The European Jewish Association is proud and delighted to welcome another organisation to our growing roster of partners and communities.
We have just concluded and signed a memorandum of understanding with NIG De Stedendriehoek
We very much look forward to work closely together to the benefit of the Apeldoorn jewish community and European Jewry as a whole
La rédaction de RCF Loiret a pu visiter le camp de concentration de Theresienstadt, situé aux portes de Prague. Parmi les milliers de personnes qui y ont été enfermées, un jeune juif, Zelman Brajer provenait d’un camp d’internement et de transit Loirétain. Le journaliste Gabriel Laprade a retracé le chemin de déportation de cet homme, jusqu’au lieu de sa libération.
Soixante-dix-huit ans après la fin de la deuxième Guerre mondiale, on tend malheureusement à oublier que ce conflit et la Shoah ont eu sur la vie quotidienne de millions d’homme et de femmes. Il ne faut pas penser que l’holocauste du peuple juif soit juste une notion contenue dans les livres d’histoire. Cette tragédie a touché des personnes communes qui ont été arrachées de leur quotidien, de leurs familles, de leurs amis.
L’une de ces personnes – l’artiste polonais Zelman Brajer – a été arrêté à Paris en 1941 et transféré dans l’une des “portes” des camps de la mort nazis, qui étaient situés dans le Loiret. En effet Zelman Brajer (1919-2003) est prisonnier du “camps d’internement et de transit”, comme l’appelaient les nazis, de Beaune-la-Rolande. Avec son jumeau de Pithiviers, lui aussi situé dans le Loiret, ce camp a été le point de départ de plus de 18.000 personnes. Presque toutes ont trouvé la mort dans les “lager” de Hitler.
Zelman Brajer est d’abord prisonnier à Auschwitz, puis transféré à Terezin. Le 8 mai 1945, l’artiste polonais retrouve sa liberté.
Theresienstadt est une forteresse fondée en 1784 aux portes de Prague qui, pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, a été utilisée par les nazis comme ghetto. D’abord, des juifs tchèques et des célébrités y ont été enfermés, puis des juifs venant du Danemark et des Pays-Bas y ont été envoyés.
Au total, plus de 140 000 personnes sont passées par le ghetto. 35 000 y ont perdu la vie, et 88 000 ont été déportées et assassinées.
Sur place, Gidon Lev, survivant de l’holocauste et de Theresienstadt de 87 ans, est retourné au ghetto pour en faire la visite. Il dédit aujourd’hui une partie de sa vie au travail de la mémoire, en sensibilisant les plus jeunes sur les réseaux sociaux Instagram et TikTok : TheTrueAdventures.
“The ‘Group of the Elders of Zion’ and Mayer AmschelRothschild, the skilful founder of the famous dynasty that still today controls the International Banking System, led to the creation of a manifesto: ‘The Protocols…’”
Looking at the above quote, you would think that it was written by a Nazi in the 1930’s, right?
Wrong. This was posted this week by Senator Elio Lannutti, of the Italian Five Star Movement on Twitter.
On the 27th January we will have marked International Holocaust day.
Senator Lannutti reminded us why we must continue to mark international holocaust day, and why we can never assume such a horrendous calamity could never be inflicted on us again.
Antisemitism is as stubbornly rooted as ever. Try and rip it up and its seeds will travel somewhere else. From France to Spain, or Belgium to Belorussia, the political winds that carry it can be strong, or a barely perceptible breeze, but still they blow.
Deborah Lipstadt knows this. She describes where we are right now as a “perfect storm”.
Lipstadt is best know for the libel suit filed against her, by the Holocaust denier David Irving. In her latest book “Antisemitism: Here and Now,” she examines the recent rise in anti-Semitism in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe.
In an interview with the New Yorker this week, she summed the situation up as follows:
“On some level, it is the same old, same old. The construct is the same, the stereotypes are the same. But I think what is different today is that we’re seeing a perfect storm, in that usually it comes from either the right or the left politically. Today we’re seeing it from the political right and the political left, and we are seeing it particularly—not only, but particularly—in Europe from Islamist extremists, or jihadists, or whatever term you’d like to use.”
Why is anti-Semitism still with us? I believe that it is so deeply embedded, that it operates almost at a subconscious level in most people. After all, when things go bad, economically, politically or otherwise, we are to blame. But if any other random group had these accusations laid at their door, such as pizza delivery people or cyclists, everyone would say it was nuts.
Yes, it can sometimes feel like a heavy burden, but Ann Frank, displaying a wisdom far beyond her tender years,summed it up neatly:
“Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is G-d that has made us as we are, but it will be G-d, too, who will raise us up again. If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. Who knows, it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason alone do we have to suffer now. We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any country for that matter; we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too.”
I want you to take this message to heart.
Empires come and go, War turns to Peace, and back again, yet still we are here, giving the world the shared totality of our many talents, expertise and wisdom. Not for ourselves but for everyone.
We want to remain Jews. Because we are. Because we can be no other. Because not being so is like asking us not to breathe. Yes, we are leaders in science, the arts, and yes, Senator, in Banking too.
It is not arrogance or self-serving interest that drives us on, as the antisemites would have it.
In fact, it is the exact opposite. Our task was and remains to this day, the same task that each of us were given at Sinai by the Almighty: To make the world a better place. This responsibility rests on every Jew, from Rothschild the banker to Rosenbaum the street cleaner. It is not for our benefit that we do our best, but to honour the task that G-d gave us, for the benefit of all humanity.
We must never lose sight of this. And we must never relent in our task. I will leave the last word to Winston Churchill. Let it be your call to action, and a reminder to us all on dark days such as Holocaust Memorial Day:
“Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.”
May G-d continue to bless us all.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Monday was awarded the King David Award by the European Jewish Association for “her support to the Jewish community in Europe,” the multinational body announced.
Metsola received the award after she visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp to commemorate victims of the Holocaust.
During the visit, Metsola laid a wreath at the Death Wall and attended a memorial ceremony, the European Parliament said.
“I struggled to comprehend how a quiet part of the world, surrounded by beautiful Birch trees, provided the setting for the worst crimes man has ever seen,” Metsola said, adding that the entire world must know the “horror that stems from indifference.”
Metsola added that the King David Award “will serve to me as a continuous reminder of those heinous crimes committed against humanity in the past and to recall the importance of speaking up in defense of our common values today.”
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
It’s a challenging time for Jewish communities in Europe. Anti-Semitism is on the rise as populism and the politics of the lowest common denominator are gaining traction. Our communities often need round the clock protection and our practices and customs such as keeping Kosher are under pressure from increasing political interference.
