Awards to John Hersey for his current best seller “The Wall” and to Professor Guido Kisch, eminent historian of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, for “The Jews in Medieval Germany” were made here today by the National Jewish Welfare Board-sponsored Jewish Book Council of America at its annual meeting hold at the Jewish Museum. The two awards – one of $500 for the best work of non-fiction of literary merit and general Jewish interest, and one for $250 for a book of fiction meeting the same qualifications – are made annually by the Council.
The money for the non-fiction award – known as the “Isadore Hershfield Award” was provided by friends of the late Isidore Hershfield, of Washington, D.C.; the funds for the fiction award were furnished by Samuel H. Daroff, Philadelphia philanthropist and civic leader. Philip Schiff, Washington representative, presented the award to Professor Kisch on behalf of a group of Mr. Hershfield’s friends, who raised the funds to make the award possible. Harold Strauss, editor-in-chief of knopf, accepted the award for Mr. Hersey, who is now in Paris and who had earlier in a letter to the Council directed that the check for the $250 be turned over to the Joint Distribution Committee.
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.
