NAHOS - ShoahSurvivors



NAHOS

JULY 17, 2009

25 TAMUZ 5769

Volume 13, No: 3

FROM YOUR EDITOR

Dear Members & Friends:

GHETTO-PENSIONS UPDATE:

We received numerous calls asking for application forms. The latest Court ruling was only issued recently, as we explained in our previous newsletter. Procedures to implement the new rulings are not yet in place, nor have any application forms been issued at the time of this writing. According to information received, all previous claimants who were rejected will receive notifications in the coming months from the office that issued the rejection. Claimants that engaged German or American lawyers might receive notifications from their attorneys.

There is no need to rush: There are no deadlines! When inquiring with the office that issued the rejection, use the file number that was printed on the rejection.

For those that never applied: New applications will be accepted provided the applicant meets the criteria outlined in our previous issues.

Shalom U’Bracha; L.R.

THE PRAGUE CONFERENCE

In our May and June issues we reported on the upcoming International Conference on Holocaust Restitution to be held in Prague at the end of June.

We denounced the fact that no actual Survivors representing the U.S. grass-roots survivors’ movements had been included (at that time) in the U.S. delegation and we deplored that both, the U.S. and the Israeli delegations were headed by individuals seemingly representing the interests of the Claims Conference; interests that are often at odds with the survivors’ wants.

The Israeli delegation was initially scheduled to be led by Reuven Merhav, a Senior official of the Claims Conference and the U.S. delegation by Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, who had conducted negotiations for the Claims Conference. The Israeli survivors and the Israeli media expressed the same misgivings and called the appointment of Reuven Merhav a “conflict of interest.” Their efforts met with success and and Merhav was replaced as head of the Israeli delegation by the Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein.

Here in the U.S., ten leaders of local survivor groups, executive board members of “HSF – the Holocaust Survivors Foundation” wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, expressing our apprehensions and (continued on page 2)

OUR NEXT MEETING

Where: Park East Synagogue

164 East 68th Street, NYC

When: Sunday, July 26th, 2009

1PM - 2PM: Social Hour

2PM – 4PM: Presentation

Speaker: Mr. Emil Draitser, Ph.D.

Topic: “Shush! Growing up Jewish under Stalin.”

Mr. Draitser is Professor of Russian at Hunter College of the City University of New York. In addition to his twelve books, his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Partisan Review and the North American Review. Recently appeared on the Leonard Lopate show (WNYC).

Many years after making his way to America From Odessa in Soviet Ukraine, Emil Draitser made a startling discovery: every time he uttered the word “Jewish” – even in casual conversation – he lowered his voice. This behavior was a natural by-product, he realized, of growing up in the anti-Semitic, post- Holocaust Soviet Union, when “Shush!” was the most frequent word he heard: “Don’t use your Jewish name in public, Don’t speak a word of Yiddish, And don’t cry over your murdered relatives.” This compelling memoir conveys the reader back to Draitser’s childhood and provides a unique account of mid-twentieth-century life in Russia as the young Draitser struggles to reconcile the harsh values of Soviet society with the values of his working-class Jewish family. Evocative and rich with humor, this unforgettable story ends with the death of Stalin and, through life stories of the author’s ancestors, presents a sweeping panorama of two centuries of Jewish history in Russia.

Members: $5.oo

Non-members: $8.oo

Refreshments will be served

All are welcome!

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Subsequent meetings: Sundays August 23rd and September 6th.

Please mark your calendars! We will not always be able to send newsletters before a meeting date.

disenchantments that the Conference had been planned and organized without the survivors’ involvement. Our friends on Capitol Hill, Congresspersons Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen and Robert Wexler and others , had also sent missives to the State Department supporting our positions. We are happy to report that two of our most capable spokespersons, Alex Moscovic from Hobe Sound – an executive board member of HSF – and Esther Finder, a leader of a nationwide Second Generation movement, were included in the U.S. delegation.

Although, prior to the Conference, several Town-hall meetings had been held in Miami and in Washington, D.C. with Ambassador Christian Kennedy, where survivors had an opportunity to express their views, lingering concerns had remained and Ambassador Eizenstat held a conference-call with the leaders of HSF on June 21st.

We presented our reservations and the reasons for our discords and our distrust of the Claims Conference. We also expressed our disappointment that the issue of the pressing social needs of the Holocaust survivors’ population had not been placed on the agenda and made an important part thereof.

Ambassador Eizenstat pledged his support to have this oversight corrected and, indeed, it was placed as one of the top items of the official agenda. Eizenstat also pointed out that his connections with the Claims Conference had only been marginal. All our concerns were discussed openly and frankly and we concurred with the Ambassador’s role as head of the U.S. delegation.

At the Prague Conference, the delegates representing the survivors’ quest for restitution faced a difficult task because of nationalist-fueled resentment of Jews and lack of political will by countries like Poland and Lithuania. Poland has no restitution laws and Lithuania, so far, had only offered to pay $46 million – one third of the actual value of the Jewish communal properties confiscated by the Nazis or the communists – over 10 years and only starting in 2011.

