Lost in the Holocaust: experts plumb newly opened archive

By MELISSA EDDY – 2 days ago

BAD AROLSEN, Germany (AP) — A mother and child separated. A father’s war wound. An uncle’s name on a list.

The unrelated and disparate items are among the discoveries made by 40 Jewish genealogists who spent the past week plumbing a trove of Nazi documents made public after 60 years.

For genealogists of Jewish families, the Holocaust is both a tragedy and a black hole, because so many of the 6 million Jewish victims disappeared without a trace. For years, researchers hoping to fill the gaps have longed to dive into the more than 50 million documents held in this German spa town and entrusted to the International Tracing Service, or ITS.

“The Nazis took away our names and gave us numbers. Our role is to take away the numbers and give back the names,” Gary Mokotoff, a genealogist who helped organize the group from Israel, the U.S., Britain and Australia, said Thursday. “There is a wealth of information here.”

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Senate resolution on restitution planned

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators plan to urge countries involved in the Holocaust to enact restitution legislation.

A planned resolution is being drafted by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Gordon Smith (D-Ore.).

The resolution will call for “the convening of an international intergovernmental conference to focus on the remaining steps necessary to secure restitution and compensation of Holocaust-era assets,” Nelson said at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. The hearing was called to consider a bill aimed at reopening Holocaust-era insurance claims.

That bill, initiated last year in the U.S. House of Representatives, would effectively reopen a process that was to have been closed last year by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.

The bill is backed by a number of U.S. survivor groups who say the ICHEIC process was compromised by involving insurance companies in its deliberations and did not adequately address insurance claims. The groups want to return the matter to the courts.

A host of major Jewish groups have joined the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, the Claims Conference, the U.S. State Department and the German government in opposing the legislation, saying that upending a process that was to have resolved the issue would endanger other restitution negotiations.

Both sides were represented at the hearing, which at times became emotional.

Nelson and other senators did not appear committed to adopting the House bill. The non-binding resolution he proposed, however, would address one of the sharpest criticisms of ICHEIC and other claims negotiating bodies: that terms with some eastern European nations, particularly Poland, have not been adequately negotiated.

By DAVID RISING,AP
Posted: 2008-04-29 23:17:24

BADEN-BADEN, Germany (April 29) - Karl Lotter, a prisoner who worked in the hospital at Mauthausen concentration camp, had no trouble remembering the first time he watched SS doctor Aribert Heim kill a man.

It was 1941, and an 18-year-old Jew had been sent to the clinic with a foot inflammation. Heim asked him about himself and why he was so fit. The young man said he had been a soccer player and swimmer.

Then, instead of treating the prisoner’s foot, Heim anesthetized him, cut him open, castrated him, took apart one kidney and removed the second, Lotter said. The victim’s head was removed and the flesh boiled off so that Heim could keep it on display.

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By LYDIA AISENBERG

INMATES OF the Kaufering camps were forced to work in industry, agriculture and in building massive underground bunkers to be used by Messerschmidt to manufacture planes.

ETCHED IN MEMORY. The Yiddish writings in the Landsberg Haggada include translations of songs from Hebrew to Yiddish, a short report from the Warsaw Ghetto fighters, and a translation of the Song of the Partisans, as well as notices that had been pinned up in the last days of Dachau.

The Kaufering, known as the ‘cold crematoria,’ were the last camps in Germany to be liberated by the Americans

In l946, Holocaust survivors in a displaced persons camp in the Bavarian town of Landsberg penned a Pessah haggada, telling the story of their people’s freedom from a previous slavery.

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By JENNY LING - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Holocaust survivor Inge Woolf is on a personal mission to combat racism and intolerance after an attack on her husband’s grave.

The 73-year-old semi-retired Wellington resident is dedicated to teaching others about the dictatorship that murdered millions of people, including Jews, homosexuals and the disabled, during World War II.

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By HAVIV RETTIG

The Claims Conference is withholding funds for Jewish Agency programs until agency head Ze’ev Bielski recants his assertion that the conference is failing to distribute money to Holocaust survivors, according to leaks to the media on Thursday.

