January 22, 2010
100 Years Ago in the forward
Numerous spies have infiltrated the ranks of the Bund in the major Jewish areas of the Russian Empire and are causing great difficulties for its operations. As a result, the Bund Central Committee has published a circular describing about a dozen of these spies, a number of whom have managed to inform the Russian authorities of the underground activities of the Jewish socialist organization. Many of those Bundists noted are either in prison or have been sent to Siberia. Moreover, a number of these spies have been given new identities by the authorities and have attempted to infiltrate the Bund more than once. The Bund asks that supporters keep an eye out for such traitors.
75 Years Ago in the forward
For hundreds of years, Jewish nationalists have been beating their breasts on the topic of assimilation. For most nations, it is not a problem, but for Jews in America, mixed marriages present an acute issue. Other nations, have their own countries with their own governments, and if a few of these countries assimilate into America, it won’t have much effect. This is why the recent alarm about Arabs and Turks coming to America is so interesting. These people are terribly worried that their children are assimilating into — get this — Jewish families. Jews, who usually complain that their children are assimilating with “the other,” are now on the other side. Ironically, it is Arabs and Turks who are passing themselves off as Jews in order to marry Jewish women. Apparently, this is a relatively frequent occurrence.
50 Years Ago in the forward
In a message presented to the National Conference of Christians and Jews, President Eisenhower condemned the recent outbreaks of antisemitism occurring in a number of European countries, saying that racism is a danger to all our freedom. In recent weeks, synagogues and Jewish homes in England and France have been defaced with swastikas. And in Germany, a young communist was arrested for carrying a placard of German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer wearing a swastika and a Star of David. The young man, a student from East Berlin, said that his communist youth group instructed him to carry the placard into West Berlin.
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