Below are a number of interesting excerpts from Ambassador Eizenstat’s testimony before the U.S. House Committee of Foreign Affairs; Subcommittee on Europe, on June 18th, 2009 (before the Prague Conference). In his testimony, Eizenstat outlines the goals of the Prague Conference (Editor: Please note that these statements were made before his conference-call with survivor leaders. Ambassador Kennedy made a similar presentation before the House Committee on June 18th.

(A) (excerpts by) Eizenstat:

“ I was also very pleased to have been selected by Secretary Clinton to lead the United States Delegation to Prague. Since my appointment a few weeks ago, I have been working with the State Department’s Office on Holocaust issues, ably led by Ambassador Christian Kennedy, made an exceptional outreach effort, beyond that done for any of the previous conferences, to prepare for the Prague Conference. Four working groups of experts from around the world and interested stakeholders were organized, and a fifth group discussed social welfare needs of survivors.”

“Conference Goals and Objectives:

Let me first turn to the objectives of the Prague organizers. These objectives were worked out through discussions with many other governments and delegations that will attend the conferences. The objectives of the organizers are the same as those of the United States:

** To assess the progress made since the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets in the recovery of looted art and objects of cultural, historical and religious value.

** To review current practices regarding provenance research and restitution and, where needed, define effective instruments to improve these efforts.

** To review the impact of the Stockholm Declaration of 2000 on education, remembrance and research about the Holocaust.

** To strengthen the Task Force on International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, a 26-nation body chaired by the Czech Republic in 2007-2008.

** To discuss new, innovative approaches in education, social programs and cultural initiatives related to the Holocaust and other National Socialist wrongs and to advance religious and ethnic tolerance in our societies and the world. In this regard, the agenda of the Prague Conference is in accord with our objectives: it is primarily to address any unfinished business from the 1998 Washington Conference, lay the framework for further real property compensation, and provide an impetus for an expansion in social welfare benefits to survivors. We would like to make Prague a landmark on the path of justice for those survivors of Nazi terror who are still alive today and for their heirs.

Conference agenda:

On Sunday, June 28, there will be five working groups as follows:

-- Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research;

-- Real Property

-- Looted Art

-- Judaica and Jewish Cultural Property

-- Special Session – caring for Victims of Nazism and their legacy.”

[Editor: Note the ‘Caring For Survivors was at the bottom of the Totem Pole, at that point in time ]

Eizenstat (continued):

“ on Monday, June 29, there will be a plenary session during which delegation heads will make statements. During the plenary, we will give final approval to the Terezin Declaration, the political statement on future actions to be taken. On June 30, this Declaration will be formally announced at a ceremony at the Terezin concentration camp.

U.S. Goals:

This may be the last major multinational conference on the Holocaust that can be of benefit to aging Holocaust survivors and their families. We feel a great sense of urgency about our mission. Our goal is to try to fill in the gaps which have become evident from the previous conferences and agreements we have helped to achieve.

Art Recovery:

There has been a great deal of progress on art restitution… But gaps remain. Most countries have not done provenance research in any meaningful way. Russia has the largest amount of Nazi-looted art, but has done virtually nothing to publish its inventories.

Real Property Restitution:

The biggest gap we hope to address in Prague is to find an effective way to encourage governments in Central and Eastern Europe to pass legislation that would provide for the restitution or payment of compensation for confiscated immovable property. Most Nazi-confiscated Jewish real property is located today in Poland.

Social Needs:

We have gotten the approval of the nations participating in Prague to focus on addressing the social needs of survivors around the world, who are often poor and lack access to needed home care, medication, and dental care. It is unacceptable that those who survived such brutal treatment during their early lives should have to suffer further in their declining years.

Insurance, Judaica, Jewish Cultural Property and Archival Openness:

We are focusing on the following issues: that key insurance companies abide by their commitments to process claims according to the principles of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, even after ICHEIC has closed; that Judaica and Jewish Cultural Property is returned, either to original owners or heirs or to appropriate cultural organizations.

Accomplishments Since 1998:

The U.S. Government played a facilitative and mediating role in negotiations which ultimately led to agreements that provided $ 8 billion dollars in new compensation. These involved the following settlements:

** The 1998 Swiss Bank Settlement of $1.25 billion.

** The establishment in 1998 of ICHEIC with $550 million dollars.

** The German Foundation agreement of July 2000 led to payments of more than 5.1 Billion Euros (about 5.5 billion US dollars) to over 1.6 million victims of Nazi persecution. All of the funds were paid out by 2007. They included slave and forced labor payments, 80% of which went to non-Jewish forced laborers in Central Europe, insurance payments, and immovable personal property owners.

** The agreements with Austria of 2000 and 2001 led to payment programs of about one billion dollars.

** The 2001 agreement with French banks led to some 38 million dollars in payments.

It is particularly noteworthy that Germany and Austria have established future foundations as part of the settlement of their lawsuits to provide funding for projects of education and tolerance, as a way of honoring Holocaust victims and other victims of Nazi persecution.

