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HOLOCAUST ASSETS CLIPS 01/04100
1/4/00 4:06:44 PM Eastern Standard lime
kpage@PCHA.GOV (Katherine Page)
Suspected War Criminals
Konrad Kalejs (3)
Court Upholds Nazi Deportation
General
Libel suit against U.S. historian puts the Holocaust itself on trial
Israel's Business Arena recognizes Itamar Le'o1n for Swiss Hblocaust
Deposits Affair cowrage
Sweden urged to admit links to Nazi Germany
Jeshajahu Weinberg
Monday January 3 9:42 PM ET
War Crimes Suspect Can Return to Australia
By Jane Nelson
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Immigration Minister Philip Ruddoc~ said on Tuesday
war crimes suspect Konrad Kalejs could return to Australia if deported
from Britain and would not be prosecuted without new inforniation.
Kalejs, 86, suspected of aiding the slaughter of Jews in Nazi-occupied
Latvia during Wor1d War Two, has been deported from the Uhited States
and Canada because of his alleged involwment in war crim~s.
Britain on Monday said it had no grounds for arresting Kalej~, but
ordered him deported. Kalejs, who has always denied the wbr crimes
charges, has the right to appeal.
. I
"It's a question of law. He is an Australian citizen and any ~ustralian
citizen is entitled as a matter of law to return to Australia," R,uddock
told Australian television on Tuesday.
Ruddock said the Australiangowrnment could not prosecute Kalejs, who
moved from Australia to Britain last year, without new infor~ation. He
called on people with evidence of Kalejs' alleged involvement in a
Latvian death squad to come forward.
I
"If this issue is to be progressed, those people who believe that they
l
haw e'o1dence that this man was involved in criminal activities in the
war, they should bring their information forward and put it bJfore the
Australian Federal Police," Ruddock said.
I
"If it's new information, I'm sure they'd be willing to look at it,"
he said.
j
Jewish Community Outraged, Demand Changes
Australia's Jewish community was outraged that Kalejs would be allowed
to again return, saying he was making a mockery of Austr~lian
citizenship because he was using it as an "insurance polity against
justice.""
.
I
"Australia has been built on migrants who once they become Australian
citizens are regarded as the same as everyone else and thb only way that
we can maintain that as a important value is by saying we ~re not a
place for fugitives," Executive Council of Australian Jewry 'j
vice-president Jeremy Jones told Reuters.
Jones called on the government to review Australia's war crimes
legislation so that evidence used in the United States of K~lejs'
alleged position in a Latvian killing squad would be enoughjto allow a
prosecution here. .
"I can't understand why any government minister would want to tolerate
a situation where he's thrown out of other countries and he,' can come and
liw here,"Jones said.
Tuesday, January 04, 2000
I
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�L.
· "nseems that the Amencans, the Germans, the Croatians,
Canadians, the British and the Argentinians can all manage t6 deal with
this issue, but we haven't. been able to manage."
I·
Only three war crimes cases went to trial in Australia following the
establishment of a special investigation unit in 1987. One waS abandoned
on medical grounds and the other two failed to secure a guiltY verdict.
The government's special war crimes investigation unit was abandoned in
I
1002
One ofthe obstacles to prosecuting war criminals in Australia was that
retrospective legislation would need to be enacted. "It's one bfthese
issues that requires leadership from the very top," Jones said.
Kalejs first settled in Australia in 1950, becoming a citizen inI1957.
He was deported to Australia from the United States in 1994 and from
Canada in 1997 because of his alleged war crimes.
I
The Simon Wiesenthal Center recently revealed Kalejs was IhAng in a
retirement home in central England after his departure from Australia
~y~
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The Nazi-hunting center says Kalejs was an officer in the wartime Arajs
I
Commando unit, which it said collaborated with the Nazis in killing
thousands of ci\1lians, mostly Jews, in Lat\1a.
Kalejs is expected to leave Britain on Thursday
Suspected Nazi war criminal to flee UK: report 6: 24 PM AEST January 2
accu~ed
oftaking part in the slLghter of
An alleged Nazi war criminal
thousands of Jews during World War II says he will leave Bri~ain rather
I
than face arrest, according to the Mail on Sunday. Konrad Kalejs, 86,
of Lat\1an origin, is li\1ng in a luxurious retirement home in cehtral
England. But detectives are investigating claims that Kalejs Was an
officer with a Nazi death squad responsible for the murder of Op to
I
30,000 Jews, communists and gypsies. In an inter'l.1ew with the Mail on .
Sunday, he claimed he had been "hounded" around the world. "I am
lea\1ng this country as soon as I can. I have learned my lessbn. The
police cannot hold me," he insisted, and described his critics as "liars
and storytellers." Home Secretary Jack Straw has already ordered an
inquiry into how Kalejs obtained permission to enter Britain and take up
residence here. Police have contacted Jerusalem's Simon Wiesenthal
Centre for e\1dence to back claims that Kalejs is a war criminal. He
I
told the Mail on Sunday that he had used a false name, Viktor Kalnins,
in order to secure his place in the home for Lat\1an war refug~es. The
Home Office has warned that it is powerless to prevent Kalej~ fleeing
the country. The. newspaper said he intended to meet up with his wife in
Australia, the only country he believes will not seek to bring him to
trial. "Once again I am looking for a place where I can be with my wife
away from these people who are hounding me. There's no peace for me here
I
now," he said. "I've been hounded around the world now for 1:5 years and
now I want to be left alone." Nazi hunters say Kalejs had emigrated to
Australia after Wor1d War II posing as a refugee, but moved tb the
United States in 1959. He was deported in 1984, after detail~ of his
wartime past were revealed, and eventually went to Canada, but was
I
forced to flee from there three years later after an inquiry implicated
him in the running of a Nazi slave camp in Lat\1a. British law; allows
people accused of war crimes to be put on trial even if the all~ed
offences took place outside Britain.-AFP
Lat\1a PM says new facts needed for Kalejs trial
01/04/00
Tue8day. January 04. 2000
America Onlioo: Prezcomm
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�RIGA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Lat'..1a's prime minister said on Tuesday that
Konrad Kalejs, suspected of war crimes in Nazi- occupied L~tvia during
World War Two, should be put on trial if any new evidence against him
surfaces.
I
The 86-year-old Kalejs has been staying in Britain, which on Monday
I
ordered him deported to Australia. The Australian government says he can
stay in the country as an Australian citizen and would not bell. prosecuted
without new information.
.
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Shkele was quoted by Latvian Radio as
saying: "Ongoing discussions about Kalejs are not enhancirig Latvia's
image. If there is enough evidence against Kalejs it has to b~
evaluated."
I
Shkele said later through his spokesman: "No doubt this case has to be
seen to its logical end - if there is enough new evidence, it should go
I
to court."
Latvian prosecutors said last month they would reassess the evidence
against Kalejs, who is suspected of aiding the slaughter of J~ws in
Nazi-occupied Latvia.
.
I
Britain was the third country to order the deportation of Kalejs after
the United States and Canada because of his alleged involvelnent in war
crimes. He has denied all such charges.
, I .
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has repeatedly called on Latvia to request
I
his extradition so he could be put on trial in the former Soviet state.
However Lat'..1an officials argue the current evidence on Kalej~, who Nazi
hunters say was an officer in the notorious Arajs Commandd, a Latvian
police unit suspected of aiding wartime Nazi occupation forcks kill
thousands of civilians, is not enough to try him.
Court Upholds Nazi Deportation
Updated 7:53 PM ET December 29, 1999
By JONATHAN POET, Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld the
deportation of an 80-year-old man who served as a Nazi contentration
I
camp guard during World War II.
Nikolaus Schiffer, a retired baker, was born in Philadelphia but raised
in Romania. In 1941, he joined the Romanian army and late~11 became part
of the German Waffen SS, the elite branch of Hitler's army.
In 1958, Schiffer regained his U.S. citizenship by not disclosing
.
details about his Nazi past that would have barred him from bntering the
country. He was stripped of his citizenship in 1993 and orde1red deported
to Romania in 1997.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision.
Calls to Schiffer's attorney were not returned.
Schiffer was an armed guard on labor details in the Sachsenhausen and
Hersbruck concentration camps in Germany and the Majda~ek camp and.
Trawniki SS training camp in Poland. He has said he knew nothing ofthe
atrocities committed within the camps.
I
Eli Rosenbaum, director ofthe Justice Department's office of special
investigations, said the agency has revoked the citizenship 6f 62 former
Nazis and deported 53 people. Eighteen cases, including Sthiffer's, are
still in court, and the department is investigating 250 other ~uspected
war criminals.
I
"All of these cases are important to send a message to the participants
of such crimes in the future," Rosenbaum said. "It says thatI if you dare
to involve yourself in such things, it is likely that the ci'..1lized
.
wor1d will pursue you even thousands of miles away ,from thr scene ofthe
TU88day, January 04, 2000
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�crime and even decades later."
Libel suit against U.S. historian puts the Holocaust itself on trial
I
By Douglas DalAs
LONDON, Jan. 3 (JTA) .
The Holocaust is scheduled to go on trial in a courtroom here next week.
A leading Holocaust denier, Da\/id IrlAng, is suing a U.S. hist6rian,
Deborah Lipstadt, and her publishe(for libel. The case is expected to
produce the most detailed judicial inspection ofthe Holocau~t since the
trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961. Thb alleged
libel appears in Lipstadt's work, "Denying the Holocaust: Th~ Growing
. Assault on Truth and Memory," published by Penguin BOOkSi in 1994. The
trial, which is scheduled to last three months', is set to begin Jan. 11.
IrlAng, a Brit who has acquired an international following, clairs that
Lipstadt attacked him personally and professionally, depicting him as an
"Adolf Hitler partisan who wears blinkers and skews documents and
misrepresents data in order to reach historically untenable c6nclusions,
specifically those that exonerate Hitler." He also alleges th~t
Lipstadt and her publisher damaged his reputation when they claimed he
has "misled academic historians" into "quoting historically i~valid
points contained in his writings and who applauds the intem~ent of Jews
in Nazi concentration camps." IrlAng's thesis centers on hislassertion
that Hitler did not order the Holocaust, did not know of it and was not
therefore responsible for it. Ir\ling has also denied that Auschwitz was
an extermination camp and claimed that the number of Jew~ who were
killed had been grossly exaggerated. He says Lipstadt furth~r tarnished
his reputation by portraying him as "a dangerous spokesma~ for
Holocaust-denial forces who deliberately and knowingly conJorts and
consorted with anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and HOlocaust-deniall forces."
Lipstadt, who holds the Dorot Chair in Modem Jewish and Holocaust
Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, says her charges ag~inst Ir\ling
are "true in substance and in fact," according to depositions filed in
the case. Lipstadt will argue at the trial that the 61-year-old Ir\ling
is driven by "his obsession with Hitler" and that he "distorts,
manipulates and falsifies history in order to put Hitler in a more
favorable light, thereby demonstrating a lack of detachment, Irationality
and judgment necessary for a historian." Lipstadt, who is being
.
represented by Anthony Julius, a prominent London attorney who was the
former lawyer for Princess Diana, has declined to be inter\lieWed before
the trial on the adlAce of her lawyer. But according to the cdurt '
papers, she will also contend that Ir\ling has "on numerous dccasions
denied the Holocaust, the deliberate, planned extermination 10f Europe's .
Jewish population by the Nazis, and denied that gas chamb~rs were used
by the Nazis as a means of carrying out that extermination. r She will
charge that Ir\ling "holds extremist \/iews and has allied himself with
I
others who hold such lAews," including Robert Faurisson, who was
conlActed by a French court of denying the Holocaust, and Ernst Zundel,
the Canadian author of "The Hitler We Loved," which concludes that
Hitler's spirit "soars beyond the shores ofthe white man's hbme in
I
Europe." Ir\ling, who lives in London, himself has disputed the number
of Jews who died in concentration camps, suggesting that rhost deaths
were the result of natural causes, and that crematoria and tither
buildings at concentration camp sites were constructed aftJr World War
II. On one occasion, he declared that "about 100,000 peopl1edied in
Auschwitz in three years" and that "if we must assume gen~rously that a
quarter ofthem were murdered, then we must remember th~t the British
killed 50,000 Germans in one night when they raided HambLrg." On
I
Tuooday.
January~. 2000 I Amorlca Onlino: Prozcomm
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�another occasion, he asserted bluntly, "Auschwitz was not an
extermination camp and the Holocaust was a propaganda hdax by the
British." I""";ng's theories, propounded to an audience of aboJt 800
people in a German restaurant in 1990, led to his comriction iln the
Munich District Court on charges of defaming and denigrating the memory
of the dead. In his restaurant speech, I""";ng is reported to haVe said,
"We now believe that, just as the gas chambers which the Americans built
here in Dachau in the days following the end ofthe war were , sham, the
,
'
gas chambers which can now be seen by tourists in Auschwitz were built
I
by the authorities in Poland following the Second World WarX' In
,
January 1994, a German appeals court not only upheld the c6nviction, but
increased Irving's fine from $30,000 to $50,000. The GermanJcourt held
that "anyone denying the gassing and murder of Jews in the jfhird Reich
defames every Jew and slanders the memory of all Jews gassed in
Auschwitz." More recently, in response to a challenge from ~ London
,
school teacher last July about Holocaust survivor testimony, I""";ng said
that of the testimony he has read that "many of the more prolninent ones
appear to be concocted by congenital liars." I""";ng is now pe~ona non
I
grata in Germany, Austria, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and
South Africa, where he had been in frequent demand as a leqturer.
According to Efraim Zuroff, the director ofthe Israel office oft~e
Simon Wiesenthal Center, the upcoming London case mark~ the "second
stage of Holocaust trials." "If, in the past, we haw been dealing with
the perpetrators ofthe Holocaust," he told JTA, "we are now dealing
I
with challenges to the historical record." (© Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Inc. The abow information is available on a read-only basis ahd cannot
be reproduced without permission from JTA.)
a
Tuesday, Jan 4,2000 Sun-Thu at 18:00 (GMT+2)« »
Arena Album
I
By Arena staff
Before we chose the person whose handprint affected the past two years
the most, we had to ask from what pool to choose. Should wk choose Bill
Gates and side with conformity, or should we try to choose t~e person
who contributed more than anyone else to the uniqueness ofthe content
we~~
I
'
As hinted by the headline we chose the second option. Itamar Levin, a
"Globes" correspondent, is the man who revealed the Swiss Holocaust
Deposits Affair to the wond. At first, he encountered' sneers. ~e was
told that he shouldn't waste his time trying to get this ball rolling.
But the ball rolled and roll it did. What began as doubt conceming
Swiss neutrality during World War II, spread out across Europe and
gathered speed in the US Senate.
,
I
At some point, the story became far more than simple human curiosity.
The Holocaust Deposits Affair became the story of a strugglel The Jews
and the State of Israel vs. the European nations' dark past. Tbday, t~e
Swiss haw agreed to compensate Jelatiws of Holocaust victilns to the
tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and there is hope that t'he rest
of Europe will ,follow in their footsteps. The battle is far from o{er,
or ewn from the point when the Jewish organizations can tak~ a
breather, but new progress is reported nearly ewryweek.
I
The Arena has many more complimentary things to say about Mr. Levin, but
maybe we should invite someone else to the podium: Mr.Gr~gg Rickman, US
Senate Banking Committee chair Alfonse D'Amato's legislatiJe director
and chief investigator of the Swiss Deposits Affair, who sent Js the
I
following e-mail, after finding his own name listed in our list of
"Who's Who in the Swiss Banks Affair".
I
Tuooday, January 04, 2000
torlea Onlino: Prozeomm
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�I was honored to have made your list of the Who's Who in the
Swiss Bank Affair. I must state that Itamar Le'.4n, with whom II have
worked for some time, has been very important to this investigation and
has even pro'.4ded me with a great deal of help. It is only right that he
has been commended for his writing in this ongoing story. There is more
work to be done, and J am sure that Itamar will continue to cbntribute.
Thank you.
Sweden Urged to Admit Unks to Nazi Germany
Updated 9:32 AM ET January 4, 2000
By Belinda Goldsmith
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A leading Swedish politician called on Tuesday for
Sweden to own up to its links to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as a
tele'.4sion documentary revealed at least 260 Swedes were rlJembers of
I
Hitler's elite Waffen SS.
Alf Svensson, leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Party, said
Prime Minister Goran Persson needed to take measures fa~t to address
this before Sweden hosted an international conference on th1e Holocaust
on January 26-28 in Stockholm.
I
"Before the conference Goran Persson must clearly state that Sweden will
deal with this," Svensson told a news conference, suggesti~g some form
of historical commission be set up.
,
Sweden's neutral stance dUring World War II has come under scrutiny in
recent years as details emerged that it sold iron ore to Germany during
the war and let German troops cross its territory into Finland and
Norway so as not to upset Berlin.
But revelations this week that between 260 and 500 Swedes were members
of the SS, which played a central role in Nazj attempts to eherminate
European Jews, has raised further concerns about Sweden's past.
,
One of the Swedes was a guard at the concentration camp rrreblinka in
Poland where 850,000 Jews were gassed. Forty-two ofthe Swedes are still
alive, most living in Sweden.
The details emerged in a three-part television documentary, called
"Swedes Who Fought For Hitler," aired on Monday and bas,ed on a book by
journalist Bosse Schon that took 18 years to research.
"
NEO-NAZI VIOLENCE ON THE RISE
Images of marching SS troops, Hitler and concentration camp trains were
interspersed with modem-day footage of neo:..Nazi demonsttations in
Sweden, where there is rising concern about increasing ra~ist and
neo-Nazi '.4olence.
I
Police said three men, known Nazi sympathizers, were due in a Stockholm
,
court on Tuesday over the murder of a 19-year-old man of~urkish origin
last Friday. One ofthem painted a swastika in blood on his cell door
while awaiting the hearing.
' I
Svensson said he was concemed the Holocaust conferenc~, being attended
by about 400 delegates from 45 countries, would be oversh'adowed by
questions about Sweden's links to Nazi Germany and why ISweden had not
changed its laws to bring war criminals before the courts like other
countries.
"Internationally people are very surprised that Sweden has not cleaned
up its own doorstep. We expect other countries to do thad' said
Svensson, whose espousal of moral values helped his party to a strong
showing in Sweden's 1998 election.
I
"We note and disassociate ourselves from neo-Nazis but we must also deal
with the swamps where these ideas fermented."
I"
Svensson said a commission could take e'.4dence from the people who were
I
,
I
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'
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Tuesday, January 04, 2000
I
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�Q
•
involved with the Nazis during the war, several of whom appeared in the
tele\1sion documentary.
.
I
ANd Johansson, 85, confessed he was a soldier in Hitle~s Waffen SS.
It was illegal to sign up to the German army in Sweden but pbople could
travel to neighboring occupied countries or Germany to enlist!.
"I have come out with this to clear the names of those of us Who were
not Nazis but were lured into this," Johansson said. "We thoLght we were
I .
going to Finland to fight the Russians."
Harald Sundin, 79, was a guard on the trains to a concentration camps
and also on two execution patrols.
I
"But I don1 think I ever killed anyone," said Sundin.
"Germany was the ideal country for many Swedes including for me. Hitler
promised to give us a pure breed-free Europe and we swallo~ed the lies
and propaganda without question.
I
"But I can1 understand how young people can be Nazis today. I just want
I
to say to them: 'Read history, read what happened'."
http://search.washingtonpost.comlwp-srv/WPlate/2000-01/04/0031-010400-id
x.html
Jeshajahu Weinberg
Tuesday, January 4,2000; Page A14
WEVE ALL READ as much as we can stand lately about the century just
ended, about the high points and about the dark moments th~t are likely
to endure as bitter monuments to human perversity. But ifth6se dark
times are to remain real, fiightening and cautionary to those ~ho had
I
the good fortune not to experience them, a significant part of the
reason will be the stories told not just in history books but in IpUbliC
museums. And in this city in particular, a big measure of credit will
belong to Jeshajahu Weinberg, founding director ofthis city's IHolocaust
Memorial Museum, who died Jan. 1 at age 81.
.
"Shaike" Weinberg, as he was widely known, was a shaper of public
memory, not primarily as a historian or eyewitness but as a brilliant
I
designer of museum exhibitions-here in Washington, where the museum
that opened in 1993 has had a cathartic, nearly explosive e~ct, and
also in Israel and more recently in Berlin and Warsaw, both riow
struggling to build museums that confront that same difficult Past.
With the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum still drawing record crowds
seven years after it opened, it's easy to forget how improbabl~ the
project once seemed to many, even the sympathetic. How wbuld this
narrative of European atrocity fit on America's Mall? Would t~e
destruction of European Jewry hold out lessons for a wider pJblic? In
the end, the museum conveyed its message, not didacticallyl but with
unmissable clarity: Citizens everywhere have responsibilities to stand
, I
against e\11 and to bear witness.
