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Polish human rights official under fire for saying his ‘nation’ took part in the Holocaust

(JTA) – Poland’s human rights commissioner is being urged to resign after saying the “Polish nation” took part in carrying out the Holocaust – a controversial statement in a country whose government increasingly emphasizes that Poland never collaborated with the Nazis.

Speaking Wednesday on the state-run TVP Info, Adam Bodnar said, “There is no doubt that the Germans were responsible for the Holocaust, but many nations took part in its implementation. Among them – and I say this with regret – the Polish nation.” [Read more…]

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Heirs of Nazi-looted art collection can sue Hungarian museums in U.S. courts

(JTA) – A U.S. federal court has ruled that the heirs to one of the largest art collections in Hungary prior to World War II may sue for the recovery of some of the works from Hungarian institutions in the U.S. court system.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday ruled that the heirs of Baron Mór Lipót Herzog can sue Hungarian state-owned museums and a university to recover the more than 40 pieces of art with an estimated value exceeding $100 million. [Read more…]

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Book Review: A rich account of the remarkable life of Cantor Kraus

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Kraus cover 1

Kraus cover 1

The Life of Moshele der Zinger: How My Singing Saved My Life
By Cantor Moshe S. Kraus
Baico Publishing Inc.
info@baico.ca
245 pages

In the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, he was known as Moshele der Zinger (Moshele the Singer). The diminutive young man with the golden voice used his talents to entertain, sustain and give solace to his fellow prisoners as they faced deprivation and death.

But as he recounts in his autobiography, Cantor Moshe Kraus’s prodigious talents saved his own life on more than one occasion.

That’s why Moshele der Zinger is subtitled How My Singing Saved My Life. It’s a rich account of the remarkable life of Cantor Kraus, 95, and his more than 70 years as a renowned chazzan. [Read more…]

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Trove of Nazi objects in Argentina stuns investigators

Some of the Nazi-era objects discovered by Argentine police. (Leonardo Kremenchuzky/DAIA)
Some of the Nazi-era objects discovered by Argentine police. (Leonardo Kremenchuzky/DAIA)

Some of the Nazi-era objects discovered by Argentine police. (Leonardo Kremenchuzky/DAIA)

Among other objects, police found medical devices marked with swastikas. (Leonardo Kremenchuzky/DAIA)

Among other objects, police found medical devices marked with swastikas. (Leonardo Kremenchuzky/DAIA)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) – A cache of 75 original Nazi objects discovered earlier this month by the Argentine Federal Police has been evaluated as “unprecedented” and “the biggest” discovery of its type.

The objects, discovered earlier this month in a hidden room of a house in the northern part of the city, included equipment used for Nazi medical experiments during the Holocaust. They were analyzed a week ago at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, Federal Police Commissioner Marcelo El Haibe told JTA on Monday. [Read more…]

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Child Holocaust survivor tells powerful story to high school students

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Child Holocaust survivor Andy Réti reads from his memoir during a presentation to high school students May 26, at Algonquin College Theatre. (Jordana Colomby)
Child Holocaust survivor Andy Réti reads from his memoir during a presentation to high school students May 26, at Algonquin College Theatre. (Jordana Colomby)

Child Holocaust survivor Andy Réti reads from his memoir during a presentation to high school students May 26, at Algonquin College Theatre. (Jordana Colomby)

“Every survival story is a love story,” said Andy Réti, a child survivor of the Holocaust, born in 1942 in Rechnitz, Austria. “Love of life, love of family, and love of freedom.”

Réti, now a Toronto-based Holocaust educator, was speaking to 700 students from public high schools in the Ottawa area gathered, May 26, at Algonquin College Theatre for a Holocaust education event presented by the Azrieli Foundation and Shoah Committee of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. [Read more…]

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Historians defend uOttawa professor who wrote of Poles’ complicity in Holocaust

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – Polish historians defended an academic in Ottawa against charges that his Holocaust research falsifies the history of Poland.

Historians from the Polish Center for Holocaust Research have criticized the Polish League Against Defamation for publishing a letter signed by 134 scientists and others condemning Jan Grabowski’s works describing the participation of Poles in the crimes committed by the Germans during the Second World War. [Read more…]

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HIAS vigil for victims of MS St. Louis highlights refugees’ plight

WASHINGTON (JTA) – HIAS held a candlelight vigil here Tuesday night to mark the tragic journey of an ill-fated German ship, and to highlight the importance of supporting modern-day refugees.

In 1939, the MS St. Louis carried more than 900 passengers, seeking refuge from Nazi-occupied Europe. The refugees were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, and were ultimately forced to return to Europe. About one-third of those aboard ultimately died in Nazi concentration camps. [Read more…]

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Children saved by Sir Nicholas Winton dedicate Prague memorial to their parents

(JTA) – A group of children saved from the Nazis by Sir Nicholas Winton unveiled a monument in Prague to their parents.

The monument, called the Farewell Memorial, is comprised of a replica of a train door from 1939, with the imprints of hands of children on one side, and of parents on the other, the Associated Press reported. The memorial was dedicated at Prague’s main train station on Saturday. [Read more…]

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