A spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that there was “not the slightest hint” that anti-Semitism played any part in the accidental death of Fred Bronner, a Jewish youth who fell from a 500 foot cliff in the Los Angeles National Forest during a fraternity hazing Dec. 22. According to Harvey Schechter, Western States fact-finding director of the ADL. no evidence has come up so far that indicated any motivation behind Bronner’s death.
Schechter said the ADL looked into the case after receiving inquiries as to possible anti-Semitic motivations. The youth was a member of Tri Chi, a local fraternity at nearby Pierce Junior College, and as far as the ADL knows, was the only Jewish member. The fraternity, which has no national affiliations, is not known to be exclusionary. But a remark by a fraternity brother, quoted in the local press, that they wanted to teach Bronner a lesson because he was “obnoxious,” aroused some suspicion here.
Bronner was left in the hills at night and told to walk home, but stumbled over the cliff in the dark. Schechter said there was nothing unusual about the hazing in that other members of Tri Chi were initiated in the same manner on previous occasions. The fraternity has been suspended by the college authorities.
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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.