For Mr. Weinberg, his colleagues say, everything came downI to that
clarity-the vivid, understandable telling of the tale in word 'and
image. It may have been a legacy of his first career as a thea'ter
director; it may have been his legendary decisiveness, which Imeant these
potentially touchiest of projects were not only launched but, against
all odds, completed. It was surely those qualities-the Clarity,lthe
certainty-that drew museum planners in Germany and Poland to seek out
his guidance, which he was still gi\1ng at his death.
© Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company
Tuesday, January 04, 2000
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�..-::.. ....
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From:
."
...•
CLIPS 01/03/00
1/4/009:30:39 AM Eastern Standard Time
kpage@PCHA.GOV (Katherine Page)
Happy New Year to all. I'll bring you the daily news while Stu is away.
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to e~mail me.
-Katherine
General News
New Chair for Israel's Yad Vas hem
War Crimes Suspect Konrad Kalejs (2)
Losses
Jeshajahu Weinberg (2)
Nuremberg Lawyer dies
_
Hans Frankenthal, leader in slave labor compensation efforts
I
- Survivors
Quarrel over Jewish Widow's Estate
Generali Pays Israeli Daughter of Holocaust Victim
Holocaust Survivor Beats Re~sionists
Millennium News
Nazi Ghosts Exorcised, Berlin Light Show to Go On
An Unclean Slate as Century Begins
New Chair for Israel's Yad Vashem
Updated 5:43 PM ET January 2,2000
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Speaks to the Press ... (AP)
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Holocaust memorial named aiformer parliament
speaker as the chairman of its intemational board on Sunday. Shevah
Weiss, 64, replaces Joseph Burg, who died in October, a~ head ofthe Yad
Vas hem Holocaust memorial's ad~sory board that meets :once a year.
Weiss served as lawmaker for 18 years, including seven as the deputy
chairman ofthe parliament and four as speaker. Weiss Was bom in
Poland and sUNved the Holocaust to immigrate to Israel ih 1947. He was
a political science professor at Jeruscillem's Hebrew Unive1rsity for many
I
years and represented the ruling Labor party in parliamen~ until last
year. Weiss fought unsuccessfully in 1998 against the lifting of an
informal Israeli ban on the music of Richard Wagner, Addlf Hitler's
favorite composer, whose songs were often played at Na~i rallies and in
death camps. Israeli radio stations now play Wagner's rilusic, although
it is never performed publicly in the country.
UK Asked to Prosecute or Expel War Crimes Suspect
Updated 6:53 AM ET December 28, 1999
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has been asked to prosecute or expel a
suspected Nazi war criminal said to have slipped unnotited into the
country-.
I
Nazi hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center say KohradKalejs, now 86,
is implicated in the murder of 30,000 Jews at-a death dmp in LaNa in
- I
World War Two.
He is alleged to have been an officer in the LaNan Auxiliary Security
Police, known as the Arajs Commando. "We are talking about a very, very
I
Tuesday, January
04, 2000
America Online:
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�bad man who. should be brought to justice," said Dr. Efraim Zuroff,
.
director ofthe center's Israel office.·
He said their investigators had tracked Kalejs down to Britain /two weeks
ago.
.
I '
"He has been deported from America and Canada for his war Icrimes and we
do not think that the people of Great Britain would welcome him," Zuroff
said.
. I
Kalejs, now believed to be Ii..nng in the Rugby area in central England,
.
has always denied the accusations and claimed he was a st~dent during
the war.
A spokeswoman for Britain's Home Office said Tuesday the immigration
service would look very closely at the allegations "and co-op~rate
closely with police if that became appropriate;"
·1
Lord Janner, a prominent campaigner for Holocaust ..nctims, ,said that
Kalejs, who originally moved to Australia after the war, should be
prosecuted under war crimes legislation.
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Britain to Deport War Crimes Suspect to Australia
Updated 8:52 AM ET January 3, 2000
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain Monday told an 86-year-old man suspected of
aiding the slaughter of Jews in Nazi-occupied Lat..na that h~ was being
.
deported to Australia, which has already decided not to prdsecute him.
,
British police said they had no grounds for arresting Konrad Kalejs,
currently staying in an old people's home in· central . England.
,
Home Secretary Jack Straw said he was "minded to deport him to Australia
on the grounds that his exclusion from the UK would be cdnducive to the
public good."
"He has been in..nted to submit any representations he may have so these
may be considered before a final decision is made," he added in a
statement.
1
The decision was a bitter blow to Nazi hunters. The Simon Wiesenthal
Center in Jerusalem, which pursues perpetrators of the Hcllocaust, said
1
.
this was "a missed opportunity."
Kalejs had already said he planned to .leave Britain after bei ng
discovered here two weeks ago.
"I am lea..nng this country as soon as I can," Kalejs told the Mail
Sunday newspaper before the deportation notice was offitially served on
him by Britain's interior ministry.·
1
"I have learned my lesson. The police cannot hold me," he said.
.
Kalejs is alleged to have been an officer in the wartime Ahijs Commando,
which Nazi hunters say collaborated with the Nazis in th~ murder of
thousands of ci..nlians in Lat'..1a, most ofthem Jews.
I
NAZI HUNTERS DISAPPOINTED
Kalejs has always denied the accusations.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which traced Kalejs to Britain and had
urged the British government to act, deplored London's. deCision.
"We are deeply disappointed that an opportunity to pros~cute Kalejs
.
1
either in Britain or in Lat..na was squandered."
"Given the enormity of his crimes and the fact that crimes against
humanity have no statute of limitations, I believe a way bould have been
found to prosecute him in Britain"
"I think that Kalejs's deportation from a third country reinforces the
lack of political will in Canberra to prosecute this tembl~ Nazi war
criminal and it underscores Australia's total failure to d~al with this
issue"
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�The center says Kalejs has already been deported from the United States
and Canada for war crimes. He has been told he is free to enter
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Australia where he has citizenship.
Latvia's Foreign Minister said he may seek the extradition of Kalejs
.from Britain if its prosecutor general's office could present solid
e'.1dence that he was in\A)lved in Nazi war crimes.
I
Kalejs said he was tired of being "hounded around the world for 15
years" and wants to meet up with his wife in Australia.
/
"Once again, I am looking for a place where I can be with m~ wife away
from these people who are hounding me," said Kalejs, who Jas inteMewed
by the newspaper ata retirement home. "There's no peace fur me here
now."
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000103/wl/obiCweinberg_1.html
Monday January 3 8:36 AM ET
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Holocaust Museum Director Dies By DINA KRAFT Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) - Jeshajahu Weinberg, a foUndingdirectL ofthe
.
Holocaust Museum in Washington who used his dramatic tblents to tell the
story of European Jewry, died of a stroke in Tel A'.1v, an as~ociate said
Monday. He was 81. Wei nberg's creative '.1sion is credited /with gi'.1ng
visitors to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington a glimpse
of the reality in Nazi camps and Jewish ghettos in Europe during World
War II. On display are more than 30,000 artifacts, including a railroad
car used to transport Jews to camps. Weinberg died Saturday in Tel
Aviv, said Asia Reuven, spokeswoman ofthe Museum of the Jewish Diaspora
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in Tel A'.1v.. Weinberg was a founding director of the Tel A'.1v museum
I
and came out ofretirement in the early 1990s to help establish the
.
Holocaust Museum in Washington, whic.h opened six yeark ago and has had
12 million '.1sitors. Bom in Warsaw and educated in Germbny, Weinberg
who was usually called "Shaike," an abbre'.1ation of his fi~t name
immigrated with his family to Palestine in 1933, settling oh a kibbutz,
a communal farm. His innovative work in the Tel A'.1vand Washington
museums helped eam him the 1999 Israel Prize for lifetim~ achievement,
I
the most prestigious award the Jewish State bestows on its citizens.
I
Anita Shapira, a professor of Jewish history at Tel A'.1v University who
worked closely with Weinberg, said he changed the face 6f history
museums. "He introduced the concept of the museum a~ a tool for
telling a story, not just for showing authentic artifacts," Shapira
said. In 1939, Weinberg established Kibbutz Elon along ~th fellow
members ofhis Marxist-Zionist youth movement. Accordihg to friends, he
retained his ardent socialist beliefs throughout his life. Ffom
1942-1946 he volunteered for seMce in the British Army'~ Jewish
Brigade, and served part of that time in Italy. He served ~s deputy
I
director in the office mechanization center ofthe prime minister's
office from 1956-1961 before becoming director of the Calneri Theater,
Tel A'.1vS municipal theater,a post he held until 1976. Most recently,
I
he was a consultant to the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Jewish Museum
of Warsaw. Weinberg is sUMved by a son and three daJghters. He was
I
buried Monday at Kibbutz Afek in northem Israel, alongside his wife.
The l\IIan Who Never Forgot
Shaike Weinberg, Holocaust Chronicler
Tuooday, January 04,1 2000
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�By Judith Weinraub
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 3, 2000; Page C01
When Shaike Weinberg was 14, he had an encounter with authority that
changed the course of his life. The second son of a Polish J~wish family
li"';ng in Berlin, he'd been told not to wear his Zionist Youth b~dge to
school. But, ever the rational thinker, when he saw some of tal is fellow
students wearing emblems of the Nazi Party, which had just come to
power, he complained to his teacher. Why can they wear political symbols
when I can't wear mine?
I
Later that day, his teacher ad..nsed Weinberg's older brother Ithat he
couldn't guarantee Shaike's safety. His brother immediately Itold their
parents, and the next morning Shaike and his father were o~ a train to .
Warsaw, where the family still had relati~s, mends and property. His
mother was left behind to pack up their extensi~ library. Within the
year, the family resettled in Palestine.
.
The anecdote, with slight variations on the embellishments, is one that
all of Weinberg's mends know-and it's a great story. But the episode
is also a metaphor for his' life, a life that had little use for th~
I
unreasoning dictates of authority. Not that he was a particularly
rebellious man, but if he could see a better way-and he us~ally
did-why not choose that direction?
I
A master storyteller, Jeshajahu "Shaike" Weinberg li~d a life that
embodied much of the drama of the Jewish experience in the 20th century:
A childhood under the influence of the Nazis in Germany ahd Poland. The
Zionist movement and the European exodus to Palestine. The beginning of
the kibbutz mo~ment. The growth of urban Israel. Ameridn citizenship.
And finally, a retum to Israel to be near two of his children1land close
family mends.
His great gift was the ability to share the larger framework of those
stories through three astonishing works of art: the permanent
exhibitions at Beth Hatefutsoth, the Museum ofthe Jewish Diaspora in
I
Tel A"';v, the Museum of the History of Jerusalem in that city; and the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Those Ilast two were
undertaken and completed after his first and second attempts to retire,
and while he was experiencing his first problems with healrt ailments.
By the time he died last Saturday moming in Tel A..nv, hisl mends and
family had given up attempts to get him to really retire. He was still,
at 81, actively at work as both the chairman of the desigri team of the
Museum ofthe History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and as /a consultant for
the design and construction of the permanent exhibition ofthe Jewish
Museum in Berlin. Despite his much less than perfect h~alth, he tra~led
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to Europe at least once a month to monitor both projectsI.
.
He was in Berlin this past September when he collapsedI on the 19th-Yom
.
Kippur morning. He'd gone there as usual for a meeting, but this time he
had only recently emerged from the hospital during a 10 week siege of
vasculitis, and his mends had begged him not to go. He ,wouldn't hear
of it. He had taken on the job of ad"';sing the museum, and nothing was
going to stop him from making sure they got it right.
/.
He had led the way by getting it right at his own institutions, where he
created a storytelling model that defied museum con~ntions. No
dioramas. No static panels. Instead, he used "';deo mon'itors,
soundtracks, photographs, artifacts, film, architectural rilodels,
lighting for special effect, all assembled in a manner th~t evoked
worlds gone by. Even the text blocks and captions werJ honed for maximum
II
impact rather than maximum information.
Working on intuition, he ignored the rules of exhibitions that most
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�museums adhered to-in part because he didn't have the disadvantage of a
. formal education orthe professional training that taught thos~ rules.
(How he had the unhesitating nerve togo from working on a kibbutz to
becoming an early data-processing expert for the Israeli gove~ment to
becoming the director of the Municipal Theater of Tel Av.vto Ibading
his museums-with time off for fighting in World War II as a n\ember of'
the Jewish Brigade ofthe British army and two marriages is. another
I
story.)
It was in that iconoclastic spirit that he ev.denced a little
competitive tension with the other great ground breaking artisr at the
Holocaust museum, architect James I. Freed. Weinberg was proud of his
I
work there, and though he never admitted concem that prais1e for Freed's
work would eclipse his own achievement, his close friends could sense
the tension.
He was not, however, competitive with the people who worked for him. He
knew their strengths and weaknesses, supported the formet, and hoped
.
I
that they would prevail. If not, well, you could take other people only
so far. We are all responsible, he knew, for our own choiced.
He regretted some of his own, and talked openly of what h~ saw as his
and his wife's shortcomings as parents. They had spent todI much time on
their careers, he said. It was hard on their children, Mei'ra, Michal,
Ruthie and Na'aman.
. . I
Perhaps that was part of the reason for his extraordinary generosity to
family members and friends, offering his ear and great intelligence to
I
those who sought it out; paying for books, CDs, meals, mOvies, you name
.
I
it-to share the pleasures of life he'd discovered. (That was Iwhy we all
knew about the books of Jose Saramago long before the P10rtuguese writer
won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year. Shaike had bought us
.
copies of Saramago's books, told us to read them, and wei did.)
Although certainly not all, many ofthe recipients ofthese bifts were
women-motherly women, intelligent women, pretty women, strong women. He
was at home with all of us. He seemed to need us to fill tHe vacuum left
after the death of his beloved wife, Hanna, an American w60se job in
Washington in the late 1980s brought Weinberg here, muth to the delight
of the members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council Jrho were trying to
get their museum built and sought his guidance. In 1989 they persuaded
him to come out of retirement once more and accept the directorship of
the museum, a position he held until 1995, when he returiled to Israel.
But he missed his American friends.(and his fawrite bookstores) and
found ways to v.sit us and reasons for us to meet him in 6ther cities
whenever he could. There was the great adventure of his 8Oth-birthday
celebration two summers ago in Cyprus, when the guest~' ages ranged from
23 to 80. ~hy Cyprus? Because he hadn't been there.) And a trip to New
York last summer when a few of his Washington friends ~ent up to see
him, all on a carefully orchestrated schedule so that he could spend
private time with each ofu s . /
It was on one of those very hot early July days that I got Ito see him. I.
was alarmed that he seemed more frail than usual, and as we crossed
First Avenue in the blinding sun to go to a restaurant, I g6t the
courage to ask him, "Shaike, do you check with your c~rdiologist before
making these trips?" "No," he said with a shrug. "What'J the point? It
will happen when it happens."
.I
Well, it has' happened, and despite his extraordinary leg1acy, we are all
the poorer.
© Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company
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�·Saturday January 1 9:20 PM ET
Nuremberg Lawyer Dies at Age 85
BOSTON (AP) -Thomas Francis Lambert Jr., who prosecuted Nazi war
criminals as a trial lawyer for the International Military Tribunal at
Nuremberg, died at his Boston home Wednesday after a long bout with
Parkinson's .Disease. He was 8 5 . ·
I
During the post-World War II Nuremberg trials, Lambert help~d prepare
the case against' the Nazi Party that accused it of being a criminal
organization. He also helped to prosecute Martin Bormann, 6ne of
Hitler's closest aides.
, .
Bormann, tried in absentia, was found guilty and condemned to death. He
was never found, and a skeleton unearthed in Berlin in 1972 Was
determined with near certainty to be his.
Lambert was asked to join the team of American prosecutors at the
I
principal Nuremberg Trial by Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson,
who led the team.
I .
Lambert was born in Detroit and graduated wom Oxford University. He
attended Yale Law School as a Sterling Fellow, and; at agel26, became
dean of Stetson University College of Law in De Land, Fla. The college
later mowd to St. Petersburg, Fla.
.'.
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Lambert also taught at Boston Uniwrsity School of Law for nine years
and at Suffolk Uniwrsity Law School in Boston for 27 ye-ars,iuntil May
when he retired.
.
"He was truly one of the giants ofthe legal profession and a mentor
I
and inspiration to most ofthe country's great trial lawyers,"· Suffolk
University President DalAd J. Sargent said.
Lambert had a long association with-the American Trial Lawyers
Association, and spent 40 years owrseeing the group's la...Jjournal and
other publications.
'.
He is sUMved by his wife, Elizabeth Branon Lambert; a brother, Owen
Lambert; and a sister, Margaret Teagle:
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PG TIMES
Obituary: Hans Frankenthal, Holocaust sUNwr led effort against German
firms
Friday, December 31, 1999
By Sally Kalson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Hans Frankenthal, a Holocaust sUMvor who retumed to Germany after the
I
war and later emerged as a leader of the effort to force German
companies to compensate former slaw laborers and victim~ of medical
I
experiments, was memorialized Wednesday in his home city of Dortmund,
Germany. He died Dec. 22 after a short, unspecified illness.
Mr. Frankenthat, 73, visited Pittsburgh in Nowmber to spe~k about his
efforts to get Bayer AG, a forerunner and descendent of the German
conglomerate I.G.:Farben, to recognize the claims ofagind slave
laborers by paying into a joint compensation fund with other German
companies that used them under the Nazis.
A former slaw laborer at I.G. Farben and a victim of medical
!
experimentation at Auschwitz, Mr. Frankenthal accused German companies
.
of dragging their feet in hopes that the remaining sUMVOrs ,WOUld die·
off, prolAding a "biological solution" to their dilemma~ .
Mr. Frankenthalliwd long enough to see a $5.1 billion compensation
fund agreed upon in principle, but died too soon to collect penny.
Bom in 1926 in a small town where his family was in the dattle
business, Mr. Frankenthal. and his brother, Ernst, sUrvived !nearly two
years as slave laborers.
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�Many, Jews who sUNved the war wanted nothing more to do with Germany,
but Mr. Frankenthal took the unusual step ofreturning to pic,k up the
pieces. He retired from the cattle and butchery business and took up the'
cause of the former laborers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. 1,.11996, he
tried to make his case at Bayer AG's annual stockholders rrleeting but was
turned away.
I
Just a few months ago, he published his memoirs in German, and spoke
about them in November at Barnes and Noble in ~quirrel Hill;
!VIr. Frankenthal was a member of the steering committee oflthe Central
Council of Jews in Germany, as well as a board member ofthe Auschwitz
Committee ofthe Federal Republic, the International Ausch~tz Committee
and the National Federation for Information and Assistance to Nazi
Persecutees.,
I
Pittsburghers who met Mr. Frankenthal during his IAsit are planning a
memorial event, to be announced.
Quarrel Over Jewish Widow's Estate
Updated 8:44 PM ET December 29, 1999
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Several Jewish organizations are fighting a
legal battle with the widow of a multimillionaire over how mu~h of his
estate they should get. The Holocaust Museum in Washinmon and a
Jerusalem hospital are among those claiming they were prorhised more than
$40 million in contributions from the estate of ErWin Herling, ~n
international businessman and Holocaust suNvor. Hening's Widow, Tova
U~idesdorf Hening, 64, claims the only assets in her husband's Florida
I
estate are a car and a penthouse condo worth about $100,000. The estate
faces eight lawsuits filed during the past week in Miami-Dad~ Circuit
Court. "There's elAdence he was a wealthy man who lived a ~ery affluent
lifestyle," said Melvyn Weiss, an attorney for the Shaare Zedek Medical
Center in Jerusalem. "It's very suspicious she is not listing a~y assets
in the estate. She may have surreptitiously put them elsewh~re."
Hening, 78, relAsed his will and named his wife as his sole b~neficiary
three days before he died last year in Miami Beach. The relAsed will,
which states Hening was a resident of London and a citizen of Brazil,
was filed in July in Miami.
Sunday, Jan 2, 2000 Sun-Thu at 18:00 (GMT+2)«
Headlines
»
Generali Pays Israeli Daughter of Holocaust Victim NIS 600,000
.
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By Itamar LelAn
An 88-year-old Israeli citizen has received a NIS 600,000 payment from
Generali Insurance company in respect of a life assurance policy taken
out by her father. The father perished in Auschwitz, and the daughter,
IilAng in northern Israel, is his ~ole heiress.
I
The money was paid through the "Generali fund" headed by Judge
(emeritus) Dov LelAn. The $12. million fund was set up under an agreement
between the company and the Knesset Finance Committee. It has so far
paid out NIS 4 million to the heirs of Holocaust IActims in res~ect of
policies taken out before the Holocaust in Eastern and Cent~1 Europe .
. In addition, aid has been granted to hundreds of sUNVOrs on, ~
humanitarian basis.
