100 Years Ago in the Forward

The 147 burned bodies, the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, apparently had no effect on the jury, who found Triangle bosses Max Blanck and Isaac Harris innocent of negligence in their deaths. The courtroom was half empty as the verdict was read. The judge had allowed only close friends and relatives of the defendants to enter the courtroom. Outside the courthouse, however, there were hundreds of relatives of the victims howling in protest. After police had occupied protesters in front, the judge allowed Blanck and Harris to sneak out a back door. The moral of this sad story is that the only thing simple laborers have to protect themselves under these circumstances, is their unions, their own power.

75 Years Ago in the Forward

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Anti-Semitic attacks were printed this week in Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s Milan-based newspaper, Populo D’Italia. This is the first time that anti-Jewish threats have appeared in the paper, and many believe they were written by Mussolini himself. The article described how, in France, only 2% of the population is Jewish, but the entire government is controlled by Jews. Ultimately, it continued, Christian citizens will be enslaved by the Jews. It is being said that recent attacks on Jews in the Italian colony of Tripoli were the fault of Mussolini’s followers.

50 Years Ago in the Forward

Longtime Polish-Jewish communist leader Henrik Holland is dead. Holland, who started his career before World War II in the communist youth movement, survived the war and then threw his entire body and soul into the movement. After Stalin’s death, Holland became one of the liberal revisionists who supported the rise of communist General Secretary Vladislav Gomulka. But two years ago, when the secret police began to investigate the “revisionists,” Holland was pulled back from the front lines of party life. Last week he was arrested on unknown charges and, after two days, brought back to his apartment with the police so they could begin an investigation. But shortly after they entered, Holland threw himself out of a fifth story window, landing dead on the pavement.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount