Wednesday 31 December 2014

Antisemitic Vandals Strike Philadelphia Home

FSWC Reports:

From Shalom Life via ynetnews.com:

A father and daughter in Philadelphia became the targets of anti-Semitism earlier this week. The two woke up one morning to find the hateful words "Move Jew" spray painted onto their garage door. 

The other members of the greater Yardley-Marketfield community, stunned by the act of racism, have rallied behind Michael and Samantha Raker to show their support and to denounce acts of intolerance in their community.

READ MORE...  
 

Tuesday 30 December 2014

Mass for WWII Croatia Leader Condemned

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center slammed Monday a Mass in Zagreb to commemorate Croatia's World War II pro-Nazi leader, claiming it was a "badge of shame" for the Catholic Church.

"It's hard to believe that in the center of the capital of a member of the European Union, very close to Zagreb's Jewish community, hundreds of people gathered yesterday to commemorate the memory of one of Europe's biggest mass murderers," the head of the center's Jerusalem office said in a statement.

READ MORE...   

Monday 29 December 2014

Jewish Organization Highlights Top Issues Affecting World Jewry in 2014

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Israel’s war against Hamas, rising anti-Semitism in Europe, the shootings at the Kansas Jewish community center by a career white supremacist, a noticeable rise in anti-Israel activity on campus and the proliferation of anti-Jewish hate speech on the Internet top the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual list of issues affecting Jews in 2014. 

Also among the top 10 issues affecting Jews: Scandals involving anti-Semitism and racism that rocked professional sports; the Iranian nuclear negotiations; the Supreme Court decisions allowing legislative prayer and free exercise rights for corporations; immigration reform; and racial bias in the criminal justice system.

READ MORE... 
 

Sunday 28 December 2014

Neo-Nazis Desecrate Jewish Cemetery in Greece

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Members of Greece's Jewish community were shocked last Wednesday to discover that a former Jewish cemetery had been desecrated by neo-Nazis. 

The vandals sprayed swastikas and the words "six million more" in the ancient cemetery located in Larissa, in central Greece.

READ MORE...   

Friday 26 December 2014

Flemish Minister Apologizes for Comments Regarding Kosher Slaughter

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare Ben Weyts has advised the European Jewish Association of his intention to "enforce in all aspects" Belgian law facilitating the practice of ritual slaughter. 

Despite having previously called for a total ban on the practice in Belgium in televised comments, Weyts offered his full apologies in a letter to EJA General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin Wednesday for the "misunderstanding" which prompted the public backlash to his call.

READ MORE...   

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Holocaust Survivors' Descendants Help Keep Memory Alive in New Book

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters:

As the liberation of Auschwitz approaches its 70th anniversary next year, descendants of Holocaust survivors face a dilemma that will deepen as time passes - how to transmit "received memory" to future generations.

In a book named "God, Faith and Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors," 88 of them tell how they inherited the memory and how they hope to pass it on. 
 
READ MORE...
 

Warsaw's Lost Architecture Including Jewish Community Rebuilt in Miniature

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Many splendid pieces of Warsaw's architecture are gone or disfigured forever — victims of war and communism. But now some can be appreciated again — in miniature. 

The fate of some of Warsaw's architectural gems reflects the tragic story of a city that went through years of war, then decades of communism in which buildings were torn down or neglected. Generations of residents have grown up unaware of the past splendor of the city once called the "Paris of the North."

READ MORE...
 

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Czech Jewish Organization Opposes Attendance of Russian President Putin at Holocaust Memorial Event

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

The Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic has firmly opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Prague to attend ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 

Invited to attend events by Czech President Milos Zeman, the Russian leader has thus far neither accepted nor rejected taking part in the commemorations organized by the European Jewish Congress from January 26 to January 27 in Prague and Terezin, Czech Republic.

READ MORE...   

Monday 22 December 2014

German Village Names Street After Holocaust Victim

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Four cousins from Israel traveled to a small German town to learn about their heritage. They returned several months later to attend a poignant commemoration of their grandfather.

The town of Hargesheim, population 3,000, is about an hour's drive from Frankfurt. The Rauner family's roots there go back about 120 years, when Michael Rauner settled in town after fighting against the French in the German army. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery that is still preserved in the village.

READ MORE...   

