http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/25/
AR2009072501360_pf.html
Morocco challenges Mideast Holocaust mind-set
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
The Associated Press
Sunday, July 26, 2009 12:00 AM
RABAT, Morocco -- From the western edge of the Muslim world,
the King of Morocco has dared to tackle one of the most
inflammatory issues in the Middle East conflict - the Holocaust.
At a time when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
dismissal of the Holocaust has made the biggest headlines,
King Mohammed VI has called the Nazi destruction of the
Jews "one of the most tragic
chapters of modern history," and has endorsed a
Paris-based program aimed at spreading the word
among fellow Muslims.
Many in the Islamic world still ignore or know little about
the Nazi attempt to annihilate the Jews during World War II.
Some disbelieve it outright. Others argue that it was a
European crime and imagine it to be the reason Israel exists
and the Palestinians are stateless.
The sentiment was starkly illustrated in March after a
Palestinian youth orchestra performed for Israeli
Holocaust survivors, only to be shut down by angry leaders
of the West Bank refugee camp where they live.
"The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar
massacre by the Jews themselves," a community
leader named Adnan Hindi said at the
time. "We lost our land and we were forced to flee."
Like other moderate Arab leaders, King Mohammed VI
must tread carefully. Islamic fervor is rising in his
kingdom, highlighted in 2003 by al-Qaida-inspired
attacks in Casablanca on targets that
included Jewish sites. Forty-five people died.
The king's acknowledgment of the Holocaust, in a speech
read out in his name at a ceremony in Paris in March,
appears to further illustrate the radically different
paths that countries like Morocco and Iran are taking.
Morocco has long been a quiet pioneer in Arab-Israeli
peace efforts, most notably when it served as a secret
meeting place for the Israeli
and Egyptian officials who set up President Anwar Sadat's
groundbreaking journey to Jerusalem in 1977.
Though Moroccan officials say the timing is coincidental,
the Holocaust speech came at around the same time that
Morocco severed diplomatic relations with Iran,
claiming it was infiltrating Shiite
Muslim troublemakers into this Sunni nation.
The speech was read out at a ceremony launching the "Aladdin
Project," an initiative of the Paris-based Foundation
for the Memory of the Shoah (Holocaust) which aims to
spread awareness of the genocide among Muslims.
It organizes conferences and has translated key Holocaust
writing such as Anne Frank's diary into Arabic and Farsi.
The name refers to Aladdin, the young man with the
genie in his lamp, whose legend,
originally Muslim, became a universally loved tale.
The Holocaust, the king's speech said, is "the universal
heritage of mankind."
It was "a very important political act," said Anne-Marie
Revcolevschi, director of the Shoah foundation.
"This is the first time an Arab head of state takes
such a clear stand on the Shoah," she said in a
telephone interview.
While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often aggravates Arab
sentiment toward Israel, Morocco has a long history
of coexistence between Muslims and Jews.
The recent Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has further
inflamed resentment at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. But
Ahmed Hasseni, a Casablanca cab driver, echoes a widely held view
that it shouldn't affect relations with Morocco's Jews.
"We're not dumb," he said. "We don't confuse the Israeli army with
the Jewish people," he said.
Jews have lived in Morocco for 2,000 years. Their numbers swelled
after they were expelled from Spain in 1492, and reached 300,000
before World War II, when yet more fled the German occupation and
found refuge in Morocco, then a French colony.
Today they number just 3,000, most having emigrated to France, North
America or Israel, but they are free to come back to explore their
roots, pray at their ancestors' graves and even settle here.
Simon Levy heads the Jewish Museum in Casablanca, a treasure trove of
old Torah scrolls, garments and jewelry illustrating the rich culture
of Moroccan Jewry.
"That I still run the only Jewish museum in the Arab world is
telling," he said.
Andre Azoulay, a top adviser to the current king, is Jewish and one
of six members of the king's council in a monarchy that oversees all
major decisions. Considered one of Morocco's most powerful men, he
views his country as "a unique case" for the intensity of its Jewish-
Muslim relations. "We don't mix up Judaism and the tragedy of the
Middle East," he told The Associated Press in an interview.
A founding member of the Aladdin project, Azoulay says part of the
program's goal is to show the West that Muslims aren't hostile to
Jews, and that Morocco was among countries that resisted Nazi plans
to exterminate their Jewish populations. He points to king Mohammed
V, the current ruler's grandfather, who is credited with resisting
French colonial anti-Semitic policies.
Such actions were rare, but not unique in North Africa during World
War II. In Tunisia, the late Khaled Abdelwahhab hid Jews from the
Nazis on his farm, and was the first Arab to be nominated as
"Righteous Among the Nations," a title bestowed by Yad Vashem,
Israel's Holocaust memorial, on those who risked their lives to save
Jews in the Holocaust. His case is still under study.
The Aladdin project is only just beginning. Its work has yet to reach
schools or bookstores in Morocco, although the Shoah foundation's
Revcolevschi said Anne Frank's diary is among Holocaust memoirs
available in Arabic and Farsi on the Internet, and is being sold
under the counter in Iran.
"People speak of a clash of civilizations, but it's more a clash of
ignorance," she said. "We're countering this."
Hakim El Ghissassi, an aide to the senior Islamic Affairs official
who delivered Mohammed's speech, said the king is uniquely positioned
to promote Islam's dialogue with Judaism, because his titles include
"Commander of the believers" - meaning he is the paramount authority
for Moroccan Muslims.
"What the king has said on the Holocaust reflects our broader
efforts," said El Ghissassi, listing such reforms as courses to
reinforce Morocco's tradition of tolerant Islam by familiarizing
local imams with Jewish and Christian holy books.
"We want to make sure everybody can differentiate between unfair
Israeli policies and respect for Judaism," he said.
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Lessons to be learned from Holocaust/Shoa
We are living in a post holocaust period. Yet the threats to the Jews living in the land of Israel are now coming from a fanatical and tyrannical Iran. Yet no one seems overly concerned. We Jews seem to be living in our wonderland, the political leaders can not seem to get together to make a stand against Ahmadinejad and the Iranian nuclear program. The Israeli parliament can't agree on any method of ending the increasing terror on its border and seems each day coming closer to giving the (Arabs) their own government with out seeing any concessions from them.
Are we falling into the trap that the Jews in Europe did some sixty-seventy years earlier?
Why do we not learn from history the horrors that crazy dictators like Ahmadinejad can bring?
http://www.jewishmag.com/135mag/warsaw_ghetto_uprising/warsaw_ghetto_uprising.htm
If we could say that there was a bright spot in the gloomy and somber history of the holocaust, perhaps we could point to the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.
If in all the dark and disgusting annals of recent history, when Jews were led to murder like sheep let to slaughter, when Jews were tortured for fun, it was the revolt in the Warsaw ghetto.
This alone stands out as a monument to the Jewish ability to resist the Nazi onslaught. Yet I believe that it is precisely in the story of the uprising that the deeper cause of the holocaust can be seen.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the causes of the Holocaust
By N. Shuldig –
July 2009
Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933. His plans were obvious from his speeches and his book, Mein Kampf, first published in, yet we find that the Jews did not seem to be particularly worried or anxious at that time. As Hitler became stronger and bolder and began instituting his laws against the Jews, and allowing atrocities to take place against the Jews, most German Jews felt that this would pass. After all, was not Germany an enlightened country; wasn't Germany one of the first countries to give Jews equal rights; didn't Jews serve in the German Parliament, the Bundestag, and distinguish themselves in the first World War? Jews enjoyed equal rights in Germany from the mid 1800's and participated fully in the nation's affairs.
Yet with all of this goodness bestowed upon them from the previous German governments, 1933 saw the beginning of the oppression of the Jews in Germany. Jewish stores and offices were officially boycotted; Jews were refused work and fired; Jewish children were not welcome in public schools. As the years progressed, the oppression increased. In 1938 Kristallnacht increased the persecution and began a series of wanton killing and confiscation of Jewish properties. It was not until 1941 that Auschwitz was chosen to be the first extermination camp.
(The rest of the article is on the link above)
ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS REQUIRED.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/AUSSIEHEGMA/WALKFORHARMONY?feat=email#
You are invited to view photo album: WALK FOR HARMONY
Are we falling into the trap that the Jews in Europe did some sixty-seventy years earlier?
Why do we not learn from history the horrors that crazy dictators like Ahmadinejad can bring?
http://www.jewishmag.com/135mag/warsaw_ghetto_uprising/warsaw_ghetto_uprising.htm
If we could say that there was a bright spot in the gloomy and somber history of the holocaust, perhaps we could point to the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.
If in all the dark and disgusting annals of recent history, when Jews were led to murder like sheep let to slaughter, when Jews were tortured for fun, it was the revolt in the Warsaw ghetto.
This alone stands out as a monument to the Jewish ability to resist the Nazi onslaught. Yet I believe that it is precisely in the story of the uprising that the deeper cause of the holocaust can be seen.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the causes of the Holocaust
By N. Shuldig –
July 2009
Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933. His plans were obvious from his speeches and his book, Mein Kampf, first published in, yet we find that the Jews did not seem to be particularly worried or anxious at that time. As Hitler became stronger and bolder and began instituting his laws against the Jews, and allowing atrocities to take place against the Jews, most German Jews felt that this would pass. After all, was not Germany an enlightened country; wasn't Germany one of the first countries to give Jews equal rights; didn't Jews serve in the German Parliament, the Bundestag, and distinguish themselves in the first World War? Jews enjoyed equal rights in Germany from the mid 1800's and participated fully in the nation's affairs.
Yet with all of this goodness bestowed upon them from the previous German governments, 1933 saw the beginning of the oppression of the Jews in Germany. Jewish stores and offices were officially boycotted; Jews were refused work and fired; Jewish children were not welcome in public schools. As the years progressed, the oppression increased. In 1938 Kristallnacht increased the persecution and began a series of wanton killing and confiscation of Jewish properties. It was not until 1941 that Auschwitz was chosen to be the first extermination camp.
(The rest of the article is on the link above)
ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS REQUIRED.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/AUSSIEHEGMA/WALKFORHARMONY?feat=email#
You are invited to view photo album: WALK FOR HARMONY
Friday, November 14, 2008
RACISM 60 YEARS AFTER DEFEAT OF NAZISM
NAZI HATE ROCK
On Wednesday, 12 Nov 2008 Australian TV ABC2 showed the above Documentary . Donal MacIntyre investigated the disturbing and secretive world of white power music and how the money made helps fund far right political organisations in many countries, including the British National Party in the UK, whose leader is even now trying to come to Australia to foster race-hatred!
Watching this kind of hate-fest as exposed in the documentary sent shivers down my spine, particularly after watching some of the current crop of excellent 2008 Jewish Film Festival movies about the Shoa.
Our community is so involved with the problems facing Israel that we sometimes forget that out there in the wide world is a growing menace of a resurrection of Nazism, via the use of rock and pop music which appeals to a new and young generation of racists.
Well we may say "never again",- those thugs seem to have other plans! May they never realize them, but we must never drop our guard and vigilance. On the other hand, too often we cry "racism" against everyone who protests when an ethnic minority group or individual claims exemptions from legal or even social obligations (such as dress,or pushing a pedestrian-traffic light on a Sabbath) which apply to all others. Democracy and tolerance does have its limits after all.
