From Egypt, a crack in wall of Holocaust denial

Robert Satloff | Special to the Baltimore Sun
Posted February 26, 2007

When the United Nations considered a landmark resolution condemning Holocaust denial last month, the media missed a major story: One of the first delegates out of his chair to express support for “keeping memory alive” was the ambassador from Egypt.

This was a major breakthrough. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be the world’s most famous Holocaust denier, but he has only followed the model of a former president of Egypt — Gamal Abdel Nasser — who once said that “no person, not even the most simple one, takes seriously the lie of the 6 million Jews that were murdered.” Just two years ago, Egypt took the lead in criticizing the original U.N. resolution establishing Jan. 27 as international Holocaust Remembrance Day.
To me, it came as no surprise that Egypt, leader of the Sunni Arab world, now supports a resolution targeted mainly against Iran. Just days before the U.N. vote, I returned from an eye-opening visit to Cairo where I delivered lectures on my book Among the Righteous: Lost Stories From the Holocaust’s Long Reach Into Arab Lands, which details the often-overlooked experience of the half-million Jews who lived in Axis-controlled North Africa. This was almost surely the first time anyone had spoken publicly in an Arab capital on the Arab role in the Holocaust.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28 AT 7 P.M.

AUTHOR MARILYN HENRY TO DISCUSS

CONFRONTING THE PERPETRATORS:

A HISTORY OF THE CLAIMS CONFERENCE

at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

NEW YORK, NY – In 1951, Israel and an ad hoc consortium of Jewish organizations, known as the Claims Conference, negotiated with West Germany for “moral and material amends” for Nazi-era damages. Nearly 60 years later the Claims Conference has won compensation for hundreds of thousands of Nazi victims and established enduring legal and moral principles for redress for victims of human rights abuses. Marilyn Henry will discuss her comprehensive book, Confronting the Perpetrators: A History of the Claims Conference (Vallentine Mitchell, 2007), on March 28 at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

Marilyn Henry is a contributing editor at ARTnews Magazine, prior to that she reported for the Jerusalem Post from Israel, New York, and Europe. She is a recognized authority on the recovery of properties confiscated in Europe during the Nazi and Communist eras. Her work also has appeared in the Washington Post, Die Welt and other media outlets.

Tickets to this event are $5, free for members. Tickets may be purchased online at www.mjhnyc.org or by calling 646-437-4202.

Finland’s Tarnished Holocaust Record

An Interview with Serah Beizer

A few years ago it became public that Finland had handed over almost three thousand Soviet prisoners of war to the Germans during World War II. Until that time Finland had the reputation of a country that protected all its Jews, except for eight Central European Jewish refugees who were handed over to the Gestapo in Estonia.
At least seventy Soviet Jewish prisoners were extradited to the Gestapo. Finnish historians claim that these people were handed over because they were political prisoners. However, many of the Jews were barbers, carpenters, and postal workers by profession. These are highly unlikely candidates to have been political agitators or commissars.
The Finnish government has appointed a historical commission to investigate the deaths, extraditions, and deportations of Soviet prisoners of war and others to the Germans. Author Elina Sana, who has played a crucial role in bringing the matter to public attention, says in her book that Finland should establish a truth commission. The present commission does not qualify as one. It has done important research but will only partly disclose its findings. Finland’s Data Protection Board decided that ‘in order to protect the privacy of the registered [person]…action has to be taken so that data on a certain individual shall not be revealed to outsiders’ without his or her permission. As the data on prisoners of war extradited sixty to sixty-five years ago, most of them 85-105 years old if alive by today, will not be published, this is hardly a truth commission.
There was little punishment for war criminals in Finland. It now seems that a large part of Finland’s tarnished wartime record will never be revealed.
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By: Rabbi Aaron Krauss
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism have become two sides of the same coin. How shall we react? Deborah Lipstadt, who famously succeeded in her case against Holocaust denier David Irving, set the tone by stating “We can do what we do best, we can educate.”

In this effort we have friends. No one deserves greater hakarat hatov than Atlantic City native Dr. Vera King Farris, who served as president of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey from 1983 to 2003.

Dr. Farris was the first African American president of a public college in New Jersey and is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in addition to numerous awards and titles. She was named New Jersey’s Woman of the Year in 1992.

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By HAVIV RETTIG

A new effort will be made to determine the number and living conditions of Holocaust survivors in Israel. The decision was reached in a meeting between Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan and Reuven Merhav, the director of the Executive Committee of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany at the Knesset on Wednesday.

The new study, which will be conducted by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, will gather information on the location, health and other quality-of-life factors for the estimated 250,000 survivors living in Israel.

“We decided on joint action to arrive at an agreed basis for the numbers, residential areas, economic situation and care needs [of Holocaust survivors,” Merhav told The Jerusalem Post, “in order to properly determine the resources Israel and the Claims Conference will need to mobilize over the next 10 years.”

The research will update figures from 1999 and 2000 that are no longer reliable, Merhav said. “Now we will have full statistics, including about those living in areas coping with terror, so we can mobilize the proper aid and infrastructure,” he said.

By Amiram Barkat

The fourth conference of the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism took place in Jerusalem this week, for the first time under the patronage of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a break with the past, the foreign ministry is of the opinion today that combating anti-Semitism is an Israeli interest; but subjugating the struggle against anti-Semitism to Israel’s diplomatic agenda could be problematic. It is reasonable to assume that Israel will not allow activity against anti-Semitism in a particular country to undermine its interests in that country.