Sunday 21 December 2014

Australian Teen Gets Educational Punishment for Threatening Jewish Kids

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

An Australian youth who terrorized Jewish children on a school bus with anti-Semitic chants and other violent gestures has received an original educational punishment from the law enforcement authorities and social services. 

The young man will be forced to attend a Shabbat meal with a Jewish family, visit the Sydney Jewish Museum and read Holocaust literature, JTA reports. 

READ MORE...   

Tuesday 16 December 2014

European Rights Group Warns of Growing Racism in Hungary

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Europe's leading human rights organization said Tuesday that discrimination against Gypsies, Jews, gays and other minorities in Hungary is getting worse and is urging authorities to fight racist violence and take other steps to protect the vulnerable. 

The Council of Europe made its recommendations in a report that examines a wide range of human rights issues in the country. Its release comes as studies claim poverty is increasing in the country and as Prime Minister Viktor Orban faces accusations from many fronts of weakening democratic standards.

READ MORE...
 

More Than 100 Holocaust Survivors to Attend Auschwitz Memorial to Mark 70th Anniversary of Death Camp's Liberation

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

More than 100 Auschwitz survivors from at least 17 countries will travel to Poland to participate in the observance of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz on January 27, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

The official event will be organized by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the International Auschwitz Council. The World Jewish Congress and the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education will be among the organizations supporting this commemorative event. 

READ MORE...   

Monday 15 December 2014

Survey: More Israeli Teens Encounter Hate on the Internet

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Jewish teenagers in Israel are more likely to encounter hate on the Internet in the form of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel expression than they were a year ago, according to a new survey of Israeli teens commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  

Israeli teens reported that the online attacks and anti-Semitic expressions increased noticeably during Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014, when Israel’s military struck back against Hamas rockets, tunnels and terrorism in Gaza.

READ MORE...  

German Court to Try Former Auschwitz Guard for Murder

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters and the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

A 93-year old man suspected of being a former guard at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz will be tried in the new year, a German court said on Monday. 

Nearly 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, in which some 6 million Jews as well as Roma, homosexuals, disabled and political opponents to the Nazis were put to death, most suspects have either died or are unfit for trial. 

READ MORE...   

Saudi School in Vienna Allegedly Used Antisemitic Book

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com with Reuters:

A Saudi school in Vienna is set to be closed down by Austria after allegations were made that it used anti-Semitic books and for failing to provide the names of its teachers and directors, Vienna's school board said on Monday.

The Vienna Board of Education began looking into the Saudi school last month, after reports that history lessons conducted at the school used a book that was anti-Semitic. According to the reports, the book described the Freemason society as a "secret, subversive Jewish organization dedicated to ensuring that Jews rule the world." 

READ MORE...   

Sunday 14 December 2014

The Forgotten Jews Who Fought the Nazis

FSWC Reports;

From ynetnews.com:

There is not a single student in the Israeli educational system who doesn’t learn about the Jewish Brigade and about Hannah Szenes and her friends. The bravery of the 5,000 Brigade soldiers should be praised and admired, but the truth is that it's just a drop in the ocean of Jewish blood which was shed on the front, vis-à-vis the Nazis. 

About a million and a half Jews fought as part of the Allies' armies. They stood out both because their number was much higher than their relative percentage in the countries they came from, and because of the huge number of losses they suffered. 

READ MORE...   

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Hitler Appears in Thai Video to Promote "Values"

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

The short propaganda film commissioned by Thailand's military rulers was supposed to promote the "12 core values" every Thai student must now learn. But there was one scene the junta has had trouble explaining: a grinning schoolboy painting an image of Adolf Hitler while his smiling classmate applauds. 

The video, which has been screened before movies in major theaters since Saturday, has been met with ridicule on social media and condemned by the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok.

READ MORE...
 

Poland Overturns Ban on Kosher Slaughter

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Poland’s constitutional court on Wednesday allowed the resumption of kosher slaughter in the country, ruling in favor of a petition to overturn a ban implemented last year. 

“Jewish communities all over Europe can sigh in relief,” said a statement by the European Jewish Association (EJA), which led the drive to reallow kosher slaughter in Poland. 

READ MORE...   

Tuesday 9 December 2014

German Court Throws Out Nazi Massacre Case

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

A German court on Tuesday threw out the case against a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian massacre in Nazi-occupied France, saying there was not enough evidence to bring the 89-year-old to trial.