For several years, joint efforts by Israeli survivors’ organizations, Bielski and Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan have tried to change the way Holocaust-era restitution funds held by the Claims Conference are distributed.

The conference is composed of two-dozen organizations, including many Israeli and survivor groups, but Israeli groups want a larger number of Israeli representatives on the board in order to funnel more funds to survivors here.

In the context of this fight, the instigators of the effort have said that the conference possesses some $1 billion which it is refusing to disburse to the deserving and aging survivors. However, this claim, published last year in a report commissioned by Eitan and the Jewish Agency, is inaccurate.

“After we checked into it comprehensively, I can say the Claims Conference does not have a billion dollars sitting somewhere that they aren’t distributing,” said Jewish Agency Treasurer Hagai Merom. “They have a three-year plan for disbursing the remaining funds in a planned way.”

Documentation of the Claims Conference shows that funds are mostly spoken for by heirs as they complete the restitution process and by an assessment of future needs.

According to the conference, funding has been frozen on three Jewish Agency educational projects - some 20% of the conference’s funds go to education projects rather than survivors’ welfare - whose value is $378,000.

Now, press leaks are trying to link the freezing of these projects - out of several million dollars in allocations given to the agency from the conference - to “a demand by the conference that Bielski apologize.”

The Jewish Agency itself did not deny the contents of the leak, saying Bielski “would continue to act for survivors’ welfare and transparency in organizations dealing with them,” and “does not have any contact with the Claims Conference regarding his opinions or statements.”

Conference officials completely denied the allegations, and sources familiar with the conference’s operations said it was unclear why Bielski, who is also vice president of the conference, would support the assertion in the first place.

Published in Europe, the claims have reportedly hurt ongoing negotiation efforts for more aid to survivors.

21st Annual Newark Holocaust Observance
On THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2008 AT 11:00 A.M., the 21st Annual Newark Holocaust Observance will be held. This year it will be located at Rutgers University – Newark at the Paul Robeson Center, Rm 232, 350 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Newark, NJ. Please note the time change.

Keene, NH — On May 3, the voices and lives of those touched by the Holocaust will be transformed into a compelling musical experience in the debut performance of the “Kaddish,” a new work by New Hampshire composer Lawrence Siegel.

Commissioned by the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies at Keene State College, “Kaddish,” will be performed for the first time on Saturday May 3, 2008 at 8:00 P.M. at the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond in Keene, New Hampshire.

Holmdel, NJ-Jerry Casciano’s most recent exhibit, “Surviving the Plan,” documents the power of survival of Holocaust survivors from Auschwitz, Treblinka and the Warsaw Ghetto. The exhibit opened April 6 and runs through April 30 at the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center’s Gallery on Grant, Deal Park.

Washington, DC–The Paul Peck Humanities Institute at Montgomery College conducted its annual Holocaust Commemoration in the Theatre Arts Arena on the Rockville campus. It began with a reading of narratives written by and about people who were persecuted under the Holocaust. Leaders from three Holocaust survivor groups — Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Friends of Greater Washington, Child Survivors and Kindertransport — participatd in a candle-lighting ceremony.

Jerusalem–For the 10th consecutive year, the Tmuna Theater will present its Holocaust Remembrance Day Alternative, a different and sometimes provocative way of looking at the greatest horror of the 20th century. At the ceremony to be held at the theater on April 30 various people from different walks of life will describe how memories of the Holocaust impact their lives today.

Orange County, CA–100 Holocaust survivors expected to attend ceremony on April 29. Chapman University’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education will present “An Evening of Holocaust Remembrance” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29 at Memorial Hall.

THE CHILD SURVIVORS/HIDDEN CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST
and
BETH AMI CONGREGATION
April 30, 2008 at 7:30 pm at Beth Ami Congregation
1401 No. 4th Avenue - (corner of 4th & Glades) - Boca Raton

The Holocaust Survivors Procession with Yahr Tzeit candles will start the evening.

