Jewish community officials in Nashville, Tenn. reported today that law enforcement agencies are continuing in their efforts to find and prosecute members of the Ku Klux Klan involved in an alleged attempt to plant dynamite yesterday at a local temple. A report by the Tennessean, Nashville’s morning newspaper, said that meanwhile three persons arested in the incident were members of the Ku Klux Klan. The newspaper said that at least seven other members were being sought in a conspiracy that included plans to bomb a number of pawn shops owned by Jews.
The Tennessean identified the three arrested as Gladys Girgenti, about 50 years old, of nearby Madison; Charles Boyers, about 27, of Madison, and Robert Pranz, about 35, of Nashville.
According to Jay Pilzer, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Nashville, three men were arrested by federal authorities yesterday as they drove their pickup truck onto the property of The Temple, a reform synagogue, in an alleged attempt to plant a bomb at the temple.
NO HISTORY OF ANTI-SEMITISM
Pilzer, in a phone interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said that Nashville, with a Jewish community of about 3700, has not had a history of anti-Semitic incidents. Pilzer added that it was “actually just the opposite,” and referred to the Jewish community as being “generally accepted.”
Morris Werthan, president of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, in a statement to the JTA today, said: “We find the threat of violence against any citizens of our community, the attempted attack on a Jewish house of worship as contrary to all the traditions of our country. The manufacture and placement of this explosive devise posed a threat not only to The Temple, but to the safety of all Nashvillians. The Jewish Federation appreciated the actions of law enforcement officials and are fully behind their continued efforts to find and prosecute any who may be involved in these acts of hatred and violence.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
