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DUBOW DIGEST - GERMANY EDITION

December 26, 2009

A PERSONAL NOTE

I want to clear up a matter that may (or may not) need clearing up. DuBow
Digest is written and edited by me alone and does not have any formal
organizational connection. Even though I have been part of the American Jewish
Committee (AJC) for more than forty years and still, in my semi-retirement, retain
the title of Senior Advisor, this august publication is privately underwritten (by
me) and does not in any way speak for AJC. If you read something in DD that
you think needs denouncing, please denounce me and not my beloved
organization. Klar?

I was going to wait until after January 1st to send this but there is enough to report
at present – so, Happy reading! Happy New Year!

IN THIS EDITION

THE AUSCHWITZ SIGN – More than just a piece of metal.

MORE ABOUT ANDY – Rabbi Andrew Baker that is.

AMERICAN - ISRAEL RELATIONS: THE REAL STORY – Look for what’s done,
not for what’s said.

JIMMY CARTER’S APOLOGY – Genuine or not, it’s nice to hear.

HOLOCAUST MUSEUMS – How many? What sort of problems are they having?

THE AUSCHWITZ SIGN

It was recently reported that the cynical sign that hung over the entrance to
Auschwitz, “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” was stolen by five Polish thieves and
eventually recovered cut up into three pieces by the Polish Police. It was
originally thought that a “collector” (maybe from Scandinavia) had hired the
thieves. However, it is now reported in Ha’aretz “The group that ordered the theft
of the infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign from the gates of Auschwitz planned to
sell it to fund violent attacks against the Swedish Prime Minister and Parliament,
the Times of London reported… A spokesman for the Swedish security police
confirmed to the British newspaper that authorities were taking seriously a threat
by a militant Nazi group to disrupt national elections next year.”

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I think many people reading the story thought, “So what? It’s only a piece of iron”.
Well, to Jews (and I’m sure to many non-Jewish Germans) it’s more than that. It’s
a symbol. But how do you explain that?

My AJC colleague, Rabbi Andrew Baker wrote a piece for BBC News that
explores the issue. He wrote, “The theft of the "Arbeit Macht Frei" - Work Sets
You Free - sign that hung over the entrance gate to the Auschwitz camp was
nothing less than a desecration.

It is ironic that on the same day that the German government announced it would
contribute 60m euro to help preserve the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, the
iconic entry sign reading, "Arbeit macht frei", was stolen.
Auschwitz has become both symbol and shorthand for the Holocaust. And that
sign - with its twisted and false message that work will bring one freedom rather
than suffering and certain death - is immediately recognizable as its nameplate.

There can be no copies or reproductions; visitors must see only what was real. In
that way they will be bear witness to the very objects and structures which in turn
remain the mute eyewitness to what happened there.

Perhaps that is what makes the theft of this sign so shocking and essentially
irreplaceable. Auschwitz is surely the very antithesis of a cathedral - not a
spiritual temple evoking heaven but a hellish factory of death.
Yet, in this opposite universe those scrolled letters were its altarpiece, and its
theft a desecration.
The visitor to Auschwitz knows he is walking along that same platform where half
a century ago Dr Mengele was directing victims to the gas chambers. He is
looking at the same electrified fence that had imprisoned countless slave
labourers. And he is walking through the same gate and beneath the very same
sign that cynically offered hope, but in reality promised only destruction. Or at
least he was until Friday (note: the date of the theft.).

MORE ABOUT ANDY

Rabbi Baker (Andy to his friends and colleagues) has become an important
figure in Europe because of his appointment as Personal Representative for
Combating Anti-Semitism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). He has served in that position for a year and has just been
reappointed. An AJC news release noted, “Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC’s director
of International Jewish Affairs, has been reappointed Personal Representative
for Combating Anti-Semitism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE).

The incoming OSCE Chair-in-Office, Kanat Saudabayev, who made the


announcement, complimented Rabbi Baker for his important work since he was

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first appointed to the post in January. Saudabayev is Kazakhstan’s Foreign
Minister.

During 2009, Baker traveled extensively across Europe for OSCE, and authored
detailed reports for the international governmental organization on anti-Semitism
in Bosnia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. Baker’s reports are
available at the OSCE website http://tandis.odihr.pl/.The organization’s 56
members include the governments of all European countries, Canada and the
United States

“The confidence in Rabbi Baker shown by the OSCE with this appointment is
significant for all who seek to build a more peaceful world free of anti-Semitism
and other forms of hate,” said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. “We at
AJC are immensely proud of this recognition and the opportunity afforded to
Rabbi Baker to have real impact, on the governmental level, in combating the
resurgence of what has been called the world’s oldest hatred – anti-Semitism.”

Rabbi Baker has worked tirelessly for years with governments and Jewish
communities across Europe to advance the fight against anti-Semitism. He has
addressed OSCE conferences, and has been intimately involved in an OSCE
sponsored project to train law enforcement on monitoring and countering hate
crimes.

I take special pride in Andy’s achievements because I was the one, about 30
years ago, who first hired him for AJC and promoted him to a job in Washington.
The rest he did on his own. He is a great Jewish professional.

AMERICAN – ISRAEL RELATIONS: THE REAL STORY

There has been a lot of press in the last year about the distance growing
between the Israeli and American governments. As I reported previously the poll
numbers in Israel for Pres. Obama have been miserably low. There has been
friction over the issue of settlements. All of that may be true but when you get just
a little beneath the surface of political statements and posturing you find a very
different picture especially on important issues such as arms supply.