In addition to the eight billion dollars, individual countries undertook to resolve Holocaust era claims by creating national commissions. Most notable in this regard are the commissions and programs established by France, the Netherlands and Belgium. If we add the commissions of these three countries, the additional amounts would add another 750 million Euros, or one billion dollars to the eight billion achieved in negotiations in which the United States played a facilitative role.

Conclusion:

It is our hope that the evolving Terezin Declaration will be an excellent document. But in the end, it will be series of high-minded words. It is our collective responsibility, to convert these words into actions, to implement the non-binding promises into reality. This will require political will on the part of our governments and our private sector. How we honor these voluntary pledges will speak volumes about whether we can rise to the challenge of making certain that in the 21st century we properly remember and honor those who suffered so grievously in the 20th century in history’s worst genocide and theft.” S. Eizenstat

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Following Eizenstat and Kennedy’s presentation, the renown economist and demographer Sid Zabludoff provided the following comment:

“Read the statements by Eizenstat and Kennedy. Found them both more glorification of past works and containing little about realistic measures that might be taken to move restitution. Eizenstat, for example, uses the figure of $8 billion pledged in the past ten years. While he mentions that a large share of the amount went to non-Jews for forced labor compensation (little to do with Holocaust property restitution), he still uses the $8 billion figure. The actual pledged restitution total for the past ten years has been about $ 4 billion, with about $2.5 billion of that amount has been disbursed.

What is needed is new thinking as how to effectively carry out restitution rather than nice sounding rhetoric. Sid Zabludoff.”

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(B) At the Opening Plenary Session in Prague, on June 28th, Ambassador Eizenstat enunciated the following remarks (excerpts):

“ I want to thank the Czech Government for hosting this historic conference, and for the leadership, vision and determination they have put into making it a success.

We should not see Prague as a time to close the door on the Holocaust and assign it to history, but rather as an occasion for a new burst of energy, dedication and determination to honor the memory of 6 million Jewish victims and millions of others, including Romani, who died at the hands of the Nazi regime, and to provide immediate assistance and a greater degree of justice to Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and other victims of Nazi persecution, many of whom live in abject poverty. The Prague Conference is an historic opportunity to refocus our attention and regain a sense of urgency. We seek to bring a greater degree of justice, as imperfect as it may be, to those victims who remain. We seek to continue to help survivors and their families reconnect to what was stolen from them. The Holocaust was not only the greatest genocide in world history but also the greatest theft in history of a people’s entire possessions and cultural and religious heritage – a theft of Jewish movable and immovable property, financial assets, insurance benefits, art, Judaica, and Jewish cultural property. In Elie Wiesel’s haunting words at the opening session Friday, the Nazis and their collaborators “stole riches from the rich and poverty from the poor” – who were far more numerous. We cannot bring back the dead from the ovens, extermination camps, and mass graves, but what we can do is to recommit ourselves to remember them, to do justice to their heirs and survivors, to educate generations thereafter, about the Holocaust, We must not let the conference be merely an event in which we try to show the world that we care with sterling words but without concrete deeds.

There was a 50 year period after the immediate post-war efforts, during which the need to do justice for Holocaust survivors was largely forgotten, except for the major German payments. A number of factors converged to bring the need for justice to victims of the Holocaust back on the world’s agenda:

-- The dimensions of the Holocaust became better understood with the opening of World War II-era archives to the public.

-- The end of the Cold War, the collapse of Communism, and post-War anniversaries focused attention on the unfinished matters of World War II, including the inadequacies of post-War restitution.

-- As survivors aged, they began to tell their stories, which had been too painful to share with even their families, before it was too late, and to try to reconnect to what had been stolen from them, following the decades when they simply tried to make a new life for themselves and their families.

-- The Clinton Administration took a leadership role, first for the return of communal property – Jewish and non-Jewish – to the remerging religious communities following the collapse of Communism; then to mediate a series of lawsuits.

Accomplishments:

A series of lawsuits on behalf of victims were brought in U.S. courts against the Swiss, German, Austrian and French corporations implicated in the Holocaust, for slave and forced labor, the payment of insurance policies, and for recovery of hidden bank accounts. The U.S. Government mediation led to agreements that provided $8 billion dollars in new compensation, a substantial portion of which went to non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.

Art: Like the Holocaust itself, the efficiency, brutality, and scale of Nazi art theft was unprecedented in history. Experts have estimated that as many as 600,000 paintings were stolen, of which more than 100,000 are still missing. When furniture, china, rare books, coins, and items of decorative arts are included the numbers swell into the millions.

At the Washington Conference, we obtained a consensus from 44 countries on a voluntary set of Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, which profoundly changed the world of art. Major auction houses conduct thorough research on artworks they bring to market, museums examine the provenance of any prospective purchases carefully; and private collectors consider the prior history of paintings they have under consideration. Some 164 contributing U.S. art museums have developed a creative web “Search engine”, with over 27,000 works posted, which allows potential owners of Nazi-looted art to input their claim into one place, and have it considered by all museums linked to the search engine. And hundred of artworks have been returned to their rightful owners.

Holocaust Education: The political will generated at the Washington Conference revived interest and activity in Holocaust issue. There is no greater success story than the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education and Research. The 27-nation Task Force has focused its strengths in teacher training in Central and Eastern Europe.

