Larry Freeman and the Jewish Journal

 May is Jewish American Heritage Month, an annual recognition and celebration of American Jews' achievements and contributions to the United States of America. Here’s a fun fact for that month. The second largest Jewish newspaper in the state of Louisiana, the Jewish Journal, was once published in ‘old downtown’ Bossier City, a.k.a. “the East Bank.” A warning though – some of this story is absolutely not fun, due to the world news that the Jewish Journal was diligently and urgently relaying outside Nazi-occupied Europe as the events unfolded, the Nazi persecution of Jews.

The Jewish Journal began as a monthly publication in Shreveport in 1937 by Larry Freeman, who was a member of the Agudath Achim congregation of Shreveport, that was "published in the interest of Jewish communities." Freeman had lived in Shreveport for several years but was originally from London, England.

The Jewish Journal was not only important for local news, but for news of Jews around the world. News of the atrocities committed against Jews by the Nazi regime was often slow to make its way to the US, and could be met with disbelief or denial. The tragic truth of 1937, the year the Jewish Journal was founded, is that it was the year the first Nazi concentration camp opened, Buchenwald. But an early managing editor of the Jewish Journal, Adolph Phillipsborn, knew first-hand what the Nazis were capable of. He was a Jewish refugee from Germany who arrived in the US in early 1939, not knowing English. Within two years, he was a writer (with a pen name, “Albert Philp”), editor and a speaker to civic groups such as the Bossier Lions Club, urging them not to do business with Nazi Germany.

The Jewish Journal used the Jewish equivalent of a syndicated news service like the Associated Press or the United Press that was called the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), to gather worldwide news of Judaism and Jewish-related topics. Unlike the UP or AP in late 1939, the JTA was dispatching stories directly from Poland on the rapid intensification of Nazi Germany’s persecution of Polish and other European Jews. Nazis had invaded Poland by September 1st that year; in mid-October, Austrian and Czech Jews were deported to Poland, and by October 28th, the first Jewish ghetto was established in Poland.

In the November 28, 1939, Jewish Telegraphic Agency collection of dispatches, a statement from the Jewish Journal of Shreveport praised JTA reporter Mendel Mozes, who was based in Poland before managing to escape in late 1939, when he had no other choice. The Jewish Journal opined, “If ever a list of American-Jewish journalistic exploits is compiled, high on it must come the name of Mendel Mozes…For his courage and achievements, the Jewish Journal salutes Mendel Mozes, hero of Jewish journalism.”

In September 1945, Larry Freeman purchased the Bossier Tribune, the weekly news publication based out of Bossier City, and its printing shop at 309 Barksdale Blvd., from T.L. Morris for an undisclosed amount. Freeman announced plans to “give Bossier City a complete worthwhile paper, a publication that will devote every effort and influence toward civic, religious, education and industrial upbuilding of the town.” He also announced the Tribune’s commercial printing department would become, “the Twin City Printing Company” and would be expanded. Soon, he was printing the Jewish Journal on his new printing department in Bossier City.

Larry Freeman, along with his wife, Anne Freeman, remained in the local newspaper business for the rest of his life, and also worked to develop and grow downtown Bossier City. He passed away in 1988 at the age of 80. His paper the Bossier Tribune continues as the Bossier Press-Tribune (it merged in the late 1970s with its competitor the Planter Press, and with two north Bossier papers in the 1990’s.) Sadly, the Jewish Journal has not continued, and it is very difficult to come across issues of the paper. Low-quality microfilmed images of two issues from 1941 are available from the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock, and two issues, from 1944 and 1950, exist in the Eric Brock collection at the Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSU-Shreveport.

If you have any issues of the Jewish Journal, or other documents, stories or photos of religious and community life of Bossier Parish, we would love to add to our History Center’s research collection. Contact us at 318-746-7717 or email history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other intriguing facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok.