I
The instance reported yesterday involved the largest payment to date. In
the fund's estimation, the average real value of Holocaust era lpolicies
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�is some tens of thousands of dollars. LelAn said some montJ ago that in .
his opinion, the amount available to the fund should be increa~ed, and
he believes Generali will accede in this request.
'
Published by Israel's Business Arena December 30, 1999
A Holocaust survivor beats re\1sionists
Orange County Register
January 3, 2000
Mel Mermelstein, 71, of Huntington Beach, started the Auschwitz Study
Foundation and Holocaust Memorial in 1967, two decades bbfore winning a
series of lawsuits against a Costa Mesa re\1sionist.hate gro~p. The
Institute for Historical Re\1ew made a public offer of $50,000 :for proof
that Jews were killed in gas chart:lbers. Mermelstein, a Holopaust
survivor, decried the offer in letters to several newspapers. R~ferring
to his published letters, the group wrote Mermelstein demahding that he'
prove the existence of gas chambers. But the group resisted his
challenges - setting off a 12-year legal battle that MermelstJin says he
fought on behalf of all Holocaust survivors. So they went ah'ead and
said if I did not come forth and prove that gas chambers wete used they
,
would expose me to the mass media. To whom were they Jsing such language
- the guy who lost his mother and two sisters in the gas ch~mbers and '
whose brother was shot in a death march? I didn't dignify them with a
I
response. I got a lawyer to respond on my behalf. It wasn't leasy. There
wasn't a Jewish lawyer who wanted to get involved in that. ,I was 17
'
when I was put in the camps. Czechoslovakia was conquered by Hungarian
fascists who rounded us up and handed us to the Nazi~. I:was in
Auschwitz and Buchenwald for a year, then on a three-we~k death march
that began Jan. 18, 1945. Out of 2,000 prisoners, no more than 300
suNived. Most of us were driven out in the snow and shot. So that's
what the death march was all about. I was in Buchenwald during the
liberation. I had contracted typhus after the death march, and they
transferred me to the death section. I wasn't supposed to survive, but I
did. I had never been approached by (a re\1sionist group), Ibut after
that I wouldn't let go. The judge said, at the end of the hearing,
"This court takes judicial notice of the fact that Jews werelgassed to
death at Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland during the summer of
1944." And before he dropped the gawl, he said: "It is sirhply a fact."
It's adjudicated now. I shivered. My spine, I felt a shiver. II cried, '
actually. (The lawsuit) brought up bad memories fur me, but I have to
do what I have to do. They're not going to beat me doWn. /t doesn't work
like that. They didn't succeed. CONCLUSION: In 1985, al Los Angeles
Superior Court judge awarded Mermelstein $90,000 and ordered the
Institute for Historical Re\1ew to formally apologize to all i1'uschwitz
survivors. Mermelstein's tribulations were the basis of a 1991
tele\1sion miniseries called "Never Forget." And hewrot~ a book'about
his Holocaust experiences in 1981 titled, "By Bread Alonb." - As told
to Mayrav Saar of The Orange County Register
Nazi Ghosts Exorcised, Ber1in Light Show to Go on
Updated 9:43 AM ET December 30, ,1999
By Adam Tanner
BERLIN (Reuters) - After weeks of heated arguments, organizers of
Ber1in's massive millennium light show have exorcised tile ghosts ofthe
I
Nazi past and are ready to go ahead with a new politically correct show
on New Year's Eve.
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�Organizers ofthe exhibition - a high-wltage concentration of 250
floodlights that can sent their beam 18 miles into the midnig~t sky
said Thursday the show would go on.
;
"Everything is ready now," Anette Guthmann, a spokeswoman for Art in
Heaven, the firm organizing the light show, said. "Nobody ha~ done this
before."
I
Just a few weeks ago the fate of the show, the centerpiece of Germany's
millennium celebrations, was cast into doubt when city oflici~ls and'
civic groups complained that the massive use of floodlights r~called the
specter of Nazi rallies.
,
According to the original concept, the floodlights would have ,created a
white "house of light" around the Victory Column which cele*rates
Germany's 1871 military defeat of France. Other lights would flood the
Goddess of Victory atop the monument in a central blaze of~mergy.
STRIKING, BUTTOO NAZI
!.
But city officials jumped in and vetoed the idea.
i
"The city knew that this would be seen across the world so one has to be
very careful," said Petra Reetz, a spokeswoman for Berlin's development
department which oversaw the planning.
.
I
"It was a very striking aesthetic, but unfortunately it had these Nazi
parallels."
I
Local newspapers reprinted photos of Albert Speer's use of floodlights.
pointing to the heavens in 1930s Nazi rallies, and complaint~ grew. Even
Speer's son entered. the debate to argue that the show shoul.d go on.
"My father's idea to use floodnights and to hold the party rally at
night was one of his best ideas because it covered up the ugliness of
the Nazi moguls marching there," Albert Speer told the Tagesspiegel
newspaper.
I
Adding to the Nazi echoes was the location itself along the avenue
running between theBrandenburg Gate and Victory Column butting through
the centralliergarten park.
I
This boulevard was to have been the main East-West axis of Hitler's new
capital, Germania. It was here that he celebrated his 50th birthday 'in
1938 with a huge military parade.
I
BACK TO 1HE DRAWING BOARD
Designers went back to the drawing board, adding color to the lights to
awid the stark white the Nazis fawred. They shifted the focJs from
stark upward lines around the Victory Column into criss-crossing beams
of light.
The changes convinced the city government which gave their go-ahead just
before Christmas. Thursday organizers made final adjustmeljlts and planned
a final dress rehearsal.
I
The millennium light show will consume 3.8 million watts - the
equivalent of more than 60,000 household 60-watt bulbs.
I
"Our floodlights will shine 30 kilometers into the heavens," Art in
Heaven producer Achim Perleberg said. "No one has ever s~en such a
concentrated use of light."
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Saturday January 11 :25 PM ET
An Unclean Slate as Century Begins
WASHINGTON (AP) - Generations down the road, the huntlgoes on for Nazi
treasure. America's treatment of citizens of Italian descent in World
War II is coming under new scrutiny. The Rwandan genOcid+, a more recent
horror, eats at the world's conscience. The new century hasI some
unfinished business with the old one. Atonement for sins of the past
often the distant past - is far from complete. In just one exa'mple, a '
U.S. commission searching for Nazi assets in the United St'ates has been
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�J",
giwn until the end of 2000, an extra year, to complete its
and
propose ways to "do justice." Even so, President Clinton s~ys the
world starts "a new millennium on higher ground" now that al deal has
been reached to pay forced and enslaved laborers of the Third Reich
one of the final broad categories of claims to be resolved frorh the war
against Germany. If this is higher ground, it affords a pano~mic -..Aew
of all that is left undone. There's been an expression of "de~p
remorse" from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but no ofljcial U.N.
apology, for not acting to stop the slaughter of 800,000 in RWanda in
1994. Also, an acknowledgment by Japan, but no compens~tion or apology,
for the women coerced into prostitution for the Imperial Army: in Asian
brothels. More than 1 million Korean Wardocuments are being re-..AeWed
in govemment investigations launched on the strength of reports by The
Associated Press that American soldiers killed hundreds of South Korean
citizens at the hamlet of No Gun Ri during the war. The process of
redressing old wrongs has proceeded under different names, none quite
right. In modern psycho-parlance, the idea is to achieve "closure."
In postwar West Germany, the term was "wiedergutmachun'g" - making good
again - as one ofthe first forms of compensation to Nazi -..Actlms was
I
called. Holocaust SUNWrs rejected the label, reasoning that what
Jews went through can't be made good. As Secretary of St~te Madeleine
Albright put it: "We strive then not for perfect justice which i~
beyond our power, but rather for the best possible justice Which is
within our power to achieve." Sometimes, atonement consi~ts largely of
I
facing up to what went on in the past. "Unless we look the beast in
I
the eye, we find that it has an uncanny habit ofretuming and holding
us hostage," says Archbishop Desmond Tutu, head of South Africa's
pioneering truth and reconciliation commission, which expebts to deal
with final amnesty requests by June. These days the atoneis are often
diplomats and accountants - the people negotiating the deal~ and
tallying up claims and assets, such as the 10,817,021 ounc~s of Nazi
monetary gold'recovered by a reparations commission befor~ its
dissolution in 1998 after 52 years of work. The timepiece th~y are
watching is not the clock that ticked toward the new centuryl, but the
calendar marking the march of years <;lnd the passing ofthe ~ggrieved
generations. "It truly is a race against time," said Delissa Ridgway,
chief of the Justice Department di-..Asion that oversees Ameritans' claims
l
against other governments. "We know that people are dying ." It is
also a race for younger generations, those wanting to look ahead. In
Guatemala, the Commission for Historical Clarification has r~ported with
brutal precision on the 42,000 deaths it investigated from a 36-year
ci-..AI war, finding the army responsible for 93 percent ofthem! Often, a
full accounting is the first step in reconciliation, sometimes the only
step. Tutu, in speeches and a new book, recommends South Africa's brand
of measured forgiveness, "abandoning your right to pay back the
perpetrator in his own coin." In the United States, most of the 80,000
Japanese-Americans who applied for compensation from W6r1d War II
intemment camps were paid $20,000 each. But Latin Ameritans of Japanese
descent say not enough money has been set aside to mak~ good on a 1998
offer of $5,000 to those who were confined in the United States in the
war. Atonement remains incomplete, if even begun, for othe~ wounds .
. -Under a new Califomia law allowing -..Actims of slave labor to Isue
mUltinationals in state courts, a sUMvor ofthe Bataan Deatll March
last year sued a Japanese company that he said forced himlto work in an
unsafe mine as a prisoner of war in Japan. -Legislation passed in the
House and introduced in the Senate would direct the government to detail
injustices against Italian-Americans in World War II. Sponsors say
Tunday. January 04, 2000 !Americ8 Online: Prezcomm
Page: 10
�thousands were subjected to curfews, relocated away from military .
installations or confined. HongWon-ki, a South Korean wh6 says he lost.
his parents in a U.S. air attack in 1951, had a different way
describing the closure he seeks: "We need to console those souls who
still wander because the truth about their unjust death was not told."
9f
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Tueeday, January 04,2000
America Onllna: P,ezcomm
I
Page: 11
�Subj:
Date:
From:
Clips 10/28
'."
10/28/9910:34:48 AM Eastem Daylight Trine·
sloeser@PCHA.GOV (Stu Loeser)
,
Good moming, --
Today's assets news:
Leon Wieseltier on the Gold Train Progress Report and Assets in General* .
(1)
JD Bindenagel (1 article)
WJC- Vatican to Slow Beautification (2)
Califomia Treasurer Pushes for Settlement (1)
Michigan Assets Taxability (1)
Stu
* Please recall that the picture of wedding rings on the front page of
the New York TImes that accompanied their coverage of the Gold Train
progress report was not prm.1ded by the Commission in any way, shape, or
form. We do not believe that those rings came from the Gold Train and,
of course, that picture is very familiar from other Holocaust--related
contexts.
**Visit the Commission's website at www.pcha.gov/news.htm for
continually-updated coverage of Holocaust Assets issues **
**********************************************************
The. New Republic
NOVEMBER 8, 1999
SECllON: Pg. 98
HEADLINE: Assets
BYLINE: Leon Wieseltier(Copyright 1999, The New Republic)
HIGHLIGHT:
Washington Diarist
BODY:
"Spit at it," i told my mother. She was taken aback by the
intemperateness of
my adlAce, but she concurred in my analysis. I was referring to an
application
that she received last year from the Swiss Fund for Needy Victims of
the
Holocaust/Shoa, It asked that she sign on the line beneath two
statements-"I
declare that I am a Holocaust SUNvor in need" and "I further declare
that I am
Jewish and lived in a country at the time that it was under the Nazi
Saturday, October 30, 1999
America Online: Prezcomm
Page: 1
�,"
regime,
under Nazi occupation or under the regime of Nazi collaborators and
that I am a
citizen, permanent resident or other legal resident of the United
States If-and
thereby make herself eligible to receive If a humanitarian support."
What had
startled her was the magnitude of the support with which the Swiss were
proposing to "honor"her suffering. The accompanying letter described
it as "not
only a gesture, but also a meaningful assistance," and concluded that
SUMVOrs
who are not "in need" should not apply, for "if other sUMvors apply,
no more
than 300 Dollars could be paid out to each eligible applicant. May God
forbid
that anything like the Shoa repeats." Three hundred dollars! It is not
a lot to
pay for a clean conscience, especially at Swiss prices; but my mother
was not
prepared to auction the absolution sought at any price. This was not
charity,
'
this was contempt.
last week i was reminded of my mother's moral poise by a photograph
that
appeared on the front page of The New York li mes. It showed two
anonymous hands
rummaging through a crate of wedding bands. The men and the women who
had worn
these sanctifying rings wer~ Hungarian Jews who had been slaughtered by
the
Nazis. According to a report by the Presidential Ad";sory Commission on
Holocaust Assets in the United States, it appears that this Nazi
plunder was
itself plundered by American soldiers, who intercepted a Nazi gold
train in May
1945. "We want to establish the principle that the United States is
willing to
hold itself to the same high standard to which it has held others," the
admirable Stuart Eizenstat diplomatically remarked, though in the
matter of
ethical beha";or in Europe in the 19405 there is almost not a European
country
that can cast a stone at the United States, the avarice of a certain
General
Harry J. Collins notwithstanding. I pondered the image ofthose wedding
bands
and all I saw was the emptiness that they described, thousands and
thousands of
little circles of death and little circumferences of nothingness, and I
thought
that I am sick of hearing about the fate of gold. Holocaust assets!
, i am sick of hearing about those Schiele paintings, too. A few months
ago I
was unpacking my library and I came upon a book that once I treasured,
Saturday. October 30, 1999
America Online: Prezcomm
Page: 2
�but not
anymore. I had heard about this book for years, and ,":,hen I found a copy
in
Cambridge 20 years ago I gladly paid more than a student could afford
for it.
The book is called Lost Treasures of Europe. It was published by
Pantheon in
1946. It is a volume of photographs, 427 photographs, of the artistic
monuments
that were destroyed during the war in Europe. It is a crushing book:
the
Mantegna frescoes in Padua, the Ponte Santa Trinita in Florence, the
medieval
buildings in Rouen and Toumai, hundreds of pages illustrating
destruction that
deserves to plunge every cil..ilized indil..idual into mourning. But, as I
say, I
cannot look at this book anymore. The catastrophe that it documents
seems less
catastrophic to me; and I mistrust its religion of culture. When the
editor
writes that he was deeply moved when an audience in Vienna in 1946
"broke into
sustained applause" at the news that the U.S. Army had recovered the
crown
jewels and the coronation regalia of the Holy Roman Empire, and that
"the loss
or destruction ofthese prized heritages of the past becomes in fuct a
personal
loss comparable to that of a friend," his humanism is lost on me. The
proper
objects of humanism are humans.
in the discussion of the holocaust now, the authority of the
philosophers and
the historians is being usurped by the authority ofthe lawyers and the
museum
directors; and the subject, more and more, is money. I read about
class-action
suits against banks that stole Jewish deposits and insurance companies
that
stole Jewish policies and industrial corporations that employed Jewish
slave
'.
labor, and I agree that there will be no justice in letting the
"neutrals" and
the opportunists and the collaborators get away with it; but there will
be no
justice also in not letting them get away with it. Whatever happens, in
the
matter of what transpired in Europe between 1933 and 1945 there will be
no
justice. There is no class action that is possible for this class. The
fate of
those wedding bands is as nothing compared to the fate of those
husbands and
those wives. I do not worry about anti-Semitism, in this regard; the
Jews are
Saturday. October 30,1999
America Online: Prezcomm
Page: 3
�..
not the only victims in the world who want their property back. I worry
that the
.
Jews are tiring of their history, tiring of what they know. The
emergence of the
new reparations industry represents 'the strange and sapping illusion
that
certain elements of Jewish destiny in the blood-field of Europe may be
reversed.
I understand that the money that is the object of all this litigation
is "our"
:money, but what has litigation to do with sorrow? I really cannot bring
myself
to care about where the Monets of the martyrs will hang. I would rather
grieve
than sue. It seems more lucid.
perhaps money is swamping tragedy now because money is swamping
everything
now. It is a decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall. I remember
telling a
Polish friend, a few months after the wall fell, that dialectical
materialism
was about to be replaced by undialectical materialism. It was a fine
joke,
except that it is no longer funny. It is our good fortune, certainly,
that
:history no longer places any limitations on the appetites of the West;
but this
means only that we must look for those limitations elsewhere. The
discipline
that we impose on ourselves will no longer be necessary for our
physical
SUNVdI, but it will be necessary for our philosophical suNVdI.
Still, I
won't kid myself. The New York limes Magazine, where a font is an idea,
won't
let me kid myself. We are fat and we are acting fat. In the fifth of
its
stupefyingly silly "millennium issues," the magazine extols "the self
at the
center of the universe" (did you know that a thousand years ago there
were no
individuals, because "the self was subordinated to church and king,"
whereas now
"many of us have a personal'iqentity or a reasonable expectation of
• ,
(J
'"
acqumng
;' ')< ' \
one"?); and in a gallery of "archetypal··~rsonalities, then and now,"
it lists
"
Faust with Lassie; and in a thoroughlY'C'ounterfeit lament about
conformity by
Luc Sante, it instructs that
l
.1'
.:'
"
l'
"'\
,,:~
right now, everything is' far's'ale, i~cluding you, and if you are not
saleable, you will starve. So you tailor and trim and adapt yourself,
sand down
your eqges, maximize your appeal
Saturday, October 301 1999
America Onlina: Prezcomm
Page: 4
�•
Cl
1~
The clip·
d~ought
is over.
st08
Drink up.
Stu
European vs. American Leadership (1)
Haider's Holocaust Assets (1)
German Labor (2)
Florida Insurance - Eagleburger (1)
Florida Insurance - Nelson (2)
Pope Pius (2)
Miscellany (4)
**Visit the Commission's website
www.pcha.'gov/news.htm for
continually-updated coverage of Holocaust Assets issues **
***********************************************
http://www.jta.org/oct99/11-rest.htm
European Jewish council wants
to be included in restitution talks
By Benjamin Smith
RIGA, Latvia, Oct. 11 (JTA) Europe's Jewish communities want a
voice
in the restitution of Holocaust-era assets, the board of the Europ
ean
Council of Jewish Communities resolved at a meeting here.
The group's resolution came in an effort to reverse what it views
as
American and Israeli domination of the restitution process.
d it wants to participate in lawsuit
In particular, the council
sand
.
negotiations over slave labor, bank asse , insurance claims, and
looted
art and property.
The council, which along with the European Jewish Congress makes u
p the
European Restitution Committee, voted Sunday to push for
lusion
in
the deliberations of such groups as the 'World Jewish Restitution
Organization and the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against
Germany in matters dealing with "reparations, compensation and
restitution" of Holocaust-era assets.
The council includes representatives from the ,major Western Europe
an
states as well as from Russia, Ukraine and most other post-Soviet
nations.
The group attempts to represent Europe's estimated 3 million Jews.
"They're not at the· table where decisions are made," said the Ame
can
Page 1
�z.·
Clipsl08
Jewi$h Committee's European affairs director, Rabbi Andrew Ba
who
acted as an adviser at the Riga conference.
Europeans are not represented on the Claims Conference, and only 1
ast
year were allowed to join the WJRO, said Baker, who added that Jew
s from
former Soviet states are particularly underrepresented.
"What we are asking for is not money," said the chairman of the
council's board, Jacob Benatoff of Milan, Italy. "We think of the
itution as the restitution of historical truth, and dignity."
Benatoff and other board members hope the resolutions will bring a
strong European community to the table in a meeting with the WJRO
in New
York on Oct. 28.
European progress toward inclusion, which has only begun
recent
years, stalled this summer with the death of Ignatz Bubis, the hea
d of
both the German Jewish community and the European Jewish Congress.
In New York,
an Steinberg, the executive director of the World J
ewish
Congress, one of the groups that makes up the ~JRO, sa~d the Octob
er
meeting proves that the council alieady has a voice
decisions t
aken
by
WJRO.
Steinberg also downplayed the significance of the resolution, sayi
ng it
"reflects dissatisfaction over the past and does not reflect cond
itions
as they are today."
In
r set of principles for the restitution process, the counci
lIs
board on Sunday expressed hope that, whenever possible, assets wil
1 be
returned to their owners.
But at the same time, they also staked their claim to h~irless and
unclaimed communal properties, which will be the object of competi
tiort
between American, Israeli and European groups.
"The Shoah was the attempt to erase the Jewish communities from
Europe," Benatoff said. "And we are today the European Jewish
communities which have rebuilt" what the Nazis attempted to destr
oy.
Because of this, the council argues, the communit s deserve a
substantial portion of unclaimed communal assets.
