Ezriel Carlebach (also ''Azriel''; born Esriel Gotthelf Carlebach, he, עזריאל קרליבך, yi, עזריאל קארלעבאך; November 7, 1908 – February 12, 1956) was a leading
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and
editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
writer during the period of
Jewish settlement in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
and during the early days of the state of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. He was the first
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of Israel's two largest newspapers, ''
Yediot Ahronot
''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...
'', and then ''
Ma'ariv
''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and ''Amidah''.
The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms, ...
.''
Biography
Ezriel Carlebach was born in the city of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, Germany, descendant of a family of
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
s. His parents were Gertrud Jakoby and
Ephraim Carlebach
Ephraim Carlebach (March 12, 1879 in Lübeck – 1936 in Ramat Gan, British Mandate of Palestine), was a German-born Orthodox rabbi. Biography
Carlebach belonged to a well-known German rabbi family. His father Salomon Carlebach (1845–1919) was ...
(1879–1936), a rabbi and founder of ''Höhere Israelitische Schule'' in Leipzig. Ezriel had three sisters, Hanna, Rachel (Shemut) and Cilly, and two brothers, David and Joseph (Yotti).
He studied at two
yeshivot
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...
in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
. First at the Slobodka yeshiva in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
' suburb
Slobodka (now Kaunas-
Vilijampolė
Vilijampolė is a neighborhood in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, located on the right bank of the Neris River and the Nemunas River, near their confluence. Part of a larger which consists of Vilijampolė, , , and neighorhoods, and covers 1,720 h ...
), then with Rabbi
Joseph Leib Bloch at the
Rabbinical College of Telshe
Telshe Yeshiva (also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva began relocating to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College o ...
( he, Yeshivat Telz ישיבת טלז) in
Telšiai
Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis.
Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua ...
. He recalled this time in two articles in the journal ''Menorah''.
In 1927 he
immigrated
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to Palestine, there learning in
Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one ...
's
Mercaz haRav
Mercaz HaRav (officially, he, מרכז הרב - הישיבה המרכזית העולמית, "The Center of Rabbi ook- the Central Universal Yeshiva") is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraham ...
yeshiva, though afterwards becoming
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
. In Jerusalem, one family regularly invited him – as usual for
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
students – on
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
for a free meal. His host had a son,
Józef Grawicki
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, who worked in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
as
Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...
-correspondent for the Yiddish daily
Haynt (הײַנט, also ''Hajnt'', Engl.: ''Today'').
On his way for a visit in Germany, Carlebach stopped in Warsaw, and visited Józef Grawicki, who encouraged him to write for ''Haynt'' in
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
. One of his articles explored the conflict between the Zionist Rabbi Abraham Kook and the anti-Zionist Rabbi
Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, also spelled Zonnenfeld (1 December 1848 – 26 February 1932), was the rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis, a Haredi Jewish community in Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. He was ...
in Jerusalem.
Carlebach's three uncles -
Emanuel Carlebach
Emanuel may refer to:
* Emanuel (name), a given name and surname (see there for a list of people with this name)
* Emanuel School, Australia, Sydney, Australia
* Emanuel School, Battersea, London, England
* Emanuel (band), a five-piece rock band fr ...
(1874–1927) and
Leopold Rosenak
Leopold may refer to:
People
* Leopold (given name)
* Leopold (surname)
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons''
* Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...
(1868–1923; an uncle by marriage), both
Field Rabbis of the
imperial German Army
The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...
, and the educator Rabbi
Joseph Carlebach
Joseph Hirsch (Tzvi) Carlebach (January 30, 1883, Lübeck, German Empire – March 26, 1942, Biķerniecki forest, near Riga, Latvia) was an Orthodox rabbi and Jewish-German scholar and natural scientist (''Naturwissenschaftler'').
Early life a ...
, who was assigned to them in 1915 - were active in promoting German culture among the Jews in Lithuania and Poland during the
German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
(1915–1918).
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...