Cologne resident Werner C., whose last name has not been revealed in accordance with German privacy laws, was charged with murder and accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter of 642 civilians in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France.

READ MORE...
 

Yeshiva Student Stabbed in Brooklyn. Police Suspect Antisemitism

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com with news agencies:

A young haredi man was stabbed and wounded early Tuesday morning in a Chabad house in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. 

The perptrator stormed into the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic world headquarters in Crown Heights at about 1:40 a.m. and attacked Levi Rosenblat, who was studying inside the synagogue, spokesman Motti Seligson said. He said there were other people inside at the time.

READ MORE...   

Monday 8 December 2014

Japanese Newspaper Apologizes for Antisemitic Ad

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

A conservative Japanese daily on Saturday apologized for carrying an advertisement for books by an author who claims Jewish people were behind the country's 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster. 

The advert ran in a regional edition of the Sankei Shimbun national newspaper on November 26, and promoted the works of Richard Koshimizu, a self-styled journalist and activist who also blames Jews for the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

READ MORE...  
 

France Vows "National" Fight Against Antisemitism

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com with the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP

France's government has pledged more action to fight anti-Semitism after an attack on a couple revived worries about the rising number of incidents targeting Jews in the country. 

Several hundred people demonstrated Sunday in the Paris suburb of Creteil, where the attack took place last Monday, to draw attention to what France's leading Jewish organization says is a nearly doubling of anti-Semitic incidents this year compared to 2013.

READ MORE...  
 

Friday 5 December 2014

U.S. Congress Sends President Obama Bill to Block Nazis From Receiving Social Security Benefits

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

A bill that would block suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving US government pension benefits is heading to President Barack Obama for his signature. 

By voice vote late Thursday, the Senate gave final congressional approval to a measure that would shut a loophole that allowed suspected Nazis to be paid millions of dollars in benefits, clearing it for the White House. 

READ MORE...   

France Agrees to Compensate Holocaust Deportees

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Thousands of Holocaust survivors and family members in the United States and elsewhere will be entitled to compensation from a $60 million French-U.S. fund announced Friday, as reparations to those deported by France's state rail company SNCF during the Nazi occupation.

As part of the deal, the U.S. government will work to end lawsuits and other compensation claims in U.S. courts against the SNCF, which is bidding for lucrative high-speed rail and other contracts in U.S. markets. State legislators in Maryland, New York, Florida and California have tried to punish SNCF for its Holocaust-era actions.

READ MORE...
 

Thursday 4 December 2014

Italian Soccer Star Under Fire for Allegedly Antisemitic Social Media Post

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has apologized for posting a message on Instagram that appeared to contain racist and anti-Semitic references and which has sparked a Football Association investigation. 

The Italy international re-posted an image of the Nintendo video game character Super Mario on the photo-sharing website that contained the phrase "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew."

READ MORE...   



French Documentary Claims Proof of Coco Chanel's Nazi Past

FSWC Reports:

From Shalom Life via ynetnews.com:

Over the past couple of years, rumors have been circulating that celebrity famous fashion designer Coco Chanel was a spy for the Nazi Party during World War II. 

Although no concrete evidence had been presented, stories about love affairs with high-ranking Nazis and top secret operations went rampant online.

READ MORE...   

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Antisemitism Suspected in Rape of Jewish Woman Near Paris

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A Jewish woman was raped in an apparent anti-Semitic attack in Créteil, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, French media reported Tuesday. 

According to the reports, three assailants broke into an apartment armed with a pistol and a sawed-off shotgun, demanding money and using anti-Semitic insults. 

READ MORE...   








Yeshiva Student Attacked in Russia

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Russian media reports claim that a yeshiva student was badly beaten in the Moscow region. According to Russian news agency Interfax, Shlomo (Fyodor) Romanovsky, a Belarusian national studying at the Torat Haim yeshiva, was badly beaten in the Ramensky District of the Moscow region.

"The attack occurred twenty meters from the entrance to the yeshivah, where Romanovsky was returning from Moscow, in the early hours of December 2. The victim said three attackers, who spoke to each other in a language that was not Russian, did not demand anything and attached him right away," the press service for the Russian Jewish Congress told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday.  

READ MORE...


