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  • “Some Things Simply Should Not Be Traded” writes EU Jewish Head to Munich Auction House Ahead of Nazi Memorabilia Sale.

“Some Things Simply Should Not Be Traded” writes EU Jewish Head to Munich Auction House Ahead of Nazi Memorabilia Sale.

November 11, 2019
Belgium

“Some Things Simply Should Not Be Traded” writes EU Jewish Head to Munich Auction House Ahead of Nazi Memorabilia Sale.

As Europe marked the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Chairman of the European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin has had to write to a Munich Auction house asking them to cancel the sale of items belonging to infamous Nazis Hess, Goring, Himmler and Hitler himself.

Hermann Historica will be holding an auction on the 20th November that includes a number of pieces for sale from the Nazi leadership including framed photographs, silver dinner services, plates, letters and Jewellery belonging to Goring’s wife.

In his letter to the Auction House, Rabbi Margolin said:

“I am writing to respectfully ask you to withdraw the auction. This is not a legal appeal to you, but very much a moral one. What you are doing is not illegal, but it is wrong.

“I need not remind you of the many millions of lives lost as a result of national socialism, nor of the approximately six million Jewish lives that were lost due to mindless antisemitic hatred. This is history.

“Yet today, across Europe and including Germany (which now has the highest recorded cases in Europe), antisemitism in on the rise, and we believe the sale of such memorabilia has little intrinsic historical value but instead will be bought by those who glorify and seek to justify the actions of the greatest evil to affect Europe. The trade therefore in such items should simply not take place.

“In Israel recently there was a case of a letter written by a child murdered in the holocaust that was put up for sale. This went to court, and the ensuing public pressure resulted in the cancelling of the sale. The message from society was clear and unambiguous: some things simply cannot be traded.

“It is in this spirit of understanding that I ask you again to withdraw the Nazi auction items, again not because of any illegality, but instead to send a message that some things particularly when so metaphorically blood soaked, should not and must not be traded.” 

Rabbi Margolin letter:

Some of the items on sale can be viewed here

Additional Articles

Belgium

Why Do Jews Have To Be Murdered For You To Admit Anti-Semitism Is Real?

For the second time this year, a white supremacist marched into a synagogue and shot it up. On the six-month anniversary of the deadly shooting in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, a copycat inspired by that attack marched into the Chabad of Poway and opened fire.
In the wake of the horrific attack, many were the forceful condemnations of hate. I’ve read meaningful, painful expressions of solidarity.
But one disturbing phrase kept popping up. Everyone from Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris, Republican Senator Tim Scott, Democratic Representative Ted Lieu, and even Jewish writers and activists felt the need to announce: “anti-Semitism is real.”
Hearing this didn’t make me feel better. It made me feel worse.
Of course, anti-Semitism is real. That should go without saying. According to the Anti-Defamation League, over one billion people in the world harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. These hateful thoughts are leading to real atrocities; 2017 was plagued by 1,986 anti-Semitic hate crimes, plus a march where hundreds of white nationalists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis came together to chant that “Jews will not replace us.”

This problem isn’t confined to South Carolina. I went to high school in New York and college in Los Angeles; both of the buildings where I went to school have been branded with spray-paint swastikas.
When the Chabad of Poway was attacked, American Jews hadn’t gone six months since a white supremacist last stormed into a synagogue and killed the Jews inside. We hadn’t gone a full day since The New York Times had to apologize for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon.
I shouldn’t be able to roll out these statistics and offenses off the top of my head. But I, like most Jews I know, am constantly forced to “prove” that my community is under siege.
Every time I speak up about anti-Semitism, I’m gaslit by people who deny it exists. They even go so far as to accuse me of fabricating false allegations of hate in bad faith.
In other words, not only is there a furious spike in hatred against Jews in this world; there is also a ferocious movement to deny that it is happening.
Jews no longer just face a fringe squad of maniacs who pretend the Holocaust was a hoax; anti-Semitism denial is a widespread epidemic.
This morning, my mother told me that she’s too afraid to step into a temple again. She has good reason to panic. Lori Gilbert Kaye, the woman who was shot dead in Poway, is right around her age. She left behind a daughter who’s mine. They could have been us; in some ways, they were.
Instead of crying with my mother, I spent tonight regurgitating statistics, pointing to today’s tragedy as evidence that our panic isn’t paranoia, that it shouldn’t take Jews getting murdered for people to recognize anti-Semitism.
But it does. So every time an anti-Semitic tragedy strikes, I feel compelled to broadcast it as evidence of the atrocities Jews face. I’m not the only one who so feels that way. Even Audrey Jacobs, a close friend of Kaye who expressed her loss in a Facebook post, took the time to repeat “anti-Semitism is real” in its final lines.
We wouldn’t be compelled to state that “anti-Semitism is real” if people weren’t actively declaring that it wasn’t.
Like Jacobs, I mourn for Kaye, who was executed for the crime of being a Jew. I mourn for my entire community, who don’t feel safe in our own houses of faith or supported, neither by our President nor by the social justice organizations that oppose him. But I also mourn for our ability to process our pain privately and on a personal level.
Anti-Semitism has become so normalized that we have to paint the picture of Jew-hatred with fresh Jewish blood. There’s no time to grieve. We’re forced to immediately turn every act of anti-Semitism into a teaching moment. When the world offers their condolences, Jews utilize the brief attention from being murdered to shout out “See? We weren’t making it up!”
Hatred of Jews is palpable, widespread, and increasingly lethal.
The people who need to see Jewish corpses on the ground to believe “anti-Semitism is real” are part of the problem.
Ariel Sobel is a nationally-recognized writer-director, activist, and TED speaker. Follow her on Twitter @arielsobelle.
This story “Why Do Jews Have To Be Murdered For You To Admit Anti-Semitism Is Real?” was written by Ariel Sobel. and was publish on Forward

  • April 29, 2019
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Hungary

כנס הארגונים היהודיים בהונגריה: מנהיגי הקהילות הציעו להגן על היהודים

כ־300 מנהיגי הקהילות החברות באיגוד הארגונים היהודיים באירופה התכנסו בבודפשט תחת אמצעי ביטחון קפדניים, בנוכחותם של נציגים בכירים וחברי פרלמנט ממדינות האיחוד האירופי, כדי לדון בנושאים דחופים המעיקים על יהודי היבשת.

בין הנושאים: המצב שיצרה המלחמה באוקראינה וחופש הפולחן הדתי המאוים על ידי איסור השחיטה הכשרה כפי שקרה בבלגיה, שבה בוטלה הגזירה באזור בריסל בלבד, התגברות האנטישמיות ועוד.

משתתפי הכנס פנו בהצעות מעשיות לממשלות האיחוד האירופי על בסיס סקר ראשון מסוגו שבחן את איכות חיי היהודים וביצועיהן של 12 ממשלות באירופה בפרמטרים המרכזיים הנדרשים לקיום חיים יהודיים, ובהם פעילות נגד אנטישמיות, אבטחת ביטחון וחופש דת והצבעות בעד או נגד ישראל באו”ם. לפי הסקר, המדינות הידידותיות ביותר ליהודים הן איטליה, הונגריה ודנמרק. בתחתית הרשימה: צרפת, פולין ובלגיה.
בתחום הביצועים המעשיים למען הקהילות ניצבות בראש הדירוג גרמניה, אוסטריה וצרפת, שלמרות תחושת חוסר הביטחון של היהודים בשטחה, היא עושה הכל לחיזוקו. בתחתית: דנמרק, ספרד ובלגיה.

לדברי נשיא איגוד הארגונים היהודיים הרב מנחם מרגולין, אין כוונה להתנגח במדינה זו או אחרת, אלא ליצור תשתית של השוואה שתאפשר למדינות ולקהילות נקיטת צעדים מעשיים. סגן ראש ממשלת הונגריה זסולט סמיין הדגיש את פעילות ממשלתו להגנת הקהילה היהודית המקומית ולמלחמה באנטישמיות ובהכחשת השואה, כולל פעולה נגד הגורמים הניאו־נאצים שעורכים מדי פעם הפגנות.

לדבריו, הונגריה בלמה לחלוטין את האנטישמיות, כשמנעה את האסלאם הפוליטי הקיצוני בכך שהקימה חומה ואסרה על הגירה בלתי חוקית. הונגריה גם תומכת בשחיטה הכשרה ומספקת בשר כשר למדינות אחרות.

סמיין אמר ל”מעריב” כי בכוונת ארצו להמשיך למנוע החלטות ומדיניות נגד ישראל באיחוד האירופי, ואף להתנגד למימון ארגוני טרור על ידי אירופה. במקביל היא תפעל ליישום ההסכמים הכלכליים עם ישראל, שהאיחוד הקפיא בשנים האחרונות, ותמשיך לפתח את יחסיה הכלכליים עם ישראל – שנמצאים כבר עכשיו בדרגה גבוהה.

