio-legal

teachings, ancient customs and practices, which were retained in the people's memory. There were also handed down succinct explanations and interpretations of the nonlegal parts of Scripture; historical tradi tions, sayings and legends passed from mouth to mouth; wise rules of conduct, 38

natural and medicinal science, geographic, and ethnographic observations, astrological and astronomical experiences were trans mitted from generation to generation. All these subjects were taught by the Rabbis, some only obiter dictu, by the way, men tioned in moments of rest and spiritual rec reation, the most were thoroughly investi gated and impressed upon the memory of the students as an important part of the Oral Law.. Since in the life of the Jewish people re ligion regulated every sphere of life and guided the entire physical and moral man, so it happened that at the redaction of the Talmud there was included, besides the main legal element, also the non-legal mat ter. To these circumstances the Talmud owes its many-sidedness and its great value for the legal and religious history of the people of antiquity. For it contains besides the legal enactments whose legal reasoning was taken over by the German civil law (see Schroeder, Deutsche Rechtsgeschaefte, Goeschen Collection No. 621, p. 91) a large number of very ancient traditions concern ing the life and customs of ancient races, traditions which are of inestimable value for the critical study of antiquity.

39

FORGERIES AND FALSIFICATIONS OF THE ANTI-SEMITIC

LITERATURE

The Ritual Murder Myth. It is maintained that in "Zohar Tikkunim," a supplement to the "Zohar"* the ritual murder of non-Jews is commanded. From remote antiquity the lie of all lies was constantly brought up: "The Jew com mits ritual murder in order to employ the blood of the slain for ritual purposes." Answer: The downright absurdity of this accusa 1.

tion is patent from the fact that from the most ancient times the use of blood, even of animals and fowls, is most explicity and emphatically prohibited, a prohibition ap pearing again and again in the Bible, multi plied and intensified in Talmudic literature ! We read in Leviticus (7:26-27): "Ye shall ;

Zohar "Splendor" is the main classical work of Cabala, one of the great books of the world, a mystical, theosophic work, an inclining toward illuminating commentary on the Pentateuch, of the forms of the Hebrew Alphabet a symbolic interpretation and the traditional the Divine Names, the Bible narratives and national stories. It treats of the nature of God, cosmogony Its author, Rabbi good and evil. the soul sin redemption, Simeon ben Johai, disciple of Rabbi Akiba, was a celebrated mystic and scholar who lived during the second century A.D. The distress to which the Jews of that time were exposed finds its expression in mounting hope for better times through the approach of the Messiah. The work can be understood in relation to the contemporary Jewish situation and the pro pensity to mysticism which marked that epoch of the occidental world. In the entire Zohar, as well as in all Cabalistic writ ings, not the slightest matter is permitted which is prohibited in Bible and Talmud. 40

eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or beast, in any of your dwellings. Whoever it be that eateth any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people."

The passage quoted from "Zohar Tikkunim" speaks of the parallelism between the Tetragrammation ADNI and the manifold groups of religious laws. In this connection the author speaks of the parallelism of Di vine justice and the prescribed slaughter of animals. Among other things he writes:

"With

non-priests sacrifice consists by which they approach God. Praying saves him from death at the hands of the Angel of Death. They, however, whose actions resemble those of the beasts, who eat without praying, these die the death of beasts. The Angel of Death slaugh ters them. They are called Decayed Matter." So-called ritual-murder trials took place in all cases under the virulent incitement of the Jew-baiters, who tried with all their power to stir up public opinion against the Jews. But, despite thorough investigation, there has never been brought out in a single case even the shadow of proof of the exist The greatest sensa ence of ritual-murder. tions were stirred by the trials in TiszaEszlar (1882). Xanthen, in Rhenish Prus sia (1891), Konitz, in West Prussia (1900) and Kiev, Russia (1911). The Jews were everywhere and in every case acquitted. They were not proved murderers, not to mention the fact that there was no scintilla of evidence of a religious motive. the

in prayer

41

Quite interesting is the plea of the chief public prosecutor Lautz in the Konitz affair, the main paragraph of which read: "I do not consider it necessary to go into further discussion in regard to the question of ritual-murder. It is a fact that in the Jewish religious teachings there is no regulation for it. It is also known that, were lusts incited thereto, the chiefs of the cult would inter pose with the utmost severity. I may refer to the testimony of the Archbishop Dr. Kopp which fully coincides with this point of view. I need not at all prove any further that, were we dealing here with a practice, people would certainly hear much more of such gory acts. But it may be assumed, taking into consideration the penal code, that such murderous acts can not be prac ticed nor sanctioned in the religious circles of the Jews."

In the Tisza-Eszlar trial, the famous Dr. Theodor Noldecke placed himself with all austerity and firmness against the dis semination of the ritual-murder lies. In the collection of opinions "Christian Testimony against the Blood-Accusation" offered in connection with the trial, he concludes: ". . . Such outrages are diametrically op posed to all principles of Judaism. Jews who would commit any such act would absolutely be excluded from the religious community of Israel. Those who believe or repeat such myths should know that such reproaches of human sacrifices were from ancient times hurled against differently constituted re 42

ligious sects. Whoever maintains that Jews employ human blood for any ceremony stands on the level of the crudest oriental superstition and religious hatred."

In hemia,

the

in

affair in Polna, Bo involving Leopold Hilsner,

blood-ritual 1899,

Prof. P. G. Masaryk, the late president of the Czechoslovakian Republic, a man hon ored by the entire world both as statesman

and scientist, expressed himself in his book "The Meaning of the Polna Crime for the Ritual Superstition," as follows : "The AntiSemites see in the Polna crime the strongest confirmation of the ritual superstition. This has induced me to reexamine minutely from all angles the Polna trial, and the result of this examination follows: The Polna crime is not a ritual crime. On the contrary, it is striking proof that the ritual superstition is superstition in the fullest sense of the word. The entire Polna trial is an outrage against the sane human intelligence and against humanity itself."

In numerous actions for defamation of character brought against anti-Semitic agi tators and newspapers, the courts arrived at the unanimous conclusion that all such statements are without any solid founda tion. The verdict of the Nurenberg jury of November 4, 1929, which sentenced the accused Jew-haters Streicher and Holz to V/z and 2 months imprisonment respec tively, is based on an opinion of the Chris tian theologian privy-councillor Prof. Gortsberger (Munich). He asserts that in no legal 43

book of the Jews is there any passage which might be interpreted that murder is per missible to Jews.

The imperial court also took up these matters and in a verdict (D 1323, 1929 IX, 6, 1930) confirmed the opinion of the Nurenberg jury. That in the case of the ritual-murder ac cusation we deal with a myth, is evident from the fact that the Romans accused the Many early Christians of ritual-murder. Church Fathers had to defend themselves against this malicious calumny, Justinus Martyr, Athenagoras (see Hermann L. Strack, "Das Blut im Glauben und Aberglauben der Menschheit," translated by H. Blanchamp as "The Jew and Human Sacri fice," New York 1901). The centuries-long calumny against the Christians that they employed blood for ritual purposes ceased only when Christianity became the creed of the majority. Even then it was used in various forms by Christians against Manichaeans, early Gnostics Waldensians, Albigensians and other heretics; by Catholics against Hugue nots and Puritans, and by Protestants against Catholics. Even today, in China, whenever a Chinese child disappears the common people believe that he has been kidnapped by a Christian missionary, killed and his blood used in Christian, ritual. Finally it may be pointed out that Juda ism is not a "murderous" religion; that the Jewish faith is far exalted above such vile 44

suspicions. Moreover it was Judaism that proclaimed the divine command "Thou shalt not kill" to all humanity.

The Myth of Race Defilement. It is maintained that the Talmud pre scribes to the Jews the violation of Aryan women, maidens and girls. This assertion is based, according to the "Sturmer," on four alleged Talmudic sayings: (a) A Jew is permitted to defile a non-Jewish woman (Maimonides, "Yad Ha-Hazakah" 2, 2.**) (b) A Jew is permitted to commit adult ery with the wife of a non-Jew (Sanhedrin 2.

52

b).

(c) A non-Jewish girl may be defiled as soon as she is 3 years and one day old (Abodah Zorah 37a). (d) A Jew may do with his wife whatso ever he wishes. He may treat her as a piece of meat that comes from the abattoir: he may eat it raw, broiled, cooked or roast (Nedarim 20 b). Answer : Not a single citation is even approxi mately correct. The first citation from Maimonides does not exist at all; the case Maimonides forbids re every extra-marital sex relationship; gardless of whether the woman is Jewish or non-Jewish. The second alleged citation likewise does not exist. The third citation is distorted and biased. The Rabbis of the Talmud discuss the question whether it is religiously-legally permitted for a Jew to is quite the contrary.

45

in a room with a daughter of a heathen nine years old. The discussion in connection therewith is based on the fact that the Bible forbids intimate relations not only with a Jewess, but with any mature woman. The Rabbis finally reach a unani mous conclusion that this prohibition in cludes all intimate relations with the daugh ters of the heathens. In this connection Rabbi Rabina remarks that heathen children mature sexually at the age of three years

be closeted

and one day.

The fourth alleged citation presents a fabulous falsification. The passage, to which the citation refers, deals with the subject of modesty. In this connection Rabbi Johanan ben Dahabai wishes to express, in parabolic language, the absence of reserve that may characterize the mutual and intimate rela tionship of husband and wife without offend ing the laws of chastity. Other Rabbis, on the contrary, are of the opinion that the husband is obligated generally to guard the ethical character of the intimate relation ship; he cannot, however, be prescribed the technical procedure. These Rabbis give a parable to support their view, pointing out **The

entire body of Jewish law is based on the teaching of the Pentateuch; the interpretations thereof and supplements thereto are contained in the Palestine Talmud, which was concluded in the fourth century C.E., and in the more voluminous Babylonian Talmud which was concluded in the sixth century. Maimonides comprised in the year 1168 the fruit of the labor of Millennia of legislative activity, which constitutes in the Talmud an endless labyrinth, in one signifi cant code, called "Mishneh Torah," or "Yad Ha-Hazakah"

(The Mighty Hand).