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WORLD WAR II
‘Monuments Men’ kept treasures in good handsLittle-known ‘Monuments Men’ hunted art treasures stolen by the Nazis during World War II. They also identified and catalogued works of art and cultural artifacts.
BY MARIA RECIO
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - It was the greatest art theft in history. It was also the greatest rescue.

The looting of Europe’s public and private collections by the Nazis beginning in the 1930s propelled a small army of art experts under the auspices of U.S. forces to launch a search and rescue of works of art that had been stored in salt mines, caves and castles to protect them from the ravages of war.

The ”Monuments Men,” as they were known, tracked down, identified and catalogued millions of works of art and cultural artifacts by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Vermeer, for the purpose of returning them to their owners. They also identified historical and cultural sites to prevent Allied forces from bombing them.

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WHAT: The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World

WHERE: Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280

WHEN: Wednesday, March 21 at 7 p.m.

COST: $10 adults, $5 students/seniors, free for members

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21 AT 7 P.M.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR KATI MARTON IN DISCUSSION WITH RICHARD C. HOLBROOKE

at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

NEW YORK, NY – In The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World (Simon and Schuster, 2006), author Kati Marton tells the story of Hungarian-Jewish immigrants and their astonishing success and influence in the West, especially in the United States. Richard C. Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations will interview his wife, the author, about her remarkable book on March 21 at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Among the men the book follows are: Robert Capa, the first photographer to go ashore on D-Day; Arthur Koestler, author of the anti-Communist novel Darkness at Noon; and Michael Curtiz, the director of Casablanca.

Kati Marton, an award-winning former NPR and ABC correspondent, is the author of Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History, a New York Times bestseller.

Richard Holbrooke was nominated by President Clinton to be Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs. Prior to becoming Assistant Secretary of State, he was US Ambassador to Germany. Holbrooke has had a varied career as a professional diplomat, a magazine editor, an author, a Peace Corps director, and an investment banker.

Tickets to this event are $10 adults, $5 students/seniors, and free for members. Tickets may be purchased online at www.mjhnyc.org or by calling 646-437-4202.

1. A reminder about next week’s Survivor Visitor Program orientation:

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2007, 7-8:30 PM
The Workmen’s Circle Building
45 E. 33rd Street (between Park and Madison Avenues)
Refreshments will be served

The Workmen’s Circle / Arbeter Ring has launched a young volunteer
program directed toward visiting the Holocaust survivor population of
its members. 3GNY and JBFCS (Jewish Board of Family and Children’s
Services) have joined together with Workmen’s Circle to serve in this
important effort.

We believe that isolated, homebound Jewish seniors, and survivors in
particular, receive enormous satisfaction from knowing their Jewish
legacy lives on in the younger generations. Similarly, all of us can
deepen our roots in the Jewish community by connecting directly with
survivors, whose experiences are some of the most unique and
meaningful in the history of our people.

Be a part of something special. Join us for this brief training &
orientation and see if this could work for you.

Contact Elana Alfred at Workmen’s Circle for details. Phone: (212)
889-6800 ext. 215; Email: elana {at} circle(.)org

2. Announcing Connect2’s Volunteer Appreciation Dinner of 2007:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007, 6:30-8:00 PM
Makor — 35 W. 67th Street (between Columbus and Central Park West)
$10 for potential volunteers; FREE for Current Connect 2 Volunteers
This event is co-sponsored by Makor
For more info, call 718-449-5000 x216 or email e.tauby {at} jccgci(.)org;
www.connect2ny.org

From Sheva Tauby, Director of Connect2:

It’s my great pleasure to invite you to our annual Volunteer Appreciation
Dinner of 2007!

Join us as we meet volunteers and Holocaust survivors and enjoy a beautiful
dinner together, featuring kosher wine tasting. I encourage you to bring
friends along that are not yet involved in Connect2, so they can learn more
about our important project.

You may RSVP now by replying to this email with the amount of people
attending. I look forward to greeting you personally!

By TOM HOWELL JR.

Herald Staff Writer

VERNON — Two days after a former Vernon High School student was arrested and charged with attacking noted Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel, school officials were stunned to think the quiet, courteous teen they once knew could have committed such a crime.

Eric Hunt, 22, of Lake Wallkill Road, was arrested Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Clinic in Somerset County, Montgomery Police said. Authorities in San Francisco had issued a warrant for Hunt’s arrest after they connected him to the Feb. 1 attack on Wiesel at the city’s Argent Hotel.

Hunt is lodged without bail in the Somerset County Jail, where he awaits extradition to San Francisco. The incident has drawn worldwide interest and underscores the disquieting concept of Holocaust denial, but some Sussex County residents were left in bewilderment.

“He was a very easy-going kid. He always had a smile on his face,” boys tennis coach Doug Miller said of Hunt.

Hunt played varsity tennis at the high school for at least two years, earning All-SCIL Honorable Mention in 2001 and 2002. Miller said he first learned of Hunt’s arrest in a phone call from a reporter this weekend.

“My first impression was that it was something positive, because he was that kind of student,” Miller said. “I was completely shocked.”

Miller described Hunt as a “normal, quiet kid,” and said political issues were not discussed a-round the team.

Over the past 10 years, the high school has developed numerous special programs “not only dealing with the Holocaust, but tolerance issues in general,” Superintendent Anthony Macerino said.

“Who knows how these things happen?” he said of the alleged incident.

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