הונגריה מכירה בירושלים כבירת ישראל אך לא תעביר את שגרירותה לשם, בכפוף למדיניות האיחוד האירופי. הוא גינה את השימוש בתירוץ ה”דנציפיקציה” על ידי רוסיה בפלישה למדינה ריבונית כמו אוקראינה, למרות קיומם של חוגים ניאו־נאצים במדינה והמעשים שביצעו אוקראינים בתקופת השואה, ולמרות דיכוי שפות המיעוטים כמו רוסית והונגרית.

סגנית נשיאת הפרלמנט האירופי ניקולה באר, העומדת בראש הקבוצה נגד האנטישמיות, סיפרה למתכנסים על הצעדים הננקטים בנושא זה, וסגן שר הפנים היווני סטברוס קלפטיס הודיע על הקמה של מוזיאון שואה בסלוניקי, שיהיה מן הגדולים בעולם.

  • June 22, 2022
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Belgium

Statement on COVID-19 economic policy response

Following up on the videoconference on 10 March 2020 between European Council Members, as well as the ECB President, the Eurogroup President and the High Representative, the Eurogroup held an in-depth discussion today, together with non-Euro Area Members, on how to respond to the extraordinary human and economic crisis caused by the Corona virus.
The Eurogroup expressed its sympathy and solidarity with the citizens and the Member States particularly hit by this crisis and its gratitude to those risking their own health to save lives. The Eurogroup is following the situation very closely and is in permanent contact and coordinated to give a strong economic policy response to the exceptional situation. Our commitments of today reflect our strong determination to do whatever it takes to effectively address the current challenges and to restore confidence and support a rapid recovery.
Today, we welcomed all the measures taken by Member States and by the European Commission, in particular those taken to ensure that health systems and civil protection systems are adequately provided for to contain and treat the disease, preserve the wellbeing of our citizens and help firms and workers that are particularly affected.
Facing these exceptional circumstances, we agreed that an immediate, ambitious and co-ordinated policy response is needed. We have decided to act and will respond swiftly and flexibly to developments as they unfold. We will make use of all instruments necessary to limit the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. We have therefore put together a first set of national and European measures while setting a framework for further actions to respond to developments and to support the economic recovery. Preliminary estimates of the European Commission show that total fiscal support to the economy will be very sizeable. We have, so far, decided fiscal measures of about 1% of GDP, on average, for 2020 to support the economy, in addition to the impact of automatic stabilisers, which should work fully. We have, so far, committed to provide liquidity facilities of at least 10% of GDP, consisting of public guarantee schemes and deferred tax payments. These figures could be much larger going forward.
The following measures are part of our co-ordinated responses to protect our economies.
1. All national authorities will allow automatic stabilisers to function and in addition implement all necessary measures to ensure that the economic consequences of COVID-19 are tackled and that they do not put in danger our economic and social achievements. To the extent required by the evolving situation in each country, they will implement temporary measures such as:

    • Immediate fiscal spending targeted at containment and treatment of the disease. Adequate resources will be provided to our health sectors and civil protection systems;
    • Liquidity support for firms facing severe disruption and liquidity shortages, especially SMEs and firms in severely affected sectors and regions, including transport and tourism – this can include tax measures, public guarantees to help companies to borrow, export guarantees and waiving of delay penalties in public procurement contracts;
    • Support for affected workers to avoid employment and income losses, including short-term work support, extension of sick pay and unemployment benefits and deferral of income tax payments.

2. Coordinated efforts at the European level will supplement national measures:

    • We welcome the Commission’s proposal for a €37 billion “Corona Response Investment Initiative” directed at health care systems, SMEs, labour markets and other vulnerable parts of our economies, and to make a further €28 billion of structural funds fully eligible for meeting these expenditures. We agreed on the need to implement the necessary legislative changes as quickly as possible;
    • We welcome the initiative of the Commission and the EIB Group to mobilise up to €8 billion of working capital lending for 100,000 European firms, backed by the EU budget, by enhancing programmes for guaranteeing bank credits to SMEs. We also support the ongoing efforts of the Commission and the EIB Group to increase this amount to up to €20 billion, which would reach a further 150,000 firms. We also welcome the ongoing work to make further funds available as swiftly as possible and to enhance the flexibility of the financial instruments leveraged;
    • We welcome the initiative of the EIB Group to catalyse €10 billion in additional investments in SMEs and midcaps for their own account and to accelerate the deployment of another €10 billion backed by the EU budget;
    • We invite the EIB to further enhance and accelerate the impact of the available resources, including through enhanced collaboration with the National Development Banks;
    • We also welcomed the package of monetary policy measures taken by the ECB last week aimed at supporting liquidity and funding conditions for households, businesses and banks, help the smooth provision of credit to the real economy, and avoid fragmentation of euro area financial markets in order to preserve the smooth transmission of monetary policy.