46

that one cannot prescribe how meat should be eaten; raw, boiled, cooked or roast.

The edition of the patriotic organ "Die Flamme" (Bamberg) declared in August 1926 in an essay "German Maidens as Game" that the Talmud imposes upon the Jews a religious duty to deflower non-Jewish maid ens. The expert, prelate, privy-councillor Prof. Johannws, pointed out under oath that this statement was untrue. The Bamberg court followed in its proceedings of July 15, 1927 the conclusions of the expert's opinion, and sentenced L. Moller, the responsible manager of the publication. The German Imperial Court in Leipzig approved the Bamberg verdict on Nov. 25, 1927. 3.

The Myth of Perjury.

It

is maintained that the Tamud imposes a sacred duty on every Jew to perjure him self in litigations with a non-Jew, when the perjury offers any advantage to the Jew. The chief point of attack is the "Kol-Nidre" which is recited at the beginning of the

evening service of the Day of Atonement. "Kol-Nidre" is a legal formula for the abso lution of vows by which an individual had imposed upon himself any renunciation, or any duty to avoid something as forbidden. The Jewish authorities, realizing that the religious conscience is weighted down by the thought of the possible non-fulfillment of the vows, devised a general and compre hensive formula of dispensation. The antiSemitic literature reads into the simple wording of this formula the meaning that 47

thereby oaths of Jews before a non-Jew are declared in advance to be ineffective, null and void. Answer.

The holy writings of the Jews contain an abundance of precepts, declarations and exhortations, directed against every misuse of an oath and vow. In this respect the Talmud, too, knows no distinction between Maimonides, in his Jews and non-Jews. Torah, work Mishneh Hilchot Shebuot 11, 1, makes the following statement: "Who ever takes an oath, or has an oath imposed upon him, and closes it with the word "Amen," even when taken before a non-Jew, is duty bound to the truth, and in case of untruth, guilty of perjury." Furthermore, the distinction between Jew and non-Jew is that a false oath taken to the hurt of a non-Jew is punished more severely, since it entails not only the violation of the sacredness of the oath but also the desecration of Moreover, the older the Divine Name. traditions of Judaism maintain that every avoidable oath taken, even though in truth, is considered equal to a false oath. The third Commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" — LASHVA, applies also to him who swears in truth. The Talmud interprets the word LASHVA in the sense of the "useless vain oath, even though taken for a true cause." The word SHAV actually means something futile and useless. Post Biblical legislation stamped upon the 48

conscience of the Jewish people in the course of centuries a profound respect and awe for an oath. It became therefore a principle among Jews rather to forfeit a legal claim than to take an oath.

KOL NIDRE

is

which

it

it it,

"When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lod thy God, thou shalt not defer to pay for the Lord thy God will surely require of thee; and will be sin in thee . . . That gone out of thy lips thou shalt 23; 22, 24).

observe and do" (Deuteronomy

a

is

a

is

The formula for the rite of absolution of vows known by the name "Kol Nidre" (All Vows), does not refer to oaths taken in obli gations and promises assumed and made in regard to others or in court of justice. The dispensation of vows which an individual voluntarily assumes for himself, alone, and in which no other persons or interests are involved. In other words the formula restricted to those vows which concern only the relation of man to his conscience or to his Heavenly Judge (See especially Tosefot to Nedarim 23b). No vow, promise or oath, however, which concerns another person, court of justice or implied community, in "Kol Nidre."

is

The "Kol Nidre" prayer arouses, as no other liturgical formula, the deepest inner most emotions of the penitent. The other immensely popu wise rather dry formula lar because of its solemn, plaintive and touching melody, gradually increasing in 49

volume from pianissimo to fortissimo. The sounds of this melody rouse in the hearts of the pious worshippers memories which touch the very chords of the soul. The "Kol Nidre" melody was a favorite of the Prussian Field Marshall von Moltke (1800-1891) who had the violinist Joachim play it for him. Karl Beck, a friend of the Austrian lyric poet Nikolaus Lenau, reports in his Diaries (published in 1884) the poet's impression of "Kol Nidre." Lenau was speaking of the Marseillaise and the Rokoczy March, and then continued:

"But more than these hymns, twins in arms and weapons, there lies close to my heart a third song, enveloped in sadness, a of penitent, long resounding night-song contrite, remorseful children of man. "Kol Nidre" is the name of this elegiac prayer. I heard it years ago in my native place. The eve of the Day of Atonement had arrived. I secreted myself in a corner of the Syna gogue, in order not to cause annoyance to the faithful. Large wax-candles were burn ing; the congregation clad in snow-white shrouds, stood with bowed heads. The can tor began a profoundly earnest, heart-rend ing hymn of absolution, rich in terror and An unusual emotion suffused my grace. whole being. I sobbed spasmodically; hot tears rolled from my eyes. I rushed out, purified into the night. In that never-to-beforgotten hour not a single dark spot clung to my soul. Ever since then "Kol Nidre" 50

rests securely fastened on the chords of my violin, at my pleasure whenever I wake the strains thereof. O how I wish that it be sung by friendly voices at my dying hour."

In the autumn of 1910 Count Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian novelist, received on his estate in Yasnaya Polyana the famous vio linist, Erdenko, and requested him to play several of his favorite pieces. At the con clusion of the concert Tolstoy asked him to play "Kol Nidre." As the grey-haired poetphilosopher heard the masterfully executed melody, he exclaimed with deep emotion: "This is the saddest and most exalted mel ody I have ever listened to; it is the martyrhistory of an unhappy people put to music" (Oestreichische Wochenscrift No. 40, 1910). The origin of "Kol Nidre" goes back to Visigothic persecutions of the Jews in seventh century. Under Roman rule

the the

Spain experienced a golden age; it is said that it had forty million inhabitants. Tarra gona, Hadrian's native city, was then called "The Jewish City." During the tolerant rule of the Arian heretics, the Jews enjoyed political and civil equality. They were ad mitted to public offices and were especially beloved as judges. With the destruction of the Arians in 586 there began for the Jews an era of religious intolerance and persecu tions. According to the Visigothic Code, the Jews were forced to forswear their faith and accept Christianity under the most awful oaths and anathemas, and at the threat of death by fire or stoning. 51

The persecutions increased with the acces sion to the throne of every new king, each one striving to surpass his predecessor in piety. The converts were forced to solemnly avow that they forswore their faith and ac cepted Christianity; that they discarded all rites, observances, and customs of the Jews, as the Sabbath, circumcision, etc., and would hold no converse with their former coreli gionists. Furthermore, they had to show the Council all the Jewish books in their possession, and to denounce any convert who did not live up to these regulations. The 28 Jew-laws of Erwig (680-687) breathed of such hatred and vengefulness that they led to innumerable persecutions, both physical and spiritual. Erwig placed the Jews under a spiritual-passport obliga tion. On every journey that they undertook they had to report to the local spiritual authorities, and be certified by them, as to the length of time they spent at the place, and whether during that time they lived up strictly to the Church regulations. Since oaths extorted under such condi tions would hardly bind the conscience, the Church authorities, taking into considera tion the strong popular belief in the efficacy of curses, clothed the oaths imposed upon the forced Christians with horrible anathe mas. Thus entire communities were force fully converted; but in secret they remained true to the faith of their fathers. And when the awe-inspiring holy Day of Atonement arrived they sought ways and means to cele 52

brate it as the rest of their brethren, albeit in secret. But they were oppressed with a heavy conscience, for they felt that it was wrong to enter the holy precincts of worship and go through the sacred devotions of the most holy day with the burden of the breach of an oath. Their conscience had to be cleared first. The "Kol Nidre" prayer gave expression to the.ir intense grief at their backsliding from Judaism, as well as their yearning for forgiveness and absolution from vows and oath extorted from them by force. The cantor changed; heartrending rose the cry of the congregation : "Let there be forgiveness, forebearance and atonement, as it is written in Thy Torah: And all the congregation of the Children of Israel shall be forgiven and the stranger that sojourneth among them; for the respect of all the people it was done unwittingly." Only after these preliminaries did the congregation proceed with the Evening Service proper. It is well known that Eisenmenger him self, the most violent enemy of the Jews in his day, was strongly opposed to the ex ploitation of "Kol Nidre" for anti-Jewish agitation (Entdectes Judentum, 1711, Part 11 p. 499 et seq.). Despite this, attempts are made by the more recent anti-Semitic literature to repeat these vile accusations by means of all sorts of falsifications and fabri cations. 4.

It a

The Myth of Usury.

is maintained that the Talmud enjoins Jew to take usury from a non-Jew, in S3

order to destroy him economically thereby.

The "Sturmer" bases- this assertion on the following alleged citation: "A Jew is pro hibited from taking usury from his fellow-

Jew, but he is permitted to take usury from a non-Jew" (Abodah Zorah 77a). Further more, it bases this assertion on the Biblical injunction "Unto a foreigner thou mayest

lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest" (Deut. 23:21). The anti-Semitic literature identifies, of course, the concept "Foreigner" with "nonJew," and the concept "interest" with

"usury." Answer: The citation from Abodah Zorah 77a does not exist at all, since this Talmudic tractate numbers only 76 folios. The Bible forbids

the Israelites from taking interest from each other. All other peoples did not possess a prohibition of interest. In Leviticus 25:36 23:20 lending without and Deuteronomy interest among Israelites is raised to a moral demand, while every transaction involving interest is forbidden. In international com

mercial intercourse, however, interest was permitted. Yet, exorbitant interest rates were never permitted (Schulchan Aruch 11 159, 1, with commentary of Ba'er Heteb). The rate of interest allowed by right and good usage in commercial transactions is the legal rate. In the Shulchan Aruch 11, 34, 10; 29 it says further, "A userer is incompetent to 54

testify as witness in court. If he desires to regain his competence for testimony he must tear up his promissory notes, and turn away completely from evil conduct. He must further take it upon himself not to lend anyone on interest even to a non-Jew."

The prohibition of interest in the Jewish legislation was taken over in the Middle Ages by the Church for Christians in their reciprocal relations. 5.

The Deception Myth.

