February 25th, 2011
100 Years Ago in the Forward
“I have decided to make my living on the streets,” 16-year-old Brooklyn resident Julius Perlovitz said to a Manhattan Avenue Court magistrate. Perlovitz was arrested along with a black teenager, 18-year-old Frank Jones, on the charges that the two robbed grocery store owner Isidore Gold of $40. Perlovitz and Jones apparently sneaked into Mr. Gold’s store through a rear window and cleaned out the office money box. The boys, who were not noticed until they were on their way out, escaped. The police caught them later with a number of skeleton keys and other tools that thieves could use to break into buildings.**
75 Years Ago in the Forward
Plans of Nazis to collectively punish the country’s Jews for the assassination of the head of the Swiss Nazi Party by a Yugoslavian-Jewish student have been postponed, due to foreign pressure on the Germans. This pressure was apparently put on Germany by an unnamed but powerful country on which Germany depends. Press reports indicate that this country informed the Germans that the development of friendly relations between the two countries will be damaged if Germany’s Jews are punished for the assassination. As a result, reports in the official Nazi organ, Das Volkischer Beobachter, have changed, and now blame communists for the assassination.
50 Years Ago in the Forward
Jewish organizations in Western Europe have received worrisome new reports of an increase in anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. These reports indicate that since the death of Stalin, anti-Semitism has increased, but appears behind the mask of “anti-Zionism.” These reports also note that in a number of cities, synagogues have been shuttered, cemeteries have been defaced and Jews have been denied the opportunity to engage in holiday preparations — most notably, the baking of matzo. Also, in Babi Yar, the Soviets have begun building a road over the spot where the tens of thousands of Jews murdered by the Nazis are buried.
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