Martyrdom & Resistance, September/October 1999

ID Transcript mare2601_01 "M m © ® Tf ty np MARTYRDOM AND RESISTANCE PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM, INC. Vol. 26 - No. 1 ISSN 0892-1571 September-October 1999 - Elul-Tishri 5760 Fifteenth Annual Yad Vashem Dinner November 7 Honorees Are Jack Pechter and Wolf Blitzer The 15th Annual Dinner of the American and International Societies for Yad Vashem is a striking celebration of remembrance. To be held Sunday, November 7, at the New York Hilton Hotel, it will mark the last such occasion for this century. And, most significantly, the dinner gives special meaning for the future as Yad Vashem readies itself for a century of achievement. All this is embodied in Yad Vashem 2001. The honorees eminently reflect the vigorous commitment to remembrance that unites the supporters of Yad Vashem 2001. The honorees are Jack H. Pechter and Wolf Blitzer. Zygmunt Wilf and Dr. Israel Singer are dinner chairmen. Edgar Bronfman is general chairman. Jack Pechter of Baltimore is chairman of TriStar Management, Inc., and JHP Development. Born in Rajowitz, Poland, he has been a child of the Holocaust since his family fled the Nazis to the Soviet Union, where they were incarcerated. The importance of remembrance was vividly demonstrated when the family returned after the war to Rajowitz only to discover that hatred and anti-Semitism still thrived. The Pechters immigrated to Austria and later the U.S. SCHOOL BENEFACTOR Jack Pechter's name has been linked with numerous philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors, among them the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, State of Israel Bonds, Baltimore's Sinai Hospital, Zionist Organization of America, and Associated Catholic Charities. His fervor for Yad Vashem's goals is reflected in his contributing to and supporting a defining gift to its International School of Holocaust Studies. The benefaction of Jack Pechter and the Pechter Family Jack H. Pechter will enable Israel's Remembrance Authority to provide a pedagogical program for generations of high school students, college students, and educators worldwide. The lead anchor for CNN's The World Today Wolf Blitzer also hosts Late Edition, the only talk show seen live globally in more than 200 countries. His deep interest in the Holocaust can be traced to his being the son of camp survivors Cesia and David Blitzer, and to his early years in Augsburg, Germany, a community that offered refuge for displaced persons after the war. IN THE NEWS as soon as possible through its publication by German researchers together with appropriate footnotes and accompanying material."" RELEASE OF EICHMANN NOTES After 40 years, 1,200 pages of the notes of Adolf Eichmann are being released by the Israeli State Archives. Eichmann was hanged in Israel in 1961 for war crimes committed as the operations chief of the mass killings of Jews during the Holocaust. His prison notes under lock and key for the past four decades stress the theme that he was a ""cog"" in the Nazi machine. ""Obeying an order,"" he said, ""was the most important thing to me. It could be that is the nature of the German."" Scholars are unconcerned that release will be used to challenge the verdict of the Eichmann trial. ""The intention,"" said a spokesman of the Israeli Justice Ministry, ""is to allow public scrutiny of this material INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON COMPENSATION CLAIMS Details on compensation claims relating to plundered funds by Swiss banks is available in seven languages and a web site. In addition, a full-page advertisement has been published in 500 newspapers and magazines in 30 countries. The compensation comes from a $1.25 billion fund set up by Swiss banks: United Bank of Switzerland and Credit Suisse. The toll-free number in the U.S. is (888) 635-5483. The five categories of claimants include: People with rights to assets deposited in Switzerland before May 9,1945; (Continued on page 10) Wolf Blitzer His commitment to perpetuating the legacy of the Shoah was eloquently articulated in the dedication of his book Territory of Lies: ""To my grandparents Chaja and Wolf Zylberfuden, and Chaja and Yitzhak Blitzer, whom I never knew because they were killed during the Holocaust. May their memory be blessed."" His near three decades in journalism include working in Tel Aviv with Reuters, followed by service as correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. He joined CNN in 1990 as the network's military affairs correspondent at the Pentagon. He has interviewed some of the most notable figures of our time, including the heads of states across the world. ""The honoring of Jack Pechter and Wolf Blitzer,"" according to Eli Zborowski, chairman of the Societies for Yad Vashem, ""excite those who cherish Jewish causes across the globe. The honorees are also visionaries when it comes to Holocaust remem- (Continued on page 8) The International Society for Yad Vashem and Martyrdom and Resistance extends their best wishes for a Healthy, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year i* "