eNEWSLETTER EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA IN TEL AVIV July – August 2018 Visit of Slovenian Minister of Health Slovenian Minister of Health Ms Milojka Kolar Celarc, accompanied by Director General of the Long-term Care Directorate Ms Tatjana Buzeti, visited Israel on 10-11 July to participate at the South-Eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) Ministerial Meeting on Ensuring Primary Care for Ageing Population. The Minister also visited the Holon Institute of Technology, where she was presented with innovative solutions for the elderly as well as people with special needs and disabilities. These solutions are developed by the Centre for Applied Technological Research and Development for the Elderly (CARE). The guests have visited Excellence Centers and Research Labs: the 3D printing lab and the MADE lab. LT: Ms. Celarc, Prof. Yakubov. Photo:Timor Aselman RT: HIT faculty, Ambassador Barbara Sušnik and Minister Celarc. Minister Celarc was welcomed by Prof. Eduard Yakubov – President of HIT; Dr. Refael Barkan - Head of Research, Development and External Relations Authority, HIT ; Dr. Guy Yoskovitz - Deputy Director of Research, Development and External Relations Authority at HIT; Prof. Yair Lampl – HIT & Wolfson Medical Center ;Dr.Hagit Meishar-Tal - Head of B.A program, Faculty of Instructional Technologies, HIT ;Prof. Gila Kurtz - Head of M.A program, Faculty of Instructional Technologies, HIT ;Mrs. Ira Ivshin-Guetta – International Office, HIT. Minister Celarc, was impressed with the various initiatives and projects and said that she will be happy to assist in connecting HIT to relevant leading academic institutions in Slovenia in order to help establish fruitful collaborations between both countries. 1 THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE PLACEMENT OF STOLPERSTEINE- MEMORIAL STONES “A person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten.” - Talmud Monday, 6 August 2018, was a special day for Ljubljana and Slovenia, as first twenty-three Jews from Ljubljana and their relatives, who were forced from their homes due to their origin under the Nazi plan and were taken to various concentration camps across Europe, symbolically returned to Slovenia. More than ninety percent of the Slovenian Jewish community perished in the Holocaust, and it has not recovered since. The Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana, the Maribor Synagogue, the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the City Municipality of Ljubljana–the Department of Culture organized the opening ceremony of the placement of Stolpersteine on 6 August 2018, in 1 Cankarjevo Nabrežje Street. With the help of Gunter Demnig, the first Stolperstein were laid by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Borut Pahor, and the second by the President of the Slovenian National Assembly, Mr. Matej Tonin. LT: Mr. Robert Waltl, Director of the Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana, President Borut Pahor and the President of the Slovenian National Assembly, Mr. Matej Tonin. Photo: Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana 2 Gunter Demnig and Boruh Pahor are laying the mark in memory of the Slovene Jews. Photo: BoBo The ceremony was also attended by: Vice Mayor of the City Municipality of Ljubljana Janez Koželj, Dr. Irena Šumi, cantor of the Stockholm Synagogue Isidoro Abramovicz, rabbi of the Jewish community of Slovenia Ariel Haddad and representatives of the Jewish community form Slovenia, Chief rabbi of Croatia and Montenegro Moše Prelević, President of the Coordination of Jewish Municipalities of Croatia Dr. Ognjen Kraus and also other rabbis from Croatia, Italy, Switzerland and the US as well as theatre actress Polona Vetrih. The closing ceremony on that day in 7 Križevniška Street included the last Stolperstein of the day to commemorate Oton Baumgarten, the beginner of judo in Slovenia. The program featured the Judo Club Ljubljana Bežigrad. On this occasion, two art openings took place in the Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana: an installation