The Navy has announced that it will spend as much as $600,000 to modify the 33,034-square-foot complex that was built in 1970 to house 1,000 military personnel at the Coronado Amphibious Base.

Morris Casuto, San Diego regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said today that word of the Navy's decision recently was relayed to him by U.S. Navy Capt. Mike Allen, who is chief of staff to Rear Admiral Len Hering at Naval District Southwest, the command which has administrative jurisdiction over a plethora of bases in San Diego County, including the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado.

Casuto said he and Allen had been holding discussions about the symbol since December 2006 when the Anti-Defamation League first was made aware of the problem by reports over KFMB-TV and in my column in the now defunct San Diego Jewish Times about how numerous Internet users were calling up an image of the complex using the Google Earth program.  We had been alerted to the growing phenomenon by a Wisconsin raised citizen of Israel, Avrahaum Segol, who has been researching a book on controversial symbols on public U.S. property.

U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (Democrat, San Diego), a member of the Jewish community whose district represents Coronado and who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, joined Casuto in making queries to the Navy about what could be done to remove, camouflage or modify the symbol.

No breakdown of  the estimate of $600,000 was provided by the Navy, and today Casuto speculated that perhaps the Navy's own Construction Battalion, popularly known as the Seabees (CB's) couldn't do the job far less expensively.

The Anti-Defamation League's regional director said that although the ADL explained its opposition to the swastika,  it did not attempt to apply any pressure. There were no letter writing campaigns, no mass demonstrations, just conversation about the emotional impact the Nazi swastika has on Jews and other victims of Hitler's regime.

"We understood it was not the number one priority of the Navy, with wars going on, nor should it have been," Casuto said. "We didn't want the Navy to spend a fortune correcting the mistake but we wanted the mistake corrected." 

He said "the real key, given everything else that the Navy is concerned about,  is that the Navy addressed an issue that was symbolic, moral and ethical.  They did it in a way that brought honor to the service."

A goal of the ADL throughout the discussions, said Casuto, was that "we wanted to make sure that when the process ended we had a good relationship with the Navy."

Casuto said Allen told him a number of ideas have been discussed for modifying the complex, including installation of solar energy collectors into the design "so there will be some return. Another alternative is camouflage."

The ADL office received media calls from throughout the country as word of the Navy's decision was disseminated.  There were also some complaints, Casuto said.  One caller said he was Jewish but felt the Navy should not have been asked to change the buildings' configuration.  "He felt they could spend money on better things," Casuto said.

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Letter to Editor
Swastika a religious symbol for Buddhists and Hindus long before Hitler 'distorted it'

Editor, San Diego Jewish World:

I saw the news item in LA times today. I was little amazed at all the concernsabout Swastika shaped Navy barracks. Just to introduce myself, I am a Hindu.Actual Swastika (not the Hitler's distorted version of Swastika) is considered to be sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism and many other parts of the world, including Japan, as it is used to invoke Blessings of The Almighty.

The barracks' shape in fact looks like the shape of actual Swastika.

However for the last few decades (after the rise of Hitler), people have started to hate this auspicious sign, because Hitler distorted the actual swastika by tilting it, and according to him, he made it a sign of death.

Well, it is my opinion that the Navy barracks have a good shape of Original Holy Swastika, and should be left like that. In fact, people should be educated about this.

Hindus worship the Holy Swastika, and they are not the followers of Hitler. In fact Hitler disgraced the actual Swastika, and because of that people around the world now see even the actual Swastika also as negative, where as it is a sign of
Life.

I came across this link on the internet, written by a Spanish gentleman, you may want to take a look. 

Manmohan Chopra
Northridge, California

Editor's Response: Even if the Navy complex's configuration were agreed by all concerned not to be a Nazi swastika, but in fact a Hindu or Buddhist religious symbol, it still would cause problems under the U.S. Constitution, which states:"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." To the extent that government buildings were meant to carry the sacred message of Hinduism or Buddhism (or were shaped in a six-pointed star, or a crescent, or a cross to symbolize Judaism, Islam or Christianity) this would be considered an act of establishment of a religion and would be subject to constitutional challenge.

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A Herald in Zion....  Notes from Mevasseret Zion                                                                    Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

Epilogue to the famous Bergen-

Belsen recording of 'Hatikvah'
 
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel—In the framework of the Israel Translators Association, I belong to a group of translators living in the Jerusalem area. Although we have monthly gatherings and lectures, most of our activity consists of almost daily on-line discussions about translating expressions, information about research resources and offers of work. Many of the individuals involved are very knowledgeable, particularly about Jewish subjects, while sometimes the queries are more technical. Thus, when one unfortunate member suddenly lost her spell-check and thesaurus functions—both rather essential for translators—another member told her (and the rest of the group) how to overcome the problem.

But occasionally the subject-matter of the e-mails that pour into my mail-box deviate from the purely professional, reflecting the interests of the other members of the group (though they are careful to steer clear of politics).

This was the case with an e-mail entitled ‘Hatikva.’ Upon opening it I found a message telling me to put my speakers on and go to the linked web-site. There I found a recording made in April 1945 by a British reporter in which freed Jewish prisoners from Bergen-Belsen sang ‘Hatikva.’ In the prelude to the song, the reporter relates how the ‘Jewish priest’ accompanying the British troops liberating the concentration camp organised a Friday evening service. This was the first Jewish service ever held in the camp, and the first in a decade on German soil without fear of persecution.

The recording was certainly touching. But even more touching was the following response sent by one of the members of the group, Danny Verbov, and quoted here with his permission: "The Jewish ‘priest’ was actually the Jewish army chaplain, Reverend Leslie Hardman MBE, who also happens to be my grandfather. He is now 94 years old and has been married for 70 years to my grandmother, who is 96! I think he'd prefer being called a rabbi.”

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People of the Books

Letters rescued from Nazi Germany sketched Kentucky of late 1920's

The Tobacco Road: Hamburg, Kentucky, Shanghai: The Collected Letters of Herbert van Son, translated by Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Shefer Publishing, Israel, 2003, 267 pages, $10

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, whose column from Mevaserret Zion appears above, and Miriam Ron, a colleague in the field of translating, took upon themselves the task of rescuing letters written from Kentucky in 1928 by a homesick 19-year-old German Jewish boy to his family in Hamburg, Germany. 

Translated first by Ron from German to Hebrew, and then by Shefer-Vanson from Hebrew to English, one might have expected some of the flavor to have been lost somewhere in the interplay among the three languages.  And perhaps some of it has, but, if so, it is not missed. 

Never intended to be read by anyone other than his family, the letters of Herbert van Son are at times admiring of American culture and at other times disdainful.

Taken as a group—a large group, because van Son wrote home often—the collected letters provide some fascinating sketches of Kentucky life in 1928, the year Al Smith was battling Herbert Hoover for the presidency, and a time when Kentucky bourbon flowed freely notwithstanding Prohibition.

My guess is that Kentucky historians will welcome this book  for its descriptions of how the tobacco business was conducted in their state in 1928, as that was what the van Son family sent Herbert to America to learn.  But a more casual reader finds every few pages some interesting observations, which I found myself dotting in the margins of the book with a marking pen.

A few examples will have to suffice.

On March 8, 1928, van Son wrote about listening to a rabbi’s sermon in Louisville.

The subject was very interesting.  The American government intends to build two new warships, and has designated 2.5 billion dollars for that purpose. That sum will have to be raised over the next five years from contributions—750 million dollars each year. In his sermon the rabbi made an impassioned plea, beseeching the entire congregation to make every effort to prevent the money being raised.  His words were directed not only to them, but he asked them to exert their influence on friends and relations and dissuade them for contributing to this cause.  Imagine if a rabbi in Germany were to preach a sermon of that kind. I think he wouldn’t have long to live.  One sees here that the Statue of Liberty is not just for show….

From Clarksville, Kentucky, on April 5, he commented: “Yesterday I visited the local hospital.  It’s very modern.  Facing every bed hangs a notice advertising William Smith, Undertaker.  Very significant and sensitive, isn’t it?  But that’s typical of America.”

After spending six weeks in Clarksville, Van Son returned to Louisville, commenting on April 19:

You can’t imagine how glad I’ll be to be able to go to synagogue again.  Even though I don’t believe in anything.  I also feel terribly guilty that this year, for the first time in my life, I didn’t observe Pesach.  Oh, God, how cruel it was. I’ll never, ever spend another Pesach away from Jews, without the seder, without matza….

Van Son was in Louisville during the horse racing season, and with his supervisor, Martin, attended a ritzy Kentucky Derby party, at which he met the fabled New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker.  Here is part of his description:

First we went into an elevator, which took us without stopping straight to the 25^th floor.  In the elevator Martin kept treading on my foot.  I didn’t understand what was happening, until finally I understood that in America a man has to take his hat off if he is in an elevator in the presence of a lady.  Here one has to gradually get used to all these cultured niceties of progress. It is all too much for a poor, uneducated European.  

Upstairs, the scene was wonderful, with an unending supply of made-up faces, fantastic lighting, beautiful decorations, an unbelievably wonderful orchestra, evening dresses, diamonds, decolletés, all those wonderful things that I’ve never seen before.  Typically American: the ladies in elegant evening gowns, the men most of them in light racing suits with dirty brown shoes.  Martin introduced me to all kinds of girls, very nice, very pretty, very stupid, i.e., American.  By each one he whispered two numbers in my ear, which he had told me beforehand. The first was the amount of her marriage settlement, the second her inheritance after her father’s death.  During the course of the evening I danced with many millions of dollars, and conducted conversations in German, Dutch, English, French and Yiddish.  People drank like fish, and late at night, at about 2 a.m. I think, a very elegant and very drunk man walked in, everyone applauded, Jimmy Walker. 