Images:

• Photo of Larry Freeman that accompanied the announcement of his acquisition of the Bossier Tribune. Photo from The Shreveport Journal, September 12, 1945.
• Along with such publications as the Bossier Tribune and the Jewish Journal, Larry Freeman published the Barksdale Observer, starting in the late 1940s. Clipping from the August 6, 1961, Bossier Tribune.

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Sam Willer and Agudath Achim

The Samuel and Sarah Willer Family, 1926. Seated, left to right: Rosa W. Gamm, Sarah and
Samuel Willer, and Goldye W. Watner. Standing, left: Ethel W. Eltis, Clara W. Groner, Lazarus
Willer, and Rachel W. Braunig.

Sam Willer’s naturalization documents reveal that he immigrated to the United States in 1885 from Russia-Poland. According to an interview with two of his grandchildren, Willer left his home country because he did not want to serve in the Russian Army. He left his wife and four children and set sail for America, where he would establish a new home for his family. With his uncle, B. Willer, living in Shreveport, it was logical for him to come here.

When Willer first arrived, he started out peddling goods, buying merchandise in Shreveport, and traveling into the rural areas of Caddo and Bossier selling his wares. After four years of living on separate continents, Willer was finally able to bring his family to live in their new home in Benton. He purchased land in Benton, built a home, and farmed the land, growing cotton, and raising cattle. And he also built and ran a general merchandise store, S. Willer & Son.

In Bossier, Willer is most famous for chartering a steamboat to fetch supplies for those stranded in Benton during the 1892 flooding of the Red River. But, he is also known in the Jewish community as having an instrumental role in the organization of the Agudath Achim Synagogue in Shreveport, which is still serving the local Jewish community today. While Bossier Parish had their fair share of Jewish residents, the overwhelming majority lived in Shreveport, which is why this part of Sam Willer’s story is on the other side of the river.

It all began when he joined a small group, comprised of five practicing Orthodox families in Shreveport, called Beth El. The significance of his joining the group is that he made it possible for them to form a minyan. A minyan is a quorum of ten men (or in some synagogues, men and women) over the age of 13 required for traditional Jewish public worship.

At the same time, there was another small Orthodox congregation in Shreveport by the name of Beth Joseph. These two groups realized that there is strength in numbers, and they joined together to form Agudath Achim in 1902. According to the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities, “In 1904, the congregation began construction of a new synagogue, but work was soon halted due to one of the outbreaks of yellow fever that frequently plagued the city. The strain of the epidemic posed a serious challenge to the new congregation’s synagogue construction project. At the height of the epidemic, trains were forbidden to enter or leave the city, and health officials fumigated every home in the town. The small community lost members, and those remaining lacked the funds to continue the synagogue construction project.”

“In this period of great trial, the citizens of Shreveport exemplified the spirit of solidarity and friendship that often arises from adversity. When news spread of Agudath Achim’s setbacks, Jews and Christians from across the city stepped forward to provide the needed funds. On September 8, 1905, much of the town crowded into Agudath Achim’s ‘magnificent edifice’ to participate in the new synagogue’s consecration service. Speakers included Agudath Achim’s Rabbi H. Wolenski and Shreveport Mayor Andrew Querbes. The crowd also included city council members, members of the Reform B’nai Zion Congregation, the Catholic chief of the Shreveport Fire Department, and many prominent local figures.”

Their first building was located at the corner of Fannin and McNeill Streets. As the congregation grew, they built a new synagogue in 1938 at Line Avenue and Margaret Place, which is now Rutherford House. In 1980, they built their third and current synagogue, which is on Village Green Drive in South Shreveport.

Before the formation of Agudath Achim, the members of Beth El pooled their monies together, and they purchased land for an orthodox Jewish cemetery located at Walnut and Yale Streets in the Allendale neighborhood of Shreveport. When the two groups formed Agudath Achim, the new combined congregation, which totaled 58 original members, assumed ownership of the Orthodox burial grounds, which became known as Agudath Achim Cemetery. Sam and Sarah Willer are buried there, along with other pioneering families of the area. 

By: Amy Robertson