Sunday 30 March 2014

Tiles Found at Site of Treblinka Death Camp Confirm Existence of Gas Chambers

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Tiles with the Star of David stamped on them were found by an archeological team in Treblinka and confirm the existence of gas chambers in the Nazi death camp.

At least 900,000 Jews died in Treblinka and a memorial was built over the massive extermination site. Out of respect for the victims, no excavations were allowed in the camp.

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NY Fire Chief Apologizes for Antisemitic Remarks

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

A suburban New York City fire chief has hand delivered a letter of apology to a Jewish town supervisor for anti-Semitic remarks he made, The Journal News reported Saturday. 

Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice visited Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner Friday to deliver the letter.

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Friday 28 March 2014

H&M Pulls Menswear Item After Its Design Condemned as Antisemitic

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Fashion retailer H&M has pulled a vest from its shelves worldwide after accusations its design, which featured a menacing skull in the center of a Star of David, was anti-Semitic.

The menswear item, which was withdrawn this week following complaints, was also destined for sale in Israel, where the retailer has 14 stores.

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Thursday 27 March 2014

German Recluse to Return Nazi-Looted Art to Rightful Owners or Their Descendants

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters:

A German recluse whose billion-dollar art hoard was confiscated will return all works looted by the Nazis to their owners or their descendants, his legal custodian told German media on Wednesday.

The paintings, drawings and sculptures were seized from Cornelius Gurlitt's two homes by authorities investigating possible tax evasion in February 2012. They include Modernist and Renaissance masterpieces valued at about 1 billion euros, according to media reports.

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British Art Gallery to Return Painting Stolen by Nazis During WWII

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Britain's Tate gallery says it will return a painting by John Constable that was stolen from its Hungarian owner by the Nazis during World War II.

The gallery said Thursday that the government's advisory committee on contested artworks had recommended that "Beaching A Boat, Brighton 1824" be returned to claimants who wish to remain anonymous.

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Rabbis March in Budapest to Commemorate the Beginning of the Holocaust for Hungary's Jews

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Budapest's residents were in for an unusual sight this week, as thousands of rabbis marched on the banks of the Danube, singing "Ani Maamin" ("I Believe"). 

The rabbis arrived at the Hungarian capital from Israel and Europe to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion, which marked the beginning of the Holocaust of Hungarian Jews.

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Exhibition by Jewish Museum Shows Pre-WWII Life in Warsaw, Poland

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Old films, music recordings and everyday objects are among items that recreate the atmosphere of Jewish life in Warsaw until World War II in a new exhibition at Warsaw's Jewish history museum.

The "Warszawa, Warsze" — "Warsaw" in Polish and Yiddish — exhibition opens Friday at the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and will run through June 30. In sections dedicated to writers, artists, family sagas and daily life it shows how the Jews and the city interacted, influencing and enriching each other. The loss of Jewish Warsaw is best shown in pictures comparing some sites as they are now — modern hotels and streets — with the low, old-style architecture of their Jewish times.

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Canadian Foreign Minister Calls for Recognition of Jewish Refugees from Arab States

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Recognition of Jewish refugees from Arab states should be part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said Wednesday. 

On Wednesday, the Canadian House of Commons accepted a report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, that recommended the Canadian government officially recognize the experience of Jewish refugees from Arab states.

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New Holocaust Memorial to be Built in the Netherlands

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters:

A Holocaust monument will be erected in the Dutch capital next year naming 102,000 victims of the Nazi occupation, giving long overdue recognition to those deported to death camps, campaigners said on Wednesday.

The "Holocaust Names Monument", the first of its kind in the Netherlands, will be designed by Jewish American architect Daniel Libeskind. It is to be completed in 2015, 70 years after the end of World War Two, authorities in the city, home of Anne Frank's house, said in a statement.

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Synagogue Textile Stolen by Nazis During WWII Returned to Czech Republic

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via The Washington Post:

A 19th-century synagogue textile stolen by the Nazis has returned to the Czech Republic after being discovered in the United States last year, officials said Wednesday.

The textile dates to 1855 and belonged to the Jewish community in the town of Mlada Vozice, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Prague. It is believed to have been used in the local synagogue, which no longer exists.

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Member of European Parliament Condemned for Remarks Comparing European Union to Nazi Germany

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters:

The leader of Austria's Jewish community called on a right-wing politician to drop his campaign for re-election to the European Parliament after he was quoted as likening the European Union to the Third Reich in Nazi Germany.