It is maintained that the Talmud permits a Jew to deceive a non-Jew. This assertion is based by the "Sturmer" on the following alleged citation: "It is not permitted to a Jew to deceive his fellow-Jew (racial com rade) ; but a Jew may deceive a non-Jew (Shulchan Aruch* — Hoshen Mispat 227:1).

Answer :

it

a is

a

a

It

is

The author of the Shulchan Aruch Joseph Caro (1488con 1575). The work first appeared in Venice in 1564. tains of the Jewish laws. systematic summary Orthodox Jews order their religious, ceremonial life (prayer, festivals, laws, etc.) according to this Code. For all other dietary domains of life the Talmudic declaration "The Law of the State Law!" (Baba Kamma 133a) binding. is

is

;

is

it,

The citation Hoshen Mispat 227, 1 does not exist. On the contrary, the Hoshen Mispat 228, 6 prescribes the following: "It is forbidden to deceive people in purchase and sale, or even to steal their thoughts. If, for example there is a defect in the wares the seller must apprise the buyer of all one whether the purchaser Jew or

55

non-Jew." It is furthermore stated in the tractate Hullin 94a: "It is forbidden to de ceive any man, even a heathen."

The Myth of Sloth and Indolence. It is maintained that the Talmud enjoins the Jew to shun physical labor. The "Sturmer" bases this assertion on the following alleged citation: "The gentiles were created to minister to the Jews. They must plow, 6.

sow, weed, dig, reap, bind, sift and grind. The Jews are created to find all these pre pared" (Berachoth 58a).

Answer: The citation

Berachoth 58a presents a falisification of the grossest sort. In reality this Talmudic passage reads as follows :

"Rabbi Ben Zoma (one of the greatest leaders of the period, and incidentally a wellto-do man) said: Whatsoever I possess I owe not to my self alone; all people worked for it." By this he implied that every person is obligated to place himself at the service of the community.

:

.it

In contrast to the senseless interpretation of the "Sturmer," the Biblical and Talmudic precepts make work a duty. In Abot de Rabbi Nathan, chapter 11, 1 work is desig nated a religious duty and placed on a par with the Sabbath rest. This concept is based on the fact that in the commandment of the Sabbath rest there is included the command to work during the six week-days. In Exodus 20:9-10 expressly reads "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but 56

the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the

Lord

thy God."

It is noteworthy that representative opinion of the Talmud (Nedarim 37a) is that the practice of a spiritual occupation, as for example, teaching, does not consti tute a claim for remuneration. A teacher can only claim compensation for the loss of time entailed by his instruction. It is clear from this that the duty of work refers ex clusively to physical labor, directed con sciously toward a definite end. From the very moment that man was formed "dust from the earth" physical labor was imposed upon him as a duty (Genesis 2:15). Finally, the following maxims from the "Ethics of the Fathers (1:10 and 2:2) are worthy of mention: "Love work, hate lordship."

"All

study, not accompanied by work, is

futile."

The prevailing opinion of the Talmud, that spiritual work has no claim for remu neration is definitely based on the dictum of the Jewish Sages (Ethics of the Fathers 4 :7) : "Make not out of the Torah a crown wherewith to aggrandize thyself, nor a spade wherewith to dig." The well-known political-economy his torian, Prof. Lujo Brentano, who devotes much space in his "Economic Life of the Ancient World" to ancient Jewish economic conditions, comes to the conclusion that the Jews were not originally a merchant people. 57

In Canaan, in Judea and in other sections of Palestine, the Hebrew settlers carried on cattle-breeding and agriculture, according to the nature of each locality. Members of the tribe of Tssachar were burden-carriers; members of the tribe of Zebulun were sea farers. The importance of the people of Israel for the history of economics begins only with the forcible deportation of the Jew to Babylonia. That physical labor was very highly es teemed in post-Biblical Judaism is evident from the fact that most of the rabbis and scholars of the Talmudic epoch were labor ers, earning their livelihood by the labor of their hands and the sweat of their brows. 7.

The Protocols

of the Wise Men

of

Zion.

Under this title there is a series of "lit erary" phantasmagoria which disseminates the following myths: The grandmasters of the Jewish lodges, designating themselves the Wise Men of Zion, assembled in the year 1897 at a Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, and there held 24 sessions. During these sessions they formulated a program for the attainment of Jewish world domination under a king of "Zion's blood." They expressed themselves in great detail and with disconcerting frankness as to how they must systematically corrupt the na tions, their governments, parliaments, press, schools, science and economic life by all means of force and cunning: "It is .indis to trouble in all countries the pensable 58

people's relations with their government so as to utterly exhaust humanity with dissen sion, hatred, struggle, envy and even by the use of tortures, by starvation, by the innoculation of diseases, by want, so that the goyim see no other issue than to take refuge in our

complete sovereignty in money and in all else" (end of Protocol X). "Soon all the capitals of the world will be traversed by In underground railways and passages. case the goyim rise against us, arms in hand, we have against them a manoeuvre of such appalling terror that the very stoutest hearts quail — from these underground railways and subterranean corridors these capitals will be blown into the air, with all their organizations and archives" (end of Pro tocol IX).

This work was first published in the German language by Gottfried zur Beck, a friend of Ludendorff, publisher of the organ "Auf Vorposten" (On the Outpost). This edition is introduced with sketches of events preceding the Protocols, in which all sorts of adventure stories are related. Then fol low: Reminiscences of Ten Tribes of Israel; Judaism and Free Masonry; Jews and Jesuits; Jewish Warriors; The Events Lead ing Up to the World War; The Solution of the Jewish Question; and finally a German Law for Jews. Several sentences of the German Law read as follows: Jewish citi zens are placed under the law pertaining to foreigners. Foreign Jews may no longer set foot in the German Empire. Public posi 59

tions are hereafter closed to Jews. Jews may practice medicine on Jews only. They must mark the signs of their firms and their medical prescriptions with the Star of David. Jews may exercise suffrage only in their religious community. Jews are no longer admitted to service in the army and fleet; instead they must pay a military tax. Ger man higher schools of learning may not admit Jews. Jewish religious textbooks must be composed in the German language; the use of Yiddish or Hebrew is forbidden, at the penalty of expulsion. Jews and Jewesses who were banished from the country and again cross the German boundary will be hanged. Gottfried zur Beck's edition fol lows the edition of Theodore Fritsch. The "Sturmer" too brought the contents of these so-called Protocols with much elucidation to the attention of its readers.

Answer: The so-called "Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion," one of the most stupid forgeries of all times (as the verdict of the German Imperial Court called it), bear a great share of responsibility for the Jew-hatred in Ger many. These Protocols were concocted in Russia in 1905 at the behest of the Czarist despotic government in order to turn the people's mind from the corruptions of the government to fan hatred against the Jews. The Russian version described the swindle as Protocols of secret Jewish sessions in France. Only the second Russian edition, published in 1917, described the swindle as 60

Protocols of 24 secret sessions held at the first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897, alleged to have been convoked by the united Zionists and Free Masons! Driven into a corner, the propagators of the nefarious swindle in Germany designated the Pro tocols as "Guidelines" which the Hebrew author Asher Ginzberg (Ahad Ha-Am) composed for the Zionist Congress. Ginz berg sued one of the propagators, Count Reventlow, for libel. The latter stated that since he was unable to prove his assertion he regretted the circulation of the edition, and assumed all costs of the case (Proceed ings before the local tribunal, Berlin-Mette, April 19, 1923). More trials ensued and in every one the so-called Protocols were branded as forgeries and fabrications of the worst sort.

Only one example will suffice to expose

the sheer madness of this concoction. It is declared in the Protocols that "by means of the undergrounds, subterranean corridors which will be driven under all the capitals, the capitals of all nations will be blown into the air, with all their organizations and archives." What precautions have the Jews taken that they themselves do not perish thereby? There is only one answer to this

question: These Protocols were circulated in gi gantic editions. Translations appeared in almost all European languages, also in Arabic and Chinese. Whole carloads were at 61

times dispatched to South-Eastern It was very profitable business.

Europe.

Intolerance of Jews toward Non-Jews. By means of falsified Bible and Talmud citations, or by citations torn from their context, the Jew-baiters maintain that Juda ism exhibits a strong antipathy towards non-Jews. In this conception they employ the word Goyim for non-Jews, reading into it a false meaning. The "Stunner" bases this assertion on the following alleged cita tion: "Jews are designated Men; non-Jews, however, are not called Men but Cattle" (Baba Mezia 114b). 8.

Answer: The citation Baba Mezia

114b constitutes vicious mistranslation. First of all, the words "But are called Cattle" are not at all in the original. The passage under consider ation deals with the question whether the Law in Numbers 19:14, that any man — in Hebrew, ADAM — who enters a tent in .which a corpse is found, becomes unclean, includes also the corpse of a heathen. Rabbi Simeon ben Johai answers the question in the negative, for the reason that the term ADAM, one of the four words in the Bible designating "man," refers exclusively to Israel. As proof of the correctness of his interpretation he refers to the prophecy of Ezekiel 34:31, "And ye My sheep, the sheep of My pastures, are men — ADAM." In no wise is it here intimated that the nonJew is not called "man," but "cattle."* a

62

The anti-Semites put a wrong construc tion on the word "Goyim." Literally the Hebrew word "Goyim" "Nations." By this term were under

means

stood the nations of the lands adjacent to Palestine. "Goyim," then, means nothing more than "non-Jews." The Hebrews in cluded .in this term all the tribes of men who had not received the Hebrew faith, even as the Christians gave the name "Gentiles" (literally Nations) to all people who were neither Christians nor Jews (see Webster's New International Dictionary). The word "Goyim" does not at all have a meaning of contempt. By this very term the Jews them selves are occasionally designated both in the Bible and in later literature. See Gen. 35:11 "And God said unto Jacob: I am God Almighty, Be fruitful and multiply; a Na tion (goy) and a company of nations (Kehal goyim) shall be of thee. Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (goy kadosh)." Deut. 4:34 "Hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation (goy) from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and by wonders?" Isaiah 26:2 "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation (goy zaddick) that keepeth faithfulness may enter in."

Jewish doctrine distinguishes three cate gories of men of non-Jewish origin: (a) "Obed Abodah Zorah," the worship pers of a foreign cult. By this term is under stood the non-Jew who does not observe the "seven commandments" for the descend 63

ants of Noah (all mankind). These com mandments are: 1. Prohibition of the wor ship of other gods; 2. Prohibition of blas pheming the name of God; 3. Prohibition of murder; 4. Incest and Adultery; 5. Robbery and Theft; 6. Prohibition of eating flesh with the blood of life in it; 7. Command to establish courts of justice. (See G. F. Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the Chris tian Era, Vol. 1, 274-275.)

This class of idol-worshippers was not tolerated in the Jewish State. One who lives his life without sparing the life of his fellowman, who practices unchastity, idol-worship, cruel treatment of animals, and does not recognize the authority of a just social order, has no rights of residence in the Holy Land. Hence, whenever the Talmud mentions con temptuously a non-Jew, it refers explicitly to the "Obed Abodah Zorah." This term is also clearly expressed in such cases. (b) "Ger Toshab" — resident — prose lyte, that is, a non-Jew who lives up to the seven Noahedian commandments. The Ger Toshab has the right of residence in the Jewish State and enjoys all the rights and privileges of citizenship. (c) "Ger Zedek," proselyte of righteous

ness, that is a non-Jew who joins himself to the Jewish people and faith. He possesses all the rights and obligations of a Jew. ;

See leaflet

reproduced

in the American Hebrew, New

June 24, 1948.

64

York,

is,

The trick of the anti-Semitic literature js that it makes no distinction between the idol-worshippers and other non-Jews, thus creating the impression of general intoler ance of Jews toward all non-Jews. in reality, the only The Jewish religion religion of antiquity that extended the law of the love of one's fellow-man also to strangers. This thought finds expression in the most diverse passages in the Jewish literature. (a) "One law and one ordinance shall be both for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you" (Numbers 15:16). (b) "We should support the poor of the heathen along with the poor of Israel; we should visit the sick of the heathen along with the sick of Israel; we should bury the poor of the heathen along with the poor of Israel, in the interests of peace" (Gittin 61a). is

The nucleus of the Jewish religion the commandment in Leviticus 19:18: "THOU

SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF." is

9.

The Myth of Jewish Secret Law. It maintained that the Talmud contains

is

is

a

secret laws which are supposed to preach hatred against Christianity and Christians. The previous citations, which ascribe to the Jews most depraved morality, are brought up as proof that the morality of the Jews which based on the Talmud responsible 65

for all damage to the folk-life of the nations of the world.

Answer : There are no Jewish secret laws or doc trines. The noted Protestant Theologian and Orientalist in Berlin, Prof. Hermann L. Strack, the foremost Christian authority in Germanyon Talmudic and Rabbinic litera ture, says in his "Introduction to the Tal mud and Midrash" (English translation, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1931): "Among the entire body of Jews there is not a single piece of literature or an oral tradition which is inaccessible to learned Christians. The Jews make no effort what soever to conceal anything from the Chris tians, nor could they if they would. For the truth of this statement I hereby solemnly vouch my honor as man and scholar." On this statement the conservative Pro fessor Ulrich Karstedt remarks as follows: "It is therefore very gatifying to have here the authentic proof of an expert that there is no Jewish writing which cannot be had in the book market . . . Strack's little book will not offend any true national, i. e., one who loves his German nationality. For those elements who would turn the patriotic wave to their own profits it is a welldeserved slap in the face."

The Hebrew or Aramaic documents of Jews appear to the anti-Semitic littera

the

teurs as "secret doctrine," obviously because 66

they can read neither Hebrew nor Aramaic, let alone understand it; for example, Theo dore Fritsch, Julius Streicher and their ilk, who nevertheless write books and edit jour nals on Talmudic subjects. They work with translations which are demonstrable gross falsifications. Rohling's translation is called by Professor Theodor Noldeke "a mean trick"; Professor H. L. Strack calls it "a rare combination of class ignorance, blind hatred and malevolence." Prof. Franz Delitzsch hurled the following angry words against the forgers of Talmudic citations: "Nevertheless, the God of Truth still reigns ! He will know how to vindicate His honor against them who desecrate His name. The Rohlings and the Justuses, who aim to serve Him by their lies will perish in their own falsehoods !"

OPINIONS OF FAMOUS MEN ON ANTI-SEMITISM Momsen, Theodor, German historian and

jurist, member of the German Reichstag: 1.

2.

"Jew-baiting is a national disgrace." "Anti-Semitism is the unnatural birth of the national consciousness."

3.

"Canaille (vulgar multitude) remains canaille and anti-Semitism is the senti ment of the canaille. It resembles a terrible epidemic, like cholera — which can neither be explained nor cured . . . Ultimately the plague must however It may be that the mad be spent

...

67

ness which has duped so many spirits and has thrown our civilization a cen

tury backwards will yet disappear." Leo Tolstoi: "Anti-Semitism is an un principled impulse to arouse the fury of the uneducated masses against a minority." Professor Erik Noilting: "Intellectual poverty leads to anti-Semitism."

Peter Roesegger, Poet and Nobel Prize winner: "Anti-Semitism is an abomination which must be combated and overcome by moral and ethical enlightenment."

Kaiser Friedrich

III:

"Anti-Semitism is

the disgrace of the century."

Maximilian Graf Montgelas (General of Infantry) : "Anti-Semitism is un-Christian, for a true Christian feels no hatred

the

against people of other faiths. It is the opposite of culture, for he who possesses true culture appraises his fellow-man on his personal characteristics and accomplish ments, not on the basis of prejudices."

Karl Bossier, Professor at the University of Munich : "For me, as non-Jew, the Jewish

problem has just one disquieting question: When shall we be rid of the disgrace of anti-Semitism?"

68

BIBLIOGRAPHY The Jews in Germany, by Marvin Lowenthal,

Phila

delphia, 1936.

The Jews in Nazi Germany, American Jewish Com mittee, New York, 1935. The Truth

the 'Protocols of Zion,' a complete by Herman Bernstein, New York, 1935.

about

exposure,

Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, by Hermann L. Strack, Philadelphia, 1931.

My

by Dr.

Reminiscences,

Berlin, 1923.

Joseph S. Bloch, Vienna-

Kol Nidre, by

Professor Israel Davidson, in the AmericanJewish Year Book, 1923, pp. 180-194.

Jewish Encyclopedia, New York, 1905.

The Bible, Talmud,

Mishneh

Torah

of Maimonides,

Shulchan Aruch. Quellenbuch zur Judischen Geschichte und Literatur, von Dr. Hoexter, Frankfort a.M., 1928. Waffen im Abwehrkampf, Verlag, Berlin, 1920.

Die Entstehung

von

Dr.

Italiener,

Philo-

des Talmuds, von Dr. S. Funk, Samm-

lung Goeschen,

Berlin-Leipzig,

1919.

Eid und Geluebde, von Immanuel

Bernfield,

Philo-

Verlag, Berlin, 1930.

Anti-Anti, Berlin.

Tatsachen

zur Judenfrage, Philo-Verlag,

PART

II

MY LAWSUIT AGAINST

JULIUS STREICHER &

CO.

Filed in the Free City of Danzig

JANUARY

1935

Sami Glucksmann Danzig, Jan. 23, 1935 Hirschgasse 19. To the Chief of Police in Danzig I take the liberty to enclose a copy of the indictment which I made with the local Attorney General against the Editor-inChief, the publisher and assistant editors of the Weekly "Der Sturmer," published in Nurenberg. I request that you kindly take due cognizance of it. While referring to the content of the in dictment of the "Sturmer," I take the lib erty to respectfully request that you pro hibit the sales of the above mentioned bait ing Journal in the Free City of Danzig, ac cording to paragraph 5, No. 2 and 5, Article of the Senate Ordinance of June 30, 1935 (Nu. 36 of the Law Gazette for the Free City of Danzig of the year 1933). As a Jew I believe I am entitled to this application both morally and juridically. Respectfully yours,

II

SAMI GLUCKSMANN Sami Glucksmann Danzig, January 23, Hirschgasse 19.

To

the

Attorney General in Danzig:

INDICTMENT by the author Sami Glucksmann, Danzig Hirschgasse 19. 72

1935

AGAINST Streicher,

editor-in-chief of the weekly journal "Der Sturmer," pub lished in Nurenberg,

Julius

1.

George Pessler, responsible redactor of

2.

the above-mentioned

journal,

3.

Karl Holz, co-redactor,

4.

Hans Koenig, publisher of this journal; all of Nurenberg — A, Pfannenschmieder-

and,

gasse 19. Staatsanwaltschaft

Eing. 24, . . . Bd

Danzig January, 1935

Anl

I

hereby prefer an indictment against the four above-named persons for crimes com mitted by them, according to paragaph 166 and 263 of the Penal Code. I refer to the following facts.

