July 29, 2011
100 Years Ago In The Forward
The body of 4-year-old Harry Levin, who disappeared earlier in July near Hanover, Conn., was found on a hill in a wooded area about two miles from Schechter’s Farm. The scene at the farm when the boy’s body was brought there was horribly tragic. The boy’s father fainted upon seeing the body, and the dozens of people who had searched for little Harry over the previous two weeks were all in tears. The family is taking the body for burial in a cemetery in Long Island’s Brooklyn. As soon as the boy disappeared, suspicion was cast on a local Pole named Viczek, who is currently being held on murder charges.
75 Years Ago In The Forward
Screams of “Death to the Jews” were heard as the Olympic torch procession made its way through Vienna, on its way to Berlin. When the parade went through the Jewish quarter, the Nazis participating in it sang the “Horst Wessel” song and screamed “Heil Hitler.” In other Olympics news, two Americans were sent home from Berlin, claiming to be “homesick”; however, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Avery Brundage claimed that the two were bad for team morale. Meanwhile, Polish-Jewish boxing champion Shepsel Rotholz did not initially want to attend the Nazi Olympics, but because he is currently serving in the Polish army, he is required to obey his commander’s orders.
50 Years Ago In The Forward
Between a rock and a hard place is an apt description for the 130,000 Jews of Algeria. It used to be that a Jew could simply sell his belongings and leave the country. But it’s no longer so simple. If a Jew wants to leave the country to settle in France or Israel, as many thousands have, there is no one to buy his goods. The Muslims know that the Jews are leaving, so they simply wait until they can get the goods for free. Sometimes a Jew can sell his goods to a Muslim at a quarter of what they’re worth, but even then, there are extremist Muslim organizations that try to prevent commerce between the two peoples. As a result, Jewish immigrants are showing up in Marseille and Lyon in a completely impoverished and tragic state.
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