Forward Looking Back

Image by Forward Association
1916 100 Years Ago
Duped Into Enlisting
“Capitalist patriotism isn’t worth a penny,” a Forverts editorial reads. “The bosses themselves prove it.” After businessmen sent their workers to protect the country in the wake of a skirmish on the Mexican border, employees were told that since their bosses stood in such strong support of their country’s actions, they would pay them for their time in uniform. It turns out, however, that the whole thing was a lie. Apparently, capitalists thought it would be good PR for their businesses and faked patriotism. The young men currently standing guard on the Mexican border have received telegrams from their bosses, informing them that the deal is off. They will not be paid for the time they’ve been out of the office. Some even received notices telling them they no longer had jobs back in New York. Two weeks ago, these patriotic capitalists wanted to attack Mexico and promised to support their employees. Now they don’t even have pay or jobs for them.
1941 75 Years Ago
Nazi Unit in Ukraine
Reports from Nazi-occupied Ukraine indicate that the Germans have created a Ukrainian Storm Trooper unit. Comprising 700 men, the unit’s purpose was originally to fight against the Soviets, although now the goal is to help the Germans in their campaign against the Jews. Thus far, they have helped the Nazis arrest Jews they consider to be either pro-Russian or Communists. It is also thought that they will be planning and perpetrating pogroms. They are also expected to serve as guards in concentration camps that the Nazis are planning in the newly occupied areas. The Nazi newspaper, Grenzbote, published out of Bratislava, Slovakia, notes that as soon as Hitler conquers Russia, he will return to his main plan: the destruction of Europe’s 10 million Jews.
1966 50 Years Ago
Clashes on the Syrian Border
After bombing a Syrian weapons installation on the border of the two countries, Israeli bombers entered into a dogfight with four Syrian MIGs, shooting down one of them. Though the Syrians admitted the occurrence of the battle, they claimed that their fighters shot down two Israeli Mirage jets, a claim that the Israelis later denied. The Syrians also said that the Israelis killed 10 people in the bombing raid, seven farmers, two soldiers and one woman. According to Israel radio, the bombing was retaliation for four Syrian sabotage acts perpetrated by Al-Fatah terrorists sneaking in through the border. Yehoshua Levy, a 42-year-old man from Tiberius who drove over a mine planted on a road about a half-mile from the Syrian border, was killed, as was 15-year-old Yaron Landesman, a member of Kibbutz Eilat Hashahar, who drove his tractor over a mine. Another three explosions occurred in Metula, where no one was killed but physical damage was found.
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.
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.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.