Under the heading: "The Chosen People of Criminals," the "Sturmer" discusses, in number 2, 1935 and others, also Jehovah, His Decalogue and the Bible. The "Sturmer" is of the opinion that, what to the "Aryan" race, through the voice of its blood, as reason, feeling or conscience, is accepted as a matter of course, as for example, not to kill, not to steal, to honor one's parents, had to be revealed to the Jewish people in the form of religious laws. In the same article the "Sturmer" stamps the Bible, which so the "Sturmer" continues, people have been accustomed to designate as Holy Scriptures, 73

horribly criminal romance, abounding in murder, incest, fraud and indecency.

as a

In these words does an organ, the con tents of which display throughout horrorstirring lies, review the most beautiful and multifarious Book of the world, which every where, wherever human morality has pene trated, is regarded as the epitome of all virtue and ethics. The same number 2 of this baiting journal brings further, under the heading "The Devil's plan," a series of alleged Talmudic citations for the information of its readers, which are, in reality, falsifications of the most brazen sort. The brochure published by me in Danzig in October of last year, under the title "The Falsifications of the Anti-Semitic Literature," unmasks also the literary forgeries produced by the "Sturmer" in number 2, 1935. I hereby enclose a copy of the number referred to, as well as a copy of my brochure. I maintain that the interested profiteers of the "Sturmer Enterprise" are consciously humbugging the readers of their "literary" products. The truth of my assertion follows from the fact that the largest part of the "Sturmer" attacks have already been branded as calumnies of the worst sort by verdicts of German courts. The edition of the "Sturmer" number 2, 1935, as well as the earlier "Sturmer" edi tions, were circulated also within the Free City of Danzig. During the period of about the 15th of this month it was publicly of 74

fered for sale in front of the Main Post Office building at Kohlenmarkt, in coffee houses, and in various other places, at the price of only ( !) 25 pfennig a copy. Proof: Police-information and, in case of need, other witnesses to be named. The editor-in-chief, his co-redactors and the publisher of this baiting journal are thereby proved to be guilty of violating paragraphs 166 and 263 of the Penal Code. They have transgressed against para graph 166 of the Penal Code insofar as they have allowed to circulate about 300 copies of the "Sturmer" number 2, 1935, which contained expressions blaspheming God and His laws, .in the period of the 7th till the 15th of January 1935, in the Free City of Danzig. There is no doubt that the abomin able manner in which the "Sturmer" at tacked Jehovah and the Bible has also of fended the circles of the Churches existing within the jurisdiction of the Free City of Danzig. For Jehovah is obviously not only the "Jewish God," as the "Sturmer" informs his readers, but the Universal God. "Je hovah" is the original pronunciation of the Tetragrammation, the group of four letters representing the ineffable holy name of the Supreme Being in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament which, as is well-known, forms the basis of the New Testament. a

The assertion that the Holy Scripture is horribly criminal romance is then to be

considered a detestable defamation of the Old Testament which constitutes preemi 75

nently the basis of all prevailing theological social and ethical concepts. Concerning this I call to witness the experts Count O'Rourke, Bishop of Danzig, Dr. Kalweit, at the emeritus General Superintendent Danzig, and Dr. J. Gruen, the Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Danzig.

Within the Jewish religious body and its members, the defamation of the Talmud, too, which forms an essential constituent of the Jewish religious writings, evokes irrita tion. Concerning the religio-legal signifi cance of the Talmud, furthermore, concern ing the history of its genesis and develop ment, and finally, concerning the vapidity of the assertion of the "Sturmer" that the Talmud is a collection of Jewish secret laws, I call to witness the expert University Pro fessors Dr. Moses Schorr and Dr. Meyer Balaban, both of Warsaw, and the official Rabbi Dr. Gruen of the Jewish Community of Danzig. These will also confirm that the "Talmud citations" contained in the "Stur mer" number 2, 1935, are partly fabricated and partly forged.

Another offense, according to paragraph 263 of the Penal Code, consists therein, that the publisher and redactors audaciously assert — see the sub-heading of the journal — that the "Sturmer" battles for truth (!) while in reality it fabricates and dissemi nates obvious lies. The "Sturmer," as is well known, pursues an odious anti-Semitic course, which it bases on the Talmud, al leged to contain "secret laws." The anti 76

statements which the "Sturmer" carries from week to week to the unpreju diced common folk are "substantiated" by "proofs" which are altogether bricks of a "literary" edifice of falsehoods.

Jewish

The publisher, as well as the editor-inchief and his co-redactors are undoubtedly aware that they are disseminating the most monstrous lies. They do it because traffick ing with anti-Semitic "spiritual" products appears to be an excellent "business," as is evident from the fact that the "Sturmer," number 2, 1935, was published in an edition of 113,800 copies.

Thus, by being consciously given untrue information concerning the content of this "literary" product, the naive purchaser of a copy of the "Sturmer" is thereby injured to the full price (25 pfennig). For no person in his full senses would pay even one pfennig were he informed that he has to do with a baiting journal filled with clumsy fabrica tions and forgeries.

I deem it my moral duty, as a Jew, al though I am not a citizen of Danzig, but of Poland, to call the Attorney General's at tention to the facts herein described. In the interest of public enlightenment I respectfully request to make investigation proceedings as quickly as possible and then to institute legal proceedings. Respectfully,

SAMI GLUCKSMANN 77

Enclosed 1 1

—

"Sturmer copy, number 2, 1935. copy of the brochure "The Falsifications of the Anti-Semitic Literature."

P. S. — The local competence is proved by the fact that the "Sturmer" is distributed and circulated in Danzig. There is no reason to suppose that the indicted persons will not comply with the summons of the Danzig Court.

*****

.

|

ff HIS

SAMI GLUCKSMANN

Danzig, Jan. Hirschgasse

31, 1935 19.

To the Attorney General in Danzig. In re: Indictment against Julius Streicher and Company.

I have been told by the newsdealer, who sells the "Sturmer" in front of the main Post

Office building, that Mr. Bruno Schnorkow ski, who is said to be in the police service, maintains a "Sturmer" agency in Danzig which distributes the magazine to the retail news trade. Schnorkowski is identified with the firm that sells National-Socialist uniforms, in signia, etc., which has till recently urged in Matzkausche Street, No. 4, the purchas ing of the "Sturmer" as a patriotic duty. I, therefore, ask that an investigation be instituted also against Mr. Schnorkowski, for support and encouragement of the

"Sturmer."

78

For legal basis I refer to the following decisions of the Imperial Court: 1. "The object requiring protection is not "God," but the religious sentiment of man, which should be protected against being violated by offensive provocation." (R. G. St. 16, 248*) 2. "Defamation of the Holy Scriptures is to be regarded as insult to the Church itself." (R. G. St. 40, 264**) As for the rest I respectfully refer to the law sources cited by Ebermayer to paragaph 166 of the Penal Code. Respectfully,

SAMI GLUCKSMANN

The Attorney General, 4 c

J

Danzig,

April

18, 1935

106, 35

Pertaining to the indictments of the 23rd and 31st of January 1935 against the editors and publishers of the "Stunner." A law-suit against the Editor-in-Chief, the assistant editors and publishers of the "Sturmer" cannot be conducted in Danzig, since the accused live in Germany and are obviously not citizens of Danzig. Concerning the worker Mr. Schnorkowski, the law-suit against him had to be dis continued for subjective reasons: As the "Sturmer" is not forbidden in Danzig, there -

Imperial Court in Leipzig, Penal law 16, 248. Imperial Court in Leipzig, Penal law 40, 264. 79

is no reason to suppose that the defendant had even the slightest idea of becom ing criminally liable by circulating these

periodicals.

Finally, the conduct of an objective pro ceeding of confiscation, according to para graph 42 of the Penal Code, is unnecessary as the editions of the "Sturmer" challenged by you are no more in stock for circulation. For the same reason it is unnecessary to take a stand on the question of the guilt liability of the contents of the periodicals. The enclosed brochure sent to me at that time is hereby returned to you.

GRASSMANN To

the

Author:

Herr Sami Glucksmann Danzig Hirschgasse

19

80

part in Excerpts from

"THE JEW

INA

NEW WORLD" (Originally Published in

1945)

NATIONALISM . . . . . . CITIZENSHIP .

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ASSIMILATION

NATIONALISM Neither the philologist nor the historian has a clear conception of the definition of "nationalism." Particularly are they not in pre accord as to whether "nationalism" which from supposes a national homeland culture, language, and arts emanate — - in other words, whether national territory is a prerequisite for the existence of a nation. after the armistice ending World such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Czechoslovakia, which had been politically without a homeland for over a century, reacquired their homeland, demonstrating that during that homeless century they had continued to exist as a nation.

In

1918,

War I, certain nations,

This, nevertheless, is insufficient

proof that nationalism does not presuppose a homeland, for a century is too short a period to permit a people to lose its individuality as a nation. To this assumption must be added the fact that during this century these peoples had lived in the same geographical positions, spoken the language and practiced the same customs that were distinctive of them as a nation. Perhaps the Jewish people have shown that territory is not a deciding factor in the 82

nation. The Jews all over the world belong- to a single nation, not withstanding the fact that some irreligious Jews regard this historical truth only as the view of a particular Jewish party. Such as these have no basic knowledge of, or funda mental insight into, the problem. Their denial of the existence of a Jewish nation is not due to malicious intent, but rather to a dearth of Jewish spirit. preservation of

a

It is a matter of historical fact that in 70 C. E. the Jewish sage, Rabbi Jochanan ben Zackai, was able to insure the continued existence of the Jewish nation, although the

Jews were exiled and dispersed over the entire world, by developing Jewish culture in the small town of Jabneth at the cost of

forfeiting certain political privileges in Pal estine. This great man knew that only culture and knowledge can sustain a nation even when its people are spread over the entire world.

Jewish wanderings in different periods through Babylonia, Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Eng land, and America, and the bloody pogroms which Jews have suffered in various Euro pean countries were unable to uproot Jewish nationalism. The Orthodox Jewish masses pray to the Almighty even today in the ancient Hebrew tongue, and Jewish children learn their religious lessons in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew Orthodox Syna gogue is symbolically as hallowed as the historical Temple in Jerusalem. Jewish 83

holidays are hallowed and pre and Jewish history is preached, taught and learned. In America even today there are Jewish theological colleges follow ing the traditions set by Rabbi Jochanan ben Zackai in 70 C. E., which continued in Spain, France, and Germany and which were later transplanted to the Eastern Euro pean countries such as Poland, Lithuania, national served,

and

Hungary.

It is also true that Jewish nationalism is not divorced from religion. Quite the con trary. Jewish nationalism is the direct result of the observance of the Jewish faith. On Mt. Sinai, when the Lord gave the Law, He said emphatically that the Jews could exist as a nation "only if you will hearken unto My voice," and "only if you will observe My commandments." (Exodus 19:5). The Jews became a nation by accepting the Law, saying: "We will obey and we will listen." If the Jews are demanding their homeland, it is not with the idea that they will become a nation, or even regain their status as a nation, but that they are a nation to which the Lord, as Ruler of the Universe, promised Palestine as an eternal Jewish homeland (Genesis 13:15). The Jews did possess Palestine as their homeland, but the Romans, in 70 C. E., robbed them of it. No religious Jew in all these generations has waived his right to the Holy Land. Several times daily he prays to the Lord to return "Zion and Jerusalem" to the Jewish people. A robbery is still 84

a robbery even though 1874 years have elapsed. Each true Jew, although he may not belong to an organized Zionist party, is a "zionist" in accordance with the spirit of the Bible. Membership in a zionist party signifies merely an active demand for the

legal return of the land which was stolen by the Romans. The opinion of the writer of these lines is that all democratic nations, especially America and Britain, which recog nize the Bible as the basis of all monotheistic religions, should become active friends of Biblical Zionism, helping the Jews regain their stolen homeland, Palestine.