Page 2
�Clipsl08
***********************************************
http://www.jta.org/oct99/11-haid.htm
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Austrian estate of far-right leader
belonged to Jews before the war
By Douglas Davis
LONDON, Oct. 11 (JTA) -- The fortune that fuels the political care
er of
Austria's far-right Freedom Party leader Jorg Haider is a$15 mill
ion
estate that was acquired from Jewish owners during World War II~
The 3,700 acre Barental property was owned by Russian-born Giorgio
Roifer, a wealthy Jewish businessman who studied law in Vienna bef
ore
moving to Pisa, Italy, and founding a timber business in the 1920s
According
the London-based Mail on Sunday, Roifer bought the Ba
rental
forest -- a hunting, fishing, shooting, wood-logging estate near t
he
Aust an border with Slovenia
10 years after establishing his
business in
sa.
Within weeks of the Anschluss in March 1938, the writing was on th
e wall
-- lite
ly: Visiting the es
e, Roifer found a sign at the entr
ance
to a hotel where he usually stayed on such visits: "Dogs and Jews
Are
Not Welcome."
Shortly afterward, just before he died of cancer at the age of 38,
Roifer urged his wife, Mathilde, to take the
children -- Noemi,
10,
Josef, 8, and Alexander, 6 to Palestine.
Before leaving Italy a year later, Mathilde entrusted the family
property to her brother-in-law, who was, in turn, compelled to han
dover
responsibility for the family's assets to an Austrian lawyer.
In early 1941, Barental passed out of the hands of the Roi r fami
ly
when the Austrian lawyer sold it to Josef Webhofer, a wealthy
bus
ssman and a Nazi act
st who had been commended as a "good
party
worker."
According to official documents of the time, the sale was an
"Entjudungsangengheit" -- a matter of taking something from a Jew
and was made between Webhofer, described as
Mathilde Roifer,
a Jewess."
Page 3
a
1 Aryan," and
�Clipsl08
The property was sold at less than one-tenth of its real value, an
d by
the time Mathilde Roifer learned of the sale and claimed the money
after
the war, infl ion had rendered it virtually worthless.
Josef Webho
, had meanwhile died and the property passed to Wilh
elm
Webhofer, who gave it to his great-nephew, Jorg Haider, in 1986.
exander Roifer, who now lives in Jerusalem,
ists that his mot
her
had neither authorized nor approved the sale by the Austrian lawye
r, but
she accepted a settlement of about $120,000 in the 1950s and agree
d to
'
make no more claims on the property.
Roifer, 67, accepts that the family may no longer have a legal cla
im to
the property, "but if you ask if I think what happened was morall
y
right, the answer is, I think it stinks."
Roifer turns asi
suggestions that Haider, now one of the wealthi
est
men in: Austria, should make some gesture of recompense to the fami
ly:
"A man builds his life, and fortunately I have found other things
to
keep me busy and interested.
"Of course I am sorry that the Roifer forest is now the Haider fo
rest,
but at the
of the day he had nothing to do with the sale."
Roi
, however, is concerned about developments in Austria today,
which
he perceives as being quite different from the
itude toward the
past
Germany.
"In Germany you have people who feel real shame and who struggle
to
comprehend how their country could have done such terrible things,
" he
said. "This kind of soul searching I
d not encounter in Austria
I
I
***********************************************
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991010/ts/holocaust_germany5.ht
ml
Sunday October 10 10:43 AM ET
German Firms Rule Out Raising Holocaust Victim Fund
Page 4
�Clipsl08
By Mo tz Doebler
BERLIN (Reuters) - German companies said Sunday they would not rai
se
ir compensation of
to Nazi era slave laborers after lawyers
representing the survivors rejected a multi-billion-dollar settlem
ent
last week.
Wolfgang Gibowski, who represents a group of 35 German companies i
n the
stalled negotiations, ruled out raising the firms' four billion rna
rk
($2.2 billion) offer. The German government has said it would add
two
billion marks.
"The offer· will not be improved,"
Gibowski said in an interview
with
Reuters. "One should accept
S money and distribute it to the
victims.
"What we put forward was already a compromise,"
he added, referr
ing to
an earlier offer some $500,000 lower. Gibowski said that if the Ge
rman
government wanted the fund. increased it could add more itself.
Victims' lawyers have called for $20 billion in compensation.
The latest round of talks in Washington followed an unsuccessful a
ttempt
to reach an agreement in August
Bonn. otto Lambsdorff, the Germ
an
government's chief negotiator, said another round would take place
in
Bonn in mid-November.
Lawyers
senting many of the estimated 2.3 million who survive
d the
Nazi regime of forced and slave labor Thursday rejected the offer
from
the companies and the government as miserly. Cha~cellor Gerhard
Schroeder called it worthy.
Gibowski declined to comment on press reports that companies were
threatening to drop out of the fund for the victims unless compens
ation
demands were scaled down, but said it was in the interests of Germ
an
industry to settle the dispute.
A total of 35 German companies have agreed to pay four billion mar
into the fund, partly
r fear that they will end up paying out mo
re if
lawyers win class-action suits on behalf of the survivors.
Page 5
�·
.'
Clipsl08
Some 10,000
rms, many that no longer exist, us
12 million slav
e and
forced laborers to keep Hitler's war machine running.
"If
attorneys and the victims groups continue to insist on a
higher
financial contribution from German industry, the companies would t
leave the fund the government has planned, " an industry source to
Id the
Berl
Zeitung newspaper.
officials said the companies would instead seek to compen
sate
individual survivors.
German industry and government offi als say not enough companies
have
said they are will
to contribute.
Among the blue chip German companies taking part in the fund are
Siemens, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen,
1 of whi
admit using
slave
or forced labor during
Nazi era.
Germany
already paid more than 100 billion marks in compensati
on,
since
end of World War Two -- including substantial payments t
o
Israel
which is expected to rise to 130 billion marks by 2030 a
s past
commitments are met . .
($1-1.834 Mark)
************************************************************
http://www.ft.com/search97cgi/vtopic?
ion=View&VdkVgwKey=%2
he%2Fd
ocs%2Fhippocampus%2Fq1e83a6%2Ehtm&DocOffset=2&DocsFound=10&QueryZi
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caust&Coll
ion=Col12&Collection=Col14&Collection=Col16&Collectio
n=Coll
7&Collection=Col13&Collection=Col18&SortOrder=Desc&SearchUrl=http%
3A%2F%
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ip%3Dh
010caust%26 Iter%3Dftfilter%252Ehts%26ResultTemplate%3Dj99reslist
%252Eh
ts%26QueryText%3Dholocausi%26Collection%3DCol12%26Coll
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011ection%3DCol16%26Collection%3DCol17%26Collection%3DCol13%26Coll
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%3DCol18%26SortOrder%3DDesc%26ResultStart%3D1%26ResultCount%3D10&
HOLOCAUST: German offer to vi
slated
By Richard Wolf
in Washington
Page 6
�Clipsl08
compens io
German negotiators yesterday offered DM6bn ($3.3bn)
n for
Holocaust-era abuses of human rights, prompting an angry rejection
by US
class action lawyers who condemned the proposals as "disgusting".
offer was much lower than earlier indications from both German
and
US sources of a comprehensive se lement ranging between DM8bn and
DM10bn.
Negotiators representing 16 industrial companies and the German
government had promised to make a "justified and dignified offer"
in
to put a figure on compensation
their use 0
their
rst effo
f
wartime slaves and forced labour.
Lawyers representing the former Nazi labourers, who have previousl
y
claimed up to $20bn in compensation, called the German offer "an
enormous disappointment".
It was unclear yesterday if the offer represent
a compensation p
ackage
covering the range of Holocaust-era claims against ~erman companie
s,
including banks and insurers accused of seizing Jewish assets. How
ever,
German negotiators have indicated the figure does not represent a
final
offer, but a starting po
for tal
The breakdown in talks yesterday suggest a pessimistic future for
the
long-running diplomatic efforts by the US government to broker a
s
lement in the dispute over wartime abuses by German companies.
For the lawyers and organisations representing survivors it echoes
the
breakdown of similar talks at the state department with Swiss bank
s more
than a year ago. The Swiss talks were later s
led for $1.25bn un
der
the direction of a Brooklyn judge, but only a er substaptial dama
ge to
US-Swiss relations.
Page 7
�C1
108
Melvyn Weiss, one of the leading attorneys representing Holocaust
vi ims, said: "I told the German delegation they have done more h
arm to
the German government and German people than they can'ever imagine
"
Mr Weiss said the lawyers would not walk out of the talks, but he
has
ready indicated that US supporters would launch a political and
advertising campaign to increase public pressure on the German
government and companies.
Politicians in Congress and state legislatures are said to be read
y to
introduce new laws to strengthen the right of Holocaust-era labour
ers to
sue German companies in US courts.
Jewi ,Polish and Czech groups ,are already funding a $250,000 cam
paign
of newspaper advertisements to publicise t~e wartime ,record ~f com
panies
including the carmakers DaimlerChrysler and Fdrd, and the
pharmaceuticals
ant Bayer.
German negotiators estimate that 900,000 survivors are eligible fo
r
compensation around the world, although this figure remains disput
ed by
the US class action lawyers. In exchange for settling
lawsuits
, the
German companies - whi
include DaimlerChrysler, Degussa and Deut
sche
Bank - expec~ "legal closure" preventing future litigation in US c
ourts.
************************************************************
.http://www.sun-sentinel.com/money/daily/detail/0.1136.245000000001
12537,
OO.html
Survivors: Payments too little
By TOM STIEGHORST
Web-posted: 10:52 p.m. Oct. 8, 1999
European insurers have started to pay Holocaust survivors for Ii
Page 8
�C1ips108
insurance policies that have gone unpaid for decades, former U.S.
Secretary of S
e Lawrence Eagleburgersaid Friday.
But a group of about 150 survivors who came to the Fontainebleau H
otel
in Miami Beach told Eagleburger that
amounts are low and time
is
running out for many elderly victims of the Na s.
"Most of us are very old
age," one survivor told
eburger."
We
would like to see something be
we kick off."
lied Eagleburger, 69: "I'm not so much younger than everyon~ in
this
room. I certainly want it done before I kick off, too."
Eagleburger cha
the International Commis on on Ho caust
Insurance Claims, a 12-member panel ,set up last year to break an i
mpasse
over insurance policies six
cades old.
Many Jews who were children when the
parents died in concentrati
Even some survivors who have,policy numbers have been shut out. Re
nee
Goldberg of Delray Beach said her father bought life insurance in
1927
and 1934 from Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian insurer active in
eastern Europe.
But after war, Generali re
ed to pay, arguing its assets in east
ern
Europe had been nationalized by communist governments.
To resolve such problems, Jewish groups, five European insurers an
d
insurance commissioners from New York, Florida and Califo
a set
up the
claims commission and recruited Eagleburger to run it.
That was 11 months ago. Since then, the ex-diplomat sa
he has
en
twisting arms on the panel to get a consensus so
claims can s
tart
to get
id. He said there is about $90 million in a humanitarian
fund
that should be enough to pay all the claims that insurers say were
nationalized.
Eagleburger has also dictated a liberal standard for claims over t
\
'objections of the five insurers on the panel: Generali, Axa, Allia
Page 9
�C1ips108
nz,
Winterthur and Zurich Group. "The burden of proof is on the compan
ies
once there is any indication at
1 that there is a claim
nee
ds to
be examined/" he said.
The panel has also overcome complex valuation
sputes, such as th
e
proper con tempo
payout on a 10,000 Reichsmark policy issued in
1938.
What remains is to put in place a claims paying mechanism and adve
rtise
it properly, a step Eagleburger vowed to complete soon.
Payments have started to trickle out. Using files gathered over th
e past
several years on claimants by state regulators in the U.S., Genera
li
recently issued checks averaging $8,625 each to 27 Holocaust survi
vors.
Several survivors said the amounts were low, even though they appr
oved
of the claims being paid. "My heart doesn't bleed for Generali,"
Goldberg said .. "They are a multibillion-dollar company."
Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, who appeared with Eagleburger,
has
suggested that some of the money obtained by
commission be dev
oted
to paying for home health care for survivors who can't afford a nu
rsing
home. Eagleburger endorsed the idea, but said he would have to per
suade
the rest of the commission.
Nelson also announced 'that he had issued subpoenas to 40 insurance
companies to force them to comply with a 1998 law. The law orders
1,730
life and property insurers doing business in Florida to report any
link
insurers that might have sold poli es in pre-war Europe. Nelso
'd
('
n sal
the full force of Florida law stands behind the subpoenas. "There'
s no
reason that Holocaust survivors should have to wait any longer," h
e
.said.
***********************************************************
Page 10
�Clips108
http://biz.yahoo.com/r
991008/wh.html
Fla. subpoenas insurance firms' Holocaust records
Friday October 8, 5:28 pm Eastern Time
By Patricia Zengerle
MIAMI, Oct 8 (Reuters)
Florida has issued subpoenas to 40 insura
nce
companies that it says -have not turned over records on unpaid cl
ms to
Holocaust survivors, state insurance commissioner Bill Nelson said
on
Friday.
An estimated 15,000 Holocaust survivors are believed to be living
in
Florida. The state has played an active public role in efforts to
se
e
what may be billions of dollars in Holocaust-era insurance claims
worldwide.
Last year, anew state law took ef
requiring insurance compani
es
orida to search their records for Holocaust-era poli
licensed in
cies
and links to international insurers that have issued such poli es
, and
to provide that information to the state.
On Friday, Nelson said about 140 out of the 1,730 insurance compan
ies in
Florida were found to have some type of corporate link to insurers
that
could have issued coverage to Jews in Nazi Germany or nearby areas
He said 40 of the 140 had not provided the state with the informat
ion it
requested.
"The subpoenas will require them with the full force of Florida 1
aw
behind it to ,turn over that information," he told Reuters after a
Miami
Beach meeting on the issue with former U.S. Secretary of State Law
rence
Eagleburger, who chairs the International Commission on Holocaust
era
Insurance Claims.
The subpoenas were issued over the past several weeks. They give t
he
companies 60 days to begin furnishing the requested material or
ce
possible court action.
Page 11
�Clipsl08
A spokesman for Nelson said fines up to $1,000
day could be l~
vied
against companies that do not comply.
Industry analysts have estimated outstanding Holocaust-era insuran
ce
claims at $1 billion to $4 billion.
************************************************************
Source:
orida Department of Insurance
MEDIA RELEASE
October 8, 1999
NELSON ISSUES SUBPOENAS FOR HOLOCAUST RECORDS
TALLAHASSEE -- Flor
Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner Bill N
elson
has issued subpoenas to 40 insurance companies he says have not fu
lly
complied with a state law requiring them to turn over
formation
about
Holocaust survivors.
Among the insurance commiss
's demands is that the companies i
n
I dealings they may have had with internationa
question disclose
I
insurers that were issuing life and property insurance policies to
European Jews between 1920 and 1945.
The subpoenas, issued over the past several weeks, come in respons
e to
what Nelson termed inadequate compliance by some insurers with Flo
rida's
Holocaust Victims Insurance Act. The law, which took effect July 1
1998, requires Florida-licensed insurers to search their records f
or
Holocaust-era poli es and links to international insurers that co
uld
have issued such policies. Absent any, insurers must provide regul
ators
with evidence of their search. The law is intended to help the sta
te in
to an
international insurer that could have issued coverage to Jews in N
azi
Germany or nearby areas. The subpoenas were issued to 40 of the 14
o.
Insurers initially had 90 days from the
Page 12
e the
Ho~ocaust
Act too
�Clips108
k
effect to forward the information. Nelson granted
ens ions to
companies that demonstrated the ne
for more time.
s subpoenas
now
give companies 60 days to begin
shing all the
sted mater
ial or
face possible court action.
"There's no reason," Nelson said, "that Holocaust survivors should
have
to wait any longer."
RECIPIENTS OF HOLOCAUST INVESTIGATIVE SUBPOENAS
American Reinsurance Company
Ausa Life Insurance Company
Bankers United Life Insurance Company
Commercial Union Assurance Company, LTD.
Commercial Union Insurance Company
Commercial Union Life Insurance Company of America
Constitution Reinsurance Corpo
ion
Corpa Reinsurance Company
Delta Lloyd Verzekeringsgroep NV (Amsterdam)
Equitable
Insurance Company of Iowa
First Providian Life and Health Insurance Company
Gerling Global Reinsurance Corporation - US Branch
Gerling GI
I Reinsurance Corporation of America
Gerling Global
fe Insurance Company
Gerling Global
Reinsurance Company
Golden American Life Insurance Company
I N G North America Insurance Corporation
Life Insurance Company of Georgia
Life Investors Insurance Company of America
Monumental Gene
Casualty Insurance Company,
Monumental
Insurance Company
Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG (Germany)
Munich American Reinsurance Company
Munich Re
Company - US Branch
Peoples Security Life Insurance Company
P F L Life Insurance Company
Providian Auto and Home Insurance Company
Providian Fire Insurance Company
Providian Life and Health Insurance Company
Pension Life Insurance Company of America
Providian Property and Casualty Insurance Company
Security Li
of Denver Insurance Company
Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation
Swiss Re America Corporation
Swiss Re America Holding Company
Swiss Re Life Company America
Swiss Reinsurance Company (Zuri~h)
Page 13
�Clips108
U S G Annuity and Li
Company
Veterans Life Insurance Company
Western Reserve Li
Assurance Company of Ohio
**************************************************~*********
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991008/wl/vatican_pius_xii 3.htm
1
Friday October 8 7:59 PM ET
Vatican Rejects WWII Pope Charges
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associ
Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican rejected new allegations
day th
at
Pope Pius XII was an anti-Semite who did little to help Europe's J
ews
during the Holocaust, arguing
tead that the pope had worked
dently
for peace.
The recent biography "Hitler's Pope," by Briton John Cornwell, h
as
raised new questions about whether Pius could have saved more Jewi
sh
lives.
The renewed debate comes just as the Vatican is considering the Wo
rId
War II pope
beatification, the penultimate step before saintho
od.
The Vatican defended Pius on
day, saying he had not been inform
ed of
the extent of Hitler's purges. It described a man who had pur
peace
discreetly, he
war victims and been thanked by Jews for his ef
s.
e, the Vatican presented the book' 'Pius XII
To support its de
and
Second World War, " a compilation of documents
the Vat:tca
n
archives gathered by the Rev. Pierre Blet, a French Jesuit.
"Gertainly he wasn't an anti-S
teo He helped the Jews,"
said B
let,
who together with top Vatican cardinal Pio Laghi presented the boo
k of
archives at a Vatican news conference.
Cornwell, a Roman Catholic, issues a scathing indictment of Pius i
n his
book, including a charge that Pius harbored "a secret antipathy t
oward
the Jews"
that accounted for his fai
to condemn loudly Hitler
Page 14
�,s
Final So
Cornwell
1919 letter describing a group of Bolshevik·
revolut
es in Germany as "a gang of young women of dubious
appearance, Jews like all
rest of them, hanging around
the
office
with lecherous demeanor and suggestive smiles."
Blet said the letter, while' 'read and signed" by Pius - then a V
atican
diplomat in Germany - had been written by an
de and was not indi
cative
of Pius' character.
Vatican ever received concrete
Both Blet and Laghi denied
ence
gn to exte
e the Jews.
of the extent of Hitler's
ellites can detect "a cow in the
Laghi said that while
field
in Nicaragua, " it is unfair
judge the World War II era by
standards.
Laghi also contended that bishops in both Germany and Poland had a
dvised
the pope to
prudent and not to
raise your voice too loud."
In the book of archives, Blet acknowledges that "Pius XII proceed
ed '
silently, with discretion,
the risk of appearing inactive or
indifferent. ' ,
"And y.et
work of assisting the war's vict
was his favorite
undertaking, " Blet wrote" recounting the work of Pius' emissaries
"It is not surprising that the pope and Vatican diplomacy, with t
he
resources available to them, obtained only limited results. But
rhaps
what is most surprising is that, in spite of
I, the Holy See was
able
to give hope and consolation to so many families worried about wha
twas
happening to
ir family members who were prisoners.' I
One of Pius' staunchest defenders has been Pope John Paul II.
He has called Pius' 'a great pope.'
The Vatican's 1998 document
examining the church's record
the Holocaust praised "the wisdo
m" of
Pius' diplomacy.
This has led to speculation that Pius has been put on a fast track
to
sainthood. But the Rev. Peter Gumpel, a German who is directing th
e case
for beatification for the Vatican, told the Asso
ed Press that
I
15
�Clips108
final
the case won't be submi
before the
documents
of next '::Ie
ar.
Gumpel said he expected that Pius' immediate successor, Pope John
XXIII,
would be beatified in 2000.
