Michael E. Newton's Blog, page 35
August 8, 2010
A Very Popular Democrat Argues for Lower Taxes. Will the left listen?
John F. Kennedy in his Economic Report of the President from January 1963:
Tax reduction thus sets off a process that can bring gains for everyone, gains won by marshalling resources that would otherwise stand idle—workers without jobs and farm and factory capacity without markets. Yet many taxpayers seemed prepared to deny the nation the fruits of tax reduction because they question the financial soundness of reducing taxes when the federal budget is already in deficit. Let me make clear...
August 3, 2010
My Totally Biased Required Reading List for Lovers of Liberty
The Federalist Papers: The best description of the principles of liberty and how to apply them.
The Road to Serfdom: Explanation of how big government leads to tyranny.
The Path to Tyranny: Show how big government has historically led to tyranny.
Atlas Shrugged: Shows what the consequences of government intervention on the American economy.
Please suggest other "Required" books in the comments.
April 29, 2010
Q&A with Michael E. Newton
I set up a Q&A group for myself and my book, The Path to Tyranny: A History of Free Society's Descent into Tyranny. If you have any questions for me, about my book, or about writing, researching, and publishing, please post them in the discussion boards in that group. Thanks.
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/3...
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/3...
April 15, 2010
History of Yehuda Yaakov Friedlander
This is the story of my great-grandfather. I am not the author here. The first is a letter my great-uncle wrote to the newspaper. The second part is the story as my mother dictated it to me.
Letter from Max Friedlander to Jerusalem Post
...cannot forget
Sir, - I've lived through tough times, and the horror always returns come November 9. I shiver, then go back to living.
This year I asked some work colleagues if they knew the word "Kristallnacht." Blank faces stared back. These are educated people, well versed in current affairs. I was in shock.
I live in a retirement home, and the cultural director agreed to give me an afternoon to share some memories of that horrible time with my neighbors, all more or less my age. I got November 7, and the hall was full to capacity. I spoke for almost an hour.
I told them of my best friend in first grade, a Christian boy who lived opposite us in Vienna. When I studied for my bar mitzva he sat with me and listened, and attended the synagogue service and the celebration.
Came the Anschluss and, the morning after Kristallnacht, a knock on the door. There stood my friend, now accompanying an SA man and Gestapo civilian, searching for weapons. My father was arrested; my erstwhile friend, who knew exactly where my bar mitzva books were, left with them on his shoulder.
Father and some 100 others were held in hell for 20 days, with one bucket and no water. He, an ex-soldier decorated with the small Iron Cross, was the only one then allowed to leave the country with his family, within 30 days. His release was signed by Lt. SS Adolf Eichmann. The man who killed six million Jews saved our lives.
One of my granddaughters asked me for a letter she could read while in Poland earlier this year. In it I used almost the exact words with which Judy Montagu closed her wonderful article.
MAX FRIEDLANDER
Jerusalem
From my mother:
History of Yehuda Yaakov Friedlander
Grandpa volunteered to the Austrian army during World War I at the age of 17. He was very happy serving in the army and at the end of World War I he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Italians where he stayed a year.
After a year, he went back to Vienna and became an Austrian Patriot. He wanted the Kaiser back because a socialist government was created in Austria.
He was very proud as he got the heroism medal from the Austrian army. He joined the former Austrian Jewish soldiers group. He always carried a picture of himself in hi corporal uniform with the medal of the iron cross. For a Jew to be in the Austrian army was a big achievement as the Austrian army was anti-Semitic.
On Crystalnacht night, he was not harmed. He was in jail in Vienna for 14 days, when an S.S. man came. It was Eichman. He interviewed all the prisoners and decided to which camps to send them.
When grandpa’s turn came, he stood erect without a sound, while the rest of the prisoners cried and asked for mercy and told Eichman, my officer, I never thought that a hero of the Austrian Army will be treated like a prisoner, that didn’t do a thing wrong.
Eichman laughed and said that it was impossible that a Jewish man can be a hero in the Austrian army. Grandpa said I will prove it to you and took out his picture. He could not give it straight to Eichman, but first to another S.S. person and he showed it to Eichman. The whole time grandpa stood erect like a soldier.
Eichman looked at the picture and at grandpa and said “a Jewish pig” if you and your family can leave Austria within four weeks, I will let you go now. All the other prisoners were sent to Dacau and other concentration camps.
It was Friday afternoon and he came home by foot. He walked into the house like out of the blue. His head was shaven and he had blue marks on his body because after Eichman said that he will release him, they hit him until he got to the door. He got washed and grandma put him in bed. It was the first time that my Uncle Max heard him cry bitterly. He was not sure the crying was from pain or relief. We will never know the answer to that.
On Sunday he started to get everything in order to send his children, my father, and Uncle Max out of Israel. The children were sent by train to England.