CITIZENSHIP Every liberal democratic state has a con stitutional clause granting equal rights to all citizens of her homeland, regardless of the descent of the individual. Certain natives are against the preservation of the rights of national minorities. Even many citizens who have come from other lands and have been naturalized declare whole-heartedly that citizenship papers are not sufficient to give one all the rights of a native; that one must also earn these rights through the abandonment of his old culture and the assimilation of the culture of the land of his citizenship. Is this contention correct? Is it really impossible to be a devoted citizen of a coun try and to preserve, at the same time, the culture of one's native land? 85

The opinion of such natives is pure chau vinism. Their situation is analogous to that of a child who was brought up only by his mother because his father died before the child knew him. Such a child cannot under stand how other children can love both of their parents equally. The opinion of the above-mentioned naturalized citizen is generally the psycho logical reaction of an egoist to whom the cultural values of either nation are unim portant and valueless. Usually he left his country and immigrated to another country to improve his personal material condition. In an effort to come on an equal footing with the natives he tries to show that he is more native than the native himself. Such patriotism derives from an individual's striv ing for selfish gain. The eternally wandering Jew can well serve as an example to all national minori ties that one can be a true citizen and still maintain fully loyalty to the historical cul ture of his ancestors. Nationalism is based neither on right nor on obligation; it is a natural sentiment, similar to the love of a good child for his mother. Citizenship is a contract between the individual and the state. As such, each party of the contract must determine whether the other party and he are compatible. The state, before issuing citizenship, must make certain that the moral character, the past experiences, and the capabilities of the applicant are sufficient to make him a valuable addition to its citi 86

a

is

a

it,

zenry; the individual, before applying for citizenship, must determine whether the principles upon which the country is based and the laws by which it is governed are so compatible with h.is own ideals that he will die, if need be, in defense of those ideals and principles against any outside force — Thus, by even if it be his old nationality. this contract, the citizen gains rights and assumes obligations. In a conflict between the right as he found it in the country of his adoption and the sentiment he has for his old nationality, every person of high moral character will fight for the right, as he knows that the world can exist only if right triumphs. In such cases, he will un doubtedly even lose the sentiment for his old national country, for he will have dis covered that the land of his birth does not deserve his sentiment. When a person at tains such a feeling for the right of his adopted country that he is willing to die for he will develop a sentiment for his new homeland even more powerful than that which he had for the land of his birth. The fact that he reads book in the language of his old nationality, or that he pleased that his children should be able to speak the tongue of his old national land in addition to that of his adopted home, or that he aids, in material sense, the people of his old country, does not make him a poor citizen of his adopted country.

It

is

a well-known fact that many Jewish young men who were deferred from the 87

draft because they attended theological col leges ignored their deferments and enlisted in the armed services. Almost all these are either men who have themselves adopted this country or those who have been born of parents who immigrated to this country in the last two or three decades.

ASSIMILATION Total assimilation which excludes senti ment for the soil of another country and sympathy for its culture is an expression of narrowmindedness. No further proof in con nection with this subject is necessary, since assimilation of this kind rests on an un scientific basis. In the world of tomorrow, those countries in which chauvinism reigned before the war must learn from the United States of America to grant to national minorities unlimited national rights. The more freedom the minorities have, the better citizens they will be of their respective countries.

PUNISHMENT — LEGAL RELATION SHIP BETWEEN NATIONS — SECURITY It is encouraging to hear that the United States are already in the process of making plans for the creation of a legal system for a new world, after the dictators are de stroyed, which shall regulate: a) The punishment of the criminal indi viduals responsible for the war and of 88

the evil-doers perpetrating mass slaugh ters, whose victims include the aged,

expectant and nursing mothers, and help less children; b) Legal relationship of the world;

between all nations

c) Security of human life and the existence of nations.

PUNISHMENT About the punishment of individuals re sponsible for the war and those criminals who caused mass slaughter, there is no need to comment. It is certain that an inter national court of the United Nations will have to prepare a legal system which will not only mete out adequate punishment to the law breakers but which will also be able to restrain the understandable wrath of the masses, which may break out to take revenge for the loss of millions of innocent civilians and the destruction of their property. Those Jews, Poles, Norwegians, Czechs, Russians, and the peoples of other ravaged lands, who will live through the moment of gaining freedom after years of epidemic, hunger, and cold will be justified in demanding a punish ment which should be an historic lesson for posterity in accordance with the Biblical theory »of punishment: "And all the people shall hear of it and be afraid and they shall not sin again." (Deuteronomy 17:13)

LEGAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIONS Never in history has international law given a citizen of an individual state the right to prefer charges before an inter national court for an injustice done to him by his own state. The effectiveness of inter national law and international treaties was limited to the rights and obligations of the nations who signed and sanctioned the rules of the accepted points of law and agreement, respectively.

It is true that after World War I certain nations concluded treaties by which the League of Nations should protect the rights of their minorities. In Poland, for example, the German, Jewish, Ukrainian, and Russian minorities were granted to Poles and Jews in German Silesia and the so-called "Free City" of Danzig, and to Germans in the Sudetenland. Under these agreements a relationship was created between the minor ity and the League whereby, in certain cases, even an individual member of a minority could, theoretically, demand the .interven tion of the League. Practically, however, this kind of international treaty brought no results. It will be noted that these guarantees of minority rights were operative only in terri tories whose national status was newly de cided by international agreements follow ing the war. No such protection was given to minorities in the major part of Germany, 90

there the question of minorities was considered an internal affair, beyond the jurisdiction of the League. When Hitler came into power on January 30, 1933, his first step was to take away the right to practice from lawyers, physicians, and other professionals of Jewish nationality, to drive Jews out of commerce, trade, and labor, and to establish concentration camps for them. This he accomplished in Central Germany by law; in Upper Silesia and Danzig, where the League's minority rulings were sup posedly applicable, it was done through his district leaders (Gauleiters) by party com mand (Parteibefehl). Germany was, at that time, still a member of the League of Na tions, yet neither the League nor any demo cratic nation was in position to stop him by Persecution of the Jews in intervention. Germany was an internal matter, not an international one. since

The international laws which shall be created for a new world should, therefore, not be limited to the relationship between nation and nation but should also establish mutual rights and obligations between the citizens of each state and the League of Nations at large.

It would undoubtedly be pleasant to hear that all nations have accepted the pattern set forth in the laws of the United States of America and the British Commonwealth of Nations in granting equal rights and obliga tions to all citizens, regardless of race and creed. 91

What will the individual do, however, if practice in a particular state does not har monize with the human theory that is ex pressed in the above points? The answer to this question can only be found in adoption of a point of international law which would make it necessary for every nation to in clude a clause in its constitution, reinforced by a statement that if the nation disregards the rights of any individual citizen, that citizen can demand regress from the League of Nations for the injury he has suffered. Such a clause in international law would create a mutual responsibility upon all nations to each individual willing to lead an honest life according to the principles of the laws of his country and of the laws of the League of Nations. At the same time that they guarantee him those natural rights, the legal experts of the United Nations will have to consider the obligations which should rest upon the individual. Thus, theoretically, and practically as well, every citizen will be simultaneously a citizen of his own national country and a common citizen of the United Nations of the World, with rights and obligations to each.

It will be necessary to set up a special international court which shall immediately be able to handle the cases of the individual citizen against his national state, and also be prepared to mete out punishment for the individual's disloyalty as a common citizen of the United Nations of the World. In order that this position of the individual as 92

a common citizen in the United Nations may be on a practical working basis, it will be necessary to designate an international lan guage for intercourse between the common

citizens and their common government. Be sides the national language of each country, the international language should be taught in the schools as second obligatory language. The English language should be recom mended as the most practical to be used as an international tongue, because English was until this war, and will continue to be after this war, the international language of commerce.

With the creation of such an international law which will protect the rights of each individual person, the world at large will demonstrate for the first time in the history of humanity that the individual is not a help less instument in the hands of the majority, but rather that the majority has the duty of protecting the rights of the individual.

SECURITY Since the beginning of the war, repre sentatives of various nations have held round-table discussions to determine what steps should be taken to guarantee security of human life and the existence of each nation in the new world.

All the representatives of the invaded European nations stand, naturally, for dem ocratic principles. They have not, however, arrived as yet at a unanimous conclusion because they disagree as to what should be 93

done to Germany after the defeat ism, recognizing, of course, the

of Nazi-

Atlantic

Charter,

in which the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain put on record their views as to the principles which should govern the post-war settlement. Many believe that the entire German nation should be held re sponsible; others maintain that it would be sufficient if an international governor would see to it that there would be no new arma ment program. One must mention here that, of all people in Europe, the Jewish people have suffered most. The race laws are specifically directed against Jews. Jewish men, women and chil dren have been murdered by the hundreds of thousands, not because they were against the Third Reich, but for the mere reason that they were Jews. Even before the be ginning of this war, almost all the Jews of Germany and Danzig had lost their eco nomic existence. The Jews were treated similarly during the actual war in the oc cupied countries, such as Holland, Belgium, Czechslovakia, Poland, etc. When the Ger mans occupied Kiev in the Russian Ukraine, they massacred 52,000 Jews, not because they were Russian civilians, but because they were Jews. Nevertheless, the Jew cannot say that all Germans, even those who remained passive because of their fear of the Gestapo, should be held responsible with their lives. Such a thought of revenge is foreign to the spirit 94

of Jewish beliefs. Of course, the forces and leaders behind Nazism must be eliminated, but not by way of revenge — such venge ance no court of man is capable of fulfilling — but, rather, in the interest of protecting society as a whole.