*******************************************************
The Palm Beach Post
october 4, 1999, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: OPINION, Pg. 11A
LENGTH: 152 words
HEADLINE: STOP REPEATING LIES ABOUT POPE PIUS XII
BODY:
One's reputat
is life's most valuable asset. The memory of P
ope
Pius XII
and the Holocaust has been libeled once a in by a new book, Hitl
er's
Pope, anci
by
chard Cohen's Sept. 22 column' 'Stopping pope from canoniz
g Pius
XII
would take a miracle."
.S
y, this has been going on
so Ion
g that
many
people accept these lies as fact.
I believe that Pius XII s
more Jews than all other governme
nts,
public
agencies and organiz ions combined. He did not bow to the Nazis
and
fascists,
and he saved thousands of
by hiding them in convents, monast
eries
and papal
buildings.
Pope Pius XII spoke loudly and clearly aga
e
Page 16
t Nazi poiicies. H
�Clips108
received
ardent praise .from contemporaneous Jews such as Golda Meir, the c
hief
rabbi of
Rome and others. Even The New York Times of th~t era prais
the
pope
his
mission of resculng Jews during the war.
James A. McGrath
West Palm Beach
NOTES:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
GRAPHIC: PHOTO (B&W, Pope Pius XII
(mug
TYPE: LETTER
**************************************************
« ... »
http://www.go.com/Content?arn=a0365LBY441reulb~19991008&qt=holocau
st&sv=
IS&l
frames&col=NX&
ak=news1486
Swedish PM
sits Holocaust memorial in Israel
01:56 a.m. Oct 08, 1999 Eas
JERUSALEM, Oct 8 (Reuters)
Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson,
who
has spearheaded a campaign
home and abroad to educate youngster
s
about the Nazi Holocaust, made a pilgrimage to Israel's memorit
o the
six million Jewish dead.
Persson, on the first visit by a Swedish prime
ster to Israel
since
i962, said
remarks at the Yad Vashem memorial late on Thursday
that
the racist hatred that led to
Holocaust was still
ive in the
world.
"Arms are still raised in salute. People are ·still murdered on ac
count
of their ori
or because of
colour of their skins. We still
hear
the cries of
sto cal revisionists intent on 'proving' that it n
ever
happened, I I
said.
"We, who belong to a younger
ion, must never cease to tell
your
Page 17
�Clips108
story, "
Persson told an audience that inc
Holocaust survivor
s.
"Just as you have borne witness to these horrific acts, so must w
e
ensure
your story is
ssed on to generat
to come.
"Just as you have found
fortitude to
your memories and
experiences with us, so must our children and grandchildren one
y have
the
to defend them," he said.
Persson initiated a campaign to inform the chi
of Sweden abou
t the
Solution for European Jewry a
r
horrors of Adolf Hitler's
a 1997
survey found that more than 10 percent of the youngsters had no id
ea
what
Holocaust was.
The Nazis, led by Hitler, systematically exterminated six million
Jews
during World War Two.
Persson also spearheaded
establishment of a multinational task
force
in 1998 dedicated to disseminating information on the Holocaust as
European concerns about neo-Nazi movements mounted.
"To mark a starting point for endeavours that will continue into
the
new Millennium, an international conference -
Stockholm
International Forum on
Holocaust -~ is to be
Id in Stockholm
in
January 2000, " he said.
Persson said delegates from some 40 countries, including top polit
icians
and religious leaders, would
tend the conference.
Recent'revelations about what Persson has called' 'the shadowy sid
e of
Swedish history"
have led to a critical revision of Sweden's role
in
the war.
Though officially neutral, Sweden bought gold
Germany despite
suspi ons that it had been looted from Jews, supplied parts for
Germany's V-2 rockets, and sold iron ore used in German munitions
factories.
.
***************************************************************
Bradley
Ils group to stem
cancer of hate
By Jim
, Associated Press, 10/11/99 04:26
DETROIT
Their ranks dwindling by age, Holocaust survivors wit
h
renewed vi
orror
should stand unified and vocal in recounting "the h
18
�Clips108
of their times"
to stem the cancer of
,Democratic
sidenti
al
candidate Bill Bradley sa
"If there is one truth we've learned, evil surfaces when good peo
pIe
are silent,"
the former U.S. senator from New Jersey told an esti
mated
1,300 people Sunday night during the 15th anniversary
of th
e
Holocaust Memorial Center
Oakland County's West Bloomfield Town
ship.
"It takes just one person to hate, but
kes each of us
aki
ng in
one voice to combat it. The Holocaust did not appear in one day.
Genocide, whenever it occurs, begins with a single hate
"
In calling on Holocaust survivors to keep the message alive by tea
ching
others, Bradl
stressed that "only if we learn will we
to
prevent such evil from occurring."
"How does hate begin? With a rush or with a whisper? I don't know
. But
we do know that whenever we see it, or whenever we hear it, wemus
t not
be silent," he said.
s remarks short on allusions to his camp gn that has picked up
momentum in pursuit of the Democratic nomination Vice President Al
Gore
also covets underscored his platform that includes calls for
ced
racial and
c justice.
"Hate and evil are not pass
things; they are a virus, a cancer
. We
must eradicate where we find it and try to prevent it where it has
not
spread, " Bradl
said during
rd Michigan stop since declar
s
his presidential candidacy Sept. 8
his nat
Missouri.
He insisted that evidence of hate appeared inescapable of late: th
e
Texas dragging
ath of a black man by white supremacists, the bea
ting
death of a gay University of Wyoming student and a whi
supremaci
st's
leged shooting rampage at a Jewish community
in Los Angel
es.
"The only thing deserving of hate is hate itself," Bradley said
during
remarks sandwiched between standing ovations, the first when intro
Page 19
�Clipsl08
duced
by his German-born wife, Ernestine Schlant.
Schlant, a professor of German and comparative literature at New
Jersey's Montclair state University, has published' 'The Language
of
Silence: West German Literature and the Holocaust, " an exploratio
n of
how German authors have or have not confronted the Holocaust.
Before her husband spoke, Schlant suggested that Germany is just c
oming
to terms with how to handle its Holocaust history.
"There's great confusion in Germany, from the government levels d
own to
its citizens, how you in an honorable way try to commemorate and
memorialize, " 'she said. "There are no clear answers, no clear wa
y, of
this is how it should be done."
Bradley's remarks echo~d those he made Oct. 2 to the Human Rights
Campaign in Dearborn, where he told members of the Washington-base
d
lesbian and gay political organization "we have to oppose any
mariifestations of hatred with undiminished fervor whenever ahd whe
rever
it occurs."
To that end, Bradley on Sunday stumped his support for' 'strengthe
ned, ' ,
expanded federal hate-crime legislation and making tolerance part
of a
child's early curriculum.
Calling that essential' 'if we're serious about tackling hate,"
B
radley
insisted "we must teach our youngsters that hate is based on fear
and
ignorance.' ,
"There's not much time left,"
he said. "The last generation of
survivors is getting older. Only they can teach us the horror of t
heir
times.' ,
*****************************************************************
Detroiter's family receives award for helping Jews in WWII Poland
October 11, 1999
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Was it mean-spirited for farmers to give mere scraps of bread to t
wo
starving teenagers and tell them to sleep in the fields?
Not in occupied Poland during World War II, where helping Jews was
often
fatal.
Page 20
��Glips108
At a ceremony Sunday at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, the
once-starving Jewish teens, ,now grown men, stood with a Detroiter
who,
as a Polish farm girl, sneaked them food and water as they hid in
her
family's fields.
Sol Allweiss, 74, and his brother Zygie, 72, both of West Bloomfie
ld,
joined with metro Detroit Jewish leaders in honoring Anya Olszewsk
a, 68,
.
and her family during an evening that featured presidenti
candid
ate
Bill Bradley as keynote speaker.
Leaders of the Holocaust Memorial Center in West Bloomfield bestow
ed
ghteousness Award on Olszewska, her siblings and her -parents for
saving
brothers.
Last winter, the brothers had tearful reunions with Olszewska and
her
sister, who lives in Chicago, after a rel ive traced the men on t
Internet.
"We. were so happy they were alive and well.
laughing," said
ie Rzeznik, 64, who was
the
award. Sunday. Her sister, who speaks little
ry
happy. "
Before the war, Olszewska's parents, Maciej
befriended the boys' father, a horse trader
We were crying and
in Detroit to receive
Englis~,
said, "I'm ve
and Zofia Dudzik, had
who lived 2 miles away
Zygie Allweiss said.
Both families had nine children; of the Allweiss family, only the
two
boys survived the Holocaust. Zygie Allweiss said
slit a canvas
cover
to jump from a truck carrying prisoners -- including his three sis
ters
to a mass execution, and Sol slipped through a fence at a labor
camp.
Before being captured, tortured and shot, their father told the bo
ys the
Dudziks would help them. Soon after the boys escaped in 1943, the
pa
then 14 and 15, showed up at
Dudzik farmstead. That was
st
art of
a stay that lasted until the area was liberated. .
Page 21
�Clipsl08
Zygie Allweiss
Is a close call when German soldiers nearly fo
und
the brothers
ding in the rain under bales of wheat.
"They came for crops
r the army. They started taking bundle~ of
wheat." Soldiers had almost uncovered
boys when Zofia Dudzik t
old
them they'd find dry wheat inside the barn.
Once
soldiers left,
brothers thought the Dudziks would dem
and
ir departure.
"But they never, ever said, 'We are a aid. Why don't you go somew
here
else?' " Zygie Allweiss said.
The brothers arrived in the United States
1947, Zygie Allweiss
said.
The Dudzik sisters arrived later, with Olszewska emigrating in 198
6,
according to the Detroit Jewish News.
Zygie Allweiss said that when he found the sisters, "it was Ii
p
art of
my world came back, a
so many people
ed -- all my family, my
uncles, my cousins."
Henceforth, the Dudzik family will be known as "righteous gentiles
,"
said Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, founder and executive vice pres
t of
the Holocau
Memorial Center.
"When we look at that period,
how low the human being can stoop
, we
also see how high some of
reached," he said.
Sunday's program was attended by about 1,200 supporters of the HoI
ocaust
Memorial Center. The center awards its Righteousness Award each ye
ar at
annual dinner. 'Awards have been given to about 12 non-Jews by
the
West Bloomfield center over the last 15 years, Rosenzveig said.
In his remarks, Bradley
led on Americans to prevent hate by
a
ching
tolerance. "Some have said evil is the absence of good," Bradley s
aid.
"I don't think so. Hate and
1 are not pass
things, ,they're a
ctive
like a virus."
*********************************************************
October 11, 1999
Some Arts Groups Silent on Museum Dispute
By BARBARA STEWART New York Times
Page 22
�.'
Clipsl08
NEW YORK -- Wi in a week after Mayor Rudolph Giuliani first threa
tened
to evict the Brooklyn Museum of Art over the "Sensation" exhibit,
so
many of the city's
gh-pro Ie art institutions si
a letter
objecting to his actions that the holdouts were conspicuous by the
ir
absence.
The letter, signed by 22 of the 33 members of the Cultural Institu
tions
Group, which is made up of cultural organizations
receive
t
y
financing, called the mayor's actions a "dangerous precedent" that
could
cause "lasting damage" to cultural life in New York. Those who sig
ned
repres
ed a diverse group that included the Metropolitan Museum
of
Art, the Staten Island Hi
ical Society, the Bronx Zoo and the Q
ueens
Botanical Garden. Ten nonmembers, including
Frick Collection,
the
Museum of Modern Art, the Morgan Library and the Jewish Museum, al
so
signed.
But 10 member organizations - among them Carne e Hall and the Ne
w York
State Theater - refused to sign. (The rema
member is'the Bro
oklyn
Museum itself.) The missing signatures stood out even more last we
ek
when cultural institutions as far off as t0e S
Ie Art Museum jo
ined
the Municipal Art So ety's
end-o the-court brief supporting t
h'e
Brooklyn Museum
its lawsuit to prevent the mayor from withholdi
ng
city money over art he f
offens
Few of the abstaining organizations would comment on the issue, wh
ich
has been a widespread and often impassioned topic of conversation
around
city. One of those queried, the, Museum of the
ty of New York
voiced support of the mayor, who has excoriated a painting
led
"The
Holy Virgin Mary"
which the British artist Chris 0 Ii uses a
shellacked clump of elephant dung and cutouts from pornographic
Page 23
�Clipsl08
magaz
. The museum's director, Robert R. Macdonald, like
ma
yor,
said he felt the work demeans a rel
ous image and should not be
shown
a city-owned and city-supported museum.
But offi als of other cultural centers were far more circumspect
in
discussing their.decisions on the protest letter.
"Once in a while I have no comment, and this is one of those times
,"
said Howard J. Rubenstein, the
gh-profile public rel ions man,
who is
a vice chairman of the board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A
Memorial to the Holocaust, at the southern tip of Manhattan
Robert M. Morgenthau,
Manhattan
strict attorney, who is chai
rman
of the Holocaust museum, also would not comment.
Martin J. Oppenhe
, a lawyer who is board chairman at the New Y
ork
state Theater -- home to the City Ballet and
City Opera
wou
ld not
comment, although he said that did not necessarily mean
board
supported the mayor. "You can't draw any conclusions," he said. "W
eIre
very much in
of the
rst Amendment."
Nathan Leventhal, the president of Lincoln Center, which did not s
ign
the letter, also declined to comment. The center is not a member 0
f the
Cultural Institutions Group.
fer Wada, a spokeswoman for Carnegie Hall, responded to an in
quiry
by saying, "
only statement. we can make is that we have no stat
ement
to make."
Carne
Hall, a century-old symbol of
city's cultural riches,
is
most prominent member of the
tural Institutions Group not t
o sign
the letter. Beneath its silence, as for 0
abstaining organizat
ions,
was a sharp debate with many
ewpoints.
Carnegie Hall's decision, like the decisions of most of the
titutions, was made
a hastily convened meeting of administra
tors
and board members. Sanford I. Weill, co-chairman of ·Citigroup and
Carnegie Hall's chairman, said through a spokesman that he would n
24
�108
ion's position. But convers ions with board m
scuss the
embers
debate was
ed, not s6 much over whether
indicated that
ght or wrong but over what should be done abo
mayor's action was
it.
president emeritus of the Harlem School of the Ar
ty Allen,
ts,
who has served on the Carnegie Hall board for 20 years, said board
were united in their disapprov
members at last Wednesday's meet
of
mayor's posit
"Everybody agreed
this is terrible, that he can't withdraw
nds
Ii
that," she said. "We were astonished that anybody would make
up
ir mind about a work of art they hadn't even seen."
She said that state Sen. Roy Goodman; a Manhattan Republican and
longt
Giuliani supporter who has been a board memb~r for 35 yea
rs,
led the mayor's
ions a viol ion of the First Amendment, a
des
ion confirmed by Goodman.
lIs name to
add Carnegie
Why, then, did the members decline
the
letter?
"Everybody was hoping it was going to die by itself," Ms. Allen sa
id.
"We thought if we don't do something to add to the publicity, mayb
e it
will blow over .. -Everybody was sort of stunned with
speed of th
is. We
thought it would be better if we don't take a position on somethin
g so
stupid."
But now, she added,
decision "looks terrible for us."
Ms. Allen was one of several board members interviewed who objecte
d to
the mayor's position; none of those who thought it would be wrong
for
Carnegie Hall to criticize him could be found to elaborate.
"It's a
stake for Carne e Hall, a leading cultural institution,
to
remain mute," said Peter Jennings, the news anchor and a board mem
ber,
who said he did not hear about the meet
time to attend.
Laura H. Pomerantz, a board member who is s
managing director
of
Page 25
�ClipS10B
Newmark & Co. Real Estate, would not discuss the meeting but said,
IIIn
my own personal opinion, everyone has the right to hear and see wh
at
they choose to hear and see."
The leaders of at least one other abstaining center, the Staten Is
land
Children's Museum, had a similarly emotional discussion before dec
iding
to stay ou
t of what Dina Rosenthal, the executive director,
called
"an issue between the Brooklyn Museum and the mayor's office."
IIWe talked about it for quite a while,lI Ms. Rosenthal said. "We we
re
very, very torn about. it. It was a very close vote."
A spokesman for Giuliani said the mayor did not call any groups to
pressure them about the letter.
Two institutions, the Museum of the City of New York and the Snug
Harbor
Cultural Center, explained their very different decisions not to s
ign.
Wayne Miller, the marketing director for the Snug Harbor center, s
aid
the center abstained because of an administrative gap: the former
president has left, and the new one has not yet start,ed work. But,
he
added, the staff members' feelings on the issue are running high.
"Most
of us here think the mayor is reaching beyond the executive post,
and
that this is purely political," he said.
The Museum of the City of New York was forthright in its support f
or the
mayor.
,"The demeaning of a religious symbol,"'Macdonald, the director, sa
id in
a letter to Alan J. Friedman, the consortium's director, outweighs
the
protection of "free expression."
**Visit the Commission's website at www.pcha.gov/news.htm for
continuallY-'updat;~q coverage of Holocaust Assets issues **
""j
,
"
i
'f'.'
Page 26
�Subj:
Date:
From:
Holocaust Assets Clips 02111/00
2/11/00 4:35:18 PM Eastern Standard lime
kpage@PCHA.GOV (Katherine Page)
General
Austrian ambassador: 'I love Israel and I'm staying put'
Latvia Reviews Nazi War Crime Cases
Irving 'doesn't deserve to be called a historian'
Restitution
Insurance
Denmark
Commissioner Senn to Announce Filing of First Claims From
Washington State Holocaust Survi'vOrs
Nazis Stole 600,000 Pieces of Art
Exchange Apologizes for Plundering
Nazi Reparation Payment Questioned
A fight for land sold in Hitler era
Ha'aretz 02/11/00
Austrian ambassador: 'I love Israel and I'm staying put'
By Charlotte HaliZ
The Austrian Ambassador to Israel has admitted that Austrians have yet
to face up to their war record. Wolfgang Paul was speaking in the wake
of angry protests both at home and abroad against the new government in
Vienna, which includes the far right Freedom Party.
Acknowledging the damage to relations between Israel and Austria, Paul
said, "The weight of history is such that the task of bringing the two
peoples closer is vital, but more difficult than it has been for a long
time. In my view, the main condition for this to happen is an even
clearer and unmistakable sign from Austrians that they are willing to
fully face up to their past."
The ambassador emphasized, however, that some progress had been made. He
said that Austria was one of the first countries to aCtively engage in
the restitution of stolen art and gold and had also undertaken
initiatives recently, particularly in the area of education. He added
that the new government had unequi'vOCally confirmed its commitment to
cooperate with international institutions and all matters relating to
assets of victims of the Holocaust.
Wolfgang Paul, who has been in office for over two years, told Anglo
File about the "troubled d.ays" he is experiencing: "I greatly look
forward to completing the remainder of my term, no matter how demanding
some of the professional challenges ahead may be. My family and I love
this country and its people and we are quite confident that none of the
present difficulties will change our great feeling of happiness to be
here," he said.
The ambassador is unlikely to be recalled to Vienna despite the return
of the Israeli ambassador from Vienna last week. This is the second time
that Israel has withdrawn its ambassador to Austria. During the 1980s,
relations between the two countries were strained following allegations
that then Austrian president Kurt Waldheim was in'vOlved in the
transportation of Jews to death camps during World War II. The Austrian
ambassador to Israel remained in his post, and continued long after his
term was scheduled to end: A change of ambassador would have led to
Friday, February 11, 2000
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�embarrassment for Austria if the Israeli president had refused to accept
the credentials of a replacement. If a similar policy is instituted in
current circumstances, Paul's stay in Israel could last some time.
Work at the Austrian embassy .this week has focused on trying to inform
the Israeli government of the. new Austrian government's working program.
"We feel this is particularly important in '.4ew of the fact that
international reactions have been triggered at an unprecedented scale
before any detailed information became available," said the ambassador.
He added that while the embassy had received some critical comments from
the general Israeli public, they had also received encouragement and
support.
Lat'.4a Re'.4ews Nazi War Crime Cases
13:49EST
By STEVEN C ·JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
02/11/00
RIGA, Lat'.4a (AP) -- Lat'.4a is re'.4ewing 24 cases of men who had their
con'.4ctions for Nazi war crimes overturned during the 1990s, the Supreme
Court said Friday.
Last month, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center accused Lat'.4a
of overturning the con'.4ctions of 41 men who took part in genocide
.
during the country's 1941-1944 German occupation. Some 80,000 Jews were
massacred in Lat'.4a during the period.
.
When the country regained independence from the So'.4et Union in 1991,
new laws allowed people who believed they were unjustly imprisoned or
deported during Joseph Stalin's dictatorial regime to apply to have
their criminal records wiped clean .
. The process was opened to thousands of people con'.4cted of collaborating
with the Nazis. Lat'.4ans say many innocent people, including political
dissidents, were declared Nazis by the So'.4ets and wrongly con'.4cted.