's intention was to evoke pro-German attitudes among Jews, in order to prepare the installation of a Polish and a Lithuanian state dependent on Germany. Part of the effort was the establishment of Jewish newspapers (e.g. the
folkist ''Warszawer Togblat ווארשאווער טאָגבלאט''), of Jewish organisations (e.g. Emanuel Carlebach initiated in
Łomża
Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship si ...
the foundation of the
Hassidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
umbrella organisation
Agudas Yisroel Agudas Israel may refer to:
*Agudas Israel (Latvia), a political party in Latvia during the 1920s and 1930s
*World Agudath Israel, the political arm of Ashkenazi Haredi Judaism
*Agudat Yisrael, a political party representing the ultra-Orthodox popul ...
of Poland, part of a non-Zionist movement founded in Germany in 1912) and of modern educational institutions of Jewish alignment. Joseph Carlebach founded the partly German-language ''Jüdisches Realgymnasium גימנזיום עברי'' in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
and directed it until 1919. Carlebach's uncles mostly came down for Hassidim and faced
Zionists
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Jew ...
rather critically. Thus the name Carlebach sounded rather suspicious in the ears of ''Haynt's'' audience.
From 1929 Carlebach lived in Germany and studied at the
Frederick William University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
and the
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
, receiving a degree as a doctor of law.
Carlebach died of a heart attack on February 12, 1956, at the age of 47. Thousands attended his funeral.
Journalism career
Carlebach wrote for ''
Israelitisches Familienblatt
Israelitisches Familienblatt (literally: ''Israelite Family Paper''; originally: ''Israelitisches Familienblatt für Hamburg, Altona und Wandsbek'') was a Jewish weekly newspaper, directed at Jewish readers of all religious alignments. Max Lessman ...
''. When ''Haynt'', stricken by a strike, asked for help, Carlebach sent articles from Germany without payment. ''Haynt'' later financed Carlebach's expeditions to Jewish communities all over Europe and the Mediterranean, covering communities like the
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
n
Karaites,
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
of
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
(to be later almost completely extinguished by the Nazi occupants),
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
ian
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...
, Yemenite
Teimanim
Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...
, and the crypto-Jewish
Dönmeh
The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The move ...
(Sabbateans) in Turkey as well as
Mallorquin Conversos
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian po ...
, some of whom he detected while travelling.
Carlebach sent regular reports to ''Haynt'', which later became the basis for a book. He also wrote a series of articles describing his travels through Germany, including an encounter with an
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
gang which left him severely beaten.
In June 1931 a publishing house in Leipzig, ''Deutsche Buchwerkstätten'', awarded him its ''novelist prize'' of the year, which he shared with Alexander von Keller. Carlebach's novel is set in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's old city.
He also worked as a freelance journalist for newspapers such as the Hebrew ''
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'', and starting in 1931 – under a permanent appointment – with the
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
-based ''Israelitisches Familienblatt''. This paper presented in its cultural insert music, performing and visual art by examples of creative works by Jewish artists. Four to five evenings of the week Carlebach went to the theatre and afterwards composed his reviews, dictating them – freely phrasing – to his assistant Ruth Heinsohn, who right away typed them.
In summer 1932 – again financed by ''Haynt'' – he travelled to the USSR, among others to
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
and
Birobidzhan
Birobidzhan ( rus, Биробиджа́н, p=bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan; yi, ביראָבידזשאַן, ''Birobidzhan'') is a town and the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, near th ...
, in order to give an account of Jewish life under communist reign. In his report ('Sowjetjudäa', In: ''Israelitisches Familienblatt'' and in ''Haynt'') he came to the conclusion that there were neither the possibilities nor an adequate milieu for a genuine Jewish life.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
occasionally brought the ''Sowjetjudäa'' series up for discussions, so that they had a much broader response than usual. Especially adversaries of
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
, who relied on the USSR and who naïvely or willfully downplayed the crimes there, were incited to question their stance or to be angry with Carlebach. He assessed the broad controversy on the subject being a journalistic success.