Welcome by Marvin Rosenberg – President
Rabbi Gerald Weiss and Cantor Dr. Elliott Dicker will lead the service.
Child Survivor Frieda Jaffe and Beth Ami member Joseph Tekulsky, a Partisan, will share their survival stories.
Rachel Beers, (March of the Living) will speak of her experience.
Remarks: by Norman Frajman
Richard Alrod, President of LEAH (League for Educational Awareness of the Holocaust)
and Nancy Dershaw, President of Next Generation who will also light the 7th candle
as a symbol of our renewal and the establishment of the State of Israel

Original musical selections performed by composer Judith Evan Goldstein and soloist Sherry Redler.
For Information Call: Zelda Fuksman 561-477-6992 - Norman Frajman 561-740-1770

Fullerton, CA–Leon Leyson spoke at the Campus Theatre in Fullerton College.

NORTH PORT, FL — Helen Fagin, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and retired University of Miami professor spoke at North Port High School.

Springville, USA — Auschwitz survivor Joseph Diamond of Williamsville made his 11th presentation at Springville-Griffith Institute Middle School.

Salinas, KS–Terezin survivor Inge Auerbacher spoke at Kansas Wesleyan University’s 2008 Holocaust Remembrance Week.

Providence, RI–Marion Blumenthal-Lazan, co-author of Four Perfect Pebbles, spoke at Providence College.

Brockton, MA–2G Ann Weiss, spoke at Temple Beth Am, She is the author of “The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau.”

Charlotte, NC–Holocaust survivor Walter Ziffer of Weaverville spoke at Cleveland Community College in Shelby.

Vancouver, CA–Robbie Waisman, a Buchenwald survivor, spoke at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s 33rd annual high school symposium this spring.
Missoula, MT–Dr. Henry Gonshak talked with University of Great Falls students about Maus, the autobiographical graphic novel written by 2G Art Spiegelman.

Florence, KY–Holocaust survivor, retired educator and human rights activist Judith Meisel shared her story with Mariemont High School students.

Santa Clara, CA–Regina Keenan of Campbell, who fled Berlin for Shanghai when she was a young girl, Annie Liberman of Palo Alto, who fled to northern Africa, and Chayale Ash Fuhrman of San Jose, a former Yiddish theater actress, spoke at an event sponsored by the County Board of Supervisors.

Rockford, IL–Holocaust survivors Howard Melton and Albert Beder told their stories to Channel 13 News.

Montgomery, AL–Survivors and a liberator spoke at Auburn ery University’s Holocaust Remembrance Annual Education event.

Chapel Hill, NC–Christopher Browning, a UNC history professor, gave a presentation about his experience with Holocaust survivors. Browning’s research focuses on the testimonies of Starachowice survivors. Browning, who has been at UNC since 1999, has published seven books about the Holocaust.

Boston, MA–Armenian survivor Asdghig Alemian (98), Holocaust Edgar Krasa (87), and Rwanda survivor Marie Carine Gakuba (21) were brought together to share their stories of survival. The program, called “Genocide Committed, Genocide Denied, and Genocide Repeated,” was hosted by the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, North America’s only permanent memorial to the Armenian genocide.

Quebec, CA–Liselotte Ivry spoke to Grade 6 students at Roslyn School.

Emmaly Reed spoke in in Salina, KS sponsored by Heartland Parishes Social Justice Commission, at St. Nicholas of Myra Church.

Nathan Kranowski spoke at Ferrum College in Roanoke, VA

2G Alan Elsner discussed “Dealing with the Holocaust Through Fact and Fiction” at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

Photographer Becky Seitel presented a photo exhibition: “Darkness into Life: The Birmingham Area Holocaust Survivors through Photography and Art,” was on display at the Alabama State Capitol.

The El Paso Chapter of the UTEP Alumni Association honored 1969 UTEP graduate and Holocaust survivor Dr. Edith Eger at its annual Fundraising Gala Dinner, Saturday, March 29, at the Tomás Rivera Conference Center.