A fitting revenge for the mass slaughter of old men, infants, and pregnant women can be fulfilled by the Court of Heaven alone. In this, every true Jew believes with all his soul. It is true that Germany is the black sheep of all nations. It is enough to point out that during the last hundred years, Germany has caused six wars : 1#48-1850

German-Danish

5.

War War 1864 Again German-Danish German-Austrian War 1Q66 1870-1871 German-French War 1914-1918 First World War

6.

1939-

Present World War

1.

2. 3. 4.

German historians themselves do not deny that several of these were started by Germany. After World War I, people be lieved that Europe would have no more wars. Why was such a hope a mere fantasy? Why were the years from 1919 to 1939 in reality twenty years of preparation for a new world war? Because the victorious nations had failed to protect themselves from a new attack by Germany. Before creating a means of protection, one must know the psychology of the attacker, and 95

also diagnose his disease. The psychology and diseases of a nation are similar to those of an individual. Jewish and Christian teachings do not tolerate the thought that there are biological differences between individuals of one nation and the individuals of another that will de termine character and morals. The book of Genesis begins with the story of creation and the early history of mankind. In the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first human couple, from whom all the nations of the earth originate, it is clearly implied that any presumption of the superi ority of one people, based on physical char acteristics, i. e., on allegedly better descent, is utterly groundless. According to the Bible, the superior man is distinguished from the inferior solely by his moral qualities. The history of moral progress commences with Abraham, the ancestor of all men who strive for moral perfection. Differences between nations are due not to biological but to psychological and senti mental causes. The character and morals of individuals are the result of training by the home, the school, and society. The greater the accord between these three elements, the greater will be the mental and moral simi larity among the members of any nation and the sooner will appear certain distinc tive characteristics which differentiate that nation from others.

In Germany

Middle Ages

a

there has existed since the very marked agreement be 96

tween the three above-mentioned factors of development, training in the home and school having been in large measure dic tated by those at the head of the state, as a result of which the German people have been trained to submerge themselves as in dividuals entirely to the one great aim of the state: to conquer the world by force. Militarism was a welcome topic of conversa tion at the dinner table; the schools stressed Germany's war victories; the people talked about the strength of the German army as they drank their beer in club houses. Be cause of this unity of purpose, there devel oped a special kind of moral conscience — a conscience based on the principle that morals are power, and justice the expres sion of power. Of course, there were in tellectual exceptions, which, however, served merely to confirm the rule. Failure to under stand this basic fact of German psychology and to consider it in drawing up the treaty of peace at Versailles and the other agree ments after the first World War was the fundamental reason for the failure of that treaty to bring real peace.

Hitler understood that to eliminate what little disharmony still existed when he came into .power, he must educate the child at school in his spirit. The contents of his book, "Mein Kampf," became the bible for children in elementary schools as well as university students. This spirit of aggres sion was brought into the home, and from there into society. Hitler's products of Nazi 97

believe with all their souls in "Main Kampf" and in its creator. The above diagnosis, known to the world

education

today, is briefly outlined here in order that certain conclusions can be made for the future. After this war the world should be conducted accordingto the following principles: Complete religious freedom and re for spect religious ideals must be granted. 1.

2. Each state should follow a program of adult education, in order that democratic principles might be realized in practice.

Thoughts

of totalitarianism

should be

banned. Adult education shall convince society that the life of the individual must be protected and advanced; not the indi vidual for society, but society for the indi vidual must be the plan. 3. Each state must give an economic possibility of existence to the individual. The old and sick must be supported. There must be no such thing as unemployment for people who are capable of working. 4. In order that point 3 may be realized, tariff and passport boundaries must be eliminated. 5. While maintaining the fundamental principle of private property, it should be recognized that employer and employee are co-laborers — that each is making an essen tial contribution toward the success of a common enterprise and each should share in the rewards of that enterprise in propor 98

tion to his own needs as well as to the value of the labor performed. Thus the employer become responsible for the economic secur ity of his employees. 6. Each state, if it is to be of greatest service to its citizens, must, at the same time that it maintains its national independence, accept a certain degree of economic inter with other states. For this dependence reason, an international communications

system and certain obligations for mutual help between the nations of the world are

necessary. 7. After the world has judged Germany, it will be necessary to prevent Germany from re-arming. How can this be done?

For a hundred years Germany must have an international governor, whose functions shall be limited to the following: a) Prevention of any attempt to establish an armament program. b) Censorship of the press and control of public meetings. c) Censorship of school text books and supervision of teachers. d) Supervision of courts and judiciary. e) Popularization of democratic ideals in the home, school, and society by a program of adult education. If all these points are carried out, harmony in Germany will once more exist. People will believe not in power, but in justice, and this will mean a truly democratic state. The 99

100

."

.

a

it,

function of an international governor should not be so passive as before the war in the so-called "Free City" of Danzig. 8. To prevent any failure of effective execution of the law, uniformed inter national police and secret service men should be stationed in Germany. All nations should be represented on this police force. Each policeman should serve as a volunteer and get an adequate salary. 9. The international police should be headed by the international governor. This governor should also be the executive officer representing the League of Nations. 10. At the peace conference, the states of the world should consider the realization of God's promise to Abraham concerning Palestine. It is said in Genesis 13:15: "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I and to thy seed forever." give 11. The Jews who suffered because of their faith must receive compensation from the states which before and during the war enforced anti-Semitic laws. 12. The Jews of Danzig must be given back the property which they lost because of the failure and negative attitude of the League of Nations Commissar. Jews; believing in the words of the proph ets, are unshaken in the belief that the vision of the Prophet Isaiah will materialize: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and little child shall lead them .

The author of this book has been fortu nate in receiving statements from ambassa dors representing various foreign govern ments in Washington. Their kind state ments are printed on the following pages. These documents show that it is the convic tion of all these various foreign ambassadors that anti-Semitism will have no chance to develop anew in the countries they represent. ROYAL DANISH LEGATION Washington 8, D. C. January 21, 1944 Dr. Shlomo Gliksman 1006

North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago 51, Illinois Dear Mr. Gliksman: Complying with the request contained in your letter of the 14th inst. I am enclosing a statement of the future position of the Jews in the Danish society which you may use for vour publication THE JEW IN A

NEW WORLD.

Yours very truly, Henrik Kauffmann

STATEMENT BY MINISTER KAUFFMANN The Jews in Denmark have always been considered Danes like all other Danish citizens, and the question of race and religion has never suggested itself. Some of the most famous Danes of whom we are justly proud have Jewish blood in their veins, for instance: Georg Brandes, literary critic; his brother, Edvard, author and politician; General de Meza, Commander-in-Chief of the Danish army in the war with Prussia in 1864; Professor Niels Bohr, the celebrated physicist and Nobel Prize winner; and his brother, Harald Bohr, mathe matician. as

101

The Danes of Jewish forced to flee from occupied

who have been Denmark in order to escape Nazi persecution will be sincerely welcome to return and to resume their old position as an integral part of the Danish society as soon as Denmark is free again. extraction

Henrik Kauffmann Minister of Denmark January 21, 1944

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ROYAL GREEK EMBASSY Washington,

D. C. January 21, 1944

Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006 North Kedzie Avenue Chicago 51, Illinois Dear Sir: Replying to your letter of January to give you the following statement:

12,

I

am pleased

The common sufferings under the Axis' ruthless domination and the indomitable resistance of the Greeks of all races and creeds as well as the brotherly assistance given by the Greek underground to the Greek Jews in helping them to escape deportation, have strengthened the ties and the cordial relations which have always existed between them and the Christian Greek popu lation. Since the rebirth of modern Greece no discriminations have ever existed in a country where the constitutes the fullest ex respect of the individual pression of freedom and democracy. whatever

The Greek Jews, having shared the sacrifices in blood and sufferings of all Greeks, will enjoy in the future the confidence and support of the whole world to which Greece is entitled in recognition of its services in the struggle for freedom and for her fortitude in these times of distress. Sincerely yours, C. Diamantopoulos Ambassador of Greece 102

AMBASSADE DE BELGIQUE Washington, D. C. January

19,

1944

Dear Sir:

I

am in receipt of your letter dated January 14 and am not in a position to express an opinion regarding the question submitted by you. regret that

May

I

I

refer

you,

however,

to a message addressed

by Mr. Hubert Pierlot, Belgian Prime Minister to the Board of Deputies of British Jews on the occasion of a in London in 1942 to they had organized meeting protest the atrocities committed by the Germans. You will find enclosed

a copy

of this statement.

Yours sincerely,

The Belgian J.

Ambassador

Straten

Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006

North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago 51, Illinois

MR. PIERLOT'S MESSAGE December,

1942

Mr. Hubert

Pierlot, Belgian Prime Minister, has following message to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the organizers of a meeting of protest in London against the atrocities committed by the German Nazis. sent

the

"Up

to the moment of the invasion, Jews in Belgium a most hospitable welcome. Protected by our Constitution which guarantees them freedom of opinion received

and creed, and by our laws which proclaim the equality of all Belgians, the Jews enjoyed the same status as other Belgians.

"When a few years before the war, the Jews began to suffer from the first Nazi persecutions, Belgium was, once again, a land of refuge for the outcasts. The Belgian

Government,

supported 103

by

the

unanimous

opinion of the country, did everything possible to relieve their sufferings.

'When

victory finally brings Nazi cruelties to an all citizens, without distinction of race or belief, will find in our country, that regime of freedom which is traditional in Belgium. end,

"Germany's conduct towards the Jews is one of the atrocious dramas of history. To the honor of humanity, victory will put an end to it." most

NORWEGIAN EMBASSY Washington, D. C. January

18,

1944

Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006

North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago 51, Illinois Dear Sir:

I beg to refer to your letter of the 14th instant in which you inquire regarding the attitude which my country will take with regard to the future existence of Jews in Norway. In reply I beg to inform you that Norwegian Jews will enjoy the same rights and the same protection of Norwegian Laws as they did before the German invasion of Norway. Norwegian citizens of Jewish descent or religion will enjoy exacdy the same rights as other Norwegian citizens, and Jews who are not Nor wegian citizens will be treated exactly as other foreigners living in Norway or visiting our country. the

Yours sincerely,

W. Morgenstierne Ambassador

104

of Norway

LEGATION

OF SWITZERLAND

Washington

8,

D. C. January 24th, 1944

Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006

North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago 51, Illinois Dear Sir: Minister Bruggmann has requested me to thank you for your letter of January 14th, and to tell you that he is looking forward to the publication of your book. Regarding the status of Jews in Switzerland, I may you that the free exercise of the Jewish cult is guaranteed by law. Under the Swiss Constitution, Swiss Jews are considered Swiss citizens with equal rights and privileges as all other nationals, whatever their denomina tions may be. advise

Believe

me, dear Sir, to be.