What Remains To Be Done:

For all that has been accomplished, some areas, like private and communal property restitution and compensation, have barely scratched the surface in Central and Eastern Europe; social needs for survivors worldwide are greater than ever; the art restitution and recovery results are disappointing in many countries. Meeting these and other challenges must be the work of the Prague Conference.

Social Needs:

Our first priority must be to deal with the social needs of survivors, many of whom live in poverty and deprivation, including in my own country, the United States of America. It is unacceptable that those who have suffered so grievously during their lives should have to continue to suffer in their declining years. The data is not in doubt. In the US, Central Europe, and Israel, tens of thousands of elderly survivors today live at or near the poverty level. Many lack the basic necessities such as food, shelter, medicine, dentures, eyeglasses, home care, and other requirements of daily living. This is a worldwide problem. The unique physical and emotional injuries that have been inflicted on Holocaust survivors exacerbates this serious problem. In one 2003 study of Nazi victims living in the greater New York City metropolitan area, 36% of survivors lived in households with incomes below the U.S. federal government’s poverty standards, which in 2002 was about 9,000 for individuals and $12,000 for two person households.

Governments should recognize the special needs of Holocaust survivors and other Nazi victims, who may be more vulnerable than the rest of the elderly population and consider a variety of creative mechanisms to provide assistance to needy survivors, including special pensions to non-residents, and the use of assets from heirless properties. In almost all European countries, heirless property reverts to the state. But, in the case of heirless property owned by Holocaust victims whose entire family was killed by the Nazis, national governments should not be the ultimate beneficiaries. Funds obtained from such heirless property should be use to assist living Holocaust survivors and other victims of Nazi persecution, and to fund cemeteries, Jewish cultural property research, art provenance research and archival research. There is nothing that would better honor the memory of those killed and whose property was confiscated during the Holocaust era, and then appropriated by the state, than to use the proceeds for such efforts.

Insurance & ICHEIC:

In insurance, we need to give the victims and their heirs the confidence that everything has been done – and will be done – to track down insurance policies. ICHEIC companies should renew their commitments to continue accepting all Holocaust related claims despite the close down of ICHEIC. The idea is not to reopen claims already decided by ICHEIC but to ensure that anyone who still has a legitimate claim not considered by ICHEIC can still find a way to submit that claim to the issuing company or successor. In the U.S. there is a need to achieve closure with all stakeholders on ongoing insurance issues.”

[ Editor: All HSF Survivor groups, including NAHOS, are fiercely opposed to the plan of not reopening claims that had been rejected. Thousands of cases have been unfairly denied. The initial promise of examining cases with “relaxed standards of proof” turned out to be nothing more than a hollow joke. The current proposal of accepting “new” claims that somehow miraculously may be discovered after all these years, sounds like a cruel mockery of all claimants that were rejected despite serious indications of the validity of their claims. Such an absurd approach would certainly not “give the victims and their heirs the confidence that everything has been done – and will be done—to track down insurance policies.”

Eizenstat continued:

“Immovable Property: No country has a right to hold on to property which belonged to Holocaust victims. Where there is a living owner or heir, the property should be returned to them. Where there is no living owner, countries should consider using some portion to help needy survivors in their declining years. The biggest gap we hope to address is to find an effective way to encourage governments in Central and Eastern Europe to provide for the restitution or payment of compensation for wrongfully confiscated personal immovable property. The issue was largely ignored between the mid-1950s and the 1990s. While several countries have created modest compensation funds in lieu of property restitution, virtually no Central or Eastern European country has created a transparent, non-discriminatory restitution or compensation program. Reasonable, affordable compensation is a better way to handle confiscated private property now in private hands than restitution since displacement of the current owner is nor feasible.

The largest amount of Nazi-confiscate Jewish real property is located in Poland. Poland has repeatedly committed to pass legislation to establish a compensation process, but has yet to enact it. Poland has shown positive leadership on Jewish memorial sites and on Jewish and Catholic communal property restitution. We look forward to seeing similar leadership regarding immovable property. We are hopeful that a new Shoah Legacy Institute in Terezin, which the Czech government has proposed, will be given the authority to develop within a year a series of best practices and guidelines that will guide Central European governments in creating efficient, transparent, fair and non-discriminatory property restitution or compensation processes that comport with well-developed principles of European Community law.

Archival Materials: Governments need to make archives of all kinds related to the Holocaust available to the fullest extent possible to the public and to researchers in accordance with established international guidelines. It is unconscionable to deny access to such archival materials to survivors and their heirs, which undermines any attempt at a fair or just process.

Cemeteries: Government authorities and civil society should ensure that the unmarked mass graves with the remains of Nazi victims should be identified and protected and memorial sites created and protected.

Conclusion:

The Terezin Declaration is an excellent document. It is our collective responsibility to convert these words into actions, to implement the non-binding promises into reality. The Terezin Institute, as the first follow-up mechanism for any international Holocaust Conference, can help provide best practices and guidelines in all of these cases. This will require political will on the part of our governments and our private sector – in Elie Wiesel’s words, to create sparks in our hearts out of the ashes. How we honor these voluntary pledges will speak volumes about whether we can rise to the challenge of making certain that in the 21st century we properly remember and honor those who suffered so grievously in the 20th century in history’s worst genocide and theft.”