[Ezriel Carlebach,]
Let Us Remind Ourselves
' לאָמיר זיך דערמאָנען' (Lomir zikh dermonen; letter to Chaim Finkelstein September/November 1955; Engl. Mort Lipsitz (trl.), in: Chaim Finkelstein (פֿינקעלשטיין, חיים), Yiddish: הײַנט: א צײַטונג בײַ ײדן, תרס״ח־תרצ״ט (Haynt: a Tsaytung bay Yidn, 668–699, ), Farlag Y.L. Perets (פֿארלאג י.ל. פרץ), Tel Aviv-Yafo 1978, pp. 363–367, here p. 365.
"The articles brought forth a flurry of anonymous threatening letters and a vile pamphlet attack upon him from Hamburg's 'Jewish Workers' Study Group.'" The camouflage name of this group (in German: ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft jüdischer Werktätiger, Hamburg'') aimed at rather disguising the harassing of Carlebach, the avowed Jew, by the
Communist Youth Federation, section Hamburg.
On the night of January 3, 1933, the harassment culminated in an assassination attempt. A gunshot cut through his hat just luckily missing him. Carlebach fell over, got concussed and lost consciousness. The police found him later senseless. ''Israelitisches Familienblatt'' offered a reward of 2,000 reichsmarks for the capture of the person who did it. By February he had recovered so far that he could resume his work for ''Israelitisches Familienblatt''. Soon after he moved to Berlin.
Such experience notwithstanding he continued to attack Nazism. Earlier Carlebach had discovered that
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
, who so vehemently defamed Jews and their alleged detrimental influence, had studied with Jewish professors.
Right after the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
'
Machtergreifung
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
Carlebach was arrested. He attributed the arrest to Goebbels, who resented Carlebach for revealing his Jewish connections.
Carlebach was released from custody because no judicial warrant existed but was forced to go into hiding. He found people who provided him with a hideout and forged papers. In order to move about in the streets of Berlin, Carlebach dyed his hair and dressed in an
SA uniform.
[Cf. Ezriel Carlebach entry in the Hebrew Wikipedia] In this way, he monitored from within how Nazism tightened its power in Germany and wrote daily articles for ''Haynt'' in Warsaw under the pseudonym ''Levi Gotthelf (לוי גאָטהעלף)''.
On May 10, 1933, he incognito attended as an observer the central
book-burning
Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...
on
Opernplatz
The Opernplatz (Opera Square) is a central city square in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the district of Innenstadt (Inner City) and within the central business district known as the Bankenviertel (Banking District). The Opernplatz is the most ...
in Berlin, where also his books were thrown into the fires. Meanwhile, ''Haynt'' strove to get Carlebach out of the country. Finally – bearing the counterfeited papers of an Upper Silesian coal miner – he was smuggled over the border close to city of
Katowice
Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...
in the then Polish part of
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
.
Carlebach's series of articles, being the first ''inside story'' on the Nazis' takeover, appeared in ''Haynt'' and was republished in
Forwerts (פֿאָרווערטס) in New York. In concert with the Zionist
Jehoszua Gottlieb, the folkist journalist
Saul Stupnicki
Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...
(Chief editor of ''Lubliner Tugblat לובלינער טאָגבלאט'') and others Carlebach organised in Poland a countrywide series of lectures named ''Literary Judgments on Germany''. The German ambassador to Poland,
Hans-Adolf von Moltke
Hans-Adolf Helmuth Ludwig Erdmann Waldemar von Moltke (29 November 188422 March 1943) was a German landowner in Silesia who became a diplomat. He served as ambassador in Poland during the Weimar Republic. After the German invasion of Poland, he ...
, attended the start lecture in Warsaw, sitting in the first line.
