AN INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SERVING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JEWISH FAITH
THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION IN THIS TERRITORY
VOL 32 No. 10
PLAIN TALK
BY ALFRED SEGAL
(Editor’s Note: This week in*
stead of using our regular column,
“Plain Talk,”, by Alfred Segal, we
are printing Martin Silver’s article
abqut Mr. Segal, which we think
will interest our readers.)
PREACHER AND HIS PULPIT
By Martin Silver
Some years ago this writer at
i tended a college debate whose
theme was .whether competition
or cooperation provided the better
spur* for social advancement. The
team defending the competition
thesis appeared to be at a dis
advantage and rapidly found itself
in the position of a pugilist who
realises he must win the fight
with one desperate flourish if he
was to escape the ignominy of de
feat. Just as the clock was licking
off the last seconds of the allotted
time, the young man who was de
fending the unpopular point of
view summoned a bit of resource
fulness that brought plaudits from
an apparently unfriendly audi
ence. "How long do you think you
can stand loving your fellow man
twenty four hours a day?" he ask
ed triumphantly as he inched
longingly toward the beckoning
chair.
We had no answer to that ques
tion that day—but we Aave it
now. The answer is, “Forever, if
you’re Alfred Segal.”
A1 Segal, who is known to tens
of thousands of readers of the
Anglo-Jewish press throughout
the country through liis Plain
Talk column, syndicated by the
Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, has
been getting a good deal of na
tional attention of late. He re
cently won an award from the Na
tional Conference of Christians
and Jews for his yeoman work in
brotherhood efforts. That touched
off a whole series of other honors.
The Cincinnati Post, where his
scintillating column "Cincinnatus"
has been running with mounting
success for the past thirty-four
years, honored A1 with a gold
'watch bearing the inscription "To
Al, the Conscience of Cincinnati,"
the Newspaper Guild threw a
party to honor his golden jubilee
in newspaper work and two. na
tional magazines. Time and Editor
& Publisher, gave him glowing
write-ups.
We couldn’t help wondering a
little how he must have felt at all
this. He is not much given to pub
lic display and he comes as close
to making humility a full-time
job as any man can. He preaches
from a very public pulpit, it is
true, but that attention is always
very deftly focused on the thing
I preached, and not the preacher.
The reference to preachers is
very much to the point, for Segal
originally was intended for the
rabbinate. He was just out of the
Hebrew Union College when he
got his first newspaper job. and
turned to the wider congregation
the newsprint pulpit could preach.
He has been very successful at
that preaching career, and one of
his most cherished souvenirs is a
letter from a Protestant clergy
man. which said, "I envy you. Al
(Continued on Page 4)
REUNION AFTER FIVE DECADES
UNITED HI AS SERVICE Reunites
Rumanian Refugee With Kin Here j
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Moses Poplleher, (center) 62, Rumanian refugee who had not seen his
sister and brother since he was four years old, is embraced by his kin
on his arrival recently in New York. His brother, Harry Hirsch, 590
Georgia Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., and his sister, Mrs. Anna Handel, 1520
Newport Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., left Rumania in ISO7, and UNITED
HIAS SERVICE hot only arranged the reunion pictured here, but an
aide of the international Jewish migration agency Introduced Poplleher
to his relatives, who had no idea what he looked like. Poplleher comes
to the United States under the provisions of the Refugee Relief Act
of 1953.
Jewish Groups Testify Before
Senate Body on Security Program
WASHINGTON, (JTA) Major American Jewish organisations,
testifying before a Senate subcommittee, called for a commission do
investigate the government loyalty-security program in an effort to
end abuses and to bring the program into balance as between gov
ernment security needs and civil rights of individuals.
Abraham J. Hafris, former U. S.
Assistant Attorney General, testi
fying for the American Jewish
Committee, told the Senate Sub
committee on Reorganization that
his organization endorsed legisla
tion calling for a Commission on
Government Security, consisting
of two Senators, two House mem
bers, two representatives from the
Executive branch, and six persons
from private life.
Mr. Harris submitted as one of
the major areas for the proposed
commission’s concern, this ques
tion: “To what extent has the use
of secret information, ‘protected’
witnesses, and lack of confronta
tion and cross examination contri
buted to the appearance of racial
bigotry or religious bias and pre
judice in charges made by con
cealed informants?” He enumer
ated other problems which call for
the attention of a Commission on
Government Security.
Possibility of Anti-Semitic
Motives joI Accusers Cited
Will Maslow, on behalf of the
American Jewish Congress, called
for re-assessment of the security
loyalty program and backed the
proposal for a joint Congre*ssional
inquiry commission, Mr. Maslow
reviewed the Chasanow, Ft. Mon
mouth and Ladejinsky cases and
charged that the security program
facilitated the operation of anti-
Semitism and other prejudices at
various levels.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1955
The Chasannow and Ft. Mon
i mouth cases suggasted that flimsy
charges of disloyalty, later dis
: proved, were filed against Jews
while similar evidence against
i other employees was not consider
; ed significant, Mr. Maslow said.