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Among Ambassador Eizenstat’s closing remarks, on June 29th, he stated:

“Permit me to say that the other parent of the Prague Conference is our own Ambassador Christian Kennedy, the head of the State Department’s Office of Holocaust issues, who, along with a dedicated staff, was an integral part of the planning process from the start. The Prague Conference has far exceeded any of the previous four international conferences in which I participated.”

“ So where do we go from here? The survivors are in their waning years. How do we convert the moral commitments in the Terezin Declaration into actions which will make a difference, sooner rather than later, in the lives of survivors and their families, and in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and imparting its lessons for future generations?

We must deal as a first imperative with the dire social needs of tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors who lack access to basic necessities. It is unacceptable that they should live out the balance of their days in hardship, after spending their early years in barbarous conditions. The unique physical and emotional injuries inflicted on them have created complex health care problems, and poverty makes this bad situation worse. Governments, working with local and international Jewish social service organizations and survivor groups, should develop national plans for their medical and home care. We owe this to those who depend on us for their quality of life in their remaining years.

As a former Ambassador and admirer of the European Union, I call on the EU to take a greater leadership role on Holocaust issues, developing best practices and encouraging their implementation by all member states on the dire social needs of survivors; return of looted private and communal property; art restitution; and access to archives. The Holocaust was planned and executed in Europe, and the vast majority of the looted property remains in Europe. It is time for the EU to take enhanced action on behalf of a united Europe in peace, West Central and East, for the first time in European history. The European Commission’s Joint Declaration with the Czech government supporting the Terezin Institute is a useful step forward.

I would like to thank all governments for participating and urge that all of us act together to make the promises of the Terezin Declaration reality for the justice of survivors and memory of the Holocaust.” Stuart Eizenstat”

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Below are major passages of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel’s presentation. Given the universal recognition of his moral authority to speak on this issue, we are, of course, decidedly appreciative of his acknowledgment of the tragedy of degrading poverty among his fellow survivors. Nonetheless, we cannot help but ponder why he did not speak up sooner and/or more forcefully on this subject in the years past. It might have made a difference.

“I remember: On April 18th, on a house to house operation destined to rob all Jewish families of their fortunes, a policeman and an elegantly dressed Hungarian lieutenant entered our home in Sighet and asked for all our valuables; he confiscated:

431 Pengos, our entire cash, a camera, my fountain pen, a pair of seemingly gold earrings, one golden ring, one silver ring, three ancient silver coins, one military gas mask, one sewing machine and three batteries for flashlights. They dutifully signed a document, which I have in my possession, and left for my grandmother Nissel’s home, two houses away. She was a war widow. Her husband, my grandfather whose name Eliezer I try to wear with pride, fell in battle as a medic. In mourning, a profoundly pious woman, she wore black clothes, rarely spoke and read Psalms uninterruptedly

A similar official document listed HER valuables: One Pengo, two coins, three smaller coins. And two pieces of 21-cm tall solid brass candlesticks. That’s all she possessed. Bureaucracy was supreme and eternal even then: whether official murder or robbery, not fearing embarrassment or retribution, everything had to be recorded. Why the Hungarian and German armies needed her pitiful life’s savings and her Shabbat candlesticks to win their war is beyond me. At times I am overcome with anger thinking of the red coat my little 8-year old sister Tsipuka had received for our last holiday: she wore it in Birkenau walking hand in hand with my mother and grandmother towards….. A daughter of an SS must have received it as a birthday present.

Just measure the added ugliness of their hideous crimes: they stole not only the wealth of the wealthy, but also the poverty of the poor. The first transport left our ghetto one month later. Only later did I realize that what we so poorly call the Holocaust deals not only with political dictatorship, racist ideology and military conquest; but also with…financial gain, State-organized robbery, or just money.

Yes, The Final Solution was ALSO meant to remove from Jewish hands all their buildings, belongings, acquisitions, possessions, valuable objects and properties…industries, art works, bank accounts.. And simple everyday objects. Remember: before being shot by Einsatzkommandos, or before pushed into the gas-chambers, victims were made to undress… Six million shirts, undershirts, suits, scarfs, pairs of shoes, coats, belts, hats… countless watches, pens, rings, glasses, children’s toys, walking sticks. Take any object and multiply it by six million… All were appropriated by the Third Reich.

When the war ended, what was the first response to its unspeakable tragedy? For us individual Jews, the obsession was not vengeance but the need to find lost family members.

In liberated countries, in Eastern Europe, lucky surviving Jews who returned to their homes and/or stores were shamelessly and brutally thrown out by their new occupants. Some were killed in instantaneous pogroms. Who had the strength to turn their attention to restitution?

