August 20, 2010
100 Years Ago in the forward
The start of the fall season is still a few weeks away and, as usual, there is trouble in the Yiddish theater world. It seems that the manager of Manhattan’s Liptzin Theater has signed an agreement with union laborers to handle his sets. On the other hand, the managers of Brooklyn’s Lyric Theatre — among them, director David Kessler — refused to sign with the unions. The reason for the refusal, they say, is that they have used the same musicians for the past 15 years and do not want them replaced with union musicians. A labor committee has been formed in order to convince the Brooklyn theater to sign on with the union, but the Lyric’s managers seem intent on breaking the theatrical unions and bringing in scabs, something that will cause a huge battle.
75 Years Ago in the forward
The administration at Rutgers University seems to have whitewashed a report that resulted in one professor’s suspension based on the accusations of another. Friedrich Hauptmann, head of the German department, dismissed department professor Lienhard Bergel because of an alleged lack of funds. The reality of the situation is that Bergel is a fierce anti-Nazi activist, whereas Hauptmann is a strong supporter of the Nazis. A number of students claimed that Hauptmann is anti-Semitic, a charge that the university investigated and that the professor denied, saying that while he does sympathize with Nazi Germany, he is not an anti-Semite. He did add, however, that he thinks Eastern European Jews brought about Germany’s economic collapse.
50 Years Ago in the forward
All of Jewish Argentina has been left dismayed after a group of anti-Semitic students attacked a group of Jewish middle school students, an assault that wounded 15-year-old Manuel Trilnik. Argentine Jewish organizations are accusing the local and federal governments of ignoring the organizations’ previous warnings regarding the volatile situation in Buenos Aires’s Sarmiento National Middle School. The attack occurred after a celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the death of Argentine national hero José de San Martin. The group of nationalist students yelled, while attacking the Jewish students, “Viva Eichmann!”
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