Andreas Moelzer, co-lead candidate for Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO) in the May EU election, made headlines when a German paper quoted him as calling the EU a dictatorship that made the Third Reich look "informal and liberal" by comparison.

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Tuesday 25 March 2014

Jew Running for Ukrainian Presidency Wants to Prove Ukraine Not Antisemtic

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com with contribution from AFP:

Ukrainian Jewish oligarch Vadim Rabinovich announced his intention to run for the presidency of Ukraine Tuesday, citing a need to prove Ukraine in not anti-Semitic, Interfax reported. 

Rabinovich, who holds an Israeli passport and has lived in Israel, heads the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and is the founder of the European Jewish Parliament. He is now one of four people to announce their presidential bid for the elections set to take place May 25. 

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Russian State TV Host Says Jews Brought the Holocaust on Themselves

FSWC Reports:

From jn1.tv via ynetnews.com:

A host from Russian-state television channel Rossiya 24, Evelina Zakamskaya, has made comments that are sure to enrage the Jewish community across Europe and beyond, suggesting that Jews brought the Holocaust on themselves. 

"It's strange that these Jewish organizations – European and our Russian ones – support the Maidan," Prokhanov said in an interview with hawkish writer Aleksandr Prokhanov. "What are they doing? Don't they understand that with their own hands they're bringing a second Holocaust?"

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Monday 24 March 2014

Norwegian Museum to Return Painting Stolen by Nazis to Owners

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK), a museum in Norway, will return a Nazi-looted painting by Henri Matisse to its owners, the museum said in a statement this week.

The painting, "Profil Bleu Devant la Cheminée" (Woman in Blue in Front of a Fireplace), dated 1937, was seized by the Nazis on September 5, 1941 from French gallery owner and collector Paul Rosenberg.  

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Sunday 23 March 2014

Major Jewish Organization Awards Human Rights Prize to German Chancellor Angela Merkel

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel with its distinguished ADL Joseph Prize for Human Rights in recognition of her "abiding commitment to promoting and protecting human rights at home and abroad." 

In presenting the prize, ADL cited a number of accomplishments and actions that it said showed Chancellor Merkel’s unwavering commitment to human rights. 

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Friday 21 March 2014

Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation Marks 20th Anniversary

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

Steven Spielberg isn't planning on making any more Holocaust movies. The Oscar-winning director is leaving that to the Shoah Foundation. 

After "Schindler's List," Spielberg turned his lens on real survivors of the World War II Jewish genocide through his foundation, which has since filmed nearly 52,000 testimonies from Holocaust survivors around the world. As the organization turns 20, it has expanded its mission to include interviews with survivors of other genocides, including those in Armenia, Cambodia and Rwanda.

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Thursday 20 March 2014

Hungarian Jews Mark 70th Anniversary of Invasion by Nazi Germany

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

Several thousand Hungarian Jews marked the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Hungary on Wednesday with a memorial service outside the Grand Synagogue in Budapest. 

The service, organized by Mazsihisz, the country's largest Jewish organization, was the first in a series of events marking the Holocaust, which claimed the lives of some 600,000 Hungarian Jews, most deported to Nazi death camps.

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Israeli Intelligence Finds That Jews Who Tried to Escape Iran and Went Missing During the 1990s Were Murdered

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com with contribution from Reuters:

Eight of the 11 Iranian-Jews who disappeared in the 90s on their way to Israel were murdered, the Mossad found, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said Thursday.

The Mossad was still investigating the whereabouts of the remaining three that went missing in 1997, the statement said. 

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Chabad Rabbi Flees Crimea

FSWC Reports:

From The Jewish Press:

Crimea’s Chabad Rabbi Yitzchak Meyer Lipszyc escaped Crimea with his wife – and a Torah scroll – on the last train that left the area before the Russian sealed it off.

“The main action in Crimea was taking place right across the street from our synagogue,” said Rabbi Lipszyc, who has been a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, for more than two decades. “There were demonstrations with over 30,000 people. The protestors were pro-Ukrainian. But eventually the ones who took over were in the unidentified uniforms—they were obviously Russian military. There was Cossacks there too; for Jews that was a bit scary because of their history in the pogroms.” 

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Wednesday 19 March 2014

Germany Arrests Former Auschwitz Medic

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

German police have arrested a former Nazi medic who served at the Auschwitz death camp on multiple charges of aiding and abetting murder, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The 93-year-old, who was arrested at his home near Neubrandenburg north of Berlin, underwent a medical checkup before he faced a judge and was then taken into pre-trial detention.