3. Beyond the immediate, targeted response, we are working on all the necessary measures, to help the economy recover once the coronavirus has receded. We acknowledge the need to reflect on the resilience of our European strategic value chains to better protect Europe from product and capital market disruptions in the future. We have already significantly strengthened our crisis management framework, including with the establishment of the ESM. Today we recommit to continue our work to further strengthen the architecture and resilience to shocks of the Economic and Monetary Union.
Our shared rules will support this response. In particular, we discussed the application of the SGP, state aid rules and prudential rules:

  • The economic shock of the coronavirus, with an economic contraction now expected this year, together with the cost of our agreed measures, will have a substantial budgetary impact. The SGP has the flexibility needed to cater for this situation and we will make full use of this flexibility in all member states.
  • Automatic stabilisers will fully play their role. This means that automatic revenue shortfalls and unemployment benefit increases resulting from the drop in economic activity will not affect compliance with the applicable fiscal rules, targets and requirements. In addition, we agreed that the budgetary effects of temporary fiscal measures taken in response to COVID-19 will be excluded when assessing compliance with the EU fiscal rules, targets and requirements. This includes the budgetary impact of temporary and targeted measures, such as those urgently needed to contain and treat the pandemic, ensure liquidity support to firms and sectors, and protect jobs and incomes of affected workers. The flexibility to cater for unusual events outside the control of government is applicable to the current situation. We welcome the readiness of the Commission to activate the general escape clause, allowing for further discretionary stimulus, while preserving medium-term sustainability.
  • We welcomed the Commission guidance on the scope for supporting firms that is available within state aid rules in the current circumstances, together with the Commission announcement that it has accelerated its state aid approval processes. The Commission has announced it will approve additional measures needed to remedy this serious disturbance in the economy, which is already the case for Italy and increasingly across the EU. Taking urgent action and making full use of the flexibility foreseen in the state aid rules is necessary to cushion the effect of the crisis for those companies and sectors which are affected, whilst ensuring a consistent framework and a level playing field in the single market. The Commission stands ready to issue a specific framework shortly.
  • The banking system has a key role in preventing this health emergency from turning into a social and economic crisis for businesses and households. We therefore welcomed the statement by the European Banking Authority that competent authorities should make full use, where appropriate, of the flexibility embedded in existing regulation to support the banking sector in view of the current exceptional circumstances.
  • In particular, we also welcomed the decisions taken by ECB Banking Supervision providing temporary capital and operational relief to euro area banks, with a view to ensuring that supervised banks can continue to fulfil their role in funding the real economy as the economic effects of the coronavirus become apparent. Such flexibility is needed to avoid, as much as possible, pro-cyclical, unintended consequences for the financial sector.

We will take whatever further coordinated and decisive policy action is necessary, including fiscal measures, to support growth and employment.

  • March 17, 2020
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Belgium

Belgian government asks to revoke refugee status of Samidoun leader

Samidoun is  a controversial organization close to Palestinian Islamist groups that was banned in Germany after celebrating the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

Mohammed Khatib is “known as an extremist hate preacher,” says Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration.

Belgium’s government has asked to revoke the refugee status of Mohammed Khatib, the coordinator in Europe for Samidoun, a controversial organization close to Palestinian Islamist groups that was banned in Germany after celebrating the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, announced that she had asked the immigration services to withdraw the refugee status of Khatib, who she said was “known as an extremist hate preacher”.

“The asylum procedure is intended for people fleeing war or unjust persecution. There is no place for people who represent a danger to society”, she said.

“Even if someone has already been recognized as a refugee if that person turns out to be an extremist, recognition can be withdrawn.”

She explained that the request was based on “information provided by the security services”, without giving any further details.

Last month, members of the parliament in Netherlands criticized their government for not preventing Khatib from attending a rally in the country.

Belgian government asks to revoke refugee status of Samidoun leader

  • April 16, 2024
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European Jewish Association

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.

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