FAYETTEVILLE, SC– Several Holocaust survivors gathered in Fayetteville for a special reunion on Friday. They got to meet the American soldiers who helped free them during World War II. It was a meeting that was important for both groups.
see video:

Edith Gelbard spoke at Windsor Forks District School’s Grade 6 classes on April 11 in Nova Scotia.

Hudson Falls, NY– Several Holocaust survivors attended a reunion of the American army unit that liberated them from a Nazi death train 63 years ago. High school history teacherMatt Rozell’s played a key role in reuniting the survivors and the veterans.

A Wilmington, DE synagogue honored Holocaust survivor Alfred Schnog.

Josef Perle spoke to Marlow schoolchildren in the UK.

Holocaust survivor Nat Kranowski spoke about his experiences at Virginia Tech.

Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan spoke to middle school students in Farmington Valley, CT.

Alfred Tibor of Columbus, OH told his story to Granville Middle School students in Newark, OH.

North Bay, Ont.– Eva Olsson, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, speaks out against schoolyard bullying.

GLENS FALLS, NY — “A Celebration of Life” opened at the Lapham Gallery with artwork by students inspired by their relationship with Holocaust survivor Rena Bernstein.

Kansas City, MO–A play written by students celebrates Holocaust survivorErika Mandler’s courage at Chillicothe High School.

Kansas City, MO–The Truman Presidential Museum & Library hosted a Holocaust Survivors Panel.Survivors living in the Kansas City area gaveshort presentations, and a question-and-answer session and roundtable discussion followed.

Brookline, MA–Scholar Joshua Rubenstein edits accounts of Soviet Holocaust survivors in “The Unknown Black Book: The Holocaust in German-occupied Soviet Territories.

Nouvelles St-Laurent News - QC, Canada–15th Annual Kleinmann Symposium on the Holocaust at Vanier College. Lectures address Media and Genocide; French Youth during the Nazi Occupation; The Swastika: Origins and Appropriation of a Symbol; and “Did it Really Happen? Genocide and Denial.” “The Holocaust in Rock and Pop Music” by Scott Benarde who spent six years researching and writing Stars of David: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Jewish Stories, (Brandeis University Press, 2003) a book about the Jewish contribution to popular music from the 1950s through the present.

Slippery Rock University, PA–the Holocaust Remembrance Program was a four-day long program of events on campus,eginning on April 7. The College of Business, Information and Social Sciences and specifically, the department of political science, hosted the “Week for Honoring Human Rights…Your Rights.” Richard Martin, a political science professor who teaches a Holocaust course, organized the week’s activities.

University of Texas–(AP) University of Texas students honoring Holocaust victims passed out thousands of white roses. The 10,000 white roses were meant to represent the number of people who died each day in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

See video

Mesa, AZ–The exhibit, “Anne Frank: A History for Today,” can be seen at the Barness Family East Valley Jewish Community Center on Chandler through May 1.

West Lafayette, IN–Mona Golabek, an acclaimed author and Grammy-nominated pianist wrote the biography of her mother’s Holocaust experience in “The Children of Willesden Lane,” and shared her mother, Jura’s, story in Loeb Playhouse at Purdue University.

Newport News, VA–Alex Lebenstein, will speak at Fort Monroe April 29 at 1:30 p.m. at the Hampton Army Base’s Days of Remembrance for Victims of the Holocaust.

Los Angeles, CA–Loyola Marymount University hosted an exhibit by photographer Rick Nahmias at the 14th Annual Conference of the Western Jewish Studies Association about a group of Holocaust survivors in the Catskill Mountains of New York State.

West Lafayette, IN–The 27th annual Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference brought together survivors and experts to help people comprehend the enormity, remember and celebrate Jewish culture, with Holocaust survivor, Joseph Haberer.

West Palm Beach, FL–Schindler Survivor Helen Jonas-Rosensweig, shared her story at the Boca West Country Club and met Monika, the daughter of Amon Goeth. A film about this legacy, INHERITANCE, directed by James Moll, will air on PBS in December.