Carlebach was then permanently appointed at modest salary with ''Haynt'', whose articles – like that one on 'The anti-Semitic International' (of
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
) reappeared in other newspapers such as ''Nowy Dziennik'' in
Cracow, ''Chwila'' in
Lwów
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
, ''Di Yidishe Shtime (די יידישע שטימע)'' in Kaunas, ''Frimorgn (פֿרימאָרגן)'' in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
and ''Forverts'' in New York.
Living in Polish exile he got onto the second list (March 29, 1934) of Germans, which were
arbitrarily officially denaturalised according to a new law, which also ensued the seizure of all his property in Germany.
In 1933 and 1934 Carlebach traveled for ''Haynt'' to report on the
Zionist Congress
The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני העו ...
, the
International Congress of National Minorities
The International Congress of National Minorities was an organization formed after World War I to lobby for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities and especially Jews living in the nations of Europe and much of Asia, especially in the afterm ...
and Goebbels' speech as German main delegate at the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
on September 29, 1933. His speech ''An Appeal to the Nations'' was an éclat and the subsequent press conference accordingly well attended. Nevertheless, on the sidelines Carlebach and Goebbels had a sharp argument on co-operatives exemplified by the newspaper company ''Haynt''.
Carlebach reported how the Upper Silesian
Franz Bernheim Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...
succeeded to prompt the League of Nations (
Bernheim petition The Bernheim petition was a 1933 petition by a Jewish resident of Gleiwitz - German Upper Silesia, Franz Bernheim, to the League of Nations in protest at Nazi anti-Jewish legislation. The petition was made under the provisions of the 1922 German ...
br>
to coerce Germany to abide by the ''German-Polish Accord on East Silesia''. According to that treaty each contractual party guaranteed in its respective part of
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
equal civil rights for all the inhabitants. So in September 1933 the Reich's Nazi government suspended in Upper Silesia all anti-Semitic discriminations already imposed and excepted the province from all new such invidiousnesses to be decreed, until the Accord expired in May 1937.
In 1935 Carlebach was appointed chief editor of daily ''Yidishe Post (יידישע פאָסט)'' in London. But he continued to cover travelling the rest of Europe, except of Germany. In ''Selbstwehr'' (Prague) Carlebach published a regular column ''Tagebuch der Woche'' (diary of the week). In April 1935 Carlebach called attention to
Kurt Schuschnigg
Kurt Alois Josef Johann von Schuschnigg (; 14 December 1897 – 18 November 1977) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who was the Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria from the 1934 assassination of his predecessor Engelbert Dollf ...
's anti-Semitic policy in Austria in an interview with the
Federal Chancellor. He adopted an increasingly sharper tone in relation to non-Zionists, whose intentions to stay in Europe, he regarded negligent in view of the development. From 1936 on British policy on Palestine (
Peel Commission
The Peel Commission, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by Lord Peel, appointed in 1936 to investigate the causes of unrest in Mandatory Palestine, which was administered by Gre ...
) stood at the centre of Carlebach's editing.
In 1937 Carlebach immigrated to
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
under an appointment as foreign correspondent of ''Yidishe Post''. In the same year he became a journalist at the newspaper ''
Yedioth Ahronoth
''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...
'', afterwards becoming its editor. In early 1939 Carlebach travelled again to Warsaw, meeting with friends there – not knowingly to see many of them for the last time.
In 1948, while chief editor of ''Yedioth Ahronoth'', a disagreement broke out between Carlebach and Yehuda Mozes, owner of the paper. Carlebach and several senior journalists left Yedioth Ahronoth and founded a new newspaper, ''Yedioth Ma'ariv'', which first appeared on February 15, 1948, with Carlebach as its chief editor. After several months, the paper's name was changed to ''Ma'ariv'', to avoid confusion between it and ''Yedioth Ahronoth''.
Ezriel Carlebach edited the ''Ma'ariv'' newspaper from its founding until his death in 1956. While he was editor, ''Ma'ariv'' became the most widely read newspaper in the country. He is regarded as one of the great journalists of his period.