The Jewish Daily Forward recently ran a story entitled U.S.-Israeli Arms
Cooperation Quietly Growing. The article notes, “Leaders in Washington and
Jerusalem have publicly locked horns over the issue of West Bank settlements.
And Israeli public opinion has largely viewed America’s new administration as
unfriendly. But behind the scenes, strategic security relations between the two
countries are flourishing.

Israeli officials have been singing the praises of President Obama for his
willingness to address their defense concerns and for actions taken by his

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administration to bolster Israel’s qualitative military edge — an edge eroded,
according to Israel, during the final year of the George W. Bush presidency.

Among the new initiatives taken by the administration, the Forward has learned,
are adjustments in a massive arms deal the Bush administration made with Arab
Gulf states in response to Israeli concerns. There have also been upgrades in
U.S.-Israeli military cooperation on missile defense. And a deal is expected next
year that will see one of the United States’ most advanced fighter jets go to Israel
with some of America’s most sensitive new technology.

No matter the ups and downs of politics, the relationship between the U.S. and
Israel at its base level remains strong and connected as two countries can be.

To read the entire Forward story click here:


http://www.forward.com/articles/121182/

JIMMY CARTER’S APOLOGY

Former U.S. President has been seen by the American Jewish community as
anything but a friend in the last couple of decades. As the Jerusalem Post points
out, “Carter has angered some US Jews in recent years with writings and
statements that place the burden of peacemaking on Israel, that have likened
Israel's settlement policies to apartheid, and that have blamed the pro-Israel
lobby for inhibiting an evenhanded US foreign policy.”

Now, lo and behold, Pres. Carter is asking the Jewish community for
forgiveness. The Forward story notes, “Jimmy Carter asked the Jewish
community for forgiveness for any stigma he may have caused Israel. In a letter
released exclusively to JTA, the former US president sent a seasonal message
wishing for peace between Israel and its neighbors, and concluded: "We must
recognize Israel's achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive
in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab
populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize
Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is
appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of
mine that may have done so."

"Al Het" refers to the Yom Kippur prayer asking God forgiveness for sins
committed against Him. In modern Hebrew it refers to any plea for forgiveness.

I, for one, believe Pres. Carter’s plea for forgiveness is genuine. He is a deeply
religious man (a Born Again Christian) and understands religion and religious
terms. The use of the term “Al Het” is strong language and so I think he really
meant what he said.

Incidentally, his grandson, Jason Carter is running for the Georgia State Senate.

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Some feel that Carter’s apology is aimed at removing the antagonism that Jews
might have to the Carter name. While I have not had the most positive feelings
toward the former President (even though I voted for him twice) I think that line of
thinking is just too cynical.

Who in the Jewish community can “accept” his apology? Even the esteemed
editor of DuBow Digest does not think he is highly placed enough to represent all
the 6 million American Jews. Frankly, vocal or printed acceptances don’t mean
much anyway. I think we have to wait and see what Pres. Carter will say and do
in the future. Then we’ll see how genuine his apology is.

HOLOCAUST MUSEUMS

I don’t think it’s much of a secret that for most American Jews, whether they were
alive at the time or not, the two defining historical events that, more than other
that impacted the development of their Jewish identity were the birth of the
Jewish State in Israel and the Holocaust. Nothing rivals them.

So, it should not come as a surprise that in the United States there are 16
Holocaust museums and 150 Holocaust centers. Even in my home New York
suburb, Rockland County, there is a very active center that has exhibitions,
lectures, movies, disburses literature, etc. It has a full time staff director and a
small staff.

With so many such institutions it is no wonder that questions are beginning to be


raised about their continued financial support especially since many of the
originators, now of the older generation, are dying off. The Jewish Daily Forward
ran an article in December which stated, “The proliferation of museums detailing
the story of what happened to European Jewry during World War II has been
largely a phenomenon of the 1990s, part of the general increase in Holocaust
awareness in the culture at large. But it has by no means slowed: The most
recent museum, in Skokie, Ill., opened last spring, while construction continues
on a second Los Angeles museum, to open in the summer of 2010.

With a substantial, federally-backed national museum in Washington, critics are


increasingly wondering about the need for so many local museums. Even more
important, the question of whether these institutions will be able to financially
sustain themselves into the future — given the heavy costs of maintaining
collections, and the dying off of the Holocaust survivors who founded them — is
of great concern to museum directors.

There is a very profound question of how much of our limited resources we are
going to put into that as opposed to other things,” said Jonathan Tobin, executive
editor of Commentary magazine. “This is a time when Jewish education is going
begging, when Jewish schools are under siege financially, as well as having the
need to maintain basic social services for the elderly and the poor. These things

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have to be taken into consideration. It begs the question of how many of these
institutions do we need in this country.”

The questions raised above are certainly legitimate. Most of the museums and
centers rely on private donations and “Jewish giving” is likely to decline if it has
not already headed in that direction. My guess is that the future lies in
consolidation and probably fewer institutions particularly as Jewish communities
change geographically and in demography. My native Bronx, New York, at one
time heavily Jewish with many synagogues has very few Jews remaining. The
temples and synagogues are now black and Hispanic churches. So it goes…

You can read the Forward story by clicking here:


http://forward.com/articles/121688/?
utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailmarketingsoftware&utm_content=709384
75&utm_campaign=January12010+_+kkbhl&utm_term=LocalHolocaustMuseums
GrowAmidWorriesAboutFuture

See you again in January.

DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted at
edubow@optonline.net Both the American and Germany editions are also posted on line at
www.dubowdigest.typepad.com.

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