Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 1984 Page: 4 of 32
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TEXAS JEWISH POST HANUKA ISSUE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1984 POSTORIAL PAGE 4
postorials, opinions, etc
• ••
Celebrating Hanuka
The Festival Of Lights
Jews throughout the world, those in Western style
democracies, others living under oppressive societies
like the Soviet Union, join in celebrating the eight day
holiday of Hanuka, the Festival of Lights. The candles
burned in elaborate, and sometimes simple menorahs in
homes of Jews everywhere, symbolize the miracle of
the cruse of oil which burned for eight days.
The holiday also marks the victory of Judah and the
Maccabees over the oppressive Syrian monarch,
Antiochus Epiphanes. The revolt in ancient Palestine
was to eliminate what was a repressive society, where
the practice of Jewish culture was prohibited as
Antiochus tried to break the will of the Jewish people.
He failed and now many, many years later, the revolt is
remembered, for it still goes on today.
In the Soviet Union, Syria, Ethiopia and other places
where Jewish people have been persecuted, where
authorities have tried to break their spirit and
commitment to Judaism, Hanuka symbolizes their
affirmation to strive to overcome this oppression, and
live in freedom to practice their faith.
As Jews in the United States and elsewhere settle
down to prayer and festivities related to the holiday,
the revolt of Judah and his followers should be
remembered. Not so much for the military victory, but
for the spirit of freedom for which the Maccabees had
dedicated themselves. This dedication should be
reaffirmed during H«nnWa
Senator’s Dole’s Role
Could Be Plus For Israel
BY MORRIS J. AMITAY
The selection of Senator
Robert Dole of Kansas by
his Republican Senate col-
leagues to be the new
Senate Majority Leader
could turn out to be a net
plus for Israel’s supporters.
Doles’ predecessor, Howard
Baker of Tennessee, while
not displaying any emnity,
was never considered par-
ticularly sympathetic to
issues of concern to the
American Jewish commun
ity. Dole, on the other hand,
has in the past demonstrat-
ed strong support for a
secure Israel during his four
terms in the House of
Representatives, and his
sixteen years in the Senate.
In the 1970s, Dole consis-
tently endorsed initiatives
expressing support for Isra-
el. He was one of the
initators of a 1970 letter to
Secretary of State Rogers
-> -— '
monitor
'The Abandonment Of The Jews’
BY M ROSENBERG
“Support for rescue arose
in several non-Jewish quart-
ers. And it came from
leading public figures such
as Wendell Wilkie. Aired E.
Smith, Herbert Hoover,
Fioreilo La Guardia, Harold
Ickes, Dean Alfange ....
But most non-Jewish Ameri-
cans were either unaware of
the European Jewish catas-
trophe or did not consider it
important.”
So writes Davis S. Wy-
man in an important and
deeply troubling new book.
Wyman, a professor at the
University of Massachusetts
and a Protestant, has writ-
ten The Abandonment of the
Jews: America and the
Holocaust 1941-1945 (pan-
theon — 1984). For an
American, reading this book
has to be an unsettling
experience. Unsettling be-
cause despite that small list
of non-Jewish heroes, few
non-Jewish Americans (and
not many more Jewish
Americans) did anything to
save the Jews of Europe 40
years ago. Instead of engag-
ing in rescue efforts they
brought the State Depart-
ment line that the only way
to save Europe’s Jews was
through winning the war
and that specific rescue
attempts were simply not
possible.
Wyman shows that there
were many approaches that
might have been taken to
rescue the Jews. The U.S.
government could have ap-
plied pressure on Axis
satellites to release their
Jewish populations but nev-
er did. Even when (as in the
case of Romania) a pro-
German government indicat-
ed that if was ready to
negotiate over the release of
70,000 Jews, the U.S.
government made it clear
that it was not interested.
Nor did the United States
government pressure neu-
tral countries to allow Jews
in.
Take, for example, the
case of the thousands of
Jewish children who were
left in Nazi-occupied France
after their parents were
sent to the death camps.
Switzerland volunteered to
take them if the United
States promised to take
custody of the children after
the war. But the State
Department refused to offer
any such guarantee and
when — after a year — it
relented, it was too late.
As is well-known, the
United States could have
bombed the killing factories
at Auschwitz but refused to.
It could have sent agents
into Europe to warn the
Jews of the Nazis’ plan for
them and urged resistance
or flight. It could have
broadcast information about
the “final solution” but
suppressed it instead. It
could have warned the
Germans and their allies
that those who participated
in the killing of innocents
would be tried and punished
after the war.
Would these measures
have worked? We know that
the answer is yes because,
after January 1944, many of
them did work. It was at
that time that President
Roosevelt, after pressure
from Treasury Secretary
Henry Morganthau and de-
spite resistance from the
State Department, set up
the War Refugee Board
(WRB). The WRB’s efforts
were too little and too late
but still — using diplomatic
pressure, safe havens, and
all forms of persuasion and
bribery — they managed to
save 200,000 Jews. (One
WRB agent, alone, the
heroic Raoul Wallenberg
saved 20,000). But the WRB
wasn’t established until
most of the Jews of Europe
were already gone. Had it
been established in 1940 or
even 1942, who can say how
many more might have been
rescued? But the number
would have been large.
Wyman’s books explains
why U.S. efforts were so
niggling. Nativists forces in
Congress opposed any effort
which might have resulted
in more Jews settling in this
country. President Roose-
velt was either indifferent to
the slaughter or merely not
concerned enough to take on
the neanderthals. And there
was simply very little
pressure on FDR — by
anyone — to rescue the
Jews.
But the main villian in
Wyman’s account is the
State Department. Anti-
Semitic (and just plain anti-
foreign) officials and bureau-
crats there did everything
they could to block the
rescue of the Jews. They
lied to the White House and
to concerned members of
Congress about what was
happening in Europe. They
worked successfully to keep
U.S. borders sealed against
Jewish refugees — including
children — and urged other
countries to do the same.
They struggled to block the
creation of a rescue agency.
In short, the State Depart-
ment’s record between 1933
and 1945 bordered on the
criminal. That record must
not be whitewashed or
forgotten. David Wyman’s
book ensures that it won’t
be.
Senator Robert Dole
letter to President Ford
expressing support for Isra-
el and rejecting the PLO.
uring the U.S. to strength- Dole was an early signer of
en Israel’s military posture the famous “Letter of ’76” a
to guarantee against an year later, reaffirming the
outbreak of major hostili- U.S. commitment to Israel
ties. He also was active in during the ominous “reas-
seeking support for a 1974 sessment” of U.S. policy. He
was an original cosponsor of
the “Scoop” Jackson Freed-
om of Emigration Amend-
ment to the Trade Act.
Dole strongly opposed the
sale of advanced F-15 air-
craft to Saudi Arabia in 1978
See Senator Dole, page 29
TEXAS JEWISH POST
Dedicated to Truth, Liberty and Justice
' Editor and Publisher....................J.A. Wisch
Managing Editor and Co-Publisher............Rene Wisch
Social Editor.......................Linda Davidsohn*
Consultant..................... Steve Wisch
Dallas Manager.................... Chester Wisch
Typography.................Wylma Hooter
! Graphics.................Cindy Brocone, Mary Johnson
Food-Home............ Susan Wiscb
Advertising Representatives... Robert Brimm, Wylma Hooker,
, Judy Levine, Judy Wisch
'Photographers.............Sharon Wisch and Judy Wisch
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 1984, newspaper, December 20, 1984; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth834880/m1/4/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .