New year message from EJA Chairman for Rosh HaShanah:

שעון הזהב וכוס השמפניה של אדולף היטלר, קולר שהיה שייך לכלב של אווה בראון, סכו”ם של בכירים נאצים – ואפילו נייר טואלט של הוורמאכט: הפריטים האלה ופריטים נאציים נוספים, יוצעו למכירה פומבית בבית מכירות אמריקני מחר (יום ו’) – ובהנהגה היהודית באירופה, מחאה וזעם.

בית המכירות “אלכסנדר” (Alexander Historical Auctions), הפועל במדינת מרילנד שבארצות הברית, יציע מגוון רחב של פרטים שהיו בבעלותו של הצורר, בת זוגו אווה בראון ובכירים במפלגה הנאצית ובוורמאכט. למעלה מ-30 מנהיגי קהילות וארגונים יהודיים אירופיים הצטרפו ליו”ר איגוד הארגונים היהודים באירופה (EJA), הרב מנחם מרגולין, בקריאה לביטול המכירה הפומבית.

במכתב בהול למנהל בית המכירות, מציינים הרב מרגולין ועשרות המנהיגים היהודים כי “המכירה של הפריטים האלה היא תועבה, ואין ערך היסטורי מהותי לחלק הארי של הפריטים המוצגים, לכן יש לפקפק במוטיבציה של הרוכשים אותם”. הם הוסיפו כי “אירופה סבלה מאוד בגלל האידיאולוגיה המעוותת והרצחנית של המפלגה הנאצית. מיליונים מתו כדי לשמר את ערכי החופש שאנו רואים כיום כמובנים מאליהם, כולל כמעט חצי מיליון אמריקנים. היבשת שלנו זרועה בקברי אחים לזיכרון ובאתרי מחנות המוות”.

https://www.ynet.co.il/judaism/article/byyooayaq

צילום: Alexander Historical Auctions)

Yesterday, on 29 October 2019, the European Jewish Association and our partners from the Action and Protection Foundation /Hungary/ have once again travelled abroad to meet with government officials regarding the European Curriculum and Textbook Project against Antisemitism. This time, our destination has been the Slovak capital of Bratislava, situated at the very heart of Europe, in-between the Danube and Morava rivers. 

Alex Benjamin, EJA’s Director of Public Affairs, Ferenc Olti, Board Member of the Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association, and Kálmán Szalai, APF’s Secretary, have met with Maria Prekop, Director General at the Department of Minorities and Inclusive Education, and Katarína Baranyaiová, Counsellor at the Department of Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. 

During the meeting, we have had a chance to present the project, its earlier implementation process and the results achieved in Hungary, as well as discuss the Slovak system of education, particularly its emphasis on minority inclusion and social dialogue, and thus briefly touch upon the project’s compatibility with the rules and customs already in place.

It has been agreed that our proposal shall be further carefully examined by the Ministry, with a special attention towards its operational feasibility in case of potential adaptation within the national curriculum.

We greatly appreciate the forthcomingness of the Slovak authorities and the very productive discussion with Ms. Prekop and Ms. Baranyaiová. We thus eagerly look forward to hopeful cooperation with the Ministry, the local Jewish community and other partners on this important initiative.

La Asociación Judía Europea (EJA) honrará a Adidas por su decisión de romper lazos con el rapero Kanye West.

El presidente de EJA, el rabino Menachem Margolin, entregará el premio King David a Amanda Rajkumar, miembro de la junta ejecutiva de recursos humanos globales, personas y cultura de Adidas.

Dicho reconocimiento se llevará a cabo este martes durante una conferencia que comenzó el lunes en Praga y el antiguo campo de concentración de Theresienstadt, en República Checa.

Más de 100 líderes, parlamentarios y diplomáticos de toda Europa encenderán velas el martes en memoria de las 33.000 personas que murieron en Theresienstadt y los más de 88.000 prisioneros deportados a campos de exterminio. El evento se produce antes del Día Internacional del Recuerdo del Holocausto dedicado a la memoria de las víctimas del Holocausto, el viernes.

La Asociación Judía Europea le entregará un premio a Adidas por cortar lazos con Kanye West

Jewish Community of Athens spokesman says: “the scene is repulsive and our disappointment is great” after vandals carried out attack during early hours of Shabbat

 A Jewish cemetery near Athens that was desecrated with neo-Nazi symbols two years ago has once again be vandalised.
A press release by the Jewish Community of Athens said: “On Saturday, the most holy day in Judaism, it is imperative and we are accustomed to abstain from everyday activities and, of course, from announcements. In the context of this almost absolute rigor of observance of the Sabbath holiday, there are exceptions that have to do with dealing with the threat of a life or a great pain.
“Such is the pain that caused us, today, on Saturday, May 5, 2018, the revelation of a new wave of vandalism in the Jewish Cemetery of Athens. Unknown vandals entered our Cemetery during the night and destroyed nine commemorative marble struts kicking them with fury, leaving them to peel off their bases and crushing them on the ground. These marble slabs are used to mark the sectors of our Cemetery and are dedicated to the memory of the dead by their families.
“The scene is repulsive and our disappointment is great. This is not the first time we see the result of a degrading act at our Cemetery but it is the first time we see such act was organised and planned in part of the Cemetery that is not visible from the neighboring houses and with incredible fury. The view of the results of this abominable act causes us deep sorrow and anger.
“The Jewish Community of Athens will exercise all the legal means at its disposal, the first steps have already been taken by the police authorities that immediately came to the collection of clues.
“But besides the Law, we call upon all the institutions of the State and the City, the Justice, the Religious and Spiritual Authorities of the country and the Civil Society, to condemn unambiguously and without reservation this desecration and to stand with absolutely zero tolerance against such phenomena of violence and intolerance. There is no worse sign of a society’s moral decline than desecration of a Cemetery and disrespect for the dead.
“It is not just an act that concerns only our Community and is recorded as one of the most violent and significant anti-Semitic events of recent years in Greece. It is about an act that brutally affects the whole of society, the values and principles of a favored state.
For these reason, we ask everybody to exhaust every effort to never allow such acts against anyone.”
In October 2015, parties who have not been identified wrote in black paint on the entrance to the same cemetery south of the Greek capital the number 18 – a neo-Nazi code for Adolf Hitler — and the word “raus” – German for “out.” In Nazi Germany, the phrase Juden raus, “Jews out,” was a common slogan among anti-Semites. They also painted a swastika on the cemetery’s gate.
Greece’s Golden Dawn party is widely considered one of Europe’s most virulent neo-Nazi movements with representation in a national parliament. It holds 16 seats out of 300 in the Greek parliament.
The Nikaia Jewish cemetery is an active and relatively new place of burial. The community has been burying its dead there since shortly after World War II, when city authorities allocated the land to the community for this purpose.
The article was published on the Jewish News Online