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30THE SENTINELOctober 9, 1941PAYUSSISHKINUssishkin Laid To Rest In Ancient“Nikanor’s Cave”; All Night FuneralBy Beryl CoralnikJerusalem, Oct. 7 (JTA)—All Jewish activity was suspended in Palestine when this city witnessed the most impressive funeral ever held in Palestine in modern times, as Menahem Mendel Ussishkin, doyen of the Zionist movement and president of the Jewish National Fund, was laid to rest • in “Nikanor’s Cave” in the grounds of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus.“Nikanor’s Cave,” which was uncovered ten years ago during excavations by Professor Sukenik of the Hebrew University, dates from the time of the Second Temple and looks out on what was formerly the Temple grounds. Legend has it that from this point the Roman legions launched their attack on Jerusalem. Ussishkin expressed a desire to be buried there when he died. He planned to convert the Cave into a pantheon for Zionist leaders.The funeral procession, which was arranged at an all-night session in the dead leader’s house of prominent Palestine Jewish personalities, started from Ussishkin’s home. Leading the procession were pupils from the Jewish schools in Jerusalem, all of which were closed during the funeral. After them came the pall bearers, who were chosen from the surviving members of the first World Zionist Congress, members of the Jewish Agency and representatives of the Vaad Leumi. Ussishkin’s family followed after the pall bearers.The entire executive of the Jewish Agency, members of the Vaad Leumi, the executive of the JNF, the Palestine Rabbinate, the Senate of the Hebrew University and the Hadassah followed in the procession. Then came representatives of the Palestine government, consuls of the different countries, representatives of the municipal authorities, delegates from the Jewish settlements and representatives from the various youth organizations.The funeral proceeded along the street that bears Ussishkin’s name and made its first stop at the synagogue where the aged leader used to worship. The next stop was made before the JNF building. From there the funeral proceeded to Mount Scopus, while all traffic was cleared from the streets.Ussishkin left two messages in sealed envelopes. One was marked: “To be Opened At My Death.” The other bore the inscription: “To be Opened Seven Days After My Death.” The first message when opened was found to contain explicit instructions as to the funeral. It provided that no eulogies be delivered at Ussishkin’s bier and no flowers bedeck the casket. It asked that the casket be covered by the Jewish Blue-White flag and that only Kaddish and El Mole Rachmim be recited at the burial ceremony.Ussishkin’s last words before he died were uttered to Dr. Rokach, who had been treating him. When the doctor entered the room in which the Zionist leader was sitting Ussishkin said to him: “Zehu Hasof.” “(This isthe end.”) Dr. Rokach attempted to assure Ussishkin that he had no need to be alarmed and that he would feel better as soon as he had received the injection which the doctor was preparing. But Ussishkin only repeated: “This is the end. I tell you it will not help.” Five minutes later he was dead The news of his death spread like wildfire throughout Palestine. ItOn the advent of Dr. Herzl, he joined the political Zionist movement but as an opponent of Dr. Herzl and his policies. Ussishkin raised the initial fund by which the Hebrew University was started, as a gift of the Jewish National Fund. He was one of the Zionist delegates to the Paris Pe?co Conference. In 1920 he was appointed chief of the Zionist Commission in Palestine, and in that capacity he effected the purchase of the Emek Jezreel lands. Later, when he became President of the Jewish National Fund, he devoted all his efforts to the policy of redeeming Palestine through agricultural colonization.Ussishkin toured the United States and Canada in 1921 in the interest of the National Fund, but these were the only brief excursions from his home in Jerusalem where he settled in 1920.When in 1937 Britain offered the Jews the establishment of a Jewish State through the partition of Palestine, Ussishkin led a vigorous fight against the partition scheme. He believed that a Jewish State must embrace all the territory “from Dan to Beer-Sheba.”MENAHEM MENDEL USSISHKINreached Tel Aviv during a session of the municipal council. The meeting was immediately adjourned. All cafes and places of entertainment were ordered closed. Leading citizens of the city departed en masse for Jerusalem to pay their last respects to the venerable leader of Zionism.Ussishkin continued to play a vital part in the affairs of the Yishub until the very hour of his death. Following the operation he underwent in the Rothschild-Hadassah-University hospital about two weeks ago his physicians demanded that he remain in the hospital to convalesce. But when on the first day of Rosh Hashanah a rabbi came to the hospital and blew the Shofar, Ussishkin broke down and demanded that he be taken home. Two days before Yom Kippur the doctors agreed to release him and he went home.Disregarding his weakened condition Ussishkin closely followed the news of the world. Only a few hours before his death he conferred with Chief Rabbi Herzog in his room and discussed latest developments in Palestine. Shortly