Since the accused employees
1 never learned the names of their
i traducers, "it was not possible to
establish conclusively the anti
: Semitic nature of their accusers'
1 motivations." Hence, suspicion of
anti-Semitism remains.
i
; Judge David A. Rose, chairman
of the ADL Civil Rights Commit
tee, told the subcommittee that a
survey made by his organization
pointed up the “unnecessary hard
ship and heartache” resulting
from current security procedures.
Judge Rose favored establishment
of a bi-partisan commission of
Congressmen, Administration
leaders and private citizens to re
view completely the Federal se
curity program.
Judge Rose said there was
"justification and need" for a Fed
eral security program. However,
he recommended a "workable
standard" to replace the current
principle that a government work
ers' continued employment must
b 4. as required by the Eisenhower
Executive Order, "clearly consist
: ent with the interests of national
security."
STALnrS VIEWS OH JEWS
REVEALED in records
or YALTA CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON, (JTA) Jewish problems ware discussed by
President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
the late Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin during the historic Yalta con
ference which took place, in February, 1945, it was disclosed last
week with publication of the records of the conference.
President Roosevelt told Stalin
that he was a Zionist and asked if
Stalin was one. Stalin replied that
he was one in principle but he
recognized the difficulty. The ex
change of these remarks was pre
ceded by a statement by President
Roosevelt telling Stalin that he
had three kings waiting for him
in the Near East, including Ibn
Saud.
Stalin said that the Jewish
problem was a very difficult one,
that they had tried to establish a
national home for the Jews in
Birobidzhan but that the Jews had
only stayed there two or three
years and then scattered to the
cities. He said that the Jews were
natural traders but much had
been accomplished by putting
small groups in some agricultural
areas.
(The New York Times said it
was not entirely clear from the
text as released why Stalin began
talking about the Jewish problem.
“A line of asterisks preceding Sta
lin’s statement seems to raise the
possibility • that one .of Stalin’s
high-level colleagues may have
initiated the discussion of Jews
with a statement that has been
consored from the published text,”
the Times said.)
During the same dinner-meefing
—which took place on February
10—President Roosevelt said that
he recalled that there had been an
organization in the United Stales
called the Ku Klux Klan that had
haled the Catholics and the Jews,
and once when he had been on a
visit to a small town in the South
he had been the guest of the presi
dent of the local Chamber of
Commerce. He had sat next to an
Italian on one side and a Jew on
the other and had asked the presi
dent of the Chamber of Commerce
whether they were members of
the Ku Klux Klan. to which the
president replied that they were,
but that they were considered all
right since everyone in the com
munity knew them.
Rabbi David L. Zielonka
To Lecture at
Bethune-Cookman College
Rabbi David L. Zielonka of The
Temple in Tampa, Florida, will
represent The Jewish Chautauqua
Society as lecturer at Bethune-
Cookman College, Daytona Beach,
Florida. He will speak at Assem
bly, March 30, 1955. He will also
deliver several classroom lectures
during his visit of March 30-31,
1955.
The National Federation of
Temple Brotherhoods sponsors
The Jewish Chautauqua Society,
which sends rabbis to colleges as
part of an educational program to
disseminate authentic information
concerning Judaism.
President Roosevelt remarked
«
that it was a good illustration of
how difficult it was to have any
prejudices, racial, religious or
otherwise if you really knew peo
ple. Marshal Stalin said he felt
that this was very true.
U. S. Urged to Discuss With
Stalin the Nazi Murder of Jews
Pre-conference documents pub
lished along with the Yalta rec
ords revealed that Judge Samuel
Rosenman of New York, one of
President Roosevelt’s closest ad
visors, had been assigned a key
role in consideration of the ques
tion of punishing German war
criminals and the problem of at
tempting to save the Jews in
Europe from mass extermination.
Judge Rosenman was assigned to
work out the Departments of Jus
tice and State on these two issues.
The documents also disclosed
that J. W. Pehle, executive direc
tor of the War Refugee Board, had
advised Secretary of Slate Edward
Sleltinius a month before the
Yalta conference that "recently
the War Refugee Board had re
ceived several urgent requests
from Jewish organizations in this
country for the issuance of a Uni
ted Nations' warning to the Ger
man Government and the German
people against further extermina
tion and other forms of persecu
tion of Jews in Germany and Ger
man-occupied territory.
“It occurs to ms,” Mr. Pehle
wrote, “that, if you find it feasi
ble to do so, this matter might be
raised by you at the conference.
As you know, we have never been
able to get the Russians to join
us in any of our past statements,
other than the Moscow statement
on atrocities issued on November
1, 1943. It is my feeling that if a
new warning to the Germans
were issued by President Roose
velt, Mr. Churchill and Marshal
Stalin, it might have a marked ef
fect, particularly at this stage of
the war.”
Alternative suggested drafts
were enclosed in the Pehle letter.
In one draft it was said that
'"there are indications that Ger
man troops and officials, previous
to retreating, prepare to extermi
nate large numbers of local in
habitants and of Jewish deportees
and internees in the territories
still occupied by Germany, and
that they prepare to extend this
policy of mass extermination."
The State Department legal ad
visor, Green Hackworth, trans
mitted a memorandum to the
White House on Jan. 20 L 1945 out
lining suggestions for the trial and
punishment of Nazi war criminals.
The memorandum included the
Pehle proposals for a United Na
tions warning to the Nazis on the
treatment of Jews in Germany
and German-occupied countries.
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