My father and Max were children number 8 and 9 in line on the train. Grandpa paid for the first seven children as well to get on the train to assure that his sons get on the train. My grandpa had to pay a lot of money so he could go to the land of Israel illegally.
Grandma and grandpa came illegally to Israel by boat. They were allowed only one bag each. They left Vienna to Budapest on a boat through the Danube. In Budapest, the Jewish community greeted them with open arms. There were 400 people on the boat. They arrived in Romania Port Constanza. Another boat was supposed to wait for them to take them to Palestine, but the two people who had their money to pay for the trip ran away with the money and they got stuck there. The Romanian government put them in quarantine as scarlet fever broke out. Grandpa took a price of paper and in three lines wrote to the children in England what happened. The boys received the letter and Max went to Rabbi Koppel Rosen and told him what had happened. Max was only 14 at the time. The Rabbi told him not to worry because he had contacts with the Jewish Agency and they will take care of all 400 passengers.
The Jewish community in Constanza sent the people food. After about four months, a boat with an agent of the Jewish Agency came and said that they will go to Israel illegally. It was an old Greek boat. They traveled to another port where 300 extra people waited for the boat.
Eventually, the boat arrived in Rodos in Greece. The captain came close to shore and said I am burning the ship down because I will get the money from insurance which will be worth more than the people and the boat if I take them illegally to Palestine and lose the boat when the British would shoot. The shore is only 200 yards away, you can swim. Those who knew how to swim helped the others, and they all survived but they had nothing except the clothes on their bodies which was only a bathing suit as the weather was hot.
At the shore of Rodos, they could not get in touch with the Jewish Agency. The mayor of a nearby city came to visit the refugees and asked if anyone speaks Greek. No one knew. Grandpa said he knew Italian. The mayor also knew Italian and told them that he would like to take all of them to his house but he can only take two people. He took grandma and grandpa. When grandma saw the real bed, she started to cry as it has been months since she saw a bed. She laid down to sleep, but could not. She got out of the bed and slept on the floor. Max received a second letter telling what happened. Max attended a Jewish school. He went to the principal and showed him the letter and explained what is happening. The principal called all the teachers to a meeting and told them to go home and collect clothes that they don’t need. He organized two big crates with clothes. He gave Max ten Shillings from his own money. Max and another fellow carried the crates on their backs to the main post office in Manchester as the small branches did not accept big packages.
The clothes arrived and the camp looked as if it was Purim. Meanwhile, an agent of the Jewish Agency was contacted and a boat arrived for them in Rodos. Nine months after they left Vienna, all the people embarked on the ship and it seemed like had an agreement with the British to let the boat land in a port in Israel. This was the second most famous refugee boat after Exodus.
The next day, my grandpa’s brother, Boy’tzh, took them to Haifa. This was the second most complicated Aliyah in the illegal Aliyah. The next day my grandpa collected tooth brushes, combs, toothpaste, etc. and went to sell the stuff from door to door. Grandmother borrowed an old sewing machine and took in shirts to repair. That was their beginning of being employers, later, of many young people in a sewing workshop in Jerusalem.
Grandfather died in 1971. Grandmother died in 1974.
Letter from Max Friedlander to Jerusalem Post
...cannot forget
Sir, - I've lived through tough times, and the horror always returns come November 9. I shiver, then go back to living.
This year I asked some work colleagues if they knew the word "Kristallnacht." Blank faces stared back. These are educated people, well versed in current affairs. I was in shock.
I live in a retirement home, and the cultural director agreed to give me an afternoon to share some memories of that horrible time with my neighbors, all more or less my age. I got November 7, and the hall was full to capacity. I spoke for almost an hour.
I told them of my best friend in first grade, a Christian boy who lived opposite us in Vienna. When I studied for my bar mitzva he sat with me and listened, and attended the synagogue service and the celebration.
Came the Anschluss and, the morning after Kristallnacht, a knock on the door. There stood my friend, now accompanying an SA man and Gestapo civilian, searching for weapons. My father was arrested; my erstwhile friend, who knew exactly where my bar mitzva books were, left with them on his shoulder.
Father and some 100 others were held in hell for 20 days, with one bucket and no water. He, an ex-soldier decorated with the small Iron Cross, was the only one then allowed to leave the country with his family, within 30 days. His release was signed by Lt. SS Adolf Eichmann. The man who killed six million Jews saved our lives.
One of my granddaughters asked me for a letter she could read while in Poland earlier this year. In it I used almost the exact words with which Judy Montagu closed her wonderful article.
MAX FRIEDLANDER
Jerusalem
From my mother:
History of Yehuda Yaakov Friedlander
Grandpa volunteered to the Austrian army during World War I at the age of 17. He was very happy serving in the army and at the end of World War I he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Italians where he stayed a year.
