Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1956. január-június (5. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1956-02-09 / 6. szám

AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ

15

—■iiuniniirnnMiiiiiiiiinifiniiiiiMii ii

Family

| Page I

A Brigadier General Writes

fi ’.ETTEK T3 TKE PRESIDENT

We are publishing t1~r' following excerpts of a •copv of a letter sent fr> tho President by Mr. No- vacky, a member of the N. Y. Polonia Club:

T' Mr. President:

ecent news item states that thirty-eight ..j liters from West Germany arrived to start a six-month training period at U. S. military schools. A number of these officers admitted serving in either Hitler’s ill-famed Luftwaffe or Panzer Divisions on various fronts.

We Americans of Polish extraction, who vividly recall the dreadful massacre of over 6,000,000 Poles including women and children who were mercilessly tortured and cremated in the ovens of Oswiecim and Tremblenka and whose land was ravaged and plundered, are very gravely concerned about our America being the host to those who were trained by Hitler and participated in his hideous crimes which earned the contempt of the decent people of America.

We are alarmed that such a low level has been reached that the United States is now exchanging and sharing military knowledge with men who upon their arrival in New York City claimed they would not permit the mistakes made by their former Fuehrer.

It was only ten years ago that, through the joint efforts of the United States, the Soviet Union and our other allies, a pledge was jointly made at the end of Warld War II that Germany shall be disarmed and never again become a military threat. But, since then, a turnabout has taken place and we find Germany being rearmed and many nazi leaders, guilty of the most barbarous crimes, are being set free including :he notorious General S. Dietrich, who ordered the slaughter of our unarmed boys at' Malmedy. This is pm insult and a betrayal of the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice to defeat Hitler and what he stood for.

We appeal to you, Mr. President, your conscience and moral obligation to the democratic traditions of America, not to permit the training of former Hitler officers in our military schools; and we further urge to use your influence toward winning back our democratic allies and salvaging our deteriorating position by changing our foreign policy to one of understanding and peace through better cultural and trade relations.

Sincerely yours, Casimir T. Nowacki

The “cold war” which both the East and West have helped to create and continue to support, but which neither can effectively wage nor hope to win, has not only brought the wrorld in recent years more than once to the precipice of atomic and hydrogen warfare, but has reduced our once high reputation for enlightened leadership among the democratic and freedom loving people of the world to its lowest point and so divided and frightened our people at home that we are in, great danger of abandoning to national hysteria some of the most fundamental principles of our Anglo-Saxon heritage. For better part of a decade now we have been moving dangerously close to guilt by association and conviction by label—two of the most evil tools of totalitarianism. In efect, in some instances, it amounts to the practice of “self flagellation” common among some of the more backward religious cults.

Probably no other people in the 20th century 'have so little to fear as we from our.. . little band of ... domestic communists and yet the natural right of citizens to travel has been restricted to an extent never dreamed of before, the right of dissent frequently equated with treason and what amounts to a bill of attainder attached to many of our loyal citizens. All allegedly necessary in the intei'est of national security despite the fact that some of our most competent and distinguished constitutional lawyers have' insisted from the beginning of the “cold war” that the laws then on the statute books and the FBI as then constituted were completely adequate for national safety. It will probably require a minimum of 25 years and the efforts at least another generation of the most distinguished citizens and jurists to bind the wounds created by the injection of this poison

cf suspicion and hate into our domestic life stream. While the recent dismissal of charges of subversion and contempt by the courts ag°mst some of our citizens, including two distinguished scholars, Professors Lattimore of John Hopkins and Dunham of Temple University, are encouraging, the defense can never catsh up with the charge. The courts and the civil liberty groups, like the Mad Hatter in Alice, will have to run ever faster and faster in order to keep even.

If it were really true, as some of the “10<K(” Americans and “super-patriotic” organizations by their word s and deeds proclaim, that, democracy and the free society are so weak and delibi- litated that they cannot meet the challenge of communism in the market place of ideas, and, therefore, World War III is inevitable, then the: e would not be much point in trying to preserve them. But then do not these individuals and organizations disqualify themselves as leaders of democracy because of their obvious belief in the superiority of communism over it? Every intelligent and informed American, of course, knows that this is not true and should and would under ordinary circumstances reject the idea out of hand. But these are not ordinary times. While a few liberal organizations, periodicals and individuals are waging a valiant struggle against this insidious hysteria, the odds are hopelessly agamat them so long as the “cold war” continues and grows. And yet, paradoxically enough, most of them apparently fail to see the causal relationship, between the two, as evidenced by their vi- gofous and continuous support of the “cold war” itself.

