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Reviews of Jewish Life in Cleveland in the
1920s and 1930s
Much searching has found only two mentions of Leon Wiesenfeld's
memoir.
Moses Zvi Frank, in the May 7, 1965 Indiana Jewish
Post
Frank, a long-time Jewish journalist, writes that he had
translated the book from chapters Wiesenfeld had written in
Yiddish. He then, without reviewing the book, writes a long
and very appreciative description of the services of his
Leon Wiesenfeld.
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The memoir chapters we
compared to the articles as they
appeared in English in the Jewish Voice Pictorial
were identical. We conclude that
Moses Frank
meant to write that he had translated Wiesenfeld's original
articles from Yiddish to English. Frank has written an
announcement of the book's publication, not a
review. Most of his essay can be found in his five page
introduction to the memoir (pp. x - xiv). AB |
Lloyd P. Gartner
in the Journal of the American Jewish
Historical Society
Professor
Gartner, author of several books on the history of American
Jewish communities, including Cleveland, in his review of
Wiesenfeld's memoir, finds little of merit. As an example,
Gartner finds fault in Wiesenfeld's criticism of a Jewish
agency, when it also deserved much praise for playing a noble role in maintaining family allowances in the
face of severe pressure to cut them sharply.
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Gartner's point is well taken. In the same
vein, Wiesenfeld in MT. SINAI
OPPOSED TO JEWISH
NURSES
(pp. 54-59) describes how he publicized the hospital's refusal to hire Jewish nurses and helped
end this practice, but makes no mention of the
hospital's many important services to the Jewish and general communities.
But Wiesenfeld was not an historian. He was a journalist who needed to
attract and hold readers, for each year there were fewer of
them. Thus many of his
essays are one-sided or strident.
The
memoirs I have read tend to emphasize great successes and
battles won, and to heap more criticism on old foes. Wiesenfeld's
memoir does that, despite its title
"Jewish
Life in Cleveland in the 1920s and 1930s"
which
suggests that it is a history. (AB) |
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