Leonards Pa'.4ls, the court spokesman, said the cases of 17 of the 41
names on the Wiesenthal Center list were checked, and the overturned
con'.4ctions were deemed proper. Fourteen cases are being re'.4ewed by the
court, and the remaining 10 are being re'.4ewed by the general
prosecutor's office, he said.
Indulis Zalite, director of the government's Documentation Center for
Totalitarian Crimes, said as many as 90,000 Lat'.4ans have had their
So'.4et-era con'.4ctions overturned, or otherwise had their good
reputations restored, since 1991.
02/11/00
The limes
lr'.4ng 'doesn't deserve to be called a historian'
BY A CORRESPONDENT
DAVID IRVING did not deserve to be called an historian, a leading
academic said yesterday. Richard Evans, Professor of Modern History at
Cambridge University, told t~e High Court that he was not prepared for
the "sheer depth of duplicity" which he encountered in Mr lr'.4ng's
treatment of historical sources relating to the Holocaust.
Mr Ir'.4ng, 62, who is suing for libel over claims that he a
"Holocaust denier", said that ProfessorEvans's "sweeping and rather
brutal" dismissal of his career stemmed from personal animosity. "I
think you dislike what I write and stand for and wh~t you perceive my
'.4ews to be," he told Professor Evans, who has been called as an expert
is
Friday; February 11, 2000
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�for the defence by Deborah Lipstadt, an American author, and Penguin
Books.
Professor Evans, who has produced a 740-page report on Mr Irving's
historical method, said he had no personal feelings towards him and had
tried to be as objecti-.e as possible. He said that he previously had
little knowledge of Mr Irving's work - although he knew of his
reputation as someone who was in many areas a sound historian - and was
"shocked" at what he found.
He said that the proceedings had reinforced his view in the report that
Mr Irving "has fallen so far short of the standards of scholarship
customary among historians that he doesn't deser-.e to be called an
historian at all".
Mr Irving said that he was "scrupulously fair" in e-.erything he did in
public life - "the total opposite of being unscrupulous and manipulati-.e
and decepti-.e, as you say in your report".
Professor Evans said that he agreed that Mr Irving had a wide knowledge
of the source material for the Third Reich and had disco-.ered many new
documents. "The problem for me is what you do with them when you
interpret them and write them up," he said.
Mr Irving's published writings and speeches contained numerous
statements which he regarded as "anti-Semitic" - to the extent that he
blamed the Jews for the Holocaust, he said. The professor dismissed the
theory that there was a "worldwide Jewish conspiracy" to suppress Mr
Irving's works - or undermine Germany in the 1930s - as "a fantastic
belief which has no grounds in fact".
Professor Evans said that he had examined a sufficient selection of Mr
Irving's output to justify his view that he did not use acceptable
methods of historical research. In his report, he said that Mr Irving
had relied on the fact that readers, listeners and reviewers lacked
"either the time. or the expertise" to probe deeply enough in the sources
he used to disco-.er the "distortions and manipulations".
Mr Irving, who is representing himself, is claiming damages o-.er the
1994 book, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and
Memory, which he says has generated wa-.es of hatred against him.
The hearing was adjourned until Monday.
JTA 02/11/00
A program to begin payments to Jewish families from Nazi-era insurance'
policies will begin next week, according to the head of an international
commission on insurance money. As two days of congressional hearings on
restitution issues concluded in Washington, Lawrence Eagleburger
reported the commission will come out Tuesday with a toll-free phone
number and other details for families to claim payments ne-.er made after
the policyholders were killed in the Holocaust.
JTA 02/11/00
Denmark's prime minister said his go-.ernment should review the country's
actions during World War II in light of recent research indicating that
Denmark \'()Iuntarily handed o-.er at least 132 Jews to Germany between
1940 and 1944. New reports say that Danish officials later tried to
alter documents to make it look as if they had acted under German
orders. Jewish groups ha-.e always prais!"ld the Danes for helping
thousands of Jews to escape north to neutral Sweden during the war.
http://news.excite.com/news/pr/00021 O/wa-senn-to-announce
Commissioner Senn to Announce Filing of First Claims From Washington
State Holocaust Survi\'()rs
Friday, February 11, 2000
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�,
SEATILE , Feb. 10 IPRNewswire/- State Insurance Commissioner Deborah
Senn and survi\,ors of the Holocaust will hold a news conference on
Friday (Feb. 11) to announce'that the state is formally submitting the
first group of insurance claims from Holocaust sur.;\Ors and heirs now
living in Washington state.
Commissioner Senn two years ago spurred what has become an international
effort to resol\e the claims, many dating back into the 1930s., The group
of claims being submitted by the state will be the first submitted by
Washington residents to the International Commission on Holocaust-Era
Insurance Claims (ICHEIC).
Last year, the State Legislature passed a new law that requires
insurance companies to submit reports outlining their policy records
during the Holocaust Era. Companies that ha\e been working with ICHEIC
\Oluntarily were spared those requirements until January 1, 2000, and
Commissioner Senn is currently deciding whether that so-called "safe
harbor" should be extended.
At the. news conference, sur.;\Ors from Washington state who ha\e 'filed
claims with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner will be available
to answer questions about their experiences and the long wait to reco\er
these benefits.
NEWS CONFERENCE DETAILS:
9:30 a.m., Friday, Feb. 11
Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center
2031 3rd A\enue
Seattle
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000211/10/holocaust-assets
Nazis Stole 600,000 Pieces of Art
By CARL HARTMAN, Associated Press Writer
02111100
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Nazis stole 600:000 pieces of art in Germany and
the European lands they occupied during Hitler's 12 years in power, says
the U.S. gO\ernment's top expert in plundered art from that era.
Some 200,000 works came from Germany itself, including paintings,
sculpture, objets d'art and tapestries, Jonathan Petropoulose testified
Thursday to the House Banking Committee.
Petropoulose, research director on art for the Presidential Commission
on Holocaust Assets in the United States, estimated 100,000 objects came
from Western Europe and 300,000 from Eastem Europe and parts of the
Soviet Union, all occupied by German troops in the war.
Ronald S. Lauder, chairman of the art reco\ery program of the World
Jewish Congr~ss, said the German gO\emment has agreed to take an acti\e
role with the U.S. commission in trying to return stolen art. He
emphasized the complexity of that effort.
"In art restitution," he said, "there are no 'Swiss banks' that retained
assets in the face of sur.;\Ors' pleas, there are no insurance companies
that demanded death certificates from the children of Jews who were
gassed by the. Nazis."
Lauder, a former ambassador to Austria, noted that only last week the
North Carolina Museum of Art agreed to return a 500-year-old painting by
Lucas Cranach the Elder to a pair of aging sisters in Vienna. It had
been stolen from their granduncle 60 years ago.
Petropoulose, who teaches history at Claremont McKenna College in
Claremont, Calif., and has recently published a book on the art world of
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�,
Nazi Germany, said his estimates are based on research by himself and
others, and the commission will publish its report later this year.
He said 43 other governments alsoha\e commissions trying to find
missing art.
.
Former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, now head of an
international commission on insurance money owed to Jewish families from
Nazi-era insurance policies, said a program will begin next week to get
started on the payments.
The commission will come out Tuesday with a toll-free phone 'number and
other details for families to claim payments never made after the
policyholders were killed in the Holocaust. '
Eagleburger negotiated the program with Jewish representatives and five
European insurance companies that now have subsidiaries in the United
States. They are Assicurazioni Generali of Italy, Allianz of Germany,
AXA of France, and two companies from Switzerland: Winterthur, and
Zurich,
He said there are more insurance companies that operated during the era
that should participate: Aegon, CGU, Gerling, Munich Re, Sorema, Royal &
Sun Alliance, Swiss Life and Prudential.
Eagleburger did not release the number of claims he thought there would
be. nor the total number of companies that have failed to pay
Holocaust-era policies. But others have prel.Aously put the number of
claimants in the hundreds thousands and the number of companies that may
have not paid on policies at about 20.
http://news.excite,com/news/ap/00021 0/16/int-netherlands-holocaust-asset
s
Exchange Apologizes for Plundering
By JEROME SOCOLOVSKY, Associated Press Writer
02/10100
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Amsterdam stock exchange apologized
Thursday for allowing Jewish-owned equity to be plundered during the
Holocaust.
Representatives of the Amsterdam Exchanges and the firm that ran the
bourse during World War II expressed regret during a meeting with
organizations of Dutch Jews in Israel and the Netherlands.
The meeting was the first since a government-appointed commission in
December urged the exchange to enter into negotiations with the Jewish
community over restitution. .
Both sides agreed to meet again in March to begin discussing the precise
wording of a public apology and financial compensation, said exchange
spokesman Raymond Salet.
The Central Jewish Council, an umbrella group, welcomed the apology but
said the exchange must still prove its sincerity in the follow-through
stages .
. "They offered words and we were very pleased to hear those words," said
spokesman Ronni Naftaniel. "But it is a limited apology. an in-house
apology.
According to the commission, compensation for unreturned assets and
Jewish suffering which resulted from the theft should run into the
millions of dollars. It did not specify an exact amount.
The commission is one of several addressing the issue of Dotch
mistreatment of Jews during and after the war at a time when other
European countries are re-examining their roles in abetting the Nazi
genocide.
Out of a prewar population of around 140.000 Jews in the Netherlands,
more than 100,000 perished in Nazi death camps, one of the highest rates
II
Friday, February 11, 2000
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�,
...
death rates in Europe.
During the war, the bourse allowed the German occupation authorities to .
establish the Lippman-Rosenthal Bank, which expropriated Jewish stocks
and sold them to non-Jewish traders.
The purchasers included the forerunners of ING Groep and ABN Amro, the
country's leading banks which ha\e offered Jews $1:8 million to
compensate for profit made on stock trades.
According to the bourse's spokesman, 90 percent of the value of the
assets was returned after the war, but the exchange ne\er apologized for
turning a blind eye to the theft.
"It was a black page in our history," Salet said.
http://Ii\e.altav;sta.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei=1495838&ern=y
Nazi Repariation Payment Questioned
06:15EST
By MELISSA EDDY
Associated Press Writer
02/11/00
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- After decades of foot-dragging, Austria has
finally made paying restitution to v;ctims of the Nazis a top priority.
But the timing has raised questions about the gO\ernment's ulterior
moti\es.
Austria may ha\e made the offer to impro\e its public image, which was
badly tarnished when the far-right Freedom Party entered the gO\ernment
last week, said Munich-based lawyer Michael Witti, who has represented
thousands of former Nazi sla\e laborers.
"These (former laborers) are old, they need money," Witti said
Thursday. "But under no circumstances will we allow what is an
obligation of the Austrian gO\ernment to be used as a way to break out
of its isolation."
Austria drew international condemnation last week when the Freedom Party
of Joerg Haider - who. gained notoriety by praising Nazi policies and
those who seMd Adolf Hitler -- joined the gO\ernment. The European
Union froze high-Ie\el diplomatic contacts and Israel withdrew its
ambassador.
Although Haider holds no post in the new gO\ernment and has apologized
for his Nazi remarks, critics fear the presence of Haider's party in
gO\emment will inexorably push the country along a radical course.
On Wednesday, in his first speech to parliament, Chancellor Wolfgang
Schuessel said Austria was ready to make amends for its Nazi past and
that Austrian companies that had used sla\e laborers· would be expected
to make payments to the·v;ctims.
Schuessel also sent a letter to the World Jewish Congress and the Jewish
Committee for Claims against Austria offering to open talks on
compensation for Holocaust v;ctims.
Austria, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler and Adolf Eichmann, has long
sought to a\Qid responsibility for Nazi crimes, claiming its 1938
annexation by Germany made it Hitler's first v;ctim.
Germany has paid $60 billion in restitution since 1951. Only in 1991 did
the Austrian gO\ernment admit responsibility for the Holocaust. Four
years later, a fund was established to compensate v;ctims, but payments
were limited to $7,000 each.
Last year, Bank Austria agreed to pay $40 million in a historic
settlement to Holocaust v;ctims' and their heirs whose assets were
confiscated by the Nazis.
But thousands of claims for stolen art works, property and compensation
Friday, February 11, 2000
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�for forced labor remain unsettled.
Not el.eryone has reservations about the gOl.ernment's offer.
"This is an obligation of Austria, whether its a socialist gOl.ernment or
a neo-Nazi gOl.ernment," said Elan Steinberg, a spokesman for the World
Jewish Congress.
"At the same time, it will be absolutely clear that the Jewish world
stands in solidarity with the European Union, the United States and
Israel, which has expressed its adamant opposition to the extremist
policies of the Austrian gOl.ernment," he said.
The compensation issue also has pro'vOked a legal spat ol.er who has the
right to represent the victims.
A local lawyer is seeking'h, exclusil.ely represent all absent, unknown
slal.e laborers forced to work in Austria from 1939-45 and has clashed
with other attorneys from abroad who hal.e been representing
Holocaust-related claimants for years.
American lawyer Ed Fagan and Witti are due to arril.e next week to
announce a suit against nearly 100 Austrian companies.
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat, the Clinton
administration official ol.erseeing Holocaust-related compensation
programs, also welcomed a position paper sent to him by Austrian
officials.
Eizenstat called it "a good basis for the (Austrian) gOl.ernment to begin
to address Holocaust-related issues and confront its Nazi past."
The Inquirer
02/11/00
A tight for land sold in Hitler era
Jewish kin of prior owner say deal was forced. The current owner: Joerg
~~
.
By Laurie Copans
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM - Noemi Merhav remembers playing as a child in the thick pine
woods of her father's 3,700-acre estate in southern Austria. She wants
her adult son to someday visit the place her family called "The Forest."
But the expanse of timberland now belongs to Austria's far-right leader,
Joerg Haider. Relatil.es ofthe original Jewish owners say it was
acquired in a deal forced by Nazi property laws.
Haider has lauded the Nazis' "orderly employment policy" and praised
former members of Hitler's Waffen SS, though he later apologized for the
comments.
Merhavs brother, Alex Rofe,' holds a copy of a power-of-attorney
document that could help prol.e the family was pressured into selling the
property to Haider's great-uncle in 1941. Haider later inherited the
land.
Possible plans by Merhav, 71, and her son to try to get back the estate,
which they say is worth $15 million, are the latest twist in Israel's
outcry ol.er the inclusion'of Haider's Freedom Party in the new Austrian
gOl.ernment.
The onetime owner of the land, timber merchant Giorgio Roifer, bought
the Baerental estate for its vast expanse of pine forests. A year after
he died in Italy in 1938, his widow, Matilde, .mol.ed the family to
Palestine and left the property in the care of her brother-in-law,
Naftoli Emdine.
Rofe said Emdine decided in 1941 to sell the land, located in the
southern Austrian province of Carinthia.
Friday, February ii, 2000
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�·.
.,.
There already were pressures on Jews to sell land, and the deal was done
only months before a legal clause was passed requiring the sale of
Jewish property to non-Jews in all Nazi-occupied areas.
r
"It was sold under duress," Rote, 67; said from his Jerusalem office at
Hebrew University.
Emdine sold the land to Josef Webhofer, Haider's great-uricle, for what
Merhav said was 1 percent of its worth at the time.
It "wasn't moral" that Webhofer agreed to take the land, Merhav said,
when her family could not have kept it. In addition, Emdine might not
even have had the authority to release the land. Matilde Roifer signed
over power of attorney to Emdine for only six months, but he sold the
property two years later, Memav said.
It is the power-of-attorney papers that Merhavand her son, Zvi, hope
will help prove their case - that the property was effectively stolen
from them.
"On the other side of the power-of-attorney papers, the authorities
wrote that it had no value but they accept it because it was used in a
sale to an Aryan," Merhavsaid from her home in Haifa.
Rofe has a copy of the document he obtained through Austrian
journalists.
The Memavs have yet to take any legal action, but Rofe says he thinks a
suit is futile. In a legal battle in 1952 to win back the estate,
Matilde Roifer accepted $120,000 compensation in an out-of-court
settlement.
"Idoubt if there is any legal ground for action," Rofe said.
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[Fire Safe Heritage]: Fire At Historic Home Probed
Fire At Historic Home Probed- (HANOVER, VA)
The historic Garthright house in Hanover has been damaged by fire .
. Officials aren't sure yet how much damage was done, but they say it
took crews about a half-hour to get the flames under control. Workers
stripping paint from a window are blamed for the fire. This house was
'
used as a hospital during the Ci\A1 War.
From:
Subject:
Klaus Graf <graf@uni-koblenz.de>
Deaccessioning and Disposal of Museums Collections
A Bibliography Deaccessioning and Disposal of Museum Collections (by
Ulrike Unfug, Berlin) is now online:
http://WINW.uni-koblenz.dEY-graf/unfug.htm
Dr. Klaus Graf
Virtual Library Law of Museums:
http://WINW.uni-koblenz.de/-graf/museumr.htm
(limes of London)
Greeks defend \Asit to study Elgin Marbles
BY DALYA ALBERGE, ARTS CORRESPONDENT
THE Greeks emphasised yesterday that their decision to send a
delegation to the British Museum to examine whether the Elgin Marbles
had been damaged by overcieaning 60 years ago had nothing to do with
their campaign to see them returned. Victoria Solomonidis, the Greek
cultural attache, defended her nation against an attack by Michael
Daley, the director of ArtWatch UK, in yesterday's Times. She
dismissed his claim that the Greeks had treated some of their own
sculptures even more harshly less than 20 years later and in full
knowledge ofthe earlier controversy.
Pointing to photographic e\Adence showing Greek workmen scraping
\ sculptures on the Parthenon's sister temple, the Hephaesteum, he had
'~aid that the Greeks used steel chisels that were much harder than the
copper chisels used by the British Museum.
The museum accepts that its. 1937-38 restoration, which it eventually
halted, had been misguided. It had been prompted by Lord Duveen, who
was funding a purpose-built classical gallery to house the marbles in .
the museum, and contemporary records suggest that he had bullied staff
Friday. November 05.1999
Amorica Online: Gues!
Page: 5
�into attempting to whiten them by scraping.
Ms Solomonidis said that there was a world of difference between Lord
Duveen whitening a monument "because you prefer them that way" and
conseNng with the best means available. She said that the Greek
Ministry of Culture was researching its files to find out what
happened. After their "';sit, the delegation of scientists and
archaeologists will submit their findings to the Secretary of State
for Culture. .
The museum is staging a conference later this month to enable experts
to examine the full facts.
The issue of restitution, Ms Solomonidis said, "is an issue of its
own, an issue between two friendly nations. We are sure it· will be
resolved in the near future." The Parthenon, was a national symbol.
"We are not requesting the restitution of anything else. We don't want
anything else.
"When the day comes, it will be a gesture of good will. The parthenon
is the symbol of our national identity."
From:
Klaus Graf <graf@uni-koblenz.de>
Subject:
Books of the Library of the Counts of Ortenburg
(Bavaria),sold
Count Joachim von Ortenburg (1539-1600) and his territory 1563 joined
the Protestant movement. He is regarded one of the major leaders of
Lutherism in 16th century Bavaria. His library may be considered one
of the most important source of cultural and religious history. In the
eighties the manuscripts of the count's library in the Tambach castle
were sold to the antiquarian trade. Some medieaval items were acquired
by the National Library in Berlin. Several thousand items from the
18th to 20th century 1966 went as a permanent loan to the University
Library of Regensburg. Recently numerous items from Count Joachim's
estate have been auctioned at Venator & Hanstein in Cologne. At
Auction 79, September 20-21, 130 volumes were from the Ortenburger
Castle Library, The auction descriptions show that many ofthese 16th
century books have long inscriptions by Count Joachim and his heirs.
This information is very important for the study of the regional noble
culture, and will no longer be available when these books are
scattered all over the world. It is beyond understanding that Bavarian
institutes did not try arid put a lot of energy in safeguarding this
collection that is so important for the regional history. The Bavarian
National Library in Munich only acquired three books for it's
collection of German Printed Material (items 418, 450, and 467), The
National Library in Coburg (Tambach is located near by Coburg) did not
acquire one single item.
http://www.uni-koblenz.de/-graf/#kulturgut
http://museum-security.orgt
The Museum Security Network is made possible
by generous sponsorship grants by Mosler Inc
Friday, November 05,1999
America Online: Guest
Page: 6
�http://www3.oup.co.uklintjcp/hdbNolume_08/lssue_02l080522.sgm
.abs.html
In brief. The Califomia Court of Appeal's second decision in
Naftzger v. The American Numismatic Society, CJ Shapreau, pp.
524-525. Details:
http://www3.oup.co.uk/intjcplhdbNolume_08/lssue_02/080524.sgm
.abs.html
Document. Diplomatic conference on the Second Protocol to the Hague
Convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of
armed conflict, The Hague, Netherlands (March 15-26, 1999), J
Hladik, pp. 526-529. Details:
http://www3.oup.co.uk/intjcpihdbNolume_08/lssue_02l080526.sgm
.abs.html
Document. Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the
protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict The
Hague (March 26, 1999), xxx, pp. 530-549.