Hugh B. Ilesler Brigadier General U. S. Army (Rtd.)

A LETTES! TO EG SULLIVAN

(The Churchman)

A reader of a progressive newspaper sent the following letter of protest to Ed Sullivan, the well known TV program director:

Dear Mr. Sullivan:

We watch your Sunday night TV show regularly and enjoy it, because the talent on your show is generally good. We also especially appreciate your frequent use of talent from among minority peoples, particulary from amongst the Negro people, for which you have received public recognition.

We are disappointed with the type of presentation by Myron Cohen. We feel his ridiculing of the Jewish people through dialect is not funny but rather insulting to the Jewish people. This also goes for the use of dialect against any minority people. We don’t feel that our culture is in such desperate straits that we need to resort to poking fun at the way minority peoples speak.

T am thinking of my parents, and the parents of many people T know, who came to this country to escape persecution. They became quite involved in earning a livelihood for their loved

035iiin@Kiis On A Times Editorial

In its comments on the United States rebuke to Hungary for the arrest of two Hungarian newspapermen, the New7 York Times makes the following editorial statements in its February 6th issue:

“It is not difficult to understand why, even among its fellow Soviet satellites, the puppet Hungarian regime should feel compelled to undertake relatively extreme measures of this sort. As foreign travelers these last few years have confirmed in Hungary itself, the Rákosi puppet group is hated by a large fraction of its subjects. Its unpopularity and the widespread resistance arising therefrom have made the Hungarian regime’s economic record oiie of the poorest among the satelite nations.”

“...Little wonder that the Budapest gau- leiters have special reason to fear truthful reporting ... in their hand.”

It is difficult to understand how the Times could have arrived at its conclusions if its editors made use of the reports of their own correspondents.

Here is, for instance what Jack Raymond, ä correspondent of the N. % Times reported äs a result of his travel in Hungary last summer:

“The effervescence and good humor of Hungarians are astonishing to a visitor to their country.” Sept. 17, 1955.

“The cafes are filled, and there is noise and boisterousness in drinking places. . . In the streets of the Hungarian capital the people do not give the appearance of bleak living.”

ones so as not to be a burden on their adopted government. And wdth unions not yet in existence at the time, many of us remeber our fathers working almost around the clock. Consequently they had no time to master the “King’s English”. When their children were grown, educated and self-sufficient, many of these parents wrent to our night schools to leam our language and history and received certificates for successfully conquering illiteracy. These were plumbers, painters, and miners w'ho built our country. These are the parents who sacrificed and produced the doctors, vaccine discoverers, scientists, engineers. teachers, actors, musicians of today. Do they deserve to be poked fun at because of the way they speak? J «r . /.

“The general impression throughout a large portion of Eastern Europe is that the periad of the most serious political and economic difficulties has ended for the East European states and that improvements are to be expected. ...The strength of that rule... appears to have earned the respect of the majority of thé population and qualified foreign observers.” Sept. 16, 1955.

Or, to take the reports of another noted Times correspondent, here is what John McCormack had to say about Hungary after a personal visit:

“There is reason to believe that the tola! volume of industrial goods is twice as large a3 before the war”. Nov. 2, 1955.

“It is not until one inspects the factories housing blocks, nurseries, clinics and cul.u/al homes that have been built in the city’s working qparters that he begins to realize the. . . positive achievements?’

Apid finally here is what a third Times correspondent reported also on a basis of personal visit: ■

“Hungarians are cosmopolitan and friendly and I found it easy to meet people. Only a few wbre inhibited in what they said.”

“There are pleasant outdoor cafes in the warm summer evening in Budapest and t ie lakeside villages where people dance under the stars to a band with a vocalist who can turn even “Papa Loves Mambo” into Hungarian. — Norman Moss. Sept. 11, 1955.

One wonders why the “Budapest gauleiters” should have special reason to fear truthful report- r ing if this is what American newspapermen reported after visiting Hungary!

The glaring contradictions between the published reports of the Times own correspondents and the alleged reports of “foreign travelers” upon which the N. Y. Times bases its harsh condemnation of Hungary are disturbing.

The New York Times is generally considered to be a semi-official organ of our State Depart- • ment. Thoughtful citizens of our country must shudder of the thought that the decisions that our policymakers take are based on similar dis-: regard of facts as the conclusions of the Time's as manifested in this specific editorial. V

<r r. Zoltán Deák, , . ' ,

' -ri*.v Editor, Magyar Szó- $ ■ ,

February 9, 1956