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Monday 17 March 2014

Holocaust Survivors Give Water and Gift Baskets to Asylum-Seekers in Israel

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A group of 20 Holocaust survivors arrived on Monday at the Population and Immigration Authority Bureau in Tel Aviv to distribute water and Purim gift baskets to the hundreds of asylum seekers who have been waiting outside the bureau to renew their visas. 

The initiative to involve Holocaust survivors, as well as workers and volunteers of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, came about after many of them noticed the harsh conditions asylum seekers have been facing in recent weeks. 

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Sunday 16 March 2014

March in Latvia Honours Local Chapter of Nazis' Waffen SS

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press and AFP via ynetnews.com:

Hundreds of Latvians have celebrated Legionnaires Day – which their government abolished in 2000 – by paying tribute to World War II veterans who fought alongside Nazi troops. 

After a church service in the Lutheran Cathedral in Riga, the capital, on Sunday, the marchers went to the Freedom Monument, where they laid roses in the red and white colors of the Latvian flag.

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Jewish Graves in Hungary Spray-Painted With Swastikas and Antisemitic Slurs

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A Jewish cemetery in the city of Tatabánya in Hungary was vandalized on Thursday, as tombstones were spray-painted with swastikas and writings reading "rotten Jews" and "there was never a Holocaust, but there will be one." 

Members of the local Jewish community arrived at the cemetery in Tatabánya, located some 55 kilometers west of Budapest, to hold a memorial service and were horrified at the sight of the desecrated graves, and immediately notified the authorities. 

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Friday 14 March 2014

Ukrainian Rabbi Victim of Violent Antisemitic Attack

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Rabbi Hillel Cohen, a prominent Ukrainian Jew, was attacked Thursday night in Kiev by anti-Semites who struck him while he was on his way to visit a Jewish tourist hospitalized in the city. 

Cohen received treatment by a ZAKA emergency response volunteer team and was evacuated to the hospital with a stab wound to his leg, in mild-to-moderate condition. 

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Latvian Government Minister Sacked Over Plans to Attend Pro-Nazi Parade

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via globalpost.com:

Latvia's environment minister is being sacked for planning to take part in a march by veterans who sided with the Nazis against the Soviets in World War II, the prime minister's office said Friday.

"No minister has ever attended this event, so it is important the dismissal happens before it takes place, not afterwards," Andis Blinds, spokesman of Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, told AFP.

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Thursday 13 March 2014

Suspect Apprehended in Anne Frank Diary Vandalism Case in Japan

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an unemployed man in his 30s on Wednesday who is suspected of vandalizing hundreds of copies of the diary of Anne Frank in a major book store in Toshima, Tokyo, MSN Sankei News reported. 

The man, who was arrested on suspicion of unlawful entry to a book store, is also suspected of vandalizing 310 other books. 

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Equipment Used to Tattoo Prisoners in Auschwitz Death Camp Found in Poland

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Metal stamps with embedded needles used by Nazi soldiers to tattoo Jewish inmates at the Auschwitz death camp have been discovered in Poland, British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported. 

SS soldiers used the small stamps, consisting of a two, two threes and a six or a nine, to tattoo inmates as they were processed on their arrival at the camp in German-occupied Poland, the paper said. 

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Wednesday 12 March 2014

Victims Seeking Compensation From French Railway Company for Its Role in Deportation of Jews to Concentration Camps During the Holocaust

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

Seventy years after the Holocaust, Rosette Goldstein and many fellow Americans are still seeking reparations from French rail firm SNCF for transporting their loved ones to Nazi death camps.

Goldstein, now 75, was in Maryland on Monday to testify before state lawmakers, who have threatened to prevent SNCF bidding for a major public contract over its role in the Holocaust.

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Tuesday 11 March 2014

Anne Frank House Donates Books to Japanese Libraries

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

The Anne Frank House, a museum dedicated to the Jewish girl who died in a Nazi concentration camp, has donated 3,400 copies of its catalogue to Japanese libraries after hundreds of copies of Anne Frank's diary were damaged. 

A delegation from the museum in Amsterdam visited the office of Tokyo's Suginami ward on Saturday, donating the catalogue showing its exhibits and a miniature of the Anne Frank House where her family hid during World War II.

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Ukraine Jewish Leaders Accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of Lying About Ukrainian Antisemitism, Using it as a Pretext for Russian Invasion

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Jewish leaders in Ukraine have written an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to withdraw his troops from their country and rejecting his claims of anti-Semitic activity there. 

