modern jewish history Archives - Page 2 of 3

The Jew Who Gave Roosevelt a Bad Rap

Close your eyes and picture the one person who did the most to save Jews from the Holocaust. Did you picture Oskar Schindler? Irena Sendler? Raoul Wallenberg? How about…Franklin Delano Roosevelt? If a Zionist activist named Peter Bergson had his way, you might have. So say some historians, anyway. Born Hillel Kook in Lithuania in 1915 to a prominent Zionist […]

By Tamar Fox

from Jewniverse

The Jewish Salami War

Although keeping kosher was not a priority for most of the 500, 000+ Jews who served in the US military during World War II, kosher salami was among the most sought after Jewish comfort foods. American rabbis worked unceasingly to satisfy the demand, and distributed salamis everywhere from Belgium to Burma. Archived correspondence of civilian rabbis and military chaplains reveals that the “salami war” […]

from Jewniverse

Nazis in Brooklyn?

Believe it or not, Nazi sympathizers were out and about in the borough as early as 1934. It started in 1934 when Heinz Spanknobel, a German immigrant, put together a gathering called “Friends of New Germany” with financial assistance from the German Consul. He wasn’t alone: Nazis lived in all areas of Brooklyn, from Williamsburg to Ridgewood. By […]

from Jewniverse