FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
March 15, 1953
Several Catholic nuns and priests were awaiting trial on charges of having taken part in the sequestration of Gerard and Robert Finaly, two Jewish war orphans. The children disappeared after a court had ruled that they had to be handed over to their two aunts. They had been staying at a Catholic boarding school since their parents were killed by the Germans. A Vatican spokesman declared that the orphans, “now being Catholics,” could not be “abandoned” to Jewish authorities, and said it was impossible to consider their baptism void because it occurred under tragic circumstances. The children, he said, had to be free to choose “without moral pressure from the synagogue.” The comments were in response to a request by Rabbi Andre Zaoul, head of the Liberal Jewish movement in France, who requested the church’s assistance in instructing the children in Judaism.
50 YEARS AGO
March 15, 1968
Poland’s Communist Party blamed “young people with Zionist connections” for a week of student riots that exploded in Warsaw and spread to other Polish cities. The party newspaper also accused “liberals” and “anti-socialist elements” for encouraging the students to street violence. “Among the instigators of the recent events an essential role was played by young people with Zionist connections,” the newspaper said. It insisted, however, that the Communist Party was not antisemitic. “Because we are opponents of any nationalism, we shall not tolerate Zionism,” it said.
Reader’s letter: “Sir, I arrived here yesterday, and while at the exchange bank was collared by one of its customers with ‘just what are you Americans going to do in Vietnam?’ ‘I don’t know,’ I replied. After which he continued bragging extensively about the Six Day War and indicated that the USA must be stupid by comparison. I want to make it clear that I have always been pro-Jewish and even contributed to the Jewish Emergency Fund during the war, so I too am most pleased with the miracle that took place here in this land of miracles. I know that all Jews are not like him, but for all who are, I pray for another miracle.” – M. Thomas Long. [At the time, the total number of US combat deaths in Vietnam was more than 20,000.]
The first loans were granted from a fund set to encourage the settlement of Israelis in east Jerusalem. The fund was earmarked for Israelis renting in east Jerusalem who wished to improve their apartments. The chairman of the fund said that no Israeli Arabs had applied for a loan, but that if any non-Jewish Israelis renting in east Jerusalem did apply, their applications would be considered.
Unruly crowds and chilly weather seriously marred Tel Aviv’s Purim Adloyada parade. The parade itself lacked satire and, at time, seemed to drag. A float of the proposed Reading IV power station with a puffing smokestack was the closest thing to political satire in the entire parade. Its meaning, unfortunately, was not immediately apparent. The elaborate costumes were the outstanding feature of the procession, and the youngsters dressed as Eskimos were most fortunate, considering the chilly weather.