after the Chief Rabbi left he began to grow weaker, and by the time the doctor arrived he was but a few short minutes from his death.Born in 1863 in Dubrovna, Russia, Ussishkin resided in his boyhood home in Moscow and received his engineering degree there in 1889. He has been identified with Zionist effort in Palestine since his boyhood and was one of the founders of the Bilu, and an organizer of the student Zionist bodies. In 1890 he organized the Odessa Committee which took the lead as the practical exponent of the Chovevei Zion movement in the settlement of Jews as agriculturists in Palestine.London, Oct. 7 (JTA)—Dr. Chaim Weizmann, addressing a memorial meeting for M. M. Ussishkin on the premises of the World Zionist Executive, urged American Jews to commem orate the name of Ussishkin by a new drive for acquisition of all land in Palestine which can still be purchased “within the straight jacket of the White paper.”Dr. Weizmann stated that during his next visit to America, which he said “will be soon,” he would be willing to devote himself to this particular effort. He described Ussishkin as “a rock which adorned the Zionist landscape for almost half a century.” Other speakers included David Ben-Gurion, Berl Locker and Dr. Ignacy Schwartzbart.Suicide Wave Engulfs Former Czechia JewsGeneva, Oct. 8 (JPS)—The reign of terror in the territory of the former Czechia has resulted in a wave of suicides in the Provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, as the sheer terror of the Nazi atrocities and the fear of arrest has driven scores of Jews to take their own lives in order to escape the horrors of the Gestapo.Reports reaching here state that in the last few days there were 12 Jewish suicides in Prague alone. Among those whose names reached here were Egon Ashman, Joseph Nathan and Emanuel Rogers.Simultaneously with its physical attacks and assassinations, the Nazis have launched a violent press campaign against the Jews, blaming them for the uprising in Czechia. Although the majority of the executed and arrested are not Jews, the Nazi newspapers contend that if it were not for the Jews, calm and tranquility would have reigned in the country.The purpose of this new campaign is emphasized by the Czech pro-Nazi organization, “Wlaika,” which has placarded the streets of Prague with posters showing photographs of the Jewish ghettos in Poland. An inscription says: “There will be no tranquility in Bohemia and Moravia until we have established similar ghettos for the Jews here.”Thus, a pretext is being built up for the Nazi erection of ghetto walls when and if the anti-Nazi rebellion is put down. One paper, Narodni Politika, insists that the only way to solve the Jewish problem in Czechia is by shipping all Jews out of the larger cities.Jerusalem, Oct. 7 (JTA)TheArab press in Palestine today publishes long articles on Ussishkin’s personality and on the role which he played in Jewish life. The Jewish press estimates that 50,000 persons participated in the Ussishkin funeral. Among the participants were many Arab notables, including Mayor Khalidi of Jerusalem and Ragheb Bey Nashashibi. The High Commissioner of Palestine sent a letter of condolence to the Jewish Agency. Condolences have also been received from the Board of Jewish Deputies in London, and from Jewish organizations the world over.Nazis Execute Thousands Of Jews In The UkraineBy Otto SchickNew York, Oct. 7 (JTA)—Leaders of all Zionist parties and groups in the United States gathered at a memorial service held for M. M. Ussishkin in the New York headquarters of the Jewish National Fund. Simple rites marked the occasion. Psalms were read by A. L. Gelman, president of Mizrachi, and Mrs. David de Sola Pool, president of Hadassah. Eulogies were delivered by Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the JNF in America, and byZalman Schocken, member of the governing board of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish National Fund in Jerusalem.London, Oct. 6 (JTA)—Information from various places in Eastern Poland and Soviet Ukraine reaching Polish circles here reveals a horrible picture of Jewish massacres carried out by Nazi troops behind the front lines.Thousands of Jews who failed to retreat with the Soviet armies into Russia are simply being mowed down by machine guns, the report states. The German soldiers are under orders “to get the Jews out of the way” since it would take time and trouble to transport them to ghettos.Detailed data collected by reliable sources discloses that within one week alone 6,743 Jewish men, women and children were executed by the Nazi troops. This was during the third week of August. A two-day pogrom during which 4,200 Jews were executed by machine guns was carried out by the German military in Kamenetz-Podolsl on August 27 and 28. A day before the Black Guard Elite battalions ex ecuted 546 Jews in Berditchev. Dur ing the last week of August, 367 Jew were executed in Shepetovka and man, hundreds of Jews in other Nazi-occu pied Ukranian towns. Any group o Jews overtaken on roads were hande over to the troops entrusted wit “mopping-up operations” and wer summarily shot without any trial.
Newspaper Details
Chicago Sentinel
Chicago, Illinois, US
Thu, Oct 09, 1941
Page 26
Full Page
Clipped by
Marlen M.
NA, NA 11 May 2023
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