August 6, 2010
100 Years Ago in the Forward
Judge Mayer Sulzberger, president of the American Jewish Committee, has finally come to the conclusion that the American government’s immigration officials are not particularly pro-Jewish. This realization is important because the recent expulsions of Jews from Russia means that more of them will hope to come to the United States, and if administration officials make it difficult for them, there is a great risk that these Jews will perish in Russia. To be honest, this is nothing new. At the time of the Kishinev pogroms, immigration officials on Ellis Island were notorious for their poor treatment of Jewish immigrants. Hopefully, now that someone with high-level connections like Sulzberger is aware of the facts, something can be done.
75 Years Ago in the Forward
It is being reported in Germany that Hitler plans to call a special meeting in the Reichstag to announce a new set of laws dealing specifically with Jews. It is said that he is expected to demand the death penalty for Jews who engage in sexual relations with Aryans; he will revoke German citizenship from Jews; he will demand their removal from a variety of professions, or at least place signs on their places of business, indicating that Jews work there. It is also expected that Jewish children will be forced to go to separate schools. If carried out, these acts will create a de facto ghetto for the Jews of Germany, bringing them back hundreds of years to the way they lived during the medieval period.
50 Years Ago in the Forward
At a conference of the foreign language press in the United States, the Democratic candidate for president, Senator John F. Kennedy, said, “We are all immigrants — some of us arrived earlier, and some later,” and stressed the importance of the foreign language press in the battle against international communism. When the representative of the Forverts asked Kennedy about Israel, the senator responded that in order to maintain the security and freedom of the Jewish state, its Arab neighbors must recognize its right to exist.
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