Omaha daily bee., 1915-07-31
The War and the Jews


individual Jews are frequently shrewd and
fortunate. but a people Israel Is, in his own
pressive idiom, a schemihl, hapless ne'er-do-weu
Twenty centuries OF wandering find him concentrated
precisely I'm the valley OF Armageddon And here in
hundred places he must again grasp the Wanderers
staff Symbolic is the figure Of the chief rabbi Of
Serbia wandering Europe to beg for his ptiful
flock. workhouse and a hotel at London
gested with Belgian Jews. Forty ravaged towns have
poured their Ghettos into Warsaw. Prague Vienna,
Budapest. see the sullenly with refugees. census
taken OF 1858 Jews who fled into Alexandria showed
subjects Of England France. Russia. Spain. America,
Turkey. Persia, Roumania Italy. Greece and Serbia,
while another thousand had already wandered farther
to other Egyptian cities. to America Australia.
South Africa. Russia The only important section Of
Jewry that has escaped the is that which has
poured itself into the American melting pot And
not only ten OF the thirteen millions Of Jewry in
the European cockpit; nearly 100000 at the
fiercest center of fighting-in Poland.
Poisnd-bo II German. Russian or Austrian Po
land-is preemlnently the home of Jewry and Poland
even more than Belgium has been the heart of hell
For two OF the powers that combined to dsmember
II fighting the third It's fragments.
and Jewish populations at their thickest along
those GOO miles Of border through which Russia
invades east Prussian Poland or Galcian Poland.
Germany hacks it's way toward Warsaw. or Austria
hurls It's counter attacks.
The accident OF a series Of peculiarly wise and
tolerant monarchs opened Poland to a large volume
Of Jewish immigration and gave its Jews a
OF autonomy and dignity They were the
recognized providers OF urban and Industrial
population 20 a mainly AGRICULTURAL people. Thus
were they collected for the holocaust OF today. For
Of course. the partition Of Poland left them stl
pullulatng. whether in Prussian Danzg. Russian
Warsaw Austrian Lemberg. And not only have
they duplicated tho tragedy of Poles in having
TO fight what IL practically civil not only have
they suffered almost equally in the ruin Of Poland
pognantly described by Paderewski. in the burn
ings bombardings. plasngs. trampinss. not only
have they shared In the mseries towns taken and
retaen by the rival armies. but they have been ac
cused Historically craftly before both belgerents
OF espionage treachery. and OF poisoning the
wells. and crucified by both. Hundreds have been
shot knoutedI hanged imprisoned hostages; women
have been outraged. whole populations have fled
before the enemy many bounded out by their
military authorities. wanderlng-but not into the
wide world. Into the towns outside the Pale they
might not escape-these wero not open to the
wounded soldier In the long history of the martyr
people there Is no ghastler chapter.
At the outbreak Of the war an excited English
woman hearing that the Cologne Gazette, said to
be run by Jews. abusing Ensand wrote to me-
foaming at the quill demanding that the Jews should
stop the paper That the Jews DO not exist. or that
an English could not possibly interfere with the
patriotic journalism OF German subject. nay that
the abuse In the Cologne Gazette was actually
proof of Jewish loyalty did not TO the worthy
woman Yet the briefest examination Of the facrs
would have shown her that the Jews merely reflect
their environment. II with stronger tinge OF color
due to their more vivid temperament their gratitude
and attachment their Ravens and Netherlands, ana
their anxiety prove themselves more patriotic than
the patriots II Is but rarely that Jew makes the
faintest criticism OF his country In war-fever and
when he does So he is disavowed by his community
and its press. For the Jew his country can do no
wrong
wherever we turn. therefore, find the Jew
prominently patriotic. In England the late Lord
Rothschild presided the Red Cross fund, and
the lord chief justice Is understood to have saved the
financial situation not only for England. but for all
its allies In Germany Herr Ban. the Jew who re-
fused baptismal path to preferment the creator
Of the mercantile marine. and now the organizer OF
national foodsupply stands the kaisers FRIEND
interpreter and henchman. while Macmillan Harden
brazeny voices the gospel OF Prussanism and Ernst
Iissauer-a Jew converted to the religion Of love-
sings "The Song of Hate" In France, Dreyfus--a
Christian Jew albeit unbaptized-his charge OF
battery to the north Of Paris while General Hey
mann. grand officer OF the Legion OF Honor COM
mands an army corps. In Turkey the racally Jewish
Enver Bey Is the ruling spirit having defeated the
Jewish david Beg. who for alliance with France
while Italy the contrary, has Joined the allies
through the influence OF Baron sonnino the OF a
Jew. The military hospitals of Turkey all under
the direction OF the Austrian Jew Hecker In Hun.
gary IL is the Jews who. with the Magyars. the
brains OF the nation. Belgium has sent several thou.
sand Jews to the colors and at when Bel
giuhs fate hangs upon England. has entrusted its
interests at the Court OF St James TO Jewish mint.
ster. Mr.. Hymans. Twenty thousand Jews fight
ing for the British empire. 5000 for the German. a
10000 for the Austro-Hungaran, and $4,000 for the
Russian TWO thousand five hundred Jews fight
for Serbia Even from Morocco and Tripoli
Jewish troops-they number % per cent OF the Zoaves
From Australia, New Zealand. from Canada South
Africa. from every possession dependency stream
Jewish soldiers sailors Even the little contingent
from Rhodesia had jews and the first British
der fall IN German southwest Africa Ben
Rabnson a famous athlete In Buluwayo half
company OF reserves Is composed OF Jews.
When Joseph chamberlain offered the zonists
plateau in East Africa the half-dozen local Britonn
held mass meeting OF protest Yet today though
the offer rejected OF the zonsts. fifty Jewish
yolunteers-among them Captain Blumenthai OF the
artillery. and lieutenant Ecksten. OF the Mounted
Rifes-are serving In the defense force enlisted at
Nairobi Letters from British Jews published In
single number Of the Jewish World. taken at random
reveal the writers with the Australian fighting
force In Egypt with the japanese at the taking Of
Tsing-Tau. with the grand fleet in the North Sea-
while the killed and wounded IN the issue
almost every British regiment. the historic
Black Watch. Grenadier Guards OF Kings Own Scotch
Borderers down to the latest Middlesex and Man
chester creations. One distinguished family alone
the Spielmanns-boasts thirty-fve members with the
forces. A letter Of thanks from the king has pub
iished the fact that obscure Jew in a London
suburb has five at the 'front.'