Vol. LXXXIX No. 9 Omaha, NE
EUROPE RECKONS WITH ITS PAST
Eastern Europe advances toward accountability, but there is more to do by RUTH ELLEN GRUBER ROME (JTA) -- A row of empty shoes where Jews were shot dead on the bank of the Danube River in Budapest. The image of a grand synagogue chiseled into stone at the place it once stood in Bratislava. A museum, a wall of names and a vast symbolic field of ashes at the site of the Belzec death camp in Poland. A giant menorah and the statue of a tortured figure at a corner in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. These are just a few of the monuments to victims of the Holocaust that have been erected in Eastern Europe in the 20 years since the fall of communism opened the way to a dramatic, often painful and still ongoing confrontation with history in that region. Under communism, Jewish suffering in the Holocaust generally was subsumed as part of overall suffering during World War II. Most Holocaust or World War II memorials in communist Europe -- even at death camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald -- honored generic “victims of Nazism” or “victims of Fascism.” But over the past two decades numerous new memorials have been built, countless plaques have been affixed, educational programs have been instituted, Holocaust museums have been established, and a number of countries have adopted an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day to serve as a focal point for study and commemoration. “Education is a slow process, and changing inherited and accepted concepts and beliefs is a difficult task in any context,” said Samuel Gruber, president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments. “In this light, I think we can look at amazing progress over the past two decades.” But the process has been far from smooth, and far from complete, and it varies widely from country to country and locale to locale. “The way that the Holocaust is remembered is a good indication of the health of a nation,” said Warren Miller, chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, which has sponsored a number of Holocaust memorial projects.
Holocaust memorial in the shape of a weeping willow tree, erected in 1990, stands in back of the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest. Credit: Ruth Ellen Gruber “When the Holocaust is denied, freedom is under assault,” he said. “Where the Holocaust and its victims are remembered, freedom is secure.” Some states, particularly those that were themselves victims of the Nazis, have taken many measures to confront their history and recognize local culpability in the deportation and murder of Jews. In Poland, for example, the memorials and museums at Holocaust sites such as Auschwitz and Belzec have been revamped to provide both factual information and context. New memorial plaques have been put up Continued on page 2
Inside Opinion Page see page 8
Celebrating 89 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
26 Cheshvan 5770
November 13, 2009
Main Street soon to be a welcome sight at Blumkin Home
This overhead shot of Main Street facing north shows the large wall at the top, which will be removed upon completion of Main Street and connect to the already-exsisting portion in the North Wing of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. Nicknamed “the big glass box,” Main Street features large glass clerestory windows on all four sides. The arch at the upper right eventually will become the “antique store”-- the new home for the Social Services office; underneath that in the photo is the bank (the bookkeepers’ office) and the Town Hall, at the lower right, which will house the main business office for the Home. To the left is the new entrance and at the upper left is the new multi-purpose room.
After report, Yemen operation is happily out in the open by JACOB BERKMAN NEW YORK (JTA) -- After months of stressing the need for silence, two major Jewish organizations and a former Bush administration official are embracing publicity about their roles in bringing Yemenite Jews to the United States. More than 60 Jews, who were among the last few hundred living in Yemen, have been resettled in the New York suburbs, according to representatives of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and the Jewish Federations of North America. Word leaked in the Israeli media last March that the two groups were working with the U.S. State Department and the government of Yemen to help Jews leave the country after a spike in intimidation and violence against the Jews, including the murder of a communal leader. A Yemenite woman brought to the United States by The stories appeared to be fueled Jewish groups and the U.S. State Department arrives at by complaints from the Jewish John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Agency for Israel that some of the Credit: HIAS
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Yemenites were taken to the United States instead of Israel. Jewish Agency officials were particularly upset over what they described as HIAS and the Jewish Federations, then known as the United Jewish Communities, working with the Satmar Chasidic sect. The Satmar community is anti-Zionist and reportedly has been on the ground in Yemen urging the Jews there not to go to Israel. Officials at HIAS and the Jewish Federations countered that they simply had acted in accordance with the wishes of the Yemenites and disputed claims that they were working with the Satmars. The officials also Continued on page 2
Coming Next Week: Hanukkah Gift Guide Issue Mikvah to be re-dedicated in educational event: Page 6
Jewish federation leaders meet with Obama during GA: Page 12