Access Type

Open Access Thesis

Date of Award

January 2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

History

First Advisor

Howard Lupovitch

Abstract

While many historians writing about Jews in America focus on dissonance and disorganization during the 1940s among national Jewish leadership and national Jewish organizations which accounts (partially) for their inability to effectively advocate for European Jewry, Zionism, and other Jewish causes, this was not necessarily true on a local level. Jews in Detroit were effective in raising funds for these causes, supporting institutional infrastructure, battling anti-Semitism, and participating in the war effort. An important part of that was a unique partnership entered into between the nascent Detroit Jewish News and the established Detroit Jewish Federation, the most important part of the Jewish communal infrastructure in Detroit. The Jewish News became a key communications tool between leadership and Detroit Jews, serving as an advocate and an informative and educational bridge. The arrangement allowed the Jewish News to quickly overtake its competition and become the “newspaper of record “ among Detroit Jews.

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History Commons

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