Then came the Goldmann-Adenauer agreement on Wiedergutmachung. Israeli officials and wealthy Jews from America and England allegedly spoke on behalf of survivors, none of whom was present. I covered the proceedings for Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth. I disliked what I witnessed. I worried it might lead to precarious reconciliation. It did. Then also, deep down, I opposed the very idea of “Shilumin’. I felt that money and memory are irreconcilable; monetary matters seemed quasi frivolous. In the name of Israel’s national interest, David Ben Gurion’s attitude was, on the other hand, quoting the prophet’s accusation of David: ‘Haratzachta vegam yarashta’:” should the killer be his victim’s heir?” Logic was on his side, emotion was on mine.

As for the topic before us this morning, I am aware of the debate that was going on within various Jewish groups on the use to be made of the monies requested and received: who should get how much: institutions or persons? The immediate answer is: both.

However, it is with pained sincerity that I must declare my conviction that living survivors of poor health or financial means, deserve first priority. They suffered enough. And enough people benefited FROM their suffering. Why not do everything possible and draw from all available funds to help them live their last years with a sense of security, in dignity and serenity. All other parties can and must wait. Do not tell me that it ought to be the natural task of local Jewish communities; let’s not discharge our responsibilities by placing them on their shoulders. We have the funds. Let’s use them for those survivors in our midst who are on the threshold of despair.

Whenever we deal with this Tragedy, we better recall the saying of a great Hasidic Master: ‘You wish to find the spark, Look for it in the ashes’.” Elie Wiesel

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Ambassador Christian Kennedy remarked to the media: “The really hard work comes over the next year, when counties are to agree on more exact principles over exactly how the Declaration should best be implemented.”

In our August issue, because of lack of space in this issue, we intend to publish relevant passages of the:

1) “Terezin Declaration”

2) Esther Finder’s presentation

3) Articles by observers and commentators

KOL HAKAVOD

To dear Dr. Gertrude Schneider, president of CUNY’s Ph.D Alumni Association, who was honored on May 13th by being awarded the ‘President’s Medal’, the first to be bestowed during president Kelly’s tenure. He described her as “A Leader in every sense of the word.” Dr. Schneider served the Ph.D Alumni Association over three decades, first as treasurer, then as V.P. and as president since 1983. She taught at Fordham- Lincoln Center and as a visiting professor in Austria, Germany, Canada and Poland. She authored six books in English and two in German. In 2005 she was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.

HONOR & MEMORY

In Memoriam:

In loving memory of her sister

Frieda Leider/Stein and her husband Jim Stein,

By Jill Leider/Chase $38

May they rest in Peace!

OBITUARY

With great sorrow we report the passing of

Sam Rubin

Sam is survived by his wife Pola Rubin/Wainapel, children Edward Rubin, Gale Orlansky and grandchildren Amy, David and Max. To the entire family and friends, we convey our most sincere condolences.

TIDINGS & TIDBITS

1) According to a report by Douglas Martin, a Methodist Minister in Pennsylvania, Dr. Franklin H. Littell was among the first scholars to engage in Holocaust studies. Reportedly, he was revulsed by a big Nazi rally he witnessed in Nuremberg in 1939 and he delved into the conundrum how baptized Christians, in Christian Europe could engage in the murder of innocent victims or stand by and tolerate these atrocities. He wrote more than two dozen books, and over a thousand articles, on the subject. He found “that Christians from the time of Jesus had shown systematic contempt for Jews and their beliefs.” Several leading scholars opined that Dr. Littell had been instrumental in putting the spotlight “Christian complicity, shortcoming indifference in the face of what was happening to Jews under Hitler” and on their ancient prejudices.. Dr. Littell pioneered academic study programs in the 1950s at Emery University, at Brandeis in the 1960s and Brooklyn College in the 1970s; a doctoral program at Temple University in 1976 and, in 1998, an interdisciplinary Master’s Degree Program at Richard Stockton College, N.J. Before Dr. Littell’s pioneering efforts, “there was no such thing as Holocaust studies as a field.” In 1967 he started an organization called “Christians Concerned For Israel” and in 1978 he founded the ‘National Christian Leadership Conference For Israel’. During his illustrious career, Dr. Littell was president of Iowa Wesleyan College and a founding member of the USHM Washington Museum. Dr. Franklin Littell passed away in May 2009 at age 91. (presented by Tonia Blair).

2) Attorney Ed Fagan was one of the first – if not the first – attorney who initiated a class-action suit against the Swiss banks who had refused to return bank accounts to survivors or heirs of deceased account holders. He had earned millions in fees but apparently spent more than his earnings. He brought some 80 additional Holocaust-related lawsuits, none of which succeeded.

On June 23rd, 2009, after a ten-year lawsuit, the New Jersey Supreme Court disbarred Fagan for having “taken $350,000 from the accounts of Gizelle Weisshaus, Estelle Sapir and others without their permission to pay his bills.” and for “knowing misappropriation of client and escrow funds” to pay rent on his law office in New York. In 2008, Fagan had been disbarred in New York State on another case of misconduct. The ‘Tachles’ Journal “ reported that New Jersey documents showed that Fagan owed more than $15 million to former clients and creditors.”