Conference report. Economics and heritage conservation: concepts,
values, and agendas for research, Getty conservation institute, Los
Angeles (December 8-11, 1998), R Mason, pp. 550-562. Detai Is:
http://www3. oup.co. uklintjcplhdbNolume_ 0811ss ue_ 02/080550.sgm
.abs.html
Conference report. Who owns culture? The intemational conference on
cultural property and patrimony at the Casa Italiana, Columbia
University New York City#Co-sponsored by the national arts
journalism program and the Italian academy for advanced studies in
America (April 15-17, 1999), S Urice, pp. 563-567. Details:
http://www3.oup.co.uklintjcplhdbNolume_08/lssue_02/080563.sgm
.abs.html
Conference report. Second meeting of governmental experts to
consider the draft convention on the protection of underwater
cultural heritage, Paris, UNESCO Headquarters (April 19-241999), PJ
O'Keefe, pp. 568-574.
Conference report. What kind of underwater heritage convention do we
need?, H Shuzhong, pp. 575-577. Details:
http://www3.oup.co.uk/intjcplhdbNolume_08/lssue_02l080575.sgm
.abs.html
Chronicles (January 1999-June 1999), K Siehr, pp. 578-598. Details:
http://www3. oup. co. uk/intjcp/hdbN olume_ 08/lssue_ 02l080578.sgm
.abs.html
Book re"';ew, LV Prott, pp. 599-604. Details:
http://www3.oup.co.uklintjcplhdbNolume_08I1ssue_02/080599.sgm
.abs.html
Books received, K Siehr, pp. 605-611. Details:
http://www3.oup.co.uk/intjcplhdbNolume_08I1ssue_02/080605.sgm
.abs.html
Friday, November 05,1999
Amertca Online: Guest
Page: 4
�"
(http://www.mosler.coml).
and the Netherlands Museums Association
(http://www.museumwreniging.nll)
http://natconf.si.edu/
2000 NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CULTURAL
PROPERTY PROlECllON
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Content-transfer-encodi ng: Quoted-pri ntabl
~<.~:~•. ~:~~"
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�-10/27/1999 WED 11: 55 FAX 202 371 5678 HOLOCAUST ASSETS COMMISS ..H....
Res St"aff at" NARA
~ 001/001
The Hili. Wednesday, Oc;tober 27,1999
During Worhi War II, German iuduaU:r earned billions ordoll"n> by
brutally exploiting milliona of alave and forced laborers leased from the
Nnzis. ThelSc w~ccntrat.ion camp inmoW$ and (i.... jan~ abducted !'rom
l
occupied lands have never been eompensated for their labor or &'I1ffu:ri.l:lg.
Finally, after 55 yeat''' ofinaction, on Oc:l:.ober 6, German,y and its
l",ading indu.atriell mad", Il c!isft0Cl\lfu} offe'!'. Theil' $3.3 billion otrer"to the
h •.mdred$ of thol.lsll.l1ds oJ:iVE: todlA)l il!l Il.l1 iM",lt. For most. this amQunts
to pennies an hour.
Germa:cy and its industrial giants can resd:ily p-.ov.ide mellDingful
and juat wmpensat\on to the<!e vir:timll. Daimler-:&nz bmght Chryaler
lust 'yclir:rot'{\hno~ $40 billion. DeutsChe Bank boulj'ht B~nkel"(l Trust for
~. over $8 billio·n. 'Volkswagen has nWll.l."d(!d $2 billion in IlCLIdem.ic grants.
'.
Germe.ny the warld'B thi.r<i moat powerlW. econoDJ,Y. In 1998, it
rang up a recor.f$1.8 trillion in ecanomlc ou1;put. Germany spent over
$600 billion in thal~ decade to -.e-jntegrate East German;y. Over $12
billion just to move"il:$ Clilpitru. r.o Berlin.
'. ,')
In eantrnlS~ to ~-tx:oa.n industry's poltty offer to ita "ll1-ve labore'l'8,
\. '~. the German government eontmulIlI ttl guncroul51y ~ it(! W<!!ld War II
",,~eb,n'ana. $2EiO billim to data. $7.7 billia:o mmwill,}:.
is
Even German war erlminals, eomo of whom lire ..till in' prisa:o,
continue to receive monthly pensions.
Yet Germany Blld the Gcrmnn eompaniea, the heirs to thill ~""ive
crime, te11 U!I that they "dug deep· to came up 'l'lith this dijigraadUl
o.ffi:r-thnt ponniea 111\ hour is "justified and dignified;
DaimlerChryi;ler. BASF. BMw. 'IhYBSenKrupp. HOIll<'!hst. Siemens.
VoIkBwa.gen. Theae indusl::cial gi.a.nl:$ built their empires on the hacks
of hundreds of thoumm.da of alaw o.nd [ott!ed laborers. .BMW' alOIlll htld
12,000-60% afita illtal wartime workfi.m:.a. Daimler-Benz had aver
100,000. 67% ofVolUw.n's war time ataff were alnves. At Krupp, .
nearly 80% of ita 100,000 slaves di..,d as 1l1'e!lult afKrupp's inhuman
treatment. At Auschwitz, one factory alone had 83,000 alavelaborurs
a.s part of the Nazi's "e:x.terminatian thrnlCb la.bor" pJ'Qj)I'aJU.
Ncgotiotiol19 willreBUme 1900il. No Mlowtt of money am relieve the
lmm8llllutn.ble sWfering of the surv.i.VOr!l of nUII:ikind's darkest hQUI's. The
-vletima can DIJ longer wait. Germa:n,y baa the 6naociul tibiIi~ to IXIAke
meaningful pa;vmenta. Does Germany also have the abilit:)' to meet: t.hc
mOrll-T ~hallenge?
The wot'ld is watching.
( JIInD.......1l1li. NOW. )
lI'uai B'rlth Intemat10nal • Amc:rit,!.a.n .r"wt.h Co~. ~ Claimllt for J ..wlab Slave LI1bou~ Cl_p::rIJIIltioa
Gem"". As8oc:latloll for WormatloDlUlci Slipp,," to Nul P ..",ae......... J'~ .... ofPoIiliob Slave Label'll'" \J\Jrl1)i \luI TbJrd BeJob
Tbe PoWohAmoftri.&il COQDe88 • p...s:"l"Iltlna "f PoU.1I AlPcrI_ • Dn..m CL'If'I.lIan W.... 'Vi"t~ P.......atloD
B'NAl Il'RITH IN'I'J!lRNATIONAL •
1640 Rhode Islet! AVeDU8 NW' • VVa!lh.inston, DC 200:l!J..3Z7B • epp@bll4ihrith.orC
2S
�'REPRODUCED AT,:rHE.NATIONAL ARCHIVES •','
., - • J
••
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13
Gerard Aalders is Senior Researcher at the
Netherlands Institute for War Documentation
(NIOD) in Amsterdam. Along With Cees Wiebes, he
wrote The Art ofCloaking Ownership (Amsterdam
University Press, 1996), a study of the secret
collaboration of neutrals with German war
industries, which has been translated into six
languages. Aalders has also written extensively on
looting and postwar restitution.
"Getitfd' Aalders'
ROOF
Loot ~]
,~
;~
An excellent and extensive overview of the annexation
of Jewis~'property during World War II
~, ".~ t',
'
'
:,,'i!,
~~~i~
The book's value lies primarily in
Since the World Jewish Congress laid
to Jewish assets in Switzerland in
Aalders' attempt to write the
1995, attention has focused on the Nazi pli,;,ndering of the property of European
Jews. After years of research, Gerard Aalder~ has now written'~ clear overview of
tl'Jissing standard work on the
the plundering perpetrated by the Germans in the European countries they
pilfering ofJewish property,
occupied.
,
complete with excellent indexes,
Aalders grants special attention to,;the ~~ieJofthe Einsatzstab-Reichsleiter Rosene' . extensive notes and useful
berg (Reich Leader Rosenberg's SpeCi~1 ;fiJ;~;Force), which added tens of thou
appendices.
sands of paintings and other works 6f art;tblt!'te private collections of Hitler, Goer
NRC HANDELSBLAD
-ing -and othtf-:Nazi·lt:a·cltIS7Fi~1tl-Ma~sh.Ji"::~6eririg was justified'iri ~ referring to
himself as 'Europe's greatest art,:col1ectof:~:+'Yet the Germans hid their thieving
Aalders' great achievement is his
behind a veil of legality. Aalders,describes':how, in the Netherlands, the bureau
detailed reconstruction and,
cratically refined methodology of the German annexation process successfully sep
wherever possible, quantification
ofall those discreet and less
arated Jews from their 'possessions before deporting them to the extermination
discreet regulations and actions
camps. The German ordinances were well-t;;tilored to existing Dutch formalities,
aimed at separating Jews from
which only increased the readiness of Du~c~r officialdom to assist in robbing the
their property. The book is the
Jews, and paved the way for their ultimatdi. smooth deportation.
result ofimpressive national and
The role of the banks, the stock exchang~,and insurance companies in particular,
who 'bowed before Mammon', as Aalders, puts it, is revealed. This, the greatest
international research.
robbery in history, is also placed in the broader context of the Holocaust. ,With this
VRIJ NEDERLAND
study, therefore, a major blank spot in the historical accounts of the Second World
War and the Holocaust has now been fille~ in.
.~:
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, PUBLISHING DETAILS
:': ;;,>,RIGHTS
Roofi De ontvreemdingvim"joods bezit.
'sDuUitgeverij
tijdens deTw~ede.wereldodrlog (1999)·.... . Chr. Plantijnstniat:2" .
33ipP' 5,000 copies sold , " . : NL.-'2500TzDenria~g···
vy~th illustrations; notes.and references
. :TELi't 3170378;9911
,~~x + 31 70 385 4321 .
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~R"'NSLAiE~:~~~LES::'. .-,
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toielkeprijs ):S~o~kholm:,
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�Subj:
Date:
From:
1218/99 Holocaust Assets Clips
1218/994:30:48 PM Eastem Standard lime
sloeser@PCHA.GOV (Stu Loeser)
Hi,
Today's Holocaust Assets coverage:
Slave Labor:
New York limes LettelS to the Editor
Germany Seeks U.S. Reply on Nazi Labor
LawyelS to reject German offer in forced Nazi labor case
Group's Ust Alleges Slave Labor Use
Swiss:
Swiss OK Program To Improve Image
Swiss banks may have destroyed more documents from the Nazi era
Many Jewish Swiss accounts are ... (Mentions Potential Backlash)
The Rest ofthe Stories:
Louvre retums Nazi art
Polish PM announces foundation for Jewish assets
NY Post Column: MONEY IS THE LEAST OF IT
Japanese Firms Sued Over WWII
Stu
************************************************************************
*************
New York limes LettelS to the Editor
December 8, 1999
On ~Jazi Labor, a Moral Reckoning
To the Editor:
Re "Setting a Price on Nazi Slavery" (editorial, Dec. 3): Your urgent
appeal to German industry to move quickly toward a more flexible and
generous settlement is appreciated. But money is not the most important
issue to us. Those who were robbed,' enslaved, murdered or worked to
death no longer have a wice.
Any undelStanding by German industry that employed slave labor must
filSt and foremost be a moral reckoning.
The offered compensation should also refle~ct a measure of justice that
allows those alive 55 yealS after the horror t~Jtve out the remaining
yealS of their lives in dignity and ensures that these events will never
be repeated.
BENJAMIN MEED
President, American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust SuNivolS
New York, Dec. 7, 1999
To the Editor:
~erman industry has worked hard to put together a proposal that would
fairly compensate those who suffered loss of property and were coerced
into working for Nazi-era industries.
You note (editorial, Dec. 3) that "the German companies involved in
these talks could easily afford the $2 billion needed to close the gap"
between the $4.5 billion that Germany has offered and the $6 billion to
$8 billion that the suNivolS are seeking.
You base this on the profits of the German companies inwlved, but what
about basing numbelS on the reality of how many people should be paid,
where they live and what our offer is all about - accepting a moral
Wednesday. Oecember 08, 1999
America Online: Prezcomm
Pag.: 1
�responsibility for a sad chapter in our country's history and to get
money to survivors as quickly as possible?
The $4.5 billion that Germany has offered will pro'olide meaningful
payments to all concemed. This has been acknowledged by various
important parties during the negotiation.
WOLFGANG GIBOWSKI
Bonn, Dec. 3, 1999
The writer is the spokesman for the German Industry
Initiative-Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Fund.
*********************************
http://www.go.comlContent?arn= a1 089roitz-19991208&qt= holocaust+ or+ nazi&s
v=IS&lk=noframes&col=NXAkt=A&ak=news1486
Germany Seeks U.S. Reply on Nazi Labor
09:36 a.m. Dec 08,1999 Eastem
By Mark John
BERLIN (Reuters) - Efforts to compensate Nazi-era forced laborers hung
in the balance on Wednesday as a German industry fund said it had asked
the U.S. government to reply to its offer of eight billion marks ($4.2
billion) restitution.
The request came after U.S. lawyers prosecuting class action suits on
behalf of some of the 'oIictims rejected the offer, which Germany has
insisted is its final bid.
As a deadline for agreement set after negotiations last month expired, a
fund spokesman said it was still awaiting notification from U.S.
government negotiator Stuart Eizenstat of any formal rejection.
"We are still awaiting an official statement from (U.S. Deputy Treasury
Secretary) Stuart Eizenstat," spokesman Wolfgang Gibowski said.
A spokesman for Eizenstat's German government counterpart in the
negotiations, former economics minister Otto Lambsdorff, said he had
requested a reply from Eizenstat, which could take a few more days.
Class-action lawyers representing some ofthe survi'oling 'oIictims, whose
total number is put at anything up to 2.3 million, rejected the offer on
Tuesday, insisting it should exceed 10 billion marks.
They proposed fresh talks during the week of December 13 but Gibowski
said any new negotiations had to be launched either by Lambsdorff or
Eizenstat.
"It is not within the authority of the lawyers to send out
in'olitations," he said of negotiations which have included Jewish
Holocaust victims groups and delegations from east European countries,
where most of the survivors now live.
REJECllON COULD LEAD TO FUND COLLAPSE
Gibowski warned that if the new offer, which represented a two billion
mark increase on an earlier proposal, was rejected, it could lead to
firms deserting the fund and settling individually with their former
furced laborers.
"That would be very regrettable and tragic," he added, noting that it
would mean that those who worked for firms which no longer existed would
probably receive no cash.
Around 230,000 ex-slave workers are thought to be entitled to payments,
plus a minimum 500,000 others who were forced to work for the Nazi
regime.
The fund involves blue chip firms such as DaimlerChrysler and Allianz. A
Jewish group on Tuesday published a list of over 250 German companies,
many household names, which it said had probably also used forced labor.
Germany fears a collapse of the fund could lead to trade measures and
consumer boycotts in the U.S. market.
Wednesday, December 08,1999
America Online: Prezcomm
Page: 2
�German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder recently wrote to President Clinton
explaining the grounds for the German offer. Govemment sources said
Schroeder did not plan any further intervention to aid a deal.
($1-1.915 Mark)
************************************************************************
*
http://www.nando.com/noframes/story/0.2107.500139471-500164166-500590837
-O,OO.html
Lawyers to reject German offer in forced Nazi labor case
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
By BURT HERMAN
BERLIN (December 7, 19993:08 p.m. ESl) - Lawyers representing victims
forced by Nazis to work during World War II said Tuesday they will
reject the $4.2 billion offer by German industry and gowrnment,
stalling negotiations once again.
As the Wednesday deadline set by Germany's chief negotiator neared. a
U.S.-based Jewish group released a list of more than 250 firms still
operating that used Nazi labor and urged them to join the fund.
German President Johannes Rau also urged German companies to come up
with the "necessary figure to make possible an end to negotiations in
1999."
"Germany's moral responsibility must not be lost in financial
discussions in these difficult negotiations," Rau said.
None of the parties were clear on how negotiations would proceed after
the expiration ofthe latest deadline. But they all agreed that a quick
solution was important to ensure funds reach aging survivors.
New York attorney Mel Weiss said the rejection of the $4.2 billion offer
was "unequiwcal." He said by telephone that the rejection letter signed
by all the lawyers would be delivered Wednesday.
Lawyers for the victims are still pressing for a fund closer to their
most recent demand of $5.2 billion to $7.9 billion.
Anywhere from 1.5 million to 2.3 million people would be cowred by the
fund, including concentration camp inmates who were in "work-to-:death
programs" and Eastern Europeans forced to work for Hitler's war machine.
Most ofthe victims are non-Jews who live in the former Soviet Union.
The German government's envoy to the fund, Otto Lambs d orff, called
Tuesday on the other side to make the next move. "We need mowment, we
need compromise, or else we'll have no result," he told a German radio
station.
So far, about 60 companies have joined the fund, but only about 20 have
publicly announced their participation.
While lists of up to 2,000 companies that used slaw labor under the
Nazis have been circulated, the American Jewish Committee said its list
contains only companies that still exist, possibly under different
names.
The AJC has sent letters to 117 of the companies urging them to join the
fund, but of the 23 that have responded only three haw signed on. The
group said up to 600 companies still operating likely used slave labor,
and that it expects to expand the list as new firms are verified.
'
Some of the companies on the list that have not joined the fund are the
construction company Philipp Holzmann, pharmaceuticals giant Merck,
Shell and Ford Motor Co. 's German arm.
Many companies haw indicated they were waiting to see the results of
negotiations before deciding whether to join the fund.
"There cannot be just a moral solution, but also a political solution
and legal solution," said Paul Schinhofen, a spokesman for the
Wednesdsy, December 09,1999
America Onlin.: Pre2comm
Pag.: 3
�Cologne-based Ford subsidiary, which the AJC said used an average of
1,350 Nazi laborers between 1944 and 1945.
The German govemment has already paid about $60 billion in payments,
pensions and other programs for Holocaust-related crimes. However, most
ofthe former workers were not covered by these programs, and industry
has never paid any compensation.
************************************************************************
**
http://www.latimes.comlnews/nation/19991208/to00111809.html
Wednesday, December 8, 1999
Group's List Alleges Slave Labor Use
By CAROL J. WILLIAMS. 1imes Staff Writer
BERLIN-Stepping up the pressure on German industry to compensate aging
victims. the American Jewish Committee on Tuesday released a list of 255
companies still doing business that it said used slave laborers during
the Nazi era but have never acknowledged a responsibility to pay them.
The list includes many ofGermany's most successful companies, such as
the Preussag energy conglomerate and the Agfa film company, as well as
the German branches of such major intemational conglomerates as Shell,
Ford and Asea Brown Boveri.
Still, the roster of firms that used prisoners to stay in business and
keep Germany's World War II machinery in working order is far trom
complete, said Deidre Berger, the AJC executive who researched wartime
records to compile the list. She estimated that 500 to 600 German firms
have yet to make amends to Nazi-era victims.
\
"We are not releasing this to attack anybody but to help the process
change," Eugene DuBow, director ofthe AJC's Berlin office, said in
reference to deadlocked negotiations on compensation for sUMving slave
laborers. "We hope the publication of this list will prompt more
companies to join the planned compensation fund and move negotiations
toward a satisfactory settlement.
"Many ofthe companies previously unnamed have been hOping the whole
matter of slave labor will, as we say in the States, blow over-simply
go away," DuBow added. "But it won't until these companies face their
historical, moral and ethical responsibilities."
Over the past year, German and U.S. negotiators have moved toward an
agreement in fits and starts, in sessions that have alternated between
Bonn and Washington. Lawyers for the sUMving victims, thought to
number between 700,000 and 2.3 million, have insisted that the German
government and companies that used slave laborers commit at least 10
billion marks, or $5.2 billion. The latest combined offer trom the
Germans was 8 billion marks, or about $4.2 billion.
The two sides, represented by former German Economics Minister Otto
Lambsdorff and U.S. Deputy Secretary ofthe Treasury Stuart E.
Eizenstat, last met in Bonn three weeks ago and adjoumed with neither
an agreement nor a date for further talks. Their proclaimed three-week
recess for "reflection" expires today, and Berger said the timing ofthe
AJC's disclosure was "not a coincidence."
Only 18 German companies have promised to contribute to the compensation
fund the Berlin government has proposed establishing to pay lump-sum
reparations to those still living ofthe estimated 12 million Nazi-era
Wednesday. December 08,1999
America Online: Pre.comm
Page; 4
�slave laborers.
Two dozen other companies, including several on the AJC list, have
indicated to German media that they are inclined to join the
compensation effort but are reluctant to commit themselves before the
fund's total endowment-and thus their share ofthe obligation-is fixed
by the negotiators.