After a year, he went back to Vienna and became an Austrian Patriot. He wanted the Kaiser back because a socialist government was created in Austria.
He was very proud as he got the heroism medal from the Austrian army. He joined the former Austrian Jewish soldiers group. He always carried a picture of himself in hi corporal uniform with the medal of the iron cross. For a Jew to be in the Austrian army was a big achievement as the Austrian army was anti-Semitic.
On Crystalnacht night, he was not harmed. He was in jail in Vienna for 14 days, when an S.S. man came. It was Eichman. He interviewed all the prisoners and decided to which camps to send them.
When grandpa’s turn came, he stood erect without a sound, while the rest of the prisoners cried and asked for mercy and told Eichman, my officer, I never thought that a hero of the Austrian Army will be treated like a prisoner, that didn’t do a thing wrong.
Eichman laughed and said that it was impossible that a Jewish man can be a hero in the Austrian army. Grandpa said I will prove it to you and took out his picture. He could not give it straight to Eichman, but first to another S.S. person and he showed it to Eichman. The whole time grandpa stood erect like a soldier.
Eichman looked at the picture and at grandpa and said “a Jewish pig” if you and your family can leave Austria within four weeks, I will let you go now. All the other prisoners were sent to Dacau and other concentration camps.
It was Friday afternoon and he came home by foot. He walked into the house like out of the blue. His head was shaven and he had blue marks on his body because after Eichman said that he will release him, they hit him until he got to the door. He got washed and grandma put him in bed. It was the first time that my Uncle Max heard him cry bitterly. He was not sure the crying was from pain or relief. We will never know the answer to that.
On Sunday he started to get everything in order to send his children, my father, and Uncle Max out of Israel. The children were sent by train to England.
My father and Max were children number 8 and 9 in line on the train. Grandpa paid for the first seven children as well to get on the train to assure that his sons get on the train. My grandpa had to pay a lot of money so he could go to the land of Israel illegally.
Grandma and grandpa came illegally to Israel by boat. They were allowed only one bag each. They left Vienna to Budapest on a boat through the Danube. In Budapest, the Jewish community greeted them with open arms. There were 400 people on the boat. They arrived in Romania Port Constanza. Another boat was supposed to wait for them to take them to Palestine, but the two people who had their money to pay for the trip ran away with the money and they got stuck there. The Romanian government put them in quarantine as scarlet fever broke out. Grandpa took a price of paper and in three lines wrote to the children in England what happened. The boys received the letter and Max went to Rabbi Koppel Rosen and told him what had happened. Max was only 14 at the time. The Rabbi told him not to worry because he had contacts with the Jewish Agency and they will take care of all 400 passengers.
The Jewish community in Constanza sent the people food. After about four months, a boat with an agent of the Jewish Agency came and said that they will go to Israel illegally. It was an old Greek boat. They traveled to another port where 300 extra people waited for the boat.
Eventually, the boat arrived in Rodos in Greece. The captain came close to shore and said I am burning the ship down because I will get the money from insurance which will be worth more than the people and the boat if I take them illegally to Palestine and lose the boat when the British would shoot. The shore is only 200 yards away, you can swim. Those who knew how to swim helped the others, and they all survived but they had nothing except the clothes on their bodies which was only a bathing suit as the weather was hot.
At the shore of Rodos, they could not get in touch with the Jewish Agency. The mayor of a nearby city came to visit the refugees and asked if anyone speaks Greek. No one knew. Grandpa said he knew Italian. The mayor also knew Italian and told them that he would like to take all of them to his house but he can only take two people. He took grandma and grandpa. When grandma saw the real bed, she started to cry as it has been months since she saw a bed. She laid down to sleep, but could not. She got out of the bed and slept on the floor. Max received a second letter telling what happened. Max attended a Jewish school. He went to the principal and showed him the letter and explained what is happening. The principal called all the teachers to a meeting and told them to go home and collect clothes that they don’t need. He organized two big crates with clothes. He gave Max ten Shillings from his own money. Max and another fellow carried the crates on their backs to the main post office in Manchester as the small branches did not accept big packages.
The clothes arrived and the camp looked as if it was Purim. Meanwhile, an agent of the Jewish Agency was contacted and a boat arrived for them in Rodos. Nine months after they left Vienna, all the people embarked on the ship and it seemed like had an agreement with the British to let the boat land in a port in Israel. This was the second most famous refugee boat after Exodus.
The next day, my grandpa’s brother, Boy’tzh, took them to Haifa. This was the second most complicated Aliyah in the illegal Aliyah. The next day my grandpa collected tooth brushes, combs, toothpaste, etc. and went to sell the stuff from door to door. Grandmother borrowed an old sewing machine and took in shirts to repair. That was their beginning of being employers, later, of many young people in a sewing workshop in Jerusalem.
Grandfather died in 1971. Grandmother died in 1974.
