November 20, 2009
100 Years Ago In the Forward
In front of her colleagues and a group of electronics experts, Dr. Louisa Rabinovitz performed an experiment that entailed electrocuting a rabbit and then bringing it back to life by sending another electrical charge through its body using a machine that the young doctor invented. The Edison Electric Company, for one, is particularly interested in Rabinovitz’s experiments. Edison loses dozens of employees per year on account of accidental electrocution, so it has invited Rabinovitz to its headquarters for a demonstration, in the hopes that her success in reanimating rabbits might also work with humans. The doctor’s invention works on the premise that electricity can restart a heart that has stopped beating.
75 Years Ago In the Forward
An open threat to wantonly attack Jews has been renewed by Julius Streicher, not only in his home province of Franconia, where this Haman is the ruler, but also all over Germany. During a recent speech in which he dubbed himself “the greatest antisemite in all of Europe,” Streicher said that “anyone who takes up the battle against the Jews and their supporters can expect to go free as a bird,” practically an invitation to attack Jews. It is alleged that the antisemitism of the general populace wasn’t strong enough, so the authorities needed to foment it. Also strengthened was the anti-Jewish boycott, and German women have been threatened with dismissal from the Nazi Party if they are caught shopping in Jewish establishments or going to Jewish doctors.
50 Years Ago In the Forward
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said recently that he thinks peace in the region will be attainable within 10 years and that he hoped a large-scale immigration to Israel from the Soviet Union will take place at some point soon. He added that a mass Soviet Jewish emigration can take place only with the help of Jews throughout the world, and he hoped that Israeli political parties will be able to unite on such an issue. This was a reference to the bitter election campaign waged recently, in which the country’s different political parties attacked one another with great abandon.
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