Some groups and individuals may be better off to live in theocracies instead of expecting constant privileges on the basis of religious or cultural diversity in our democracies. Objecting or denying sometimes such privileges seems to attract labels of "racism" even if it appears totally fair and acceptable to the majority. It would be better to leave the tags of "racism" to those groups like the above, i.e. racism meaning the "incitement to hatred", instead of it losing its meaning through overuse.
French and other European Jews are making 'alyah' in ever increasing numbers. Even if not permanently residing in Israel, they are investing heavily in apartments which are only used for holidays,- at present. 'Eurabia' they feel, is again no longer as safe as they thought it should be.
See letter and extract of Isi Leibler's review of a book about Scandinavian anti-Semisitism, below.
Yet Avraham Burg in his latest book argues that "the Holocaust is over. We must rise from the ashes."
[MM][
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
French Jews.
[A personal letter which has been widely distributed.]
"Will the world say nothing - again - as it did in Hitler's time? He writes, "I AM A JEW -- therefore I am forwarding this to everyone on all my e-mail lists. I will not sit back and do nothing." Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France: In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire. In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed; so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles; so was a Jewish school in Creteil - all recently. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails, and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words "Dirty Jew" were painted. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.
"According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming "Jews to the gas chambers" and "Death to the Jews." A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop (and, of course, the butcher) in Toulouse, France; a Jewish couple in their 20's were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne, France The woman was pregnant; a Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles, France . This was just in the past week.
"So I call on you, whether you are a fellow Jew, a friend, or merely a person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, to do, at least, these three simple things:
" First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. I remind you of what Pastor Neimoller said in World War II: "First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me".
The number one bestselling book in France is...."September 11: The Frightening Fraud," which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon.
Brenda H. Mitchell
Executive Assistant to the Rabbis
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nordic exposure
by Isi Leibler
November 9, 2008
http://www.leibler. com/article/ 370
Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews.
Edited by Manfred Gerstenfeld Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Simon Wiesenthal Center 256 pages; $29
When Scandinavia is mentioned, we instinctively conjure up images of decent people who are our friends. We associate them with the king of Denmark's refusal to implement the Nazi racial laws, the rescue of 7,000 Danish Jews to neutral Sweden and noble humanitarians like Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat in Hungary who emerged as the role model for Righteous Gentiles. Many of us also remember Per Ahlmark, the former Swedish deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, who was a stalwart campaigner against anti-Semitism and probably the first non-Jewish statesman to publicly proclaim that hatred of Israel was being exploited as a surrogate for traditional anti-Semitism.
Yet regrettably, this beatific image of philo-Semitic Scandinavians is a far cry from reality. Despite the presence of only minuscule Jewish communities in the region, Scandinavian countries are today at the forefront of promoting the most vicious expressions of the new anti-Semitism and are at the vanguard of the global campaign to demonize and delegitimize Israel. What makes their application of double standards and virulent bias grate even more is the sanctimonious manner in which they cloak their venom against the Jewish state and Jews in general.
(Extract only)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book review 2. "The Holocaust is over. We must rise from the Ashes."
"Avraham Burg: Israel's new prophet?
Avraham Burg was a pillar of the Israeli establishment but his new
book is causing a sensation. It argues that his country is an "abused
child" which has become a "violent parent". And his solutions are
radical, as he explains to Donald Macintyre
Saturday, 1 November 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/avraham-burg-israels-new-prophet-979732.html
On Wednesday, 12 Nov 2008 Australian TV ABC2 showed the above Documentary . Donal MacIntyre investigated the disturbing and secretive world of white power music and how the money made helps fund far right political organisations in many countries, including the British National Party in the UK, whose leader is even now trying to come to Australia to foster race-hatred!
Watching this kind of hate-fest as exposed in the documentary sent shivers down my spine, particularly after watching some of the current crop of excellent 2008 Jewish Film Festival movies about the Shoa.
Our community is so involved with the problems facing Israel that we sometimes forget that out there in the wide world is a growing menace of a resurrection of Nazism, via the use of rock and pop music which appeals to a new and young generation of racists.
Well we may say "never again",- those thugs seem to have other plans! May they never realize them, but we must never drop our guard and vigilance. On the other hand, too often we cry "racism" against everyone who protests when an ethnic minority group or individual claims exemptions from legal or even social obligations (such as dress,or pushing a pedestrian-traffic light on a Sabbath) which apply to all others. Democracy and tolerance does have its limits after all.
Some groups and individuals may be better off to live in theocracies instead of expecting constant privileges on the basis of religious or cultural diversity in our democracies. Objecting or denying sometimes such privileges seems to attract labels of "racism" even if it appears totally fair and acceptable to the majority. It would be better to leave the tags of "racism" to those groups like the above, i.e. racism meaning the "incitement to hatred", instead of it losing its meaning through overuse.
French and other European Jews are making 'alyah' in ever increasing numbers. Even if not permanently residing in Israel, they are investing heavily in apartments which are only used for holidays,- at present. 'Eurabia' they feel, is again no longer as safe as they thought it should be.
See letter and extract of Isi Leibler's review of a book about Scandinavian anti-Semisitism, below.
Yet Avraham Burg in his latest book argues that "the Holocaust is over. We must rise from the ashes."
[MM][
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
French Jews.
[A personal letter which has been widely distributed.]
