February 5, 2010

100 Years Ago in the Forward

In Krakow, a young father took his own life just as the Sabbath was coming to a close. The man, 30-year-old Nossen Ehrlich, was the son of a well-known and successful local businessman. The younger Ehrlich, however, had been stricken by a string of bad luck and never achieved success in anything he did. His most recent attempt before his death was to open a bar next to Orenstein’s Tannery. He sent his wife to arrange for the space, but she returned after having signed a contract for double the normal price. Ehrlich lost it and went back to Orenstein to try to annul the contract, but Orenstein refused. Facing financial ruin, Ehrlich hanged himself that night. Local socialists protested at his funeral, railing against abusive landlords and shouting, “Long live the Jewish socialists!”

75 Years Ago in the Forward

A strict watch has been placed on the 2,000 Jews of the Polish town of Belovezh, where the “famous” antisemite, German official Hermann Goering, will visit on a “hunting trip.” There hasn’t been as heavy a military presence in Belovezh since the despised czar Nikolai visited there many years ago, because the Poles want to do everything possible to avoid a demonstration that might offend their “esteemed” guest. Although the visit is not meant to be “official,” inside sources say that most of the higher echelons of the Polish government will be there.

50 Years Ago in the Forward

The head of West Berlin’s Department of Education, Joachim Tiburtius, announced that children in the city’s public schools must learn about the horrors of Nazism and the Hitler period whether their parents want them to or not. At a press conference, Tiburtius said that until now, Berlin’s students were taught very little about Nazism, and that it was an absolute requirement that they learn about the terrible damage brought on to Germany and the world by the Nazis. He added that the lack of education on this topic was the fault of a number of parents who were opposed to having it taught in the schools.

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