 

Sunday 30 November 2014

Nazi on Top Ten Most Wanted List Presumed to Have Died in 2009

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Alois Brunner, the Nazi criminal who was considered the world's highest-ranking Nazi fugitive still living, apparently died four years ago in Damascus at age 97 according to new information received by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights NGO. 

Brunner, who was born in Austria in 1912, served as one of Adolf Eichmann's highest ranking assistants and was responsible for deporting 128,500 Jews to Nazi death camps during the Holocaust.  

READ MORE...

Friday 28 November 2014

Belgian Teacher Under Fire for Alleged Antisemitic Facebook Post

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

While most Jewish schools in North America usually require Jewish teachers, in the Belgian city of Antwerp Jewish public schools actually employ a secular staff, which consists mostly of non-Jewish teachers. 

Antwerp, currently home to approximately 18,000 Orthodox Jews, entrust these teachers to provide a proper education in the region's Jewish schools, which also employ Jewish staff to teach students Jewish studies and Hebrew.

READ MORE...   

Thursday 27 November 2014

American Football Player Compares Ferguson to Israel-Palestinian Conflict

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The Anti-Defamation League said Thursday that it was offended by a post on American football player Reggie Bush's Instagram account that compared the rioting in Ferguson, Missouri to Palestine.

The post “demonstrates a severe lack of understanding of both issues," said the ADL. 

READ MORE...   

Delegation of Imams From Senegal Visits Yad Vashem

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

"Today we learned of the worst act in history – the extermination of the Jews in Europe, an act that cannot be explained," said Imam El Hadji Omar Diene, the Secretary General of the National Association of Imams, who visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem this week with a delegation of six other Muslim religious leaders. 

"We are all equal humans, every human, from every race, religion and gender, and no religious justification can be found to kill and exterminate those who are different. The tour let us deeply understand Israel and the Jews and we bless connections between nations," said Imam Diene after the visit. 

READ MORE...   

English Football Association Charges Wigan Wwner Over Racist Remarks

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

The English Football Association has charged the chairman of Wigan for making controversial comments about Jewish and Chinese people in a newspaper interview.

The FA says that Dave Whelan's remarks "were abusive and/or insulting and/or constitute improper conduct and/or bring the game into disrepute."

READ MORE...   

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Shoes of Holocaust Victims Stolen in Poland

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:  

Polish authorities say that eight shoes that once belonged to Holocaust victims have been stolen from the former concentration camp Majdanek in Poland, now a state-run museum.

The Polish news agency PAP reported Tuesday that police believe the theft occurred between Nov. 18 and Nov. 20, when a museum employee discovered that a metal net that protected an exhibit of shoes had been cut and the shoes were missing.

READ MORE...

Monday 24 November 2014

Swiss Museum Accepts Large Art Collection That May Contain Works Looted by Nazis From Jews

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

A Swiss museum accepted a massive, priceless trove of long-hidden art from the late German collector Cornelius Gurlitt on Monday, promising to work with Germany to make sure that any Nazi-looted pieces in it are returned to Jewish heirs. 

Three works in the collection donated to Switzerland's Kunstmuseum Bern will be returned immediately because they have already been identified as looted art, German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said at a joint news conference with the museum. The pieces are by Henri Matisse, Max Liebermann and Carl Spitzweg.

READ MORE...
 

Governor of Province in Turkey Threatens to Turn Synagogue into Museum

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A Turkish governor is threatening to to turn a century-old synagogue into a museum as punishment for Israel’s alleged actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. 

Dursun Sahin, governor of the province of Edirne, said he was turning the 107-year old Buyuk Synagogue into a museum and would not permit the Jewish community to use it for ritual purposes.  

READ MORE...   

Sunday 23 November 2014

Yemen Minister Gives Award to Country's Dwindling Jewish Population

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Yemen's culture minister, who was recently honored for her work combatting extremism and discrimination against women, says she is giving her award to Yemen's dwindling Jewish population. 

Arwa Othman won Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges Award in September. At a Thursday celebration in Sanaa, Othman called for "tolerance" and dedicated her award to "brothers and friends from the Jewish community."

READ MORE...
 

Jewish Boy Attacked in New Zealand

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A 4-year-old Jewish New Zealand boy was attacked last week by a group of men while he walked home from his preschool in what local media are calling a "hate crime."

