December 3, 2004
100 Years Ago
• Oscar Adler, a resident of Avenue B, was arrested after police found him hiding out in a Brooklyn, N.Y., hotel. Adler, 23, ran a banking concern called Novak & Co., through which many Galician and Hungarian Jews sent money and ship tickets to their relatives in the Old Country. It was discovered that those who had sent the money and tickets received letters months later, indicating that nothing was ever received. When they went to Adler’s office to ask why, and discovered it to be shut down, they went to the police. When Adler was found in the Brooklyn hotel, he tried to slash his own throat with a knife. He received only a flesh wound and was taken to jail. Fifteen thousand dollars and a letter indicating his intention to flee to Europe were found on a table in the hotel room.
75 Years Ago
• Haj-Amin el-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and leader of the High Muslim Council, has been charged with fomenting the riots that engulfed Palestine beginning last August. Using an old Turkish law that exempts members of the clergy from appearing in court, the committee investigating the causes of the riots was forced to go to him. Testifying before the committee, El-Husseini declared that he is a strong believer in the notorious book, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and that he believes that the Jews want to dominate the world. This fact, he said, was a mitigating factor in the attacks on Palestine’s Jews. In any case, the mufti added, if any group bore responsibility for the riots, it was the Communists. He also added that the Jews have absolutely no right to the Western Wall.
• At an open-air meeting of the Bund in Warsaw, hundreds gathered to hear speakers decry the growth of fascism in Poland, as well as the lack of civil rights accorded to Jewish workers. Suddenly, a platoon of police appeared and began shooting into the crowd. One young protester, Yeshue Grinvald, was killed and two working girls, Esther Katz and Esther Radzhinksi, also participants in the protest, were gravely wounded.
50 Years Ago
• During a debate in the Senate on whether to censure Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, Democratic Senator Fulbright said that McCarthy had ignited a fire of fear and hatred that is spreading across the country and that will be difficult to bring under control. Senator Fulbright also said that he had received a number of letters from McCarthy supporters that are full of intolerant and antisemitic rhetoric, mentioning political matters like the “Jew Deal.” The letters also attacked the senators who have opposed McCarthy. The resolution to censure McCarthy is expected to pass with a large majority
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