Martyrdom & Resistance, March/April 2002

ID Transcript mare2804_01 "Vol. 28-No. 4 ISSN 0892-1571 March/April 2002-Adar/Nisan 5762 REMEMBER! Yom Hashoah V'Hagvurah 5762/2002 Remembering Now More Than Ever ■% BY ELI ZBOROWSKI CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN & INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR YAD VASHEM Reviewing developments over the past few years, one might quickly make a powerful case of achievement for the cause of remembrance. Continually, educational institutions, from elementary school, through college and graduate school are adding courses and programs in Holocaust remembrance. New facilities and memorials are being completed regularly. Books on Holocaust themes are being issued in growing numbers. Data points to declines in anti-Semitic actions throughout the U.S. and Canada. Sadly, all this is deceptive. All that one has to know is the news on the world scene. True, we are not on the doorsteps of another Holocaust. But can anybody deny that anti-Semitism is not a relentless driving force of our enemies? Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was butchered by Pakistani terrorists because he was a Jew. Perhaps he did not ""live"" as a Jew, but he died a Jew. ""The Jew,"" wrote French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, ""is one whom other men consider a Jew; that is the simple truth from which we must start. It is the anti- IN THIS ISSUE Book Reviews In the News . Survivors' Corner Passover in the Ghettos and Camps Report from Yad Vashem Campus and Classroom Commemorate Auschwitz Liberation Remembering Odessa Ghetto M'DorL'Dor Semite who makes the Jew."" In the article on Daniel Pearl, the following observation is offered in The Jerusalem Post by its new editor, Bret Stephens. ""Daniel Pearl did not live as a Jew, nor did he wish to die as a Jew. In the end, it made no difference. His murderers have made him a Jew all the time."" How often was that the case among the six million? They all died as Jews. As Israel is targeted daily by its enemies, it is more than anti-Zionism. It is attacks against the Jewish people. They want to kill us as Jews. Most Intensive Education Campaign; Yet, Violent Return of Anti-Semitism And in Europe, the situation has been called the worst since World War II. In Great Britain, the conflict in Europe has been exploited by the Palestinians as a platform for open manifestation of anti-Semitism. The Chief Rabbi, Prof. Jonathan Sacks, told legislators that the situation had deteriorated since the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11. ""We have engaged throughout Europe for the last half century,"" he said, ""in one of the most intensive education campaigns in all history - Holocaust education, interfaith dialogue, conferences on racism - and now we are seeing it return, despite everything."" ""That suggests to me that the virus of Anti-Semitism has found a way through our immune systems. I have to sound a warning so that other leading figures in British life can sound a warning also."" In France, the anti-Semitism has become menacing and is channeled through a rising tide of Muslim hostility and anti-Israel media bias. According to Roger Cukierman, president of France's CRIF, the umbrella group for secular Jews, since the September terrorist attacks, Western Europe's largest Jewish community has been facing ""increasing acts of violence 2,3,14 ....4 ....5 ....7 ..8-9 ...10 11 11 13 against schools, synagogues, and against rabbis in the streets."" In sum, the need is great, and now more than in recent decades, for vigilance, for a recommitment to prevent future Holocausts. The Societies for Yad Vashem have joined with Yad Vashem, the Israel Remembrance Authority in establishing facilities and programs to carry on remembrance. We ask all to have a share in ensuring remembrance. We ask all to be vigilant to have a share in ensuring remembrance. When you receive this issue, you might have made plans or, in fact, attended an observance on Yom Hashoah V'Hagvurah. The worldwide acceptance and observance of Yom Hashoah V'Hagvurah as being observed on the corresponding English date of 27 Nissan continues as a matter of enormous pride for all devotees of remembrance. But in light of world conditions, the Yom Hashoah ""season"" is more important this year than in the past. More than ever, all observances and commemorations deserve more intense reflection and commitment, whether the effort be in time or funds. This year's observance of Yom Hashoah V'Hagvurah, 27 Nissan, is Tuesday, April 9, 2002. Observances have their beginnings on Monday evening, April 8 and continue on April 9. Those synagogues, community centers, and Holocaust resources that regularly schedule Yom Hashoah observances deserve to be contacted throughout the year for materials and questions concerning remembrance. Just to name a few: the Young Israel of Forest Hills, the Young Israel of Hillcrest, the Hillcrest Jewish Center, the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, the Avenue N Jewish Center, the Ramaz School - all in New York; the Holocaust Awareness Institute in Denver; Anne Frank Institute in Denver; Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies; Holocaust Museum, Houston; El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center; Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Miami; Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois in Skokie; Holocaust Library and Resource Center in San Francisco. "