According to a report in The New Zealand Herald, the boy was left traumatized after being attacked by a man who hit him hard on the top of his head in front of his mother, brother and a friend. The indecent took place in what the paper described as an upscale Auckland suburb of Mt. Eden.

READ MORE...   

Thursday 20 November 2014

Arrest Made in Attack on Rabbi in New York City

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A 15-year-old teenager who attacked an Israeli Orthodox Jew at a Subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has been arrested in New York, according to a report by JTA. He is one of three assailants suspected of beating the Jewish man with his own umbrella and calling him a "dirty bloody Jew." 

The victim, identified as Rabbi Haim, is an Israeli citizen who was in New York for treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma. 

READ MORE...   

Owner of British Soccer Club Accused of Antisemitism Following Comment

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan has been accused of anti-Semitism after he told the Guardian that he thinks that “Jewish people chase money more than everybody else.”

Ironically, according to the Guardian, the comments came as part of Whelan's attempt to defend the appointment of Malky Mackay as Wigan’s manager, despite the fact that Mackay himself was being investigated by the UK's Football Association for alleged racism and anti-Semitism. 

READ MORE...   

Recent Spike in German Antisemitism According to New Poll

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters via ynetnews.com:

German anti-Semitism and resentment towards Israel has risen sharply in recent months, with more than one in four respondents in a new poll equating the Jewish state's treatment of Palestinians to Nazi persecution of Jews during World War Two.

The bi-annual survey on xenophobia in Germany by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation showed broad measures of anti-Semitism on the decline over the past decade. 

READ MORE...   

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Religious Jew Attached in Brooklyn by Three People Shouting Antisemitic Insults

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press and ynetnews.com:

An Orthodox Jewish man was attacked by three people at a train station in New York City on Monday, the New York Daily News reported on Tuesday. 

The assailants beat the Jewish man with his own umbrella and called him a "dirty bloody Jew" and "a "f---ing Jew," according to the New York Daily News. 

READ MORE...   

Monday 17 November 2014

Neo-Nazis in Dortmund, Germany Want List of City's Jews

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A neo-Nazi party from the city of Dortmund has reportedly demanded the city's mayor give them a list of all city's Jews, in an event eerily reminiscent of darker days in Germany's past. Luckily, the mayor refused and slammed the request, passing it on to legal authorities who are working to outlaw the party. 

According to different reports, the party, known as Die Rechte (The Right), wrote a letter to Dortmund Mayor Ullrich Sierau through its lone city council member, Dennis Giemsch, requesting to know many Jews live in and around the city, as well as their addresses. 

READ MORE...   

German Village Pranks Neo-Nazis

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

They keep coming back year after year. Since the 1990s, neo Nazi demonstrators invade the village of Wunsiedel in south Germany every November to commemorate the National Heroes' Remembrance Day by visiting the grave of Adolf Hitler’s Deputy, Rudolf Hess, which was located in the village until it was dissolved in 2005 when the lease agreement ran out.

The almost 1,000 inhabitants of Wunsiedel have been trying to stop these demonstrations every time, to no avail. They held counter demonstrations and formed action groups dedicated to tolerance, commitment and moral courage. 

READ MORE...   

Thursday 13 November 2014

Social Media Campaign Promotes Attacks on Jews

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, chief rabbi of the Inter-Provincial Chief Rabbinate of the Netherlands, has filed a complaint with the Dutch police of a run-over attempt. 

Rabbi Jacobs told Ynet he believed the incident was aimed at intimidating him, but did not rule out the possibility that it was an attempt to physically harm him. 

READ MORE...   

U.S. Lawmakers Move to Strip Former Nazis of Social Security Benefits

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

A bipartisan group of lawmakers will introduce legislation Thursday to strip suspected Nazi war criminals of their Social Security benefits, insisting American taxpayers should not be underwriting the retirement of anyone who participated in the Third Reich's atrocities. 

The Nazi Social Security Benefits Termination Act comes in response to an Associated Press investigation published in October that revealed millions of dollars in benefits have been paid to dozens of former Nazis who were forced out of the United States. At least four are alive, living in Europe on U.S. Social Security.

READ MORE...
 

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Senior Amnesty International Official Compares Israel to Islamic State on Twitter

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The campaigns manager for Amnesty International UK, Kristyan Benedict, published a Tweet on Wednesday comparing Israel to the Islamic State, using the contentious hashtag #JSIL. 

