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From the Editor: We must not be complacent as hate crimes increase

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Michael Regenstreif

Michael Regenstreif, Editor

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons on November 7 to offer Canada’s apology for turning away Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany on board the MS St. Louis in 1939 – 254 of whom were ultimately murdered in the Holocaust after the ship returned to Europe – he offered a chilling statistic about anti-Semitism in today’s Canada:

“According to the most recent figures, 17 per cent of all hate crimes in Canada target Jewish people. Far higher per capita than any other group,” he said.

Trudeau noted manifestations of anti-Semitism including Holocaust denial, graffiti attacks on Jewish institutions, BDS-related intimidation on college and university campuses, and said, “Discrimination and violence against Jewish people in Canada and around the world continues at an alarming rate.” [Read more…]

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Office of Jewish professor at Columbia U vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti

(JTA) – The office of a Jewish professor at Columbia University in New York City was spray painted with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Swastikas were spray painted on two walls of the office of Elizabeth Midlarsky, professor of psychology and education, at Columbia Teachers College. The word “YID” also was spray painted on a wall of the office of the professor, who is Jewish and who researches and publishes about the Holocaust. [Read more…]

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Dutch Railways to examine compensation for Holocaust victims, descendants

AMSTERDAM (JTA) – The Netherlands’ national rail company said it would set up a commission of inquiry to see whether it should compensate Holocaust victims for its role in the Holocaust.

Dutch Railways announced its plan Tuesday in a statement that said it “during World War II operated trains in service of the occupation” by Nazi Germany and that this is “a black page in the history of our country and our company.” [Read more…]

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Hungary, Poland, Spain, Russia and Italy falling short on returning Nazi-looted art

(JTA) – Five countries have not fulfilled their commitments to return Nazi-looted art to their rightful owners, a U.S. official said.

Stuart Eizenstat, an adviser to the U.S. State Department, in 1998 negotiated the Washington Principles, a treaty calling on signers to make their best efforts to return art stolen by the Nazis during World War II. He spoke Monday in Berlin to mark the 20th anniversary of the agreement signed by 44 countries, The New York Times reported. [Read more…]

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CNN poll in Europe shows widespread anti-Semitism, ignorance on Holocaust

(JTA) – In a poll conducted among 7,092 adults in seven European countries, 28 per cent of respondents said that Jews are too influential, and one- third said they have no substantial knowledge of the Holocaust.

The CNN poll, performed by ComRes, on the subject of anti-Semitism was performed in September in Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Sweden and Austria, the network reported. [Read more…]

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German man, 95, charged as accessory to murder of more than 36,000 at Nazi camp

(JTA) – A German man, 95, has been charged with being an accessory to more than 36,000 murders when he allegedly served as a guard at the Nazi Mauthausen concentration camp.

Berlin prosecutors confirmed on Friday that the man, identified as Hans Werner H. due to privacy regulations, is accused of serving as an SS guard in the camp in 1944 and 1945, The Associated Press reported. The camp was located in northern Austria. [Read more…]

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Prince Charles hosts former child refugees to mark 80th Kindertransport anniversary

(JTA) – Prince Charles met with former child refugees who arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport at the start of World War II.

The Holocaust survivors, who were saved from the Nazis, were marking the 80th anniversary of the organized effort to bring some 10,000 mainly Jewish children under the age of 17 to Britain, where they were cared for. The heir to the throne hosted them for a reception at St. James Palace. [Read more…]

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UNESCO teams with World Jewish Congress to launch a Holocaust education website

(JTA) – UNESCO, the United Nations agency that has rejected Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) have launched a website dedicated to Holocaust education and memory.

The website, called Facts about the Holocaust, was unveiled Monday at UNESCO headquarters in Paris by the scientific and cultural agency’s director-general, Audrey Azoulay, who is Jewish, and WJC President Ronald Lauder. Some 150 presidents of Jewish communities worldwide were on hand to sign a commitment to the preservation of Holocaust memory and to fighting anti-Semitism worldwide. [Read more…]

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We cannot be guided by passivity, says Holocaust Education Month speaker

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Amos Guiora will discuss the role of the bystander in the Holocaust and in contemporary sexual assaults at a Holocaust Education Month event, November 28, at the SJCC.
Amos Guiora will discuss the role of the bystander in the Holocaust and in contemporary sexual assaults at a Holocaust Education Month event, November 28, at the SJCC.

Amos Guiora will discuss the role of the bystander in the Holocaust and in contemporary sexual assaults at a Holocaust Education Month event, November 28, at the SJCC.

For Professor Amos Guiora, “the act of not acting is a crime of omission” – both during the Holocaust and in the present day.

“In a horrible, horrible, way, something like Pittsburgh re-enforces the requirement that we be vigilant about the tenor of speech, and not ignore the consequences of speech,” he said in an interview with the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin from Utah. “Pittsburgh doesn’t happen out of the clear blue sky. I would hope that this tragedy reinforces the requirement that we don’t allow ourselves to be guided by passivity. It’s easy to be passive, a pain in the ass to be active.” [Read more…]

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uOttawa Holocaust researcher files libel lawsuit against Polish group that accused him of falsifying history of Poland

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University Of Ottawa Professor Jan Grabowski (Wikipedia)
University Of Ottawa Professor Jan Grabowski (Wikipedia)

University Of Ottawa Professor Jan Grabowski (Wikipedia)

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – A historian and Holocaust researcher has filed a lawsuit against a Polish organization for libel after it publicly accused him of ruining Poland’s good name and charging that his Holocaust research falsifies the history of Poland.

Professor Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa filed a lawsuit for libel against the Polish League Against Defamation on Thursday at the District Court in Warsaw. [Read more…]

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