March 4, 1921
The Krupp Cannon-Makers and the Ford Defense
In our last issue we discussed the absurd defense of Henry Ford for his anti-Jewish campaign, his denial that he was anti-Semitic, and his strange claim that he was merely trying to promote peace as before, by attacking “international Jewish bankers” who furnished the munitions which aided the wars among nations. We pointed out that non-Jews were the greatest manufacturers of munitions, and for proof mentioned the Krupp cannon-makers of Germany and the DuPont powder-makers of America. We mentioned the magnitude of the Krupp works and briefly referred to the bribery by the Krupps of newspapers and military officers to get their help bringing on a war. But this episode of corruption, which shows that Americans are not the only sinners in this direction, and that absolute monarchies can be as bad as the freest of republics in this direction, has, we find, been largely forgotten or overlooked by those who ordinarily keep track of such historical incidents. …
Ford himself is so ignorant that he could hardly be expected to know anything of the whole affair. But his editor, Cameron, should be aware of it, though he might readily have been fanatical enough to suppress the facts. Cameron is now revealed as the editor of Ford’s paper, the “Dearborn Independent,” through an open letter sent out by E. C. Pipp, who was the original editor of the paper, and recommended Cameron for a like position, but resigned on account of the Jewish attacks, though he expresses himself more in sorrow than in anger. The narrowness of mind which animates the paper is shown by a recent pronouncement in favor of a blue Sunday as the only thing which will satisfy the “Christian conscience” of the Nation.
Nov. 19, 1971
The State Department and the Soviet Jews
The organized Jewish community of San Francisco has demanded that the U.S. State Department explain its recent misleading remarks before a Congressional Committee about the plight of Soviet Jews. In effect, the State Department spokesmen said: “Things are not so bad. Russian Jews are now better off than they were under Stalin.” It is astonishing and intolerable that our State Department should fall into such a trap.
We know what things were like under Stalin. The organized Jewish community of San Francisco, which has been one of the national leaders in Soviet Jewry activity for 20 years, was, in the 1950s, doing mass media programs on the Stalinist anti-Jewish terror, sending protests, holding meetings, buttonholing public officials. But not very many people paid much attention … Why? Because most people felt that nothing should be done to penetrate Stalin’s Iron Curtain. And the Soviet Jews were themselves contained by that Curtain.
When the Curtain softened, and when Soviet Jews were able to abandon their silence, the battle was able to be opened on many new fronts. But make no mistake: the basic plight of the Soviet Jew remains the same. Unlike other Russian groups, the Soviet Jew is unable to pursue his identity, live within his tradition. The Russian Jewish community is still ticketed for cultural destruction. We are grateful that Jews are not being slaughtered wholesale as they were during the Stalinist period. But does that make tolerable the fact that they are selectively harassed and jailed for complaining about their continuing basic oppression? Does that make tolerable the fact that tens of thousands of Jews, stifled as they are, have been denied their request to leave for Israel?
It is just because we are in a non-Stalinist period — for the time being — that we must act to relieve the persecution of Soviet Jewry. The insensitive and cynical remarks of the State Department representative must be corrected.
J.’s print editions go back to 1895, and have never been digitized. We seek funding to make this precious history available online for future generations. Please contact [email protected].