The hashtag has been used by extreme anti-Israel groups to draw a parallel between Israel and the Islamist organization infamous for beheading its captives, including several Western hostages. 

READ MORE...   

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Jewish Leaders Outraged Over Dachau Gate Theft

FSWC Reports:

From AFP via ynetnews.com:

Jewish leaders in Germany voiced outrage Monday over the theft of the gate to the former Nazi concentration camp Dachau with the chilling inscription "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work will set you free"). 

Police said they were following leads but had no concrete information about the theft of the forged iron gate, discovered early Sunday at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial near the southern city of Munich.

READ MORE...   

Sunday 2 November 2014

Part of "Work Sets You Free" Sign at Dachau Concentration Camp Stolen

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

German police say part of a wrought-iron gate at the former Dachau concentration camp bearing the Nazis' cynical slogan "Work sets you free" - or Arbeit Macht Frei - has been stolen. 

Police said in a statement that security officials noticed early Sunday the gate section measuring 190 by 95 centimeters (75 by 37 inches) was missing. They say that whoever stole it during the night would have had to climb over another gate to reach it.

READ MORE...   

Friday 31 October 2014

Jewish Headstones Being Used for Building Projects in Belarus

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

Thousands of Jewish headstones have been used to build houses, roads and even a supermarket in the city of Brest in Belarus, and a British charity is trying to preserve them as a memorial. 

The headstones have apparently been turning up in the city, close to the Polish border, for the past six years. Hundreds were uncovered by excavators in May during the construction of a supermarket in the city, the Daily Mail reported Friday. 

READ MORE...   

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Czechs Honour British Man for Saving Children From Nazi Death Camps

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

The president of the Czech Republic awarded a Briton his country's highest state honor for organizing a mass evacuation of children to save them from Nazi death camps.

Sir Nicholas Winton received the Order of the White Lion from President Milos Zeman at a ceremony Tuesday at Prague Castle. Accepting the award, the 105-year-old Winton said he was delighted to receive it.

READ MORE...
 

Monday 27 October 2014

Israeli Foreign Ministry & EU Representatives Meet to Discuss Combatting Antisemitism

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

"It's hard being openly Jewish in Europe today," Gideon Bachar, the Director of the Department for Combating Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Remembrance in the Foreign Ministry, said on Monday.

An experts' meeting on the topic of fighting anti-Semitism and racism conducted in Jerusalem today led to various estimates as to the future of the Jewish community in Europe and links between radical Islam and anti-Semitism. 

READ MORE...   

Sunday 26 October 2014

Poland Looks to Reclaim Its Jewish Heritage

FSWC Reports: 

From Reuters:

Poland, the country on whose soil Nazi Germany carried out the darkest acts of the Holocaust, is starting to re-connect with its other role in Jewish history, as a home for 1,000 years to one of the world's biggest Jewish communities.

The country will take a step in that direction next week with the opening of the main exhibition at Warsaw's newly built Museum of the History of Polish Jews, a project that sets out to remember not just how Jews in Poland died, but how they lived.

READ MORE...

Jewish Leader Indicted for Calling French Comedian an Antisemite

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A Jewish leader in France has been indicted for referring to French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala as a "professional anti-Semite." Over the course of the last few years, Dieudonne has been convicted in his country 10 times for inciting anti-Semitism.

The comedian essentially created and glorified the "quenelle," a reverse Nazi salute which became popularized in 2013 as scores of fans mimicked the gesture, including at historical Israeli sites like Yad Vashem. 

READ MORE...

Friday 24 October 2014

Israel Condemns Latvian Musical That Honours War Criminal

FSWC Reports:

From The Times of Israel:

Israel’s Foreign Ministry slammed the production in Latvia of a show celebrating the life of Nazi war criminal Herbert Cukurs. 

Titled “Cukurs, Herbert Cukurs,” the musical premiered earlier this month. The play is based on the life of the deputy commander of the Arajs Kommando force that participated in the near annihilation of Latvian Jewry after the Nazis invaded Latvia. Israel’s Mossad spy agency reportedly killed Cukurs in South America.

READ MORE...

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Protests Greet Opera Based on Story of American Jew Murdered in Palestinian Terrorist Attack

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The Israeli opera singer performing in a controversial opera at the Met defended Tuesday the show against accusations of anti-Semitism: "I would never sing in an anti-Semitic or anti-Israel or pro-terrorism opera," Maya Lahyani told Ynet. 