Very truly yours,

F. Real Secretary »

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of Legation

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CZECHOSLOVAK EMBASSY Washington 8, D. C. January 22, 1944 Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006

North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago, Illinois

My

dear Sir:

The

Ambassador has asked me to thank you for your letter of January 14th, in which you requested a statement from him.

In accordance with the Ambassador's request, I am enclosing herewith an article in which you will find statement made by Mr. Jan Masaryk, Czechslovak 105

Minister of Foreign Affairs, summarizing the Czecho slovak official attitude toward the Jewish question of Czechslovakia. Respectfully yours, For the Ambassador: Viadimir

Pajic,

First Secretary

of Embassy

Enclosure Highlights of the views expressed by Jan Masaryk in a special interview with Louis Rittenberg, editor-inchief of "Liberal Judaism" issued for release on January 27, 1944:

"What Czechoslovakia attempted to do, in its own way during the existence of our Republic, was aimed at the uprooting of racial and religious prejudices. Minorities and small nations may choose to luxuriate in proud isolation, but they can extirpate bigotry, intoler ance and like hatreds only through national and inter national collaboration. . . . But our first concern is to which implies mutual aid check German aggression, The lowest form of ag against any sort of aggression. gression is that by a majority against a minority — and that is most flagrandy exemplified in anti-Semitism. It goes without saying that methods will be devised by which the worst offender — Nazi Germany — may be From brought to justice and rendered forever impotent. it should result a practical pattern, an instrument for the effective combatting of anti-Semitism. When the day of retribution arrives in the not distant future, those that have sinned most grievously against Israel will be duly punished. modest

"It may be scant comfort, yet noteworthy, that the unspeakable Jewish anguish, so much more grievous than all previous has taught our Jewish martyrdom,

of still civilized human beings the larger of anti-Semitism. The Nazis' hatred of consequence the Jews was only the incipient first sympton of insati able German lust to conquer and destroy non-German generation

peoples.

We Czechs ought

to know from experience.

106

. . .

"We the heirs of Thomas G. Masaryk have never for a moment — not even in national disaster, when some are prone to seek scapegoats — lost sight of the God-imposed duty to treat the Jews as our equals. True Czechoslovaks have regarded themselves as unworthy of the blessings of democracy unless they could share with the Jews the freedom they had won in unison with them. It requires no clairvoyance to see that such free dom breeds better citizens. Universal security is possible only if no segment of any people gets pushed around. The abuse of a single element in the national fabric is bound to incapacitate the nation as a whole for the full functions of citizenship. It "For me there exists no separate Jewish problem. indivisible from the Czechoslovak, or Polish, or It is an integral part English, or American problems. of my very being — of the myriad questions that cry for total solution after the war is over. Inherent in all that we do for the future security of our reconstituted nation, and of the world at large, is the wish to help world Jewry. Watever steps we of Czechoslovakia and others have taken to promote future peace is but a reflection of the United Nations' aims. It will be the common re sponsibility of all nations that can exert influence to deal with this question — in the sight of God, history and posterity — as honestly and justly as if their very lives depended upon it. is

"I

am confident that the forces

of good are gaining Unitedly they can erect bricks and mortar con tributed by the spiritual and cultural heritages of all

the upper hand in the world. a lasting edifice built of the

A serious attempt at total self-preservation, peoples. devoid of selfishness, will see the world transformed into a Homeland of Man in which there shall be no "Lebenstraum" inhumanities."

for

anti-Semitism

107

or

other

blighting

ROYAL YUGOSLAV EMBASSY Washington 8, D. C. January 25, 1944 Dear Rabbi Gliksman:

In reply

to your kind letter of January

14,

1944,

I

am pleased to send you herewith enclosed a short state ment which you may reprint in your book "The Jew

in a New World." Believe

me,

Yours very sincerely, Constantin Fotitch, Ambassador

of Yugoslavia

Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman: 1006

North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago 51, Illinois

We in Yugoslavia, in time of peace, always looked .upon our Jewish citizens with sympathy and great friend ship and have always tried to assist the cause of the establishment of a National Home for the Jewish people. We were glad to know that the Jewish people in Pales tine have recognized these sympathies by naming one of the avenues in the city of Tel-aviv in honour of our great King Alexander. After our country had been overrun by Hitler and his satellites, the brutality and violence which they visited upon the Serbian people have .not been spared to our Jewish citizens.

On

that day when the victory of the United Nations we sincerely hope that the Jewish people

is achieved,

will

see

their National Home established

in Palestine.

Constatin Fotitch, Ambassador

108

of Yugoslavia

EMBAJADA DE ESPANA Washington 8, D. C. February 4, 1944 Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006 North Kedzie Avenue Chicago 51, Illinois My Dear Sir: First answered

of all I wish to apologize for not having the inquiry contained in your letter of January

14th past.

To give you a correct answer, I had to make some inquiries myself, and here are the exact data on the subject: First: There is no racial phobia in Spain. Neither exists there any law or regulations against Jews. Second: Spanish Jews living in Spain enjoy the same rights and privileges as the rest of the Spaniards, there not being any discrimination against them. Third: Refugee Jews of foreign nationality are being accorded the same treatment granted to non-Jewish refugees who are still living in Spain without being troubled or hindered in any way whatever. For further information on the matter I beg to refer you to an article published on May 8, 1943, in "The Tablet" of London and reproduced in "The Brooklyn Tablet," containing the declarations of the Austrian Jew Eli Rubin, an internee in Miranda de Ebro. Also you could get in contact with Dr. Maurice Perizweig, 330 West 42nd Street, New York, who, having been in communication with this Embassy re ferring the Jewish situation in my country, will be able to let you know some interesting facts about same. Hoping this will reach you in time for publication in your forthcoming book "The Jew in the New World," I am, with best wishes, Yours respectfully, Juan F. deCardenas Spanish Ambassador 109

EMBAJADA DE BOLIVIA Washington 8, D. C. March

13,

1944

Rabbi Shlomo Gliksman 1006 North Kedzie Avenue

Chicago 51, Illinois Dear Rabbi Gliksman:

I

wish to refer to your letter of February 21, 1944, to the Ambassador of Bolivia, and informing of the forthcoming appearance of your book "The Jew in a New World." addressed

It is most gratifying to be able to avail myself of this opportunity to explain the attitude of the new Bolivian Government with regard to the Jewish popula tion of Bolivia. In just

I

wish to emphasize the fact be guided by the funda mental principle on which Bolivian institutions and social organizations are founded: i. e., the principle that discriminations based on differences of race, religion, or political beliefs, or on the economic position of indi viduals, contradict not only the democratic ways of life which were adopted by our forefathers when Bolivian independence was proclaimed, but the very civilization that the Western peoples have built during the last ten a

few words,

that our attitude

will

always

centuries.

There can be no doubt that we shall always accord our Jewish population the same rights and privileges accorded by law to other aliens or to Bolivian citizens, when citizenship has been legally obtained by a Jew, after fulfilling the requisites and following the pro cedures outlined in the Bolivian Constitution and secondary

laws.

Sincerely yours, Fernando Iturralde Ch. Confidential Agent of the Government of Bolivia. 110

The author

quotes

here,

high ranking Polish interviews granted to him. three

also,

made

statements

statesmen

during

by

personal

STATEMENT BY THE LATE GENERAL WLADYSLAW SIKORSKI Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-exile December

19,

1942

"Poland has decided to adopt a democratic form of along the pattern of the United States of government America and the British Commonwealth of Nations, all Polish citizens to be equal and all, regardless of origin, race, or creed, to enjoy equal rights and to have equal obligations.

"The Polish

has never ceased for one government in its efforts to wake up the world and to have it protest against massacres of the Jews. The last com bined note which has been issued in the course of recent days on this question, and to which the govern ments of the United States and Great Britain have adhered, was not only on the initiative of the Polish Government, but was drafted and prepared by it. We cannot, unfortunately, actively, for the time being, com bat these things, because we also have been sentenced to extermination by the Germans in "the same way as the Jews, but whatever we can do in the name of the high ideals of the United Nations and Christian prin ciples, we certainly are doing, and the walls of the Jewish ghettoes will fall, because they will immediately be taken down by the Polish people themselves, who have voiced their strong feelings about the dastardly acts of the Germans against the Jews." moment

Ill

STATEMENT BY MR. JAN KQAPINSKI Vice-President of the Polish Government-in-exile December

12,

1943

You can be sure that on the day after the war there rise in Poland a government which will destroy whatever still remains of the fascistic academic youth and thus the germs of anti-Semitism will be destroyed

will

forever.

As an old Socialist, who suffered years jails for my revolutionary sympathies, I make ment, that the Polish masses never were and be anti-Semitic. In the new Poland, Jews will be considered Polish citizens with equal equal

in Czarist the state never

will

and Poles rights and

duties.

STATEMENT BY DR. KAROL RIPA Consul General of Poland, in Chicago November

The new Poland will not

17,

1942

recognize any difference of different nationalities or races. The new Polish constitution will give equal rights and duties to all citizens regardless of nationality or faith. In the Universities, there will be no discrimination, whereby some of the students must stand while others may sit. Every Polish citizen will have the legal and practical opportunities, culturally and economically, to develop himself according to his ability. Any Polish citizen with the proper character and ability will be eligible for office in the new Polish government. No Polish citizen will be forced to emigrate. Each Polish citizen will be able to practice his religious faith according to his own between

citizens

convictions.

112

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