March 19, 2010
100 Years Ago in the Forward
As tragedies go, it will be difficult to beat the story of Solomon Schwalb, a resident of 86th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, who, in biblical fashion, was tricked into marrying the sister of the woman he loved. Having recently arrived in America, he was taken in by a family from his shtetl, the Elshveigs. The parents asked him if he wanted to marry one of their daughters, and he agreed. The whole family went to court, and the two were married. But the Elshveigs married him to the older daughter, Gussie, instead of to the one he liked, Esther. Completely despondent over the whole affair, Schwalb threw himself off a bridge and into the Bronx River, only to be rescued and then placed under arrest and sent to jail for abandoning his wife. Topping it off, it has been discovered that his immigration papers were not in order, and officials from Ellis Island are threatening to ship him back to Russian-ruled Poland.
75 Years Ago in the Forward
“The Jewish question” is now entirely in the hands of Reichs-Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who has been left to deal with this matter because it is alleged that Hitler is too busy planning for war. In a related matter, the Volkischer Beobachter, the official Nazi press organ, reported that Germany has sent professors to defend the German Association in Cairo, Egypt. Leon Castro, a Cairene Jewish attorney, is suing the club for publishing libelous pamphlets against the Jews. While one of Cairo’s lower courts refused to hear the case, Castro submitted his complaint to a higher court, which is apparently willing to hear it. 50 Years Ago in the forward.
50 Years Ago in the Forward
“Peace with the Arabs is still far off,” Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said at a press conference at the Israeli Embassy in London, which was attended by more than 150 journalists, “but it will arrive sooner than expected.” Ben-Gurion added that though the Middle East is a region of great poverty, Israel wants to help its neighbors. He also noted that Israel’s good relations with countries in the non-Muslim and non-Arab worlds and in Africa and Asia will greatly aid in bringing peace Israel, the Middle East and the world. Ben-Gurion also said that he would be willing to meet with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic in order to push for peace.
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