"It is upsetting that the majority of the protesters against 'Death of Klinghoffer' have never seen the opera. They have been swept up by the catchwords and specific quotes, and that's how they decided it's anti-Semitic," said the 32-year-old Israeli currently residing in New York. 

READ MORE...   

Ex-Nazis Expelled From U.S. Received Millions in Social Security Benefits

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

Former Auschwitz guard Jakob Denzinger lived the American dream.

His plastics company in the Rust Belt town of Akron, Ohio, thrived. By the late 1980s, he had acquired the trappings of success: a Cadillac DeVille and a Lincoln Town Car, a lakefront home, investments in oil and real estate.

Then the Nazi hunters showed up.

READ MORE...
 

Sunday 19 October 2014

Holocaust Theater Catalog Established in Miami

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press via ynetnews.com:

The first comprehensive archive of theater materials related to the Holocaust has been established at the University of Miami, allowing researchers and students worldwide access to such plays as Arthur Millers' "Broken Glass," the stage adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank" and the musical "Cabaret." 

The digital Holocaust Theater Archive includes more than 550 titles and will continue to grow, including details like synopses, country of origin, casts and rights holders.   Study guides and educational programs will be built around the archive.

READ MORE... 

Russian Website Launches "Miss Hitler" Beauty Pageant

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

A new kind of storm has hit the Internet over a beauty pageant searching for the ultimate "Miss Hitler." One of the Russian equivalents to Facebook, VKontakte, is inviting beautiful young girls who enjoy taking selfies to add Nazi themes to their pictures and enter the "Miss Ostland" beauty contest. 

In order to enter the competition there are strict qualifications for the aspiring "Miss Hitler"; the contestants need to be Nazis, Jew-haters, members of the Hitler social network group and most importantly to not insult the other candidates' photos. 

READ MORE...   

Friday 17 October 2014

Special Website Launched for Auschwitz Liberation Memorial

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum has launched a special website dedicated to the upcoming 70th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp.

One of the site's features is the Map of World Remembrance, where the museum plans to mark all commemorative events which will take place on January 27, 2015.  

READ MORE...
 

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Swastikas Found at Jewish Fraternity House Near Atlanta

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press, Reuters and ynetnews.com:

Swastikas were found painted on the exterior of a historically Jewish fraternity house at Emory University in metro Atlanta over the weekend, according to police and university reports, and officials said the vandalism would not be tolerated as they stepped up patrols at the private school. 

The Alpha Epsilon Pi house was targeted early Sunday morning, shortly after the end of the observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, Emory officials said.

READ MORE...   

Monday 6 October 2014

Serbian Soccer Team Penalized After Supporters Display Antisemitic Banner at Europa League Match

FSWC Reports:

From Reuters:

Partizan Belgrade have been ordered to close part of their stadium for their next European home game following trouble at the match against Tottenham Hotspur last month, including an anti-Semitic banner, UEFA said on Monday. The Serbian club were told to close sector K of the FK Partizan stadium and were fined 40,000 euros ($50,178) for the incidents, which UEFA said also included setting off of fireworks, the use of a laser pointer and a pitch invasion by supporters.

Partizan themselves had already condemned the banner and asked the Serbian government to help find the perpetrators.
 
READ MORE...
 

Thursday 2 October 2014

Germany Encouraged to Pursue Remaining Members of Einsatzgruppen Nazi Death Squads

FSWC Reports:

From the Associated Press:

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has identified dozens of former members of Nazi mobile death squads who might still be alive, and is pushing the German government for an investigation, The Associated Press has learned.

The Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, told the AP on Wednesday that in September he sent the German justice and interior ministries a list of 76 men and four women who served in the so-called Einsatzgruppen.

READ MORE...
 

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Flemish Minister Calls for Ritual Slaughter Ban in Belgium

FSWC Reports:

From ynetnews.com:

The European Jewish Association (EJA) has voiced its concern over plans to implement a total ban on the practice of Jewish ritual slaughter in Belgium, insisting the move is a violation of freedom of religion. 

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the EJA's general director, spoke out Monday after Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare Ben Weyts told Belgian television he would actively pursue a total ban on the practice of animal slaughter without pre-stunning. If successful, the move could be implemented by 2015. 

READ MORE...