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Vol. 38-No.1 ISSN 0892-1571 September/October 2011 - Tishri/Cheshvan 5772 ENSURING THE LEGACY 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN & INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR YAD VASHEM sponding to the challenges of the 21st century. Joseph BY ELI ZBOROWSKI, Wilf, American Society Vice Chairman, was appointed as FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN the Chairman of the Yad Vashem 2001 Campaign. OF THE AMERICAN & IN- The projects of major benefactors of Yad Vashem 2001 TERNATIONAL SOCIETIES include: FOR YAD VASHEM The Partisans’ Panorama – Julia and Isidore Karten, Harry Karten, Marcia Toledano, and Berne Bookhamer ilestones provide an The Survivors Wall – Gale and Ira Drukier Mopportunity to reflect The Entrance Plaza – The Wilf family in memory of on the past and to project Harry Wilf plans for the future. We The Visitors’ Center – David and Fela Shapell began our efforts as the Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Gross of Rosedale, New York. In- Bridge to a Vanished World – Mr. and Mrs. Jan Czuker American & International So- terest and enthusiasm soon attracted Arie Halpern, Harry The Holocaust History Museum – Harry and Judith cieties united in the desire that the horrors of the Holocaust and Joe Wilf, and others. Wilf family and Joseph and Elizabeth Wilf family should never be forgotten. As we mark the 30th Anniver- The first major project the Societies undertook at Yad Gallery in the Holocaust History Museum – The Nor- sary of the American & International Societies for Yad Vashem was the building of the Valley of Communities, a man Braman Family Foundation Vashem in 2011, we feel that we have successfully met our memorial to the more than 5,000 communities that were The Synagogue – Marilyn and Barry Rubenstein and envisioned goals. Our support has helped Yad Vashem destroyed during the Holocaust. During the nine years it family become one of the most significant landmarks in the moral took to build the Valley, the American Society completed The Museum of Holocaust Art – Dr. Miriam and Shel- history of humankind. the Jewish Soldiers, Ghetto Fighters, and Partisan Monu- don G. Adelson ment, an endeavor spearheaded by Frank Blaichman, The Learning Center – Stella and Sam Skura IN THE EARLY YEARS Jack Pomerance and Isidore Karten. Several other proj- The Exhibition Pavilion – Tina and Steven Schwarz t this time, I would first like to share with you the ects were erected through the generosity of specific and Rochelle and Henryk Schwarz A challenges we faced in the early years. As a mem- donors: The Children’s Memorial – Edita and Abraham Renewal of the Avenue of the Righteous Among the ber of the Yad Vashem Directorate since 1969, I regularly Spiegel; the Yad Vashem Candelabra – Stella and Sam Nations – Gladys and Sam Halpern family and Eva and attended quarterly meetings. I soon realized that it was Skura and Celina and Marvin Zborowski; the Auschwitz Arie Halpern family consistently difficult for Yad Vashem to cover its ex- Chimney – David Feuerstein; the Cattle Car Exhibit – Ber- The Visual Center – The Daniella and Daniel Steinmetz penses. I suggested that Jews all over the Diaspora nice and Izzy Merin and Benjamin Merin. Foundation and Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons should partner with Yad Vashem by contributing to its ex- The cornerstone for the Valley of Communities was laid Foundation penses in order to make it as vibrant and effective an in- at Yad Vashem in 1983 and the completed project, a mas- The International School for Holocaust Studies stitution as possible. It took more than a decade for the sive two-and-a-half-acre monument blasted out of natural Building – Marilyn and Jack Pechter and family Directorate to accept that fundraising was a respectful bedrock, was dedicated in 1992. In the center of the Valley The Family Plaza – Ruta and Dr. Felix Zandman and compassionate means of supporting an institution stands the Beit Hakehilot, which my late wife Diana and I The Library Building – Marilyn and Jack Belz and Philip and that it was a necessity in order for Yad Vashem to established in memory of our parents who perished during Belz and family move forward with its mission. This gave birth to two new the Shoah. The Warsaw Ghetto Plaza Refurbishment – David and organizations both founded and registered in the State Since 1985, Martyrdom & Resistance, a bimonthly news- Ruth Mitzner, Ira and Mindy Mitzner and family, and Phyllis paper chronicling current news and features on all aspects and William Mack family of New York in 1981: The American Society for Yad of the Holocaust, has been published by the International Vashem and the International Society for Yad Vashem. PAYING TRIBUTE TO SUPPORTERS Society for Yad Vashem. Inaugurated in 1974 by the Amer- The people who had expressed interest in this newly ican Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates, and he Annual Tribute Dinner of the American and Inter- organized Yad Vashem partnership came from various Nazi Victims, it is the first continuous periodical devoted to national Societies for Yad Vashem is the premier parts of the world. Groups were established in Brazil, T the Holocaust. Reaching 50,000 primary readers, its cir- event on the organizations’ calendar. It attracts 1,000 to Mexico, Chile, England, the Netherlands and Switzer- culation includes hundreds of teachers and Holocaust land. I also had contacts in Germany among survivors 1,500 guests and is a forceful demonstration of the scholars. who moved there after the war and did not relocate else- strength of the Societies. For survivors it is an affirmation, where. CHANGING THE YAD VASHEM LANDSCAPE more than sixty years after the liberation, that the memory of the Holocaust has not dimmed. For younger generations Our first meeting took place in the home of Sam and n 1993, Avner Shalev succeeded Yitzhak Arad as it is an inspiring evening dedicated to the “State of Remem- Stella Skura in Hillcrest, New York, with Dr. Yitzhak Arad, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate. Shalev’s far- I brance.” Dinner honorees and guest speakers have in- Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, as the guest sighted vision and abundant energy and creativity ushered cluded Ambassador Abba Eban, Ambassador Ronald speaker. This event was followed by ones hosted by var- in a new era in which the entire landscape of the Yad ious individuals in different locations, including Mr. and Vashem campus underwent a vast transformation. In Lauder, Sir Robert Maxwell, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Mrs. Israel Krakowski of New York City; Mr. and Mrs. Isak 1996, Shalev enlisted the support of the American Society Wolf Blitzer, Edgar Bronfman, Matthew Bronfman, Dr. Levenstein and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Halpern of Hillside, in Yad Vashem 2001, a master plan designed to render Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, Fred Zeidman and Avner New Jersey; Mr. and Mrs. Mark Palmer of Chicago; and Yad Vashem as a state-of-the-art facility capable of re- (Continued on page 14) IN THIS ISSUE 30th Anniversary of the American & International Societies for Yad Vashem.........1,14 Holocaust survivors again seek insurance claims........................................................5 Children at the Shabbos table: Dreams of a Holocaust survivor..................................6 Safe house......................................................................................................................6 We must stop time destroying our last proof of the Holocaust....................................7 The American and International Societies for Yad Vashem Annual Tribute Dinner.....8-9 Historians debate: Could more Jews have been saved?.............................................10 A Holocaust survivor raised a fist to death................................................................12 Jewish texts lost in war are surfacing in New York....................................................13 Neglecting the Lithuanian Holocaust.........................................................................14 Berlin exhibition exposes police role in Holocaust...................................................15 Page 2 MARTYRDOM & RESISTANCE September/October 2011 - Tishri/Cheshvan 5772 A TRUE SURVIVOR: ALICE SOMMER HERZ HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN HALF GETS AWARD AT 107 BILLION DOLLARS IN REPARATIONS he world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, he Claims Conference has negoti- “With restitution-related sources of fund- T Czech pianist Alice Sommer Herz, T ated a significant increase in funds ing on the decline, this long-term agree- has received a top cultural award on the from the German government for sur- ment obtained by the Claims Conference occasion of her 107th birthday, the Czech vivors’ homecare to ensure that victims of is vital to addressing the growing social News Agency (ČTK) reported. Nazism can live at home and receive the welfare needs of aging Holocaust sur- Sommer Herz received the Artis Bo- assistance they need. vivors,” said Julius Berman, Chairman of hemiae Amicis medal for the promotion of The Claims Conference reevaluated the Board of the Claims Conference. “It will Czech culture abroad from the Czech Am- reparations for Holocaust survivors and provide survivors and the agencies that bassador to Britain, Michael Zantovsky, in reached a landmark decision to increase care for them the certainty that funding will her adopted home of London. survivor homecare funding over the next be available to meet the anticipated grow- A world-renowed pianist based in Prague three years by a total of 564 million dollars. ing demand over the next few years.” before World War II who had grown up on Under the new agreement, in 2012 the The Claims Conference Special Negotiator, German government will provide approxi- Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, commended the knee of Gustav Mahler, a friend of her Alice Sommer Herz. mother’s, and who counted Franz Kafka composers Viktor Ulmann, Pavel Haas, mately $177 million for homecare funding; the German government for assuming re- among her own friends, Sommer Herz was Gideon Klein and Hans Krasa. in 2013, approximately $191 million; and in sponsibility for reparations and assisting sur- sent to the Terezin concentration camp In 1986, she moved to London to live 2014, approximately $196 million. This to- vivors as they enter advanced age. along with her family in 1943.

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