June 30
100 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD
A rumor that children in New York City public schools are having their tonsils taken out in school is spreading like wildfire in the Jewish community. Although there is no truth to the allegation, hysterical crowds of screaming mothers in the Brownsville and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn went running to their children’s schools, some of them yelling, “Have you heard? They’re slitting our children’s throats!” When the women arrived at the schools, some of them armed with iron pipes, they demanded that their children be sent out to them. Finally the police arrived and calmed the situation.
75 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD
The Jewish community of Salonika, Greece, is in a panicked state. Gangs of antisemitic students have been attacking Jewish passers-by in the streets and disseminating anti-Jewish propaganda. Though the police have been chasing these groups out of the Jewish quarter of the city, the gangs usually regroup elsewhere. In addition to random attacks, students attacked the headquarters of the Maccabi Sports Club, wounding a number of members. The attacks started because the antisemitic students accused club members of having participated in last year’s Bulgarian-Macedonian Revolutionary Congress, which called for the secession of Macedonia from Greece. Maccabi representatives categorically denied the accusation and said they never attended the Congress.
Antisemitic student groups in Vienna have declared a “pogrom week” during which they will attack Jews. This sounds somewhat odd, since they have been attacking Jews all along and do not seem to need a specific week to do it. In fact, five different cafés in the Jewish quarter were hit this past week. In response to the threat, Jewish groups are working with socialist organizations in an effort to develop self-defense units so that the Jewish quarter will be protected from the antisemitic hooligans.
50 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD
The new lord mayor of Dublin, Ireland, is a Jew. Robert Briscoe, a former Irish parliamentarian and activist in the Irish independence movement, also sits on the local kashrut board. He is a strong supporter of Israel and was a friend of Vladimir Jabotinsky. “Bob” Briscoe is known throughout the Emerald Isle as a proud Jew and Irish patriot. The son of Avrom-Velvl and Ida Briscoe, Lord Mayor Briscoe has run an import/export company for quite some time and imports kosher food, among other items. He was elected on the Liberal ticket. According to the new lord mayor and his small Jewish community, Ireland has never seen antisemitism.
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