"Will the world say nothing - again - as it did in Hitler's time? He writes, "I AM A JEW -- therefore I am forwarding this to everyone on all my e-mail lists. I will not sit back and do nothing." Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France: In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire. In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed; so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles; so was a Jewish school in Creteil - all recently. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails, and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words "Dirty Jew" were painted. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.
"According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming "Jews to the gas chambers" and "Death to the Jews." A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop (and, of course, the butcher) in Toulouse, France; a Jewish couple in their 20's were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne, France The woman was pregnant; a Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles, France . This was just in the past week.
"So I call on you, whether you are a fellow Jew, a friend, or merely a person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, to do, at least, these three simple things:
" First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. I remind you of what Pastor Neimoller said in World War II: "First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me".
The number one bestselling book in France is...."September 11: The Frightening Fraud," which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon.
Brenda H. Mitchell
Executive Assistant to the Rabbis
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nordic exposure
by Isi Leibler
November 9, 2008
http://www.leibler. com/article/ 370
Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews.
Edited by Manfred Gerstenfeld Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Simon Wiesenthal Center 256 pages; $29
When Scandinavia is mentioned, we instinctively conjure up images of decent people who are our friends. We associate them with the king of Denmark's refusal to implement the Nazi racial laws, the rescue of 7,000 Danish Jews to neutral Sweden and noble humanitarians like Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat in Hungary who emerged as the role model for Righteous Gentiles. Many of us also remember Per Ahlmark, the former Swedish deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, who was a stalwart campaigner against anti-Semitism and probably the first non-Jewish statesman to publicly proclaim that hatred of Israel was being exploited as a surrogate for traditional anti-Semitism.
Yet regrettably, this beatific image of philo-Semitic Scandinavians is a far cry from reality. Despite the presence of only minuscule Jewish communities in the region, Scandinavian countries are today at the forefront of promoting the most vicious expressions of the new anti-Semitism and are at the vanguard of the global campaign to demonize and delegitimize Israel. What makes their application of double standards and virulent bias grate even more is the sanctimonious manner in which they cloak their venom against the Jewish state and Jews in general.
(Extract only)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book review 2. "The Holocaust is over. We must rise from the Ashes."
"Avraham Burg: Israel's new prophet?
Avraham Burg was a pillar of the Israeli establishment but his new
book is causing a sensation. It argues that his country is an "abused
child" which has become a "violent parent". And his solutions are
radical, as he explains to Donald Macintyre
Saturday, 1 November 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/avraham-burg-israels-new-prophet-979732.html
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Romanian Holocaust: 24 hrs Pogroms in Bucovina, 1941.
BUCOVINA POGROMS, 24 HOURS IN July 1941.
(Miriam M., Melbourne, Australia).
I have come across an old, well-worn copy of a little book in Rumanian, at an elderly Czernowitzer's home, with the title: "Pogromurile din Bucovina si Dorohoi." By Marius Mircu, 1945.( Editura GLOB Bucuresti.)
It documents every village, where pogroms took place almost all at the same time, in particular during one 24hour period, at the beginning of July, 1941, when the local population was given free rein by the Rumanian army ( General Duca--) to do whatever they wanted to the Jews. There are names listed, of both the victims and perpetrators, plus some official reports of apparent 'trials' after the events!.
My Rumanian is very rusty, but I can still make out that it makes gruesome reading in its detail. I didn't know the extent of the horrors which befell those communities, including my mother's family,- the first village mentioned in the book being Ciudin(Ciudei).
The same author lists other publications about the horrors perpetrated in other towns and communities in Romania.
Having put it on the “Czernowitz (Bucovina's principal city)-list”, people asked about their families’ towns and names for me to look up.
Here are some of the requests and my research results.
CORRESPONDENCE
Dear,
I read your forwarded email from Bruce Reisch about pogroms carried out by the Rumanian army in 1941. My wife's grandmother, Celia Retter, was from Sadagora. Celia was born in Sadagora 1898. She left when she was 16 as the Russian army advanced on the town. Celia came to the United States after the First World War when she and her husband were not able to obtain papers for Eretz. She died several years ago at the age of 106. My wife, Anya, and I have an interest in the history, even the dark moments, of Sadagora. We are curious what happened to other members of the Retter family. Please send any information about Sadagora that you have.
Thank you & warm regards,
Preston Grant
Dear Mr. Grant,
I shall try to translate a little of what they write about Sadagura on that eventful night and afterwards..
" In Sadagura (Czernowitz district) lived about 654 Jews as well as Ukrainians, Poles and Romanians.
One Sunday morning, (the fateful 24 hrs. after the retreat of the Russians) a Romanian patrol of 4-5 young men entered the town and settled in the City Hall, taking it over (names given). Their country!
They formed themselves into a 'National Guard' and at 9pm, armed with guns, they went from house to house (obviously Jewish) and took out the people, undressed as they must have been at that hour,- 72 persons, men, women and children and took them to the City Hall. Later in the middle of the night, they marched them to an open field where a long trench had been prepared, lined them up facing the trench and shot them in the back into the trench. Some 50 locals assisted them."
Individuals and families are named,- those murdered and a few who managed to escape by various means in the commotion. The author then seems to question why in the 4 days it took for the Romanian army to reenter the town after the Russians retreated, did they not flee from there? Why did they not hear of the '24hr.' dictate and waited until the few Romanian soldiers came to kill them?
He puts it to the fact that the Jews and the local non-Jews lived very well together, as they did in other parts of Bukovina. Apparently, 'with a heavy heart', the locals excused themselves that 'only 70 out of the 654 were killed'!
" On th Monday night, the same band took all the Jews out of their homes and took them again to the City Hall. Tuesday a Judicial Commission was instituted.
Those who were considered Communists were detained in the camp there. The rest were freed. Why were they all taken there in the first place (asks the author?)
Various other murders took place in the town over the next few days. 4 men (named) were taken from their workplace, shot and pushed into the still open trench. Only later were the families allowed to bury the dead in the cemetery, finding them totally disfigured and dismembered.
All the Jews of Sadagura were taken to Forced Labor,- men and women, their property confiscated, their former employees allowed to insult them and on the Sabbath in particular, the most devout were especially
assaulted and forcibly marched down the main street in torn clothing. The Mayor in particular enjoyed this sport until another mayor took over and stopped it.
There was another camp in Sadagura where they put also part of the Jews from Storojinetz. (with more atrocities!)"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Among all the names listed, I found no one by the name of your grandmother's family,- Retter. Was that her maiden name? If you have other names, I can check them for you.
Best regards,
---------------------------------
> Shalom ,
> Thank you very much for the information.
> I would like to know about two villages where my parents were
> born: Rus Banila (or Banila pa Cermush) (family Schaier)
> Drachinetz.(family Birnbaum) my fax is 972 - 2 - 6251478
> (please indicate on the copy: :for Dr. Shafir)
>
Dear Dr. Shafir,
I can see only about Dracinet that approx. 120 were killed and about Banila pe Siret only,- "a few Jews were shot. The rest were sent to Ciudei" (where my mother's family lived and where apparently the whole 24 hr. pogrom started).. No names for these towns appear.
Best regards,
------------------------------------------------------->
>
>
> Hi Randy,
I sent you by separate email some URLs for JewishGen/Yzkor Book, describing what happened in Ciudin.
The whole thing started apparently because 4 men, representatives of the Communist Party, in June 1940 went to greet what they thought was the Russian army, carrying red flags.. They were Conrad Kreiss, Knoll Udelsmann and another two intellectuals. Unfortunately they met a retreating battalion of Rumanians, reg.16 Dorbantz (whatever that means)led by one Major Carp, who gave the order for the 4 to be bound. After they dismembered them and bashed their heads-in, they tied them and with their bayonets cut them to pieces!!!!
When the Russian army arrived, they took the 4 massacred victims to Czernowitz and they were interred with all the honours of heroes.The following year, after the Russians retreated, the first army to return was the whole battalion 16, with Major Carp at the head. Wednesday morning 4th July 1941, the Russians retreated and in the evening the Rumanians entered. Thursday morning, the news spread among the peasants that for 24 hrs, they could do whatever they wanted with the Jews.The rest of the guesome details you can read on JewishGen. Of 70 Jewish families, only 3-4 escaped,- 572 people were murdered.
It was this 24hr. 'decree',- the personal revenge of the one Major, that spread like wildfire, it appears, across the whole Bucovina, because all the Jews were labelled Communists.
In Milia, all the Jews, 176 of them, were murdered and the gruesome details are described,- but I cannot describe them. He names some people, -Dr. Iacob Geller,- and also states that "it must be understood that all had lived with good understanding between them and the others without envy or bad blood. But this did not stop the local populationfrom participating in the killing and plunder afterwards."
The only ones who escaped were Dr. Lustig with his father-in law, Moses Haim Nagel. The locals checked all the dead to make sure that no Jews escaped, as well as all their homes.
In Rastoace, there were more Jews because many had fled there from the surroundng areas. All were muredered, some 320 in number. Only family Stier, 8 members, escaped and were later transported to Transnistria. The massacre was executed by the locals, even neighbours who had lived well with each other! The author writes that he wants to repeat it to "absurd extremes", because one cannot explain the besteality of those people. Even those refugees who were fleeing from elsewhere were killed. The refugees came from Sipote, Vijnita, Seletin, Putila. The locals even killed 50 Russian retreating soldirers,- this happened only in Rastoacea. From them they managed to get the necessary arms to kill the Jews.
Vijnitza must have details in JewishGen-Yizkor book as well. 90% of the population was Jewish apparently. Once the rumour reached the peasants that they have "the 24 hours" they started to go door-to-door and stripped the people naked, cleaned them up of jewellery and money then killed them or if they didn't find enything, they killed them because they didn't find anything!
But apparently, "only" 23 Jews were actually butchered, because on the second day, a new Major entered the town(somebody Petruc from Vatra Dornei) and he stopped it immediately,- otherwise all would have been murdered. He was very decent and helped the jews by giving them the rations left behind from the Russians and then divided also some money among them. Unfortunately 14days later this Major was killed on the front. The murdered Jews were later interred in the 100ds-of-years Old Cemetery, in a communal grave.
I don't know the fate of the rest later, but they must have ended up in Transnistria.
---------------
I think that this about covers most of what I can make out! Hope it helps you.
Have you found the book on the internet, that you gave me the pages from? Please send me the URL. It will make it easier to send it to those who might still understand Romanian.
Regards,
---------------------------------------------------
Your newest email is of special interest to me. I've been searching unsuccessfully for years for information about my grandmother, Anna Schmerz and my aunt, Yetta or Yetti Schmerz -- who I believe were victims of the bloody events that took place in Cernauti, Romania in 1941.
It's been extremely frustrating til now and your information offers the potential of learning something.
I don't have a fax available, but if you could check the list and find the names of my relatives, I'll find a friend with a fax to receive the information.
Many thanks for your generosity and concern in keeping the Cz list informed.
Selma Schmerz
Dear Selma,
I checked the Cernauti pages in the book, but did not come across the names you mentioned.
Of course, there were many Jews there in the big city, so I suggest that your best bet is to look up JewishGen/Yizkor book
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Bukowinabook/html
Best regards,
---------------------------------------------
> Dear >
> My name is Fred. Weisinger. I was quite interested in
> your article about Czernowitz. You see I was born
> there and lived through the ocupation period. I was
> back to Czernowitz a few years ago. I also visited the
> vilage of Pohorloutz were my Granparents Weisinger
> were landhoders. When I and my brother Leo visited
> making inquiries most people were newcomers from the
> Ukraine we found however one person who remembered my
> familie by first names as apparently he knew them
> well. I also had family in Zastawna amongst them was a
> Stenzler. I would be interested if you kindly were to make it
> posible to send me any information, of course, I would be
> gladly defry you of any cost of copy.
>
> yours sincerily Fred.Weisinger
>
Dear Fred,
I checked the Cernauti pages in the book, but did not come across the names you mentioned. Of course, there were many Jews there in the big city, so I suggest that your best bet is to look up JewishGen/Yizkor book http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Bukowinabook/html
How good is your Rumanian? I don't mind sending you whatever pages I have about Cernauti, as long as you can read them.
Best regards,
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ______________________
(Miriam M., Melbourne, Australia).
I have come across an old, well-worn copy of a little book in Rumanian, at an elderly Czernowitzer's home, with the title: "Pogromurile din Bucovina si Dorohoi." By Marius Mircu, 1945.( Editura GLOB Bucuresti.)
It documents every village, where pogroms took place almost all at the same time, in particular during one 24hour period, at the beginning of July, 1941, when the local population was given free rein by the Rumanian army ( General Duca--) to do whatever they wanted to the Jews. There are names listed, of both the victims and perpetrators, plus some official reports of apparent 'trials' after the events!.
My Rumanian is very rusty, but I can still make out that it makes gruesome reading in its detail. I didn't know the extent of the horrors which befell those communities, including my mother's family,- the first village mentioned in the book being Ciudin(Ciudei).
The same author lists other publications about the horrors perpetrated in other towns and communities in Romania.
Having put it on the “Czernowitz (Bucovina's principal city)-list”, people asked about their families’ towns and names for me to look up.
Here are some of the requests and my research results.
CORRESPONDENCE
Dear,
I read your forwarded email from Bruce Reisch about pogroms carried out by the Rumanian army in 1941. My wife's grandmother, Celia Retter, was from Sadagora. Celia was born in Sadagora 1898. She left when she was 16 as the Russian army advanced on the town. Celia came to the United States after the First World War when she and her husband were not able to obtain papers for Eretz. She died several years ago at the age of 106. My wife, Anya, and I have an interest in the history, even the dark moments, of Sadagora. We are curious what happened to other members of the Retter family. Please send any information about Sadagora that you have.
Thank you & warm regards,
Preston Grant
Dear Mr. Grant,
I shall try to translate a little of what they write about Sadagura on that eventful night and afterwards..
" In Sadagura (Czernowitz district) lived about 654 Jews as well as Ukrainians, Poles and Romanians.
One Sunday morning, (the fateful 24 hrs. after the retreat of the Russians) a Romanian patrol of 4-5 young men entered the town and settled in the City Hall, taking it over (names given). Their country!
They formed themselves into a 'National Guard' and at 9pm, armed with guns, they went from house to house (obviously Jewish) and took out the people, undressed as they must have been at that hour,- 72 persons, men, women and children and took them to the City Hall. Later in the middle of the night, they marched them to an open field where a long trench had been prepared, lined them up facing the trench and shot them in the back into the trench. Some 50 locals assisted them."
Individuals and families are named,- those murdered and a few who managed to escape by various means in the commotion. The author then seems to question why in the 4 days it took for the Romanian army to reenter the town after the Russians retreated, did they not flee from there? Why did they not hear of the '24hr.' dictate and waited until the few Romanian soldiers came to kill them?
He puts it to the fact that the Jews and the local non-Jews lived very well together, as they did in other parts of Bukovina. Apparently, 'with a heavy heart', the locals excused themselves that 'only 70 out of the 654 were killed'!
" On th Monday night, the same band took all the Jews out of their homes and took them again to the City Hall. Tuesday a Judicial Commission was instituted.
Those who were considered Communists were detained in the camp there. The rest were freed. Why were they all taken there in the first place (asks the author?)
Various other murders took place in the town over the next few days. 4 men (named) were taken from their workplace, shot and pushed into the still open trench. Only later were the families allowed to bury the dead in the cemetery, finding them totally disfigured and dismembered.
All the Jews of Sadagura were taken to Forced Labor,- men and women, their property confiscated, their former employees allowed to insult them and on the Sabbath in particular, the most devout were especially
assaulted and forcibly marched down the main street in torn clothing. The Mayor in particular enjoyed this sport until another mayor took over and stopped it.
There was another camp in Sadagura where they put also part of the Jews from Storojinetz. (with more atrocities!)"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Among all the names listed, I found no one by the name of your grandmother's family,- Retter. Was that her maiden name? If you have other names, I can check them for you.
Best regards,
---------------------------------
> Shalom ,
> Thank you very much for the information.
> I would like to know about two villages where my parents were
> born: Rus Banila (or Banila pa Cermush) (family Schaier)
> Drachinetz.(family Birnbaum) my fax is 972 - 2 - 6251478
> (please indicate on the copy: :for Dr. Shafir)
>
Dear Dr. Shafir,
I can see only about Dracinet that approx. 120 were killed and about Banila pe Siret only,- "a few Jews were shot. The rest were sent to Ciudei" (where my mother's family lived and where apparently the whole 24 hr. pogrom started).. No names for these towns appear.
Best regards,
------------------------------------------------------->
>
>
> Hi Randy,
I sent you by separate email some URLs for JewishGen/Yzkor Book, describing what happened in Ciudin.
The whole thing started apparently because 4 men, representatives of the Communist Party, in June 1940 went to greet what they thought was the Russian army, carrying red flags.. They were Conrad Kreiss, Knoll Udelsmann and another two intellectuals. Unfortunately they met a retreating battalion of Rumanians, reg.16 Dorbantz (whatever that means)led by one Major Carp, who gave the order for the 4 to be bound. After they dismembered them and bashed their heads-in, they tied them and with their bayonets cut them to pieces!!!!
When the Russian army arrived, they took the 4 massacred victims to Czernowitz and they were interred with all the honours of heroes.The following year, after the Russians retreated, the first army to return was the whole battalion 16, with Major Carp at the head. Wednesday morning 4th July 1941, the Russians retreated and in the evening the Rumanians entered. Thursday morning, the news spread among the peasants that for 24 hrs, they could do whatever they wanted with the Jews.The rest of the guesome details you can read on JewishGen. Of 70 Jewish families, only 3-4 escaped,- 572 people were murdered.
It was this 24hr. 'decree',- the personal revenge of the one Major, that spread like wildfire, it appears, across the whole Bucovina, because all the Jews were labelled Communists.
In Milia, all the Jews, 176 of them, were murdered and the gruesome details are described,- but I cannot describe them. He names some people, -Dr. Iacob Geller,- and also states that "it must be understood that all had lived with good understanding between them and the others without envy or bad blood. But this did not stop the local populationfrom participating in the killing and plunder afterwards."
The only ones who escaped were Dr. Lustig with his father-in law, Moses Haim Nagel. The locals checked all the dead to make sure that no Jews escaped, as well as all their homes.
In Rastoace, there were more Jews because many had fled there from the surroundng areas. All were muredered, some 320 in number. Only family Stier, 8 members, escaped and were later transported to Transnistria. The massacre was executed by the locals, even neighbours who had lived well with each other! The author writes that he wants to repeat it to "absurd extremes", because one cannot explain the besteality of those people. Even those refugees who were fleeing from elsewhere were killed. The refugees came from Sipote, Vijnita, Seletin, Putila. The locals even killed 50 Russian retreating soldirers,- this happened only in Rastoacea. From them they managed to get the necessary arms to kill the Jews.
Vijnitza must have details in JewishGen-Yizkor book as well. 90% of the population was Jewish apparently. Once the rumour reached the peasants that they have "the 24 hours" they started to go door-to-door and stripped the people naked, cleaned them up of jewellery and money then killed them or if they didn't find enything, they killed them because they didn't find anything!
But apparently, "only" 23 Jews were actually butchered, because on the second day, a new Major entered the town(somebody Petruc from Vatra Dornei) and he stopped it immediately,- otherwise all would have been murdered. He was very decent and helped the jews by giving them the rations left behind from the Russians and then divided also some money among them. Unfortunately 14days later this Major was killed on the front. The murdered Jews were later interred in the 100ds-of-years Old Cemetery, in a communal grave.
I don't know the fate of the rest later, but they must have ended up in Transnistria.
---------------
I think that this about covers most of what I can make out! Hope it helps you.
Have you found the book on the internet, that you gave me the pages from? Please send me the URL. It will make it easier to send it to those who might still understand Romanian.
Regards,
---------------------------------------------------
Your newest email is of special interest to me. I've been searching unsuccessfully for years for information about my grandmother, Anna Schmerz and my aunt, Yetta or Yetti Schmerz -- who I believe were victims of the bloody events that took place in Cernauti, Romania in 1941.
It's been extremely frustrating til now and your information offers the potential of learning something.
I don't have a fax available, but if you could check the list and find the names of my relatives, I'll find a friend with a fax to receive the information.
Many thanks for your generosity and concern in keeping the Cz list informed.
Selma Schmerz
Dear Selma,
I checked the Cernauti pages in the book, but did not come across the names you mentioned.
Of course, there were many Jews there in the big city, so I suggest that your best bet is to look up JewishGen/Yizkor book
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Bukowinabook/html
Best regards,
---------------------------------------------
> Dear >
> My name is Fred. Weisinger. I was quite interested in
> your article about Czernowitz. You see I was born
> there and lived through the ocupation period. I was
> back to Czernowitz a few years ago. I also visited the
> vilage of Pohorloutz were my Granparents Weisinger
> were landhoders. When I and my brother Leo visited
> making inquiries most people were newcomers from the
> Ukraine we found however one person who remembered my
> familie by first names as apparently he knew them
> well. I also had family in Zastawna amongst them was a
> Stenzler. I would be interested if you kindly were to make it
> posible to send me any information, of course, I would be
> gladly defry you of any cost of copy.
>
> yours sincerily Fred.Weisinger
>
Dear Fred,
I checked the Cernauti pages in the book, but did not come across the names you mentioned. Of course, there were many Jews there in the big city, so I suggest that your best bet is to look up JewishGen/Yizkor book http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Bukowinabook/html
How good is your Rumanian? I don't mind sending you whatever pages I have about Cernauti, as long as you can read them.
Best regards,
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ______________________
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Fate, faith and the unbelievable stories of the Holocaust.
'It was as if fate was directing me from above'
Etgar Lefkovits
Apr. 5, 2007
The 15-year-old girl saw the German doctor with the rubber
gloves injecting something into the veins of the women at the
camp.
The teen was at the bedside of her 19-year-old sister, who had
been stricken with typhoid in the last days of the Holocaust.
She soon understood that the shots contained poison as each of
the women died within minutes.
It was January 19, 1945 and the Red Army was fast closing in on
the Nazi camp in Poland.
Zsuzsana Braun was determined not to let her sister Agnes, her
last remaining relative, out of her sight.
Their parents, Arthur and Elisabeth Weisz, had already been
murdered.
The two sisters, who grew up in Kosice, Czechoslovakia, were
saved from being gassed months earlier by a malfunction in one
of Auschwitz's gas chambers.
"I did not have anyone except my sister, and I was determined to
be with her until the last minute," Braun recalls.
Days earlier, a member of the underground had made his way to
the camp to tell the inmates that liberation was almost at hand.
The German physician continued across the room, injecting woman
after woman with poison.
Years later, Braun would learn that it was poison against mice
that the doctor was using on the Jewish women.
After killing most of the women in the camp, the doctor, eager
to flee the approaching Russian army, handed the job over to an
assistant, a young German man whom, Braun said, clearly lacked
any medical experience, including knowing how to give an
injection.
The emaciated 15-year-old, who had had many doctors in her
family, quickly turned over the hands of her sister, two other
inmates, and her own so that the shot would not enter a main
vein.
The assistant injected the poison, but due to the location of
the shot, it was slow to act.
Braun felt the right side of her body freeze and knew she had to
act quickly.
Using her hands and a straw, she managed to remove most of the
toxin from her body, and did the same for her sister and the two
other women.
Even today, seven decades later, Braun does not know how she did
it.
"I do not know how - it was not me - it was as if fate was
directing me from above," she says.
Racing outside in the 40-below-zero cold, with her ill sister on
her back, Braun hiked for two days until she arrived at a Polish
home, where she and her sister hid under straw in the barn until
the Russian soldiers arrived. She fed her sister with milk she
found in the barn.
The Russians ordered the Polish family to take the girls into
their house, but the sisters were thrown out as soon as the
soldiers left, Braun recounts.
She then walked 10 days - this time pulling her sister in a cart
the family had given her - until she reached a Red Army
hospital, where a physician amputated Agnes's legs, using
neither anesthesia nor sound surgical procedures.
Zsuzsana continued to nurse Agnes, and both settled in Israel in
1949, where they subsequently married.
Zsuzsana Braun, 78, now a grandmother, continued to help her
sister for years, and the two live on the same block in Tel
Aviv.
Years later, Agnes Kreisler - who received prosthetic legs -
would herself volunteer in Israeli hospitals, helping patients
cope with disabilities.
Six decades later, the tops of their hands are still scarred
where the poison was injected.
The sisters' story will be portrayed as part of an exhibition
opening Friday at Yad Vashem about women in the Holocaust.
"Hitler brought us to Israel in order to get back our human
freedom," Braun says.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879257427&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Etgar Lefkovits
Apr. 5, 2007
The 15-year-old girl saw the German doctor with the rubber
gloves injecting something into the veins of the women at the
camp.
The teen was at the bedside of her 19-year-old sister, who had
been stricken with typhoid in the last days of the Holocaust.
She soon understood that the shots contained poison as each of
the women died within minutes.
It was January 19, 1945 and the Red Army was fast closing in on
the Nazi camp in Poland.
Zsuzsana Braun was determined not to let her sister Agnes, her
last remaining relative, out of her sight.
Their parents, Arthur and Elisabeth Weisz, had already been
murdered.
The two sisters, who grew up in Kosice, Czechoslovakia, were
saved from being gassed months earlier by a malfunction in one
of Auschwitz's gas chambers.
"I did not have anyone except my sister, and I was determined to
be with her until the last minute," Braun recalls.
Days earlier, a member of the underground had made his way to
the camp to tell the inmates that liberation was almost at hand.
The German physician continued across the room, injecting woman
after woman with poison.
Years later, Braun would learn that it was poison against mice
that the doctor was using on the Jewish women.
After killing most of the women in the camp, the doctor, eager
to flee the approaching Russian army, handed the job over to an
assistant, a young German man whom, Braun said, clearly lacked
any medical experience, including knowing how to give an
injection.
The emaciated 15-year-old, who had had many doctors in her
family, quickly turned over the hands of her sister, two other
inmates, and her own so that the shot would not enter a main
vein.
The assistant injected the poison, but due to the location of
the shot, it was slow to act.
Braun felt the right side of her body freeze and knew she had to
act quickly.
Using her hands and a straw, she managed to remove most of the
toxin from her body, and did the same for her sister and the two
other women.
Even today, seven decades later, Braun does not know how she did
it.
"I do not know how - it was not me - it was as if fate was
directing me from above," she says.
Racing outside in the 40-below-zero cold, with her ill sister on
her back, Braun hiked for two days until she arrived at a Polish
home, where she and her sister hid under straw in the barn until
the Russian soldiers arrived. She fed her sister with milk she
found in the barn.
The Russians ordered the Polish family to take the girls into
their house, but the sisters were thrown out as soon as the
soldiers left, Braun recounts.
She then walked 10 days - this time pulling her sister in a cart
the family had given her - until she reached a Red Army
hospital, where a physician amputated Agnes's legs, using
neither anesthesia nor sound surgical procedures.
Zsuzsana continued to nurse Agnes, and both settled in Israel in
1949, where they subsequently married.
Zsuzsana Braun, 78, now a grandmother, continued to help her
sister for years, and the two live on the same block in Tel
Aviv.
Years later, Agnes Kreisler - who received prosthetic legs -
would herself volunteer in Israeli hospitals, helping patients
cope with disabilities.
Six decades later, the tops of their hands are still scarred
where the poison was injected.
The sisters' story will be portrayed as part of an exhibition
opening Friday at Yad Vashem about women in the Holocaust.
"Hitler brought us to Israel in order to get back our human
freedom," Braun says.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879257427&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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