The letter, published on the website of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, casts doubts on Putin's motivations for sending his troops into Ukraine in the wake of the mass protests that led to the removal from power of former president Viktor Yanukovich last month. And regarding anti-Jewish sentiment, the letters states that Russia is far more guilty of anti-Semitism than Ukraine. 

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Monday 10 March 2014

Israeli Government to Give New Benefits to Holocaust Survivors

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Finance Minister Yair Lapid instructed to compare the conditions of Holocaust survivors who arrived to Israel after October 1953 to the conditions of survivors who arrived in the country prior to that date. Some NIS 300 million ($86.7 million) will be allocated to fund the new legislation.

Following the decision, the Finance Ministry will initiate legislation procedures that will include allocating the necessary sum to fund the 18,500 Holocaust survivors . The ministry is planning to move the bill to the Knesset's vote in 2014.  

 
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Swastikas, Antisemitic Slurs Painted on Walls of High Schools in Swedish Capital

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

Swastikas were painted overnight on a Stockholm high school with a Jewish curriculum and on another one with many ethnic minority students, school authorities said Monday. 

The Vasa Real school which offers classes in Jewish studies and Hebrew was emblazoned with pink and blue swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans, including "disgusting Jews" and the white supremacist insignia "1488," school authorities said. 

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Sunday 9 March 2014

English Regulatory Body Says It Cannot be Proven That Soccer Player Who Performed "Quenelle" Salute is an Antisemite

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

Nicolas Anelka could not be proven to have intentionally promoted anti-Semitism by performing a "quenelle" salute, the independent regulatory commission that banned the West Bromwich Albion striker has revealed.

Anelka, 34, was given a five-game suspension, as well as an £80,000 (€ 97,000, $133,000) fine last week after making the gesture during his side's 3-3 draw at West Ham United in the Premier League in December.

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Friday 7 March 2014

German President Visits Site of WWII Massacre in Greece

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

A visibly emotional German president laid a wreath Friday at a monument in northwestern Greece to villagers massacred by German soldiers during World War II, at the end of a three-day visit that combined political talks with efforts to bring closure to wounds from the German wartime occupation of Greece. 

Joachim Gauck expressed "shame" at the 1943 atrocity at Ligiades, where Nazi troops executed dozens of villagers, including months-old babies, in reprisal for a partisan attack: "With shame and pain I ask the families of those murdered for forgiveness in Germany's name." 

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Thursday 6 March 2014

Belgian Soccer Player Banned for 10 Games Over "Quenelle" Salute

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

UEFA banned a Belgium player for 10 matches on Tuesday for making the "quenelle" gesture at a futsal European Championship match. 

Omar Rahou made the discriminatory gesture several times while celebrating scoring a goal against Romania at Antwerp in January, UEFA said.

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Tuesday 4 March 2014

Extensive Holocaust Archive Donated to University of Colorado

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

The University of Colorado in Boulder is the new home of an extensive collection of Holocaust-era documents, books and photographs.

The university on Tuesday announced the donation of the Mazal Holocaust Collection, calling it the world's largest privately owned Holocaust archive and the most significant in the United States outside museums. 

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Monday 3 March 2014

English Football Association May Seek Longer Ban on Player for Goal Celebration That Included Gesture Condemned as Inverted Nazi Salute

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

The English Football Association could push for Nicolas Anelka to serve more than a five-match ban for a racially aggravated goal celebration by appealing against its own disciplinary panel's verdict. 

The West Bromwich Albion striker on Thursday received the minimum FA racism ban for performing a gesture which is known in France as a "quenelle" and has been called an "inverted Nazi salute."

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Greek Doctor Arrested for Posting "Jews Not Welcome" Sign Outside His Office

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

Police in northern Greece say a 57-year-old neurologist has been arrested for inciting racial hatred and weapons possession. 

The doctor, who has not been named, has acknowledged he is a member of the extreme right Golden Dawn party.

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Holocaust Survivor Sues American University Over Painting Stolen by Nazis in WWII

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

The University of Oklahoma for more than a decade has exhibited a piece of Nazi-looted artwork bequeathed to it by the wife of an oil tycoon. But renewed claims by a family that owned the oil painting before World War II has drawn the US school into a fight it thought was settled in Switzerland more than 60 years ago. 

Camille Pissarro's "Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep," an 1886 painting that once belonged to a French Jew, fell into Nazi hands as Germany overran Europe. The school maintains it is the painting's rightful owner, citing a Swiss court decision from 1953.

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