3) Before WWII , a great number of European Jews – apprehensive of the rise to power by the Nazis – deposited money in banks in the British mandate of Palestine, and/or bought real-estate in the land. Many perished in the Shoah and the banks and government agencies kept quiet about the assets on their books without known ownership. When the issue came to light, several years ago, the Israeli Knesseth (Parliament) established an investigative commission and, three years ago created the “Company For Restitution of Holocaust Victims’ Assets”, called the “Company” for short. All banks institutions, governmental offices, organizations, etc…, that had these kind of assets on their books were directed to turn them over to the ‘Company’, which would then accept applications for ownership from survivors and heirs. All unclaimed assets were later to be used to help elderly survivors in need. Restitutions to rightful owners have only recently begun. The vast majority of bank accounts opened by Holocaust victims were done with Bank Leumi. According to assertions by the ‘Company’s spokespersons, Bank Leumi holds over NIS 300 million (about S75 million), in 3,500 accounts. Four other Israeli banks are holding deposits totaling 28 million Shekels. Word came from Israel that – after years of fruitless negotiations with Bank Leumi, the ‘Company’ will now file a NIS 305 million lawsuit against the bank. Bank Leumi contends that it does not hold any funds belonging to Holocaust victims and that – as a gesture of good will – it had already transferred NIS 20 million to the ‘Company’ two years ago. A Bank Leumi spokesperson called the pending lawsuit as “baseless” and asserts that in the hundreds of files that they had been asked to investigate “errors were found in the sum of hundreds of millions of Shekels.” A ‘Company’ spokeswoman described the NIS 20 million that the bank had transferred as “a joke.” Recently the ‘Company announced that – from the funds and assets deemed heirless, the ‘Company’ will deposit $1,500 directly into the bank accounts (no intermediaries) of some 12,000 destitute Holocaust survivors. According to the Israeli Press, the number of impoverished Holocaust survivors in Israel is close to 80,000.

NOTICE:

The Association of Descendants of the Shoah-Illinois presents: “Never Again! Not Just Words… Action!”, on Sunday , July 26th, at 3.30PM at the Temple Judea Mizpah, 8610 Niles Center Road, Skokie. Guest speakers: Brian Abrahams, Midwest’s regional director and Peggy Shapiro.

Refreshments – Dietary laws observed. Co-sponsored by ‘Sheerit Hapleitah’ and ‘Protect Our Heritage Pac Educational Council. There is no charge to attend. RSVP: tzippy_chs@ or call 847-674-5189.

GLOBAL NEWS

( Items you may have overlooked)

United States:

-- The front portal of the Chabad Synagogue of Mineola and three nearby cars were vandalized and spray-painted with orange swastikas.

-- Antique dealers Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer died in the Shoah after they were forced to sell their paintings to the Nazis. After a two-year investigation, the State of California determined that several paintings that hung in the Hearst castle for decades belong to the estate of the Oppenheimers. Two paintings will be returned to the family and one painting of Venus and Cupid, by Venetian art school of Paris Bordone, will remain at the castle.

-- In order to recruit and re-enlist troops, the U.S. military has loosened regulations in many cases even allowing individuals with criminal records to join up. As a consequence, neo-Nazis and white supremacists have joined the army to secure training – as they see it – for a future domestic race war. Some have already been charged with having committed crimes while inside the military.

-- Two grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, Tracy and Josh Bienenfeld of Philadelphia, will be part of the 18th Maccabiah games. Josh, a member of the U.S. men’s soccer team, remarked: “If they had not survived the Holocaust, I would not be here today” and: “ because of their survival, I can play in Israel, a Jewish State.” Tracy is a former captain on the University of Pennsylvania women’s soccer team.

-- New York State’s Comptroller has announced that NY State’s retirement fund will divest from nine companies doing business in Iran and Sudan.

-- Josias Kumpf, 83, who was an armed SS guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp and Trawniki labor camp, has been deported to Austria. At Trawniki he participated in a November 3, 1943 mass shooting in which 8,000 Jewish men, women and children were murdered in a single day.

Germany:

--Medical examiners in Munich declared John Demjanjuk, 89, fit to stand trial. However, they suggested that Court appearances be limited to two 90-minutes sessions per day. On Monday July 13th, he was indicted by the Munich State Prosecutor and charged with being an accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews at Sobibor.

-- Another former Nazi SS officer, Heinrich Boere, 88, was also declared fit to stand trial. Boere is charged with having murdered three Dutch resistance fighters. He had been sentenced, in absentia, to death, by a Dutch Court, which was later commuted to life sentence.

-- Secondary school students throughout Germany will be able to view Holocaust eyewitness testimony through “Witnesses of the Shoah”, a new educational outreach program launched by the Freie Universitat Berlin’s Center for Digital Systems.

-- Several memorial bronze plaques, so-called ‘Stolpersteine’ (stumbling blocks) were installed into the cobblestones in front of buildings where deaf Holocaust victims lived before being deported. A German artist, Gunter Demnig, developed the concept. The bronze plaques were privately funded.