Views and opinions
Carlebach and his paper opposed the Zionist Socialist party government and its head,
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...
. He was also a leader in the opposition to the opening of direct negotiations between Israel and Germany after the war, and the
Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
The Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany (German: ''Luxemburger Abkommen'' "Luxembourg Agreement" or ''Wiedergutmachungsabkommen'' "''Wiedergutmachung'' Agreement", Hebrew: ''הסכם השילומים'' ''Heske ...
.
In 1952 after president
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israel ...
’s death Carlebach suggested
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
in a telegram to become Israel's president. Einstein felt honoured but refused, as he told Carlebach in a letter dated November 21, 1952, written in German.
Carlebach deprecated musical censorship as it was demanded by the Israeli government on the occasion of
Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...
' tour in Israel: "The education minister, Professor
Dinur, requested that no
Strauss
Strauss, Strauß or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is always spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" usually ref ...
be played. And the justice minister, Dr.
Rosen
Rosen is a surname of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, the name deriving from the German word for roses. Notable people with this surname include:
People A–H
* Adam Rosen (born 1984), American-born British luger Olympian
* Al Rosen (1924–2015), Ameri ...
, seconded that request (despite his different personal views on the identification of an artist with his art). … And he sent that request by special messenger … to Jascha Heifetz in Haifa a short time before the concert.
Yet Jascha Heifetz received the request from two ministers of Israel, shoved it into his pocket, said whatever he said about opposing musical censorship – and refused to comply. He played Strauss in Haifa, and afterwards in Tel Aviv as well."
Carlebach was sympathetic towards conciliation between Jewish and Arab Israelis. Under his pseudonym ''Rav Ipkha Mistabra'' he published a series of essays and editorials, in ''Yedioth Ahronoth'', ''Ma'ariv'' or in ''Ner'', the journal of the
Brit Shalom movement (Engl. lit. ''Covenant of Peace''). By and large, however, Carlebach remained skeptic in how far an understanding with avowed representatives of Islam were possible.
Carlebach criticised, that after the verdict of
Rudolf Kastner the Israeli government appealed the conviction literally overnight, unable to properly examine at all the substantial grounds for the judgment.
In 1954, Carlebach spent a three-week trip in India. "During this visit he met with
Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
and other leaders of the state and the Congress Party." His book about the trip, ''India: Account of a Voyage'', long the only Hebrew book on India, was published in 1956 and became an instant best-seller, appearing in several editions in the years after its initial appearance.
Tommy Lapid
Yosef "Tommy" Lapid ( he, יוסף "טומי" לפיד, born as Tomislav Lampel, sr-cyr, Томислав Лампел; 27 December 1931 – 1 June 2008) was a Yugoslav-born Israeli radio and television presenter, playwright, journalist, politi ...
recalls, Carlebach "shut himself up in the Dan Hotel and from there he sent us his typewritten pages, ready for the printing press. I was his very young secretary, and I watched, with thirst and surprise, the birth of the book. Carlebach was driven to write the book by a powerful inner force, in a creative endeavour that was almost compulsive. Two months later he was dead, at 48. He left a widow, a daughter, and an orphaned newspaper, and this book – a creative outburst of the greatest journalist who wrote in Hebrew."
[Tommy Lapid, 'Introduction' to Ezriel Carlebach, ''הודו: יומן דרכים'' (Hodo: Yoman Drakhim; 1st ed. הוצאת עיינות, Tel Aviv 1956), ספרית מעריב. Tel Aviv-Yafo 1986, p. 12, here quoted according to the translation in Shalom Goldman and Laurie Patton, 'Indian Love Call: Israelis, Orthodoxy, and Indian Culture', In: ''Judaism'', Summer, 2001, p. 7.]
Especially for his publications issued under the pseudonym ''Ipkha Mistabra'', he is considered to be one of the most talented and influential authors of editorials in Hebrew journalism.
The Tel Aviv street where the offices of ''Ma'ariv'' are located was renamed after Carlebach.