In Germany everyone would have stood up and bowed, but here everyone shouted, “Hello, Jimmy!” and poured themselves a whisky and soda. At 3 a.m., we left, we were a fairly large group, and went to Martin’s house, where we danced and drank. It was quite a nice evening.
 

In a June 13 letter from Louisville, van Son gave vent to both the charming and nasty sides of his personality.  Telling of a social call he and two acquaintances made upon a widow in her modern 10^th floor apartment, he wrote:

If you had a kitchen like that, Mama, you would live your whole life there and die there, and perhaps asked to be buried there.  You put the vegetables into an electric oven, turn a dial which tells the vegetables to cook for an hour, and another hour for the stew to simmer, and another 25 minutes to maintain a steady heat, and then, at a preset time, the vegetables will be properly cooked and ready to eat. Everything is electric and automatic.  Just wonderful.

But later in the same letter, he also wrote:

Mama, you write that you’re so sorry that I don’t have Jewish friends and acquaintances.  To me it makes no difference.  The Jews here are as stupid and superficial as all the other Americans.

Van Son’s mood swings—from elation to depression, from gratefulness to resentfulness—apparently were the cause of his undoing.  After his apprenticeship in Kentucky, and a vacation back home in Hamburg, van Son was sent to Shanghai, to learn more aspects of the tobacco business.

There he died of loss of blood from slashed wrists, an apparent suicide, not yet 21 years of age. 

Had not his younger brother, Manfred, taken the box of Herbert’s letters out of nazi Germany shortly after Kristallnacht, they never would have been discovered by Manfred’s daughter, our columnist Dorothea Shefer-Vanson.  Now, however, they belong to history, and we're richer for it.  The book may be ordered from Shefer-Vanson via her email: dorothea@shefer.com

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50 Years Ago

Remembering Sandy Koufax's final appearances for Brooklyn

By Joe Naiman

LAKESIDE, California—As the 50th anniversary of the final Brooklyn Dodgers game approaches, it is appropriate to review how Sandy Koufax fared in his final appearances in a Brooklyn uniform.

The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles for the 1958 season and
played their final game as representatives of Brooklyn on
September 29, 1957.  Sandy Koufax was in his third major
league season in 1957; he appeared in 34 games for the
Dodgers consisting of 13 starts and 21 relief appearances.

Koufax's 1955 Topps "rookie card"

Two of those starts were complete games, although neitherof those were shutouts.  Koufax had a 5-4 won-loss recordfor Brooklyn in 1957, and in 104 innings pitched he struck out 122 opposing batters.

That final Brooklyn Dodgers game was played against the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.  The Phillies won that game by a 2-1 score, and Koufax made an appearance in relief.  Roger Craig pitched the first seven innings for the Dodgers and gave up both runs; the 2-1 final score was also the case when Koufax took the mound for the bottom of the eighth inning.

After obtaining the first out, Koufax walked two Phillies
batters.  However, he then coaxed a groundout from Harry
Anderson and struck out Willie Jones to retire the side.
He allowed no hits in his final Brooklyn Dodgers appearance,
and Jones was his only strikeout victim in that game.  Since
the Phillies were both the home team and the winning
team, there was no need to play the bottom of the ninth,
and thus Koufax was also the final Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher.

Koufax's previous appearance also took place in relief at
Connie Mack Stadium.  That game took place on September 27,
1957, and was a 3-2 Phillies win.  Koufax once again took
the mound in the eighth inning with the score at the time
identical to the eventual final score.  He retired all three
Phillies batters he faced, including two by strikeout.

Koufax didn't appear in the Dodgers' final game at Ebbets
Field, which took place on September 24, 1957.  The Dodgers
exited the Brooklyn stadium as winners, defeating the
Pittsburgh Pirates by a 2-0 score.  Rookie Danny McDevitt
pitched a complete game (as well as a shutout) in the
final major league game played in Brooklyn.

As for Koufax's final game in Brooklyn, it took place on
September 20, 1957.  As turned out to be the case for his
two subsequent games in a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform, it came
in a loss to the Phillies.  Carl Erskine had struggled in
the ninth inning, and the Phillies had a 3-2 lead with
runners on second and third base when Koufax was summoned
to relieve Erskine with two outs in the top of the ninth.
Koufax faced Richie Ashburn, who was retired after hitting
a ground ball to shortstop Charlie Neal.  The Dodgers
didn't score in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Phillies
a win and also making Koufax the finishing pitcher for
that game.

For many Brooklyn residents, the final days of September 1957
were a tragic time.  But for Sandy Koufax, who would
spend nine seasons with the Dodgers in Los Angeles, he
finished the Brooklyn part of his career with near perfection
 

  
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