England:

-- The British Spoliation Advisory Panel rejected the claim by the heirs of Curt Glaser, a noted Berlin art historian, for the return of eight paintings claimed to have been sold under duress in 1933. The Panel told the institute holding the paintings ( including drawings by Renoir) that they did not have to return the art to Glaser’s heirs because he had received a ‘fair market’ price for the paintings.

Czech Republic & Poland:

-- More than 60 tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Uhersky Ostroh Czech Republic were toppled or vandalized. The cemetery included tombstones from the 16th century that had been brought there from an older cemetery.

-- A Museum of the History of Polish Jews will be erected in what was the WWII Warsaw ghetto, facing the Ghetto Upraising Monument. A contract to that effect was signed by Poland’s Culture Minister, by Warsaw’s Mayor and other officials. Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamaki designed a glass-walled structure. At the start of the actual construction, a gala ceremony will take place and a group of 100 American cantors are scheduled to perform. In the interim, a virtual Shtetl web-site was launched with information about 800 Polish cities and towns where Jews was lived.

-- An agreement was signed June 19th between the ‘Foundation For The Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland’ with Poland’s Central Board of Prison Service. As per terms of the agreement, 85 of Poland’s correctional facilities “will help clean up Jewish cemeteries in Poland”. The sites of over 1,000 cemeteries are known, but many are abandoned and neglected.

-- European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor met with Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to discuss Holocaust commemoration, the fight against anti-Semitism and the Iranian nuclear threat.

Hungary:

-- On June 30th, a 27-year old Kosher restaurant supervisor, in the old Jewish ghetto district in Budapest, was attacked by three masked men and severely beaten. The assaulters hurled anti-Semitic epithets while beating the victim.

-- Budapest: A memorial made up of 60 pairs of shoes, fashioned in steel, marked the site along the Danube river where Arrow-Cross soldiers once stripped and shot their Jewish victims and threw them, some still alive, into the river. Vandals desecrated the memorial by stuffing pigs’ feet into several shoes. All major political parties condemned the racist incident. Two days after, thousands of Hungarians came to a rally at the banks of the river to show their condemnation of neo-Nazism.

-- A leader of Hungary’s neo-Nazi movement, Gyorgy Budahazy, has been arrested on terrorism charges. Investigators accuse Budahazy of having established a link with the terrorist organization “Hungarian Arrows” which has claimed responsibility for several recent arson attacks. The homes of several prominent politicians had been brazenly attacked and shots fired.

-- A proposal by Hungary’s ruling Socialist caretaker government to make Holocaust denial a punishable offense, has been rejected by the lawmakers. The ultra-conservative ‘Fidest’ opposition party and the neo-liberal ‘Free Democrats’, both voted against the proposal.

-- On Thursday, July 2nd, a Budapest Appeals Court ordered a mandatory disbanding of the neo-Nazi ‘Hungarian Guard’. In protest, Guard members held an unauthorized mass demonstration on Saturday, July 5th, which degenerated into a violent battle with the police. Some 20 people were injured, 15 were hospitalized and 216 arrested. Among the injured were a television cameraman and a news agency reporter. Demonstrators threw bricks and bottles and called the police “filthy Jews”. They also demanded the release of Gyorgy Budahazy. The police had to use tear-gas to break up the crowd.

-- The prohibited neo-Nazi ‘Hungarian Guard’ held a mass meeting of 3,000 supporters on Sunday July 12th, in Budapest and several hundred more in Bekescaba, Szolnok and Mezotur. They announced that they had re-organized under a new name. Several participants waived flags resembling those of the WWII killing squads, the Hungarian ‘Arrow Cross’.

-- Under a new government decree effective Friday, July 17th, Hungarians wearing uniforms of the banned ‘Hungarian Guards’ will be fined up to $500. Other pro-Guard activities, such as organizing demonstrations and recruiting campaigns are also prohibited and will be enforced by local police.

Elsewhere:

-- Ukraine: A holocaust Museum was dedicated in a special ceremony in Odessa, attended by City officials, Holocaust survivors and local Jewish congregations. The Museum included historical documents, artifacts, photographs and oral and video histories.

-- About 4,000 Jews were killed during WWII in the South Ukrainian city of Sevastapol. On Sunday, July 26th, the victims will be remembered in a ceremony attended by local officials and by Armenian and Belarusian cultural leaders.

-- A bill introduced by Jewish councilman, Valter Nagelstein, in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, will make the teaching of the Holocaust history mandatory in public secondary schools throughout the city. The bill was approved by the City Council. About 12,000 Jews live in Porto Alegre which has also a large population of German descendants. It has been the site of many anti-Semitic attacks.

-- According to a study by researchers in Haifa, Holocaust Survivors in Israel suffer less from post-traumatic stress related to the Holocaust than the survivors in the U.S.A. or Australia.

NAHOS Inc.

The National Association of Jewish

Child Holocaust Survivors, Inc.

P.O.Box 670125 Station C

Main Street, Flushing, N.Y. 11367

Fax: (718) 820-0859 or e-mail:

estherhamalka@ or

leotonirech@

President & Editor:

Leo Rechter

Executive V.P. Public Relations:

Esther Widman

Treasurer:

Gilberte Hunkins

Auditor:

Sol Lipper

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