Lambsdorlfwarned in an intennew with a news agency Tuesday that the
collective effort to compensate slave laborers is at risk of collapse.
Some ofthe companies that have already agreed to pay into the fund,
including Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, DaimlerChrysler and Siemens, are
anxious to settle claims against their firms to awid trade sanctions
and may bow out ofthe proposed joint fund to make indi'.1dual payments,
said Lambsdorlf. The German govemment is also concerned that failure to
settle the issue soon could damage relations with the United States.
Some of the companies named responded to the list disclosure by saying
they have been considering participation in a collective fund, while
others professed surprise at the accusations and ignorance oftheir
firms' alleged use of slave labor.
Agfa executives were "completely surprised" at their inclusion on the
list because Agfa is a subsidiary of Bayer, which is one of the 18
companies already committed to the compensation program, said Hartmut
Hilden, spokesman for the company headquartered near Cologne.
Ford has been following the negotiations and may contribute to the fund
but wants guarantees that it wouldn' be hit with further lawsuits after
a collective settlement, said spokesman Paul Schienhofen.
Preussag directors have yet to decide their position on the collective
settlement effort, said the Hanover company's spokesman, Frank Laurig.
"We are still doing research into the company's history, and until that
is done, we will not be deciding on participation," Laurig said.
Many of the named companies contacted by The limes refused to comment on
the allegations that they ,:!sed slave labor, including the Shell oil
giant, cigarette maker Reemtsma, the MAN machine-bUilding enterprise,
Carl Zeiss Inc. optical works and Miele appliances.
Christian Retzlaff of The limes' Berlin Bureau and Reane Oppl ofthe
Bonn office contributed to this report.
************************************************************************
****
http://www.washingtonpost.comlwp-s rv/aponlinel19991208/aponline11 0554_00
O.htm
December 8, 1999
Swiss OK Program To Improve Image
Filed at 11:05 a.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Switzerland has decided to
spend more than $8 million per year to improve its image abroad,
tarnished by years of controversy over the neutral country's role in
World War II.
The government's "Swiss Presence" program passed the
lower house of parliament Wednesday on a 106-17 vote. A group of
right-wing parliamentarians objected to it as "unnecessary and
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�expensive."
The program's first task will be to work on the
country's image in the United States. Switzerland's relations with
Washington became frayed over revelations about Swiss gold purchases
from Nazi Germany and Swiss banks'treatment of Holocaust "';ctims'
possessions.
Swiss officials also have said the country has an image
problem in Europe. Switzer1and is a member of neither the European Union
nor the United Nations.
The new image-polishing program, which the government
hopes will get started in July, will replace an existing commission for
Swiss actMties abroad with an annual budget of $1.46 million.
Among the new program's assigned duties: bringing about
"sympathy with Switzer1and," whose '4 million people were surrounded by
Nazis and their allies during the war, and emphasizing the alpine
country's "attractiveness."
Swiss officials say $4.43 million over three years has
.been earmarked for acti"';ties in the United States alone. Possible plans
include tele"';sion and Internet campaigns.
.
***.**********.****•••••••*********.*****.**********•••
http://jta ...,;rtualjerusalem.comlindex.exe?9912085
Swiss banks may have destroyed more documents from the Nazi era
~y Fredy Rom
BERN, Dec. 8 (JTA) A panel probing Swiss banks' handling of
Holocaust-era dormant accounts has found several instances in which
indMdual banks destroyed records pertinent to the investigation.
As a result ofthese findings, Swiss police have begun a criminal probe
that may target the banks involved, JTA has learned.
"At one large commercial bank there were four instances Qf irregular
document destruction that were reported by an audit firm," according to
the panel, formally known as the Independent Committee of Eminent
Persons and headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
The long-awaited report, which was issued Monday, did not name the bank.
But because one of the four instances it referred to involved Christoph
Meili - a night guard at the Union Bank of Switzer1and who in January
1997 made headlines when he rescued sensitive Holocaust-era documents
from the bank's shredder - it was clear which "large commercial bank"
the report had in mind.
UBS, along with Credit Suisse, last year agreed to a $1.25 billion
settlement of all claims surrounding Switzer1and's handling of Holocaust
"';ctims' assets.
In addition to the Meili case, the report issued by the Volcker
Commission detailed three other instances in which UBS had destroyed
documents that may have been relevant to the investigation.
The report also singled out another case of document destruction at
another bank, the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise.
In addition, the report said there were a "very few instances" in which
other banks in Swiss cantons, or states, had destroyed documents.
In the "';ew of the Volcker Commission, each of these cases was illegal.
During the past three years, the commission employed some 650 auditors
at a cost of about $300 million to comb through the records of 59 Swiss
banks.
Re"';ewing the overall record of the banks it audited, the commission
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�said in its report that it had found "no e-.ridence of systematic
destruction" of records.
But at the same time, the report also said it had "confirmed e-.ridence of
questionable and deceitful actions by some indi-.ridual banks" in handling
the accounts of Holocaust -.rictims.
Reacting to the report's findings regarding those "indi-.ridual banks,"
the Swiss Federal Police have instructed local police officials in
Zurich and Lausanne to open criminal probes to see whether any of those
banks had -.riolated a 1996 federal decree that sought to block the
destruction of pertinent bank records.
"We have started the necessary investigations," the chief ofthe federal
police told JTA
****************************************************************
http://jta.-.rirtualjerusalem.comlindex.exe?9912076
NEWS ANALYSIS
Many Jewish Swiss accounts are forever lost, report shows
By Mitchell Danow
NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (JTA) - The long, sad saga of dormant Holocaust-era
accounts in Swiss banks has come to a somewhat inconclusive end.
DELEllA
In addition to the Volcker panel's report, the Swiss people soon will
have to contend with a second report on the nation's wartime past.
That report, drafted by an international panel of historians known as
the Bergier Commission, will focus on Switzerland's treatment of Jewish
refugees during World War II.
It is expected to contain a stinging rebuke ofthe Alpine nation's
wartime policy toward the refugees.
Last week, Swiss Jewish leaders met with government officials to discuss
a possible anti-Semitic backlash in the wake of the Bergier panel's
report.
In the meantime, Orthodox families in Zurich say they are afraid to go
out alone because of possible attacks.
"We are ad\rising our members to go out in groups of at least two or
more," one representative of the community, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told JTA.
)
************************************************************************
**********************
http://WWN.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/timl99/1210S/timfgneur01002.htm
1?999
The limes (of London) December S, 1999
Louvre returns Nazi art
A RADIANT picture by liepolo, arguably the greatest painter of the 18th
century, is among five Old Masters returned by the Louvre in Paris to
the original owners half a century after their confiscation by the Nazis
(Dalya Alberge writes).
Five of the paintings had been in the Louvre for the past 50 years and a
sixth, another liepolo, was acquired by the Berlin Gemaldegalerie in
1979.
On recei-.ring them back, the owners decided to sell the works through
Christie's. They are expected to fetch between £924,000 and £1.2
million.
*************************************************************
Jerusalem Post
Wednesday, December S, 1999
Polish PM announces foundation for Jewish assets
By Danna Harman And News Agencies
Wednesday,Oecombor08.1999
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�JERUSALEM (December 8) - Visiting Polish Prime Minister JelZY Buzek said
yesterday his country would set up a foundation to administer Jewish
community property confiscated by the Nazis.
Acknowledging that "it was the Jewish community that suffered the most
losses" during the war, Buzek said a special foundation would be set up
to manage Jewish communal property. Buzek further told reporters that,
in addition, under a draft law now before par1iament, Polish citizens
would be able to independently apply to the govemment for restoration
of their property from the wartime era.
In 1997, the Polish par1iament passed a law allowing Poland's Jewish
community to claim prewar communal property. Jewish groups argue that
the tiny community, made up mostly of elder1y Holocaust sunnvors, is
not up to the task and called for a broader law allowing Jewish Poles to
make the claims, no matter where they lived.
Minister Michael Melchior said he will chair an Israeli-Polish committee
to resolve the emotionally charged issue between the Polish govemment
and the Jewish organizations.
"They want to finish it," Melchior said after meeting with Polish
officials Tuesday.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Barak it was further decided that
citizens of Poland and Israel would no longer need \Asas to \Asit each
other.
The two leaders pledged to increase economic cooperation and trade, and
Barak announced the formation of a committee to discuss defense deals.
The meeting yesterday between Barak and Buzek comes at a time when the
countries are working on impro\Ang their relations. Last year, Poland
canceled an $800 million arms deal, charging that Israel did not carry
out the required tests of helicopter-mounted missiles. Israel protested
and threatened legal action.
Israel is also unhappy about the presence of a large cross next to
Auschwitz, where over one million Jews were killed. About 300 smaller
crosses on the site were remowd in May.
Trying to owrcome differences, Poland and Israel haw set up a
committee to improve education about Polish and Jewish heritage in the
schools of both countries. Thousands of Israeli teenagers \Asit Poland
each year on organized trips, touring the sites of Nazi death camps and
leaming about the 3 million Jews who lived in Poland before Wor1d War
II. Only about 10,000 Jews live in Poland today.
**********•• *******************************************
NY Post Columns 1218/99
MONEY IS THE LEAST OF IT
By ERIC FETIMANN
DISCUSSIONS of the Holocaust shouldn't center on money. But they often
haw in the four years since the issue of Jewish property stolen during
the Holocaust took on new life.
The question of the financial debt due to those who sunnved history's
greatest crime was complex ewn before the Wor1d Jewish Congress in 1995
first accused Swiss banks of hoarding Jewish accounts. On Monday, an
independent panel headed by former Federal Reserw Board Chairman Paul
Volcker identified some 54,000 dormant Swiss bank accounts that may haw
belonged to Holocaust \Actims. Days ear1ier, hearings opened in Brooklyn
Federal Court to decide the faimess ofthe $1.25-billion settlement
reached between Holocaust sunnvors and Swiss banks.
On a basic lewl, compensating those whose property and assets were
stolen by the Nazis and their accomplices is only simple justice. The
Holocaust consisted of myriad crimes, primarily against the Jewish
people. But while you can compensate people for their lost property, how
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�do you begin to place a dollar value on the loss of an entire family?
"It's a settlement," said one sUNwr who attended the recent hearings
in Judge Edward Korman's courtroom. "But don't call it fair- that it
can never be."
Yet, as the number of actual sUNvors diminishes, there's a real danger
that today's generation, far removed from the realities of the Nazi
horror, will begin to see the Holocaust solely in terms of a battle over
money and assets .
. This perception hasn't been helped any by the greedy way in which some
of the lawyers representing Holocaust sUNWrs have submitted obscenely
inflated demands for millions in fees entitling them to payments
hundreds or thousands times more than any single sUNwr is likely to
recover.
Elan Steinberg of the World Jewish Congress has rightly deplored the
exploitation of Holocaust sUNVOrs "by a feeding frenzy offee-grabbing
lawyers," one of whom is demanding $2,369 for the 8.6 hours he spent
reading Tom Bowers' book "Nazi Gold."
Adds Steinberg of such lawyers: "Their application to the court looks
like a script for Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.'" (Other laywers
involved in the case, it should be noted, worked strictly pro bono.)
The risk that those seeking rightful compensation might now be seen as
profiteers was cited years ago by people like Abe Foxman ofthe
Anti-Defamation League, who wamed against the potential of "an industry
to be made on the memory of [Holocaust] victims."
Clearly, that plays right into the hands of revisionists and other
JeW-haters, who (using the Hebrew term for the Holocaust) sneer that
"there's no business like Shoah business."
Is this really blood money? Is it really, as columnist Charles
Krauthammer has written, "beneath the dignity of the Jewish people to
accept it, let alone seek it"? Of course not. The fact that such
restitution is only now being made is the direct result of a
half-century of obfuscation and stonewalling by companies that profited
from the stolen assets of the Nazis' victims. Just because justice has
been delayed does not mean it should forever be denied.
The danger is how history will come to see the Holocaust. If it
disintegrates into a battle over recovering financial assets, what
happened in the killing camps of Europe during Wond War II might be
forgotten.
The Holocaust was not about artwork or insurance policies - it was
about a deliberate effort to obliterate an entire people from the face
ofthe Earth and from all human consciousness; to wipe them out
physically and consign their memory to the dusty halls of a museum.
The battle to discover the truth about what the Nazis' willing and
unwilling accomplices did is important, however. Because it tells us how
the slaughter ofthe Jews came about.
The Holocaust, after all, did not begin with Auschwitz and Treblinka.
Those places were made possible by a lengthy campaign that began with
vilification of the Jews as the enemy, followed by the negation of their
rights as citizens, followed by the confiscation of their property. Only
then could the Jews of Europe be rounded up under the obli'vfoUS eyes of
their neighbors and sent to the camps to be murdered.
But even the revelation of the death camps wasn't enough to secure
justice after the war. The Volcker Report speaks ofthe lengths to which
many Swiss banks went to deceive sUNvors and hide their stolen assets.
That the banks consider Volcker's report a vindication suggests that the
awful lessons of history still have not sunk in.
In that respect, much of the world has yet to confront its passi'vfty and
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�inaction during the Holocaust. If we forget that lesson - that the
world stood by silently while Hitler nearly succeeded in annilating the
entire Jewish people - and reduce it to a case of wartime looting, then
we risk the danger that the unthinkable might well happen again.
*********************************************••*******
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/19991208/t000111799.html
Japanese Firms Sued Over WWII
Courts: Legal action filed on the annive « ... » rsary of Pearl Harbor
attack is the first to target banks and may extend to the Japanese
government.
By lERESA WATANABE, limes Staff Writer
Fifty-eight years after Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, the
battle to win compensation from Japan for alleged war crimes is
escalating on both sides ofthe Pacific, with a volley of litigation and
forums aimed at publicizing Japanese slave-labor practices and other
wartime misdeeds.
The first multinational lawsuit against Japanese firms on behalf of
plaintiffs from Asia, the South Pacific and Europe was filed in Los
Angeles at 10:55 a.m. Tuesday, the precise moment in Los Angeles of the
1941 Pearl Harbor attack. Like most ofthe other 10 lawsuits against
Japanese firms, the complaint was filed here to take advantage of a
California law enacted earlier this year that extended the statute of
limitations on World War II claims to 2010.
The suit was filed by lawyers who have been prominently involved in
Holocaust-era claims against European firms. It is the first to target
Japanese banks for profiteering in addition to the industrial firms such
as Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi that have been focus of previous
lawsuits. The suit also includes the Japanese government as a potential
future defendant. In coming weeks, the legal team plans to file other
lawsuits on behalf of American victims, Korean sex slaves and Chinese
victims of medical experimentation.
Hideo Den, a liberal politician with the Social Democratic Party of
Japan, predicted that Japan will no longer be able to ignore the
mounting movement. "Japan is under an enormous amount of international
pressure." Den said.
Indeed, across the Pacific, two international forums on war crimes are
convening this week in Tokyo and Osaka featuring scholars, attorneys,
actilAsts and politicians from Japan, elsewhere in Asia, the United
States and canada. The forums-one of which is co-sponsored by the
Chinese government-are aimed at brainstorming strategies for winning
wartime compensation.
In turn, those public discussions are prompting a brewing counterattack
by Japanese conseMltives. Tokyo University professor Nobukatsu Fujioka
is organizing an emergency assembly this week to draw distinctions
between Japanese war misdeeds and the Nazi Holocaust, while protests
against the forums are also planned by a group calling itself the
Committee of Concerned People Against Unreasonable Attacks on Japan and
the Intent to Divide Japan and the United States.
The conseMltives argue, like the Japanese government, that Japan
settled all reparations claims in good faith after the war and that the
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�United States and others waived all rights to future claims in the 1951
San Francisco Peace Treaty. Those seeking compensation assert that the
treaty barred only new govemment-to-government claims, not indi"';dual
suits for injuries.
"There are many people-mainly Americans, Chinese and Koreans-who have
hateful feelings toward Japan since they used to be prisoners of war,"
said Keiichiro Kobori, a Meisei University professor who heads the
conservative committee. "What we fear is that ... a growing number of
Japanese intellectuals are now agreeing with these foreigners. Their
movements are becoming bigger."
Advocates for wartime "';ctims are hoping that is so. "All of the
international forces for justice are finally converging," said Ignatius
Ding, a leader with the Silicon Valley-based Global Alliance for
PreseNng the History of Wortd War II in Asia.. ;..'7.. ,:< t; .,',,;\ /.~'J:'.~ ~L
Edward D. Fagan, the conibative New York attorney who helped win 'a
$1-billion settlement from Swiss banks for HolocaustsuNvors,,··said a
goal ofthe suits is to bring so much public pressure on the Japanese
that they will opt for a political settlement similar to one being
brokered among European firms and the U.S. and German governments.
Following the same political strategy used in the Holocaust cases, Fagan
said targeting Japanese banks would open the issue to scrutiny from such
regulators as state controllers, banking committee members and other
entities susceptible to public pressure.
On the other side, attorneys with the San Francisco law firm of
McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Everson, representing Mitsui, argue that the
California law allowing war-era suits in state courts is
unconstitutional because it interferes with the federal governments
control over foreign relations.
The firm also argues that as far back as 1948, Allied officials sought a
quick end to the reparations issue and stated that Japan had made
extensive restitution.
Among the political allies the plaintiffs have enlisted so far in the
cause is Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. He
appeared in Los Angeles on Tuesday in support of a separate slave-labor
lawsuit by Utah veterans and said he intended to use his committee post
to hold hearings on the war crimes matter.
***
Etsuko Kawase of The limes' Tokyo Bureau contributed to this story.
* SLAVE LABOR CHARGES
**Visit the Commission's website at www.pcha.govlnews.htm for
continually-updated coverage of Holocaust Assets issues **
- - - - - Headers - - - - - - -
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�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States, formed in 1998, was charged with investigating what happened to the assets of victims of the Holocaust that ended up in the possession of the United States Federal government. The final report of the Commission, <a href="http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/pcha/PlunderRestitution.html/html/Home_Contents.html"> “Plunder and Restitution: Findings and Recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and Staff Report"</a> was submitted to President Clinton in December 2000.</p>
<p>Chairman - Edgar Bronfman<br /> Executive Director - Kenneth Klothen</p>
<p>The collection consists of 19 series. The first fifteen series of the collection are composed mostly of photocopied federal records. These records were reproduced at the National Archives and Records Administration by commission members for their research. The records relate to Holocaust assets created between the mid 1930’s and early 1950’s by a variety of U. S. Government agencies and foreign sources.</p>
<p>Subseries:<br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Art+and+Cultural+Property+">Art and Cultural Property</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Gold+">Gold</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Gold+Team+Review+Form+Binders+">Gold Team Review Form Binders</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Art+and+Cultural+Property+and+%E2%80%9COthers%E2%80%9D+Review+Form+Binders">Art and Cultural Property and “Others” Review Form Binders</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Non-Gold+Financial+Assets+Review+Form+Binders">Non-Gold Financial Assets Review Form Binders</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=History+Associates+Binder+">History Associates Binder</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Non-Gold+Financial+Assets+Review+Form+Binders+%282%29">Non-Gold Financial Assets Review Form Binders (2)</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Financial+Assets+Documents">Financial Assets Documents</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=RG+84%2C+Foreign+Service+Posts+of+the+State+Department%E2%80%94Turkey">RG 84, Foreign Service Posts of the State Department—Turkey</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Financial+Assets+Documents">Financial Assets Documents</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?search=&advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%5BJewish+Restitution+Successor+Organization+%28JRSO%29%2C+Oral+Histories%5D&range=&collection=20&type=&user=&tags=&public=&featured=&exhibit=&submit_search=Search+for+items">[Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO), Oral Histories]</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=PCHA+Secondary+Sources">PCHA Secondary Sources</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Researcher+Notes">Researcher Notes</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Unnumbered+Documents+from+Archives+II+and+Various+Notes">Unnumbered Documents from Archives II and Various Notes</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=RG+260%2C+Finance+Inventory+Forms">RG 260, Finance Inventory Forms</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Reparations">Reparations</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Chase+National+Bank">Chase National Bank</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Administrative+Files">Administrative Files</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Art+%26+Cultural+Property+Theft">Art & Cultural Property Theft</a></p>
<p>Topics covered by these records include the recovery of confiscated art and cultural property; the reparation of gold and other financial assets; and the investigation of events surrounding capture of the Hungarian Gold Train at the close of World War II. These files contain memoranda, correspondence, inventories, reports, and secondary source material related to the final disposition of art and cultural property, gold, and other financial assets confiscated during the Holocaust.</p>
<p>For more information concerning this collection consult the<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/35992"> finding aid</a>.</p>
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/35992" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1040718" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Extent
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2954 folders
Text
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Paper
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
[Holocaust Assets Clippings]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States
Art & Cultural Property Theft
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 217
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/Holocaust-Assets.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/description/6997222" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
6/24/2013
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
6997222-holocaust-assets-clippings
6997222