Martyrdom & Resistance, November/December 2007

ID Transcript mare3402_01 "SN 0892-1571 jMBgHBflBBBBBBBaiBflBflBBMBl November/Decemb AMERICAN & INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR YAD VASHEM ANNUAL TRIBUTE DINNER And You Shall Tell Your Children (c*odus ».■*, 1231? n?^m ""WE MUST SAFEGUARD THE SACRED CAUSE OF REMEMBRANCE"" ELI ZBOROWSKI, Founder and Chairman of the American Society for Yad Vashem W elcome to the American & International Society Tribute Dinner. I am privileged to preside over this program with my friend and colleague, Dr. Miriam Adelson. I extend a heartfelt umazel-to\/' to this evening's hon- orees, Cecile and Edward Mosberg and Matthew Bronfman. The Mosbergs, both Holocaust survivors, have dedicated themselves to preserving Jewish memory through the rescue of religious artifacts that were abandoned during the war. Matthew Bronfman, a member of the first post-Holocaust generation, is the second member of his family to be honored at an American Society Tribute Dinner. We were privileged to honor his father, Edgar M. Bronfman, exactly a decade ago. The theme of this year's Tribute Dinner, V'higadetah L'vincha, ""And You shall tell your children,"" takes me back to my own childhood and the Shabbat afternoon study sessions with my father when we would together explore the wisdom found in Pirkeh Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers. I am truly indebted to my parents for instilling in me a respect for learning, a sense of justice and a commitment to the Jewish people and the Jewish land, Erez Yisrael. Who could have thought then, that we would experience the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust and that, we the survivors, would then have to transmit this to our children, and they to their children? But, hard as it was, our children grew up knowing our stories and in turn, have shared this bitter chapter in our history with their children. But my friends, telling our children is not enough. Those of us in leadership positions in the Jewish communal world have an obligation beyond our own families. We need to support Yad Vashem, the world's foremost remembrance authority, so that it will continue to have the resources to carry our message beyond our lifetimes. As I look out at this audience, it is heartwarming to see so many young faces, scores of American-born young men and women, some with direct ties to the Holocaust, others for whom Shoah remembrance is a historical imperative. To see the presence of survivors, Friends of Yad Vashem, sitting side by side with the younger generation and their children, gives me the assurance that you, all of you, will continue to support Yad Vashem's mission. I would like at this time to acknowledge our benefactors, the Society's board and its many supporters who have traveled this journey with me. I thank you for your 26 years of continued interest and support. We can, indeed, be proud of our accomplishments in partnership with Yad Vashem. Additionally, the many young people who have joined our ranks are evidence that we have prepared successive generations to continue with our work. It is a Jewish custom, when visiting a cemetery, to place a small stone at the gravesites of family or friends. This signifies that we were there and that ""we remember."" It is in the spirit of this gesture - and for all the gravestones that were never erected for those that perished through mass killings and in concentration camps, that we must marshal our forces to work together to safeguard the sacred cause of remembrance -ZACHOR. ""LET US BUILD A FUTURE WORTH LIVING"" ""WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO FORGIVE"" MATHEW BRONFMAN, Recipient of the Yad Vashem Young Leadership Remembrance Award Ladies and gentlemen, I am only going to speak with you for a few moments tonight. The lessons of the Holocaust are not the sterile stories of history, but warnings for the future. They are lessons the many Holocaust survivors here tonight know all too well. They are lessons for how we must lead today. Though we live in times of unprecedented security, peace and prosperity, we face very real challenges. Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, continues marching, unimpeded down the nuclear corridor. Ahmadinejad's declaration of intent includes the elimination of another six million Jews. The rights and lives of Jews around the world are threatened anew by neo-Nazis and unashamed anti-Semites. Israel's security remains gravely threatened. Though there are those who may deny our history, we shall never forget it. Though there are those who may seek to repeat our history, we shall never permit it. Though in every generation there are those who rise up against us to wipe us out, G-d shall never allow it. When one wants to know the true greatness of those who died in the Holocaust; to grasp the totality of six million individual lives; to comprehend the incomprehensible, one need only look at those who serve their memory. Eli [Zborowski], Avner [Shalev] and all those who give of themselves day after day for Yad Vashem: you give memory to the forgotten, voice to the silenced; you preserve the (Continued on page 16) ED MOSBERG, Recipient of the Yad Vashem Remembrance Award Y ad Vashem is a great organization which we should support, in order for us to maintain viable memories of our family and the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Yad Vashem has been amongst the top leaders in remembering the victims of the Holocaust. I wish that I wouldn't have to stand here and talk to you about the Holocaust and say that the Holocaust never happened. But it happened, and I have to tell you about the atrocities that were committed by the Nazis to the six million Jews. Four years ago, my wife and I, one of our daughters, her husband, and two of our grandchildren participated in the March of the Living. On Yom Hashoah, seven thousand children, plus hundreds of adults marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau. My daughter and I have participated on the March of the Living before. For my wife, this was her first March of the Living. My wife in 1944 went on one of the Marches of Death, but Dr. Mengele selected her to live. While we were in Poland we went through the concentration camps. Majdanek, Treblinka, Studhoff, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Plaszow, and Belzec. I would like to tell you about Belzec. From March 1942 until December 1942 the Nazis brought Jews from Poland and other countries into the camp at Belzec. Arriving prison- (Continued on page 16) IN THIS ISSUE American & International Societies for Yad Vashem Tribute Dinner. 1, 8-9,16 r\ nunydncin pciriaii is 3 noiocousi riGro*«-« •••••>••>■••■•«•••>••••••>■•»••«•■•-••••••«•••■••■«•••••••••••••■« »d Vr IIV I CI 11III Jr 9 <?\#|»#I II w w \f I Ivlvv ••■••■•••»••»•••■••••••• ■•■•«•■ ••■«*•••«■»•■*•■•»••»•■»*•■•■•■••■••■■••»•■■■■•■•■•••"" Unearthing mass graves unveils history...... ..........7 France gives director of Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial Legion of Honor. ...10 After fleeing wartimes slave labor, his crusade became Holocaust education......11 In the Shadow of Horror..... ....11 Scholar unearths previously unknown Primo Levi text at Yad Vashem 12 A Holocaust Mystery Finds Some Answers .....13 Heirs Make Huge Claim Over Dutch Works of Art ...15 Nazi prosecutors still hunt death head doctor......... — ..15 "