FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
August 27, 1952 A few members of the Jerusalem Fire Brigade renewed old acquaintances with Old City firemen when both groups cooperated to extinguish a brush fire near Government House (Armon Hanatziv) in no-man’s-land. A few reminiscences were exchanged and questions asked, but Arab Legionnaires soon broke it up by requesting the Arabs leave when the fire was put out.
A fire broke out aboard the hulk of the former Exodus 1947, which was moored at the main breakwater in Haifa Port. Much of the upper deck was damaged. The cause of the fire had yet to be ascertained. The Exodus had long ago been stripped of every usable part and reduced to a mere skeleton. The municipality had planned to transform it into a museum of “illegal” immigration, but for lack of funds the project could not be carried out. [In 1964 a salvage effort was made to raise her steel hull for scrap. The effort failed and she sank again. In 1974 another effort was made to raise her wreck for salvage. She was refloated and was being towed toward the Kishon River when she sank again. Parts of the Exodus’s hull remained visible as a home for fish and destination for fishermen until the mid-2000s.]
50 YEARS AGO
August 27, 1967 John Patler, a former marine, was charged with the murder of US Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell. Patler had been a party member for six years before he quarreled with Rockwell and was expelled. The shooting occurred at a shopping center that served as Rockwell’s home and the barracks of his “troopers.” Rockwell, whose principal targets were African Americans and Jews, was a frequent speaker on college campuses. His followers, mostly young men in their late teens and early 20s, often wore khaki military clothes, boots, and the red Nazi swastika armbands that had become a symbol of Nazi power.
Eight people were under detention following a Sabbath demonstration in Jerusalem’s “Kikar Shabbat” in which one policeman was hit in the face by a stone. Police had suspected that a demonstration would be staged, following the posting of bills in Mea She’arim calling for “a struggle for the sanctity of Shabbat.” The police pointed out that Shabbat Square and Mandelbaum Gate were closed to traffic on Saturdays.
West Bank teachers were expected to report for work in schools after lengthy discussions between West Bank education officials and the military government. Historian Dr. Abbas el-Kurd said that the Jordanian educational system did not run counter to Israel’s security in any way although it was based on “Arab philosophy and purpose.” The system aimed at faith in God and the building of the Arab personality. “The Arab personality should be preserved while anti-Israel statements can be removed,” he said.
Two Arab singers from the West Bank earned a loud ovation at the first of the “Nights of Acre” festival, when they ended their program with “Heveinu Shalom Aleichem.” The audience joined in.
25 YEARS AGO
August 27, 1992 The City of David would be the site of archeological excavations for another year, rather than the building site for a controversial Jewish neighborhood announced by construction and housing minister Ariel Sharon one year earlier, Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek said.
– Daniel Kra