See also
*
Media in Israel
The mass media in Israel refers to print, broadcast and online media available in the State of Israel. The country boasts dozens of newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, which play an important role by the press in political, social and cu ...
References
External links
Esriel Carlebach, 'Telschi. I. Die Jeschiwah': 4 parts (part 1), In: ''Menorah''; vol. 4, No. 1 (January 1926), pp. 37–44.(1926, German)
Esriel Carlebach, 'Telschi. I. Die Jeschiwah': 4 parts (part 2), In: ''Menorah''; vol. 4, No. 2 (February 1926), pp. 112–116.(1926, German)
Esriel Carlebach, 'Telschi. I. Die Jeschiwah': 4 parts (part 3), In: ''Menorah''; vol. 4, No. 4 (April 1926), pp. 231–235.(1926, German)
Esriel Carlebach, 'Telschi. I. Die Jeschiwah': 4 parts (part 4), In: ''Menorah''; vol. 4, No. 12 (December 1926), pp. 692–694.(1926, German)
Esriel Carlebach, 'Das Städtchen (Telschi)', In: ''Menorah''; vol. 5, No. 2 (February 1927), pp. 105–108.(1927, German)
Ezriel Carlebach’s telegram to Einstein(1952, English)
Albert Einstein’s letter to Carlebach(1952, German)
Esriel Carlebach (under pseudonym "איפכא מסתברא" Ipcha Mistabra), 'זעקי ארץ אהובה' ('Cry, The Beloved Country!'), In: ''Ma'ariv'', December 25, 1953. (1953, Hebrew)
Ezriel Carlebach, 'Schrei auf, geliebtes Land!' ('זעקי ארץ אהובה', (under pseudonym "איפכא מסתברא"), In: ''Ma'ariv'', 25. Dezember 1953; dt.), Ruth Rürup (trl.), in: ''Babylon. Beiträge zur jüdischen Gegenwart''; vol. 3, No. 4 (1988), pp. 111–118 (1953, download of the German translation)
(1955, English translation)
* [http://www.haynt.org Ezriel Carlebach, 'לאָמיר זיך דערמאָנען' (Lomir zikh dermonen; letter to Chaim Finkelstein September/November 1955), in: Chaim Finkelstein (חיים פֿינקעלשטיין), Yiddish: הײַנט: א צײַטונג בײַ ײדן, תרס״ח־תרצ״ט (Haynt: a Tsaytung bay Yidn, 668–699, ), Tel-Aviv: פֿארלאג י.ל. פרץ (Farlag Y.L. Perets), 1978, pp. 363–367.] (1955, Download of the Yiddish Original named ''Part 2, p.356-367'' in the left column, within the pdf-file from p. 363 on)
Ezriel Carlebach, “Let Us Remind Ourselves” ('לאָמיר זיך דערמאָנען' ), Mort Lipsitz (trl.), in: Chaim Finkelstein (חיים פֿינקעלשטיין), Yiddish: הײַנט: א צײַטונג בײַ ײדן, תרס״ח־תרצ״ט (Haynt: a Tsaytung bay Yidn, 668–699, ), Tel-Aviv: פֿארלאג י.ל. פרץ (Farlag Y.L. Perets), 1978, pp. 363–367.(1955, English translation)
(2002, English)
*
ttp://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/bronfman/kesher33.heb.html Mordecai Naor, 'The Great 'Putsch' in Israel's Press History', in: ''Kesher קשר''; No. 33, May 2003(2003, English, article on Carlebach's putsch at ''Yedi'ot Akharonot'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlebach, Ezriel
1908 births
1956 deaths
Ezriel
German male writers
Israeli Ashkenazi Jews
Israeli journalists
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine
Maariv (newspaper) editors
German male journalists
Writers from Leipzig
University of Hamburg alumni
Mercaz HaRav alumni
Yedioth Ahronoth people
Yishuv journalists
Burials at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery
20th-century German journalists
Israeli newspaper editors