Handsome, outgoing and popular, Artie Blatman was a well-known member of the Jewish community and the Second Street neighborhood where his mother, Lena, ran the family’s bakery. Joseph Blatman, Arthur’s father, had died December 26, 1938, at the age of 54.
Here are some pictures of Arthur Blatman from the 1930s
Arthur Blatman enlisted on April 29, 1941. He was 24 years old.
One of the first letters published in The “Y” Recorder column, “Word from the Front,” later renamed, “Dear Mollye” was this one from Artie.
Word From the Front column in The Y Recorder, December 12, 1941.
Dear Mollye:
Fort Bragg, at last, after four and one-half days walking from Troy, N. C. some 75 to 80 miles away, and what pleasant sight these sand hills are. After grooming our four legged pets, we heard a familiar, and long awaited word, DISMISS. We then started our own stampede to the barracks and showers. Hot water to bathe in, the first hot shower we took since leaving Fort Bragg two months and a half months ago. A haircut, shave, hot shower using two cakes of soap, clean clothes and looking forward to sleeping in a bed, we are beginning to feel like human beings again.
This morning we learned that the Blue Army was victorious, and we found that out from the newspapers. I was in the Blue Army and didn’t even know who won the war. If the umpires were as good as some I’ve seen around, I can understand why we won. I guess everything the Blue Army did, was a strike. They must have been homers. Gus Reissman should have been in the stands watching these maneuvers, and I bet the umpires would have caught plenty H__. You don’t get as much heck from the coach (or officer) or Gus Reissman. Sorry I have to pick on you Gus, but I can picture you at the “Y” every Sunday letting the guys have it. By the way, Mollye, who is he picking on this year? Sometimes I think I’m better off in the Army.
I expect to be home in three weeks. We are getting fifteen days for Christmas furlough, and that is a swell present. Well that seems to be about all at present. Regards to the gang at the “Y” and I’ll be seeing you all soon (I hope).
Love,
Artie.
Take a look at the post script of this letter Artie Blatman wrote to his older brother, Morris.
PS. How about a calendar. If you can get one with a picture of a sweater girl on it – minus sweater – send it out.
Artie wrote to Mollye on Sunday, February 11, “At the present time we’re sitting in a small town in Hitler’s own back yard. Mom doesn’t have to know about it but I’m in Germany.”
This letter to Artie Blatman, written on February 23, 1945, is one of the few letters we have written by Mollye. It was returned to her because it could not be delivered to Artie Blatman.
This letter, written on February 27th, refers to Blatman’s letter of February 11th.
Artillery Observer Orders Fire on Self to Clean Out Enemy
A case of a man willing to sacrifice his own life to aid the advance of his unit is the story of Lt. Arthur Blatman of Lt. Col. Roger Lilly’s armored field artillery. Acting as forward observer, Lt. Blatman crossed the river, dismounted with his men, carrying a portable radio, located enemy units and had fired a mission before he was captured. Just before the enemy marched in upon him with guns at the ready, Lt. Blatman flicked off his radio, but while being questioned, he surreptitiously turned on his radio with his foot and told his captors: “If I hadn’t been captured, I’d call for fire upon this position 20 times —20 times 20 times!”
Hearing the message, his battalion commander plotted fire of three battalions upon the position, “annihilated” the enemy and Lt. Blatman.
The Bronze Star Medal has been posthumously awarded to your son, Second Lieutenant Arthur M. Blatman, Armored Field Artillery. For meritorious service in connection with military operations against the enemy in Germany on 7 and 8 March 1945. Lieutenant Blatman, as forward artillery observer, continuously moved forward for better observation despite heavy artillery fire. He carried out his mission without consideration for his own safety and gave continuous support to the infantry. He continued his mission until fatally wounded. Lieutenant Blatman’s courage and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the Military Forces of the United States.
The first William Topkis (1878-1925) was alive and well in Jerusalem one night last week. On December 12, 1989 at the Israel Museum, the Steven Spielberg Film Archives of the Hebrew University presented a retrospective program on the work of Ya’akov Ben-Dov, considered to be the first Jewish filmmaker in the country. During the program of lectures, slides and films, William Topkis was cited for writing the filmscript and directing a film made by Ben-Dov in 1923.
The film, which Topkis entitled “Palestine Awakening,” told the story of a rich American Jewish tourist who landed in Haifa intending to spend only one day in “this dirty, filthy country.” Instead, he stayed on for a month seeing everything there was to see in the cities and in the kubbutzim and moshavim. At the end of the film the tourist announces that he is returning to the United States to close out his affairs and then will come to live in Palestine.
The significance of William Topkis’ participation in the making of this film in 1923 is greatly enhanced by the diary which he kept of his daily activities during his five-month stay in the Holy Land. His diary entries of the period in May 1923 when the actual filming was being done read like a film log. It is the only written record of the film and supplements the 19 minute portion of the actual film which has survived.
During the program at the Israel Museum Topkis was hailed for his Zionist career, for his film partnership with the DuPonts and Samuel Goldwyn and for his encouragement of American tourism through this film and through the American Information Bureau which he opened in Jerusalem in April 1923. As the work of William Topkis was described, I was proud to be a Delawarean. William Topkis was one of the first American Jewish leaders who realized the potential of film as an. informational device in giving wide audiences the picture of what was transpiring in the rebuilding of Eretz Yisrael. Because of his premature death in 1925, he did not have an opportunity to write or produce any more films. However, the film he left us did break new ground while setting the tone for future productions.
The public career of William Topkis began in the early part of the century when he was elected the secretary of Congregation Adas Kodesch in 1901. His English written minutes are among the first in that language of a Delaware Jewish organization. On Rosh Hashanah in 1901 he helped to write the sermon which calmed the Wilmington Jewish community in the wake of the assassination of President William McKinley.
He served as president of the Wilmington YMHA in 1913, and in 1917 Topkis was elected as Delaware’s only delegate to the first American Jewish Congress. After attending several national ZOA conventions, he was elected to the national executive committee in 1921, serving for several years with distinction. In 1923 he took his wife and daughter, and he went to Palestine to see the country; “a visit to the land of his fathers” and to do what he could to help promote its development.
All together, he and his family spent five months in Eretz Yisrael and several months in Europe, where he attended the World Zionist Congress as an American delegate. His two lasting contributions from that trip are the film and the assistance he provided for Jewish tourism in the country through his American Information Bureau. On returning to the U.S., he gave an interview printed in the national ZOA magazine, The New Palestine, and in various anglo-Jewish newspapers. In the course of the survey of his trip, he urged that 200 American Jewish businessmen should go and live in Palestine for that will “change the face of the country.”
I was pleased to hear about and see the work of the first William Topkis here in Jerusalem. I also told my friend Yaakov Gross, the historian of the film career of Ben-Dov, that the second William Topkis is currently the President of the Jewish Federation of Delaware. From Delaware to Jerusalem and back, William Topkis has left his mark.
(Note: The Steven Spielberg Film Archives is anxious to locate a complete version of the film made by Topkis and Ben-Dov. Any information about the film or still pictures taken as the filming was being done can be sent to Dr. David Geffen via The Jewish Voice. Hopefully, an English version of the Ben-Dov film composite will be available in 1990.)
Originally published in the Jewish Voice on January 5, 1990.
We are happy to share with you the Jewish Voice issue from June 1, 1984. It’s a celebration of 50 years of the Jewish Federation of Delaware. The following article by Leo Zeftel, then president of the JFD, gives a good overview of the accomplishments of the Jewish Federation of Delaware.
From A President’s Perspective
By LEO ZEFTEL, President
Jewish Federation of Delaware
1984 marks a milestone in the history of our Jewish Federation. It is a time not only to reflect on the past but also to look to the future. Significant progress has been achieved in our Jewish community over these past five decades. We have not only grown in size, but as a community have responded to and been responsible for the dynamic growth of local services.
At the same time, we have experienced some of the most traumatic times in the continuum of our Jewish people. We witnessed the destruction of one third of world Jewry in the most devastating period of our long history.
We were privileged to be a part of the rebirth of the Jewish nation and the subsequent emergence of Israel as a sovereign, democratic State that became a haven for thousands of our fellow Jews from lands of hate and oppression. 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 — these were the years that Israel’s very physical existence was at stake and she survived as a viable, dynamic state. We were all part of this historical development in terms of our financial and moral support for Israel. Zionism became a household word. Israel’s many achievements have given all of us a deep sense of pride and we must and shall continue to strengthen the ties between us so that Israel will prosper and endure.
Here in our own Jewish community of Delaware, we witnessed the growth of our social service network of services made possible by the commitment and leadership of hundreds of devoted, dedicated men and women. We have reached an era when the donor and recipient are one. All of us are directly touched by the human services provided by our agencies. It was the Federation which evolved as the moving, dynamic force in the financial support, coordination and planning for total community needs – locally, nationally and overseas.
We can all be proud of what has been done. We are a richer community for it. But, as we look ahead in the turbulent 80s, we are confronted with many difficult and challenging problems and issues.
We are witnessing a growing erosion of Jewish family life, a weakening of our Jewish roots and identity, growing concerns in the areas of community relations and Jewish education. We still face too much apathy on the part of a large segment of our Jewish community.
Some specific areas of concern are services that will be required for the increasingly growing elderly of our community. Twenty percent of our Jewish population are now 65 or older compared to a national norm of 14 percent. Increased availability of camp and similar recreational programs for both youth and adults must be provided. Community services now available primarily in the Wilmington area must be extended to other areas in the state. Educational programs for all ages must be strengthened. Single parents and young adults will require programs specific to their needs.
It seems to me the challenge our community faces is to be responsive to these growing and continuing needs in a thoughtful, creative and qualitative manner. There are too many critical issues in Jewish life to engage in “business as usual.” We cannot afford to respond to the evolving needs with the archaic and “comfortable” techniques of the past.
With the quality of leadership we currently have, and with the involvement of an even greater segment of our community, we can indeed impact on these issues in greater measure.
We can look with pride to the fact that in the last few years we have significantly turned our campaign around and are now moving in a positive, upward direction. We have the expertise and capacity to do even better both by direct fund raising and our newly revitalized endowment program.
Our tasks are not just for the few — we need and look to all of you if we are to have a broadened, democratic base of participation. We are a voluntary organization and our strength is the volunteer – the volunteer can and should be you!
As we move into the next 50 years of our Federation let us do so with renewed dedication and commitment to our biblical mandate of tzedakah – passion and concern for our fellow Jews. This is what we are all about.
About The Cover
The cover photo, a timeless depiction of new immigrants, has been reproduced from a 1957 United Jewish Appeal Poster. 1957 represents one of the high points of the exodus of Jewish refugees from lands of oppression, and also represents the mid-point of the 50-year history of our own Jewish community.
The quote concerning tzedakah, has been excerpted from Harry Blueston’s “A Historical Review Of A Century of Jewish Philanthropy,” originally found in Philip Birnbaum’s Book Of Jewish Concepts.