dedicated to 587 Slovenian victims of the Holocaust made by artists Vadim Fiškin and Miran Mohar and an exhibition–a series of portrait posters UNDELETED– by Vuk Ćosić entitled Reconstructed Portraits of Erased Jewish Fellow Citizens from Ljubljana. The ceremony was followed by a short lecture by Gunter Deming and a cultural program featuring Israeli singer Sivan Goldman and the cantor of the Stockholm Synagogue Isidoro Abramovicz. SPOTIKAVCI/ STOLPERSTEINI 2018, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIJA, SLOVENIA Lepodvorska 26 DR. HUGO BAUMGARTEN DR. HUGO BAUMGARTEN ROJ. 1881 BORN 1881 ARETIRAN 12. IX. 1944 ARRESTED 12. IX. 1944 ODPELJAN V DACHAU TAKEN TO DACHAU UMORJEN 15. III. 1945 MURDERED 15. III. 1945 V BERGEN-BELSNU IN BERGEN-BELSEN 3 FRIDA BAUMGARTEN FRIDA BAUMGARTEN ROJ. GROSSMAN, 1884 BORN GROSSMAN, 1884 ARETIRANA 12. IX. 1944 ARRESTED 12. IX. 1944 ODPELJANA V SALZBURG TAKEN TO SALZBURG PREŽIVELA SURVIVED DR. MARJANA DR. MARJANA BAUMGARTEN - BRIŠKI BAUMGARTEN - BRIŠKI ROJ. 1914 BORN 1914 ARETIRANA 12. IX. 1944 ARRESTED 12. IX. 1944 ODPELJANA V BEGUNJE, NATO TAKEN TO BEGUNJE, THEN V RAVENSBRÜCK, TO RAVENSBRÜCK, SALZGITTER IN SALZGITTER, BERGEN-BELSEN BERGEN-BELSEN PREŽIVELA SURVIVED Israeli singer Sivan Goldman and the cantor of the Stockholm Synagogue Isidoro Abramovicz, Photo: Jewish Cultural Centre Ljubljana 4 Gender Equality Conference at Knesset Ambassador Barbara Sušnik participated as a panelist at the Gender Equality Conference on 17 July 2018 in Knesset. Conference was organised by MK Dr. Michael Oren, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, in cooperation with The Israeli Gender Guard and PANIM Hadashot Women's Leadership Parliament. Ambassador Sušnik presented gender equality policy in Slovenia and stressed that gender equality and empowerment of women are among priorities of Slovenia internally and in foreign policy. LT: Ambassador of Slovenia Barbara Sušnik participating at Panel One, together with her colleagues from Croatia, Paraguay, Latvia, Denmark and Germany. RT: DM Michael Oren, Ambassador Sušnik and colleagues. Visit to Bialik Rogozin School Ambassador Barbara Sušnik and Deputy Head of Mission Blaž Masle visited the Bialik Rogozin School in South Tel Aviv on July 16, 2018 and met with Principal Mr Eli Nechama. Around 1,300 children of migrants and asylum-seekers from 51 different countries attend the school, where they receive education and the empowerment to realize their potentials and their dreams. Ambassador Sušnik, Mr Masle and Mr Nechama discussed the possibilities for cooperation, including Slovenian project on child's rights education. Mr. Eli Nechama, Principal of Bialik Rogozin School and Ambassador Barbara Sušnik. Photos: VTA 5 Our Rights Project The empowerment of children, notably through education about their rights and guaranteed access to justice, remains a key priority of Slovenian foreign policy in the area of human rights. Since 2005, with the Our Rights project and teaching materials, Slovenia has enabled education on children’s rights for more than 190,000 children in 26 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. DebateForPeace at the Embassy Ambassador Barbara Sušnik held a debate with students of youth leadership program DebateForPeace for Arab and Jewish high school students interested in diplomacy, on 27 July 2018 at the Embassy of Slovenia in Tel Aviv. Ambassador Sušnik presented diplomatic work as well as relations between Israel and Slovenia. The debate focused on protection of human rights and status of national minorities in Slovenia, international standards of human rights and issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ambassador Sušnik encouraged the students to engage actively and promote values in the society they consider important for the future prosperity of all sides. Students of youth leadership program DebateForPeace. Photos: VTA 6 Remembering Marko Rosner- Jewish persona from Slovenia Marko Rosner (1888, Iacobeni - 1969, Haifa) was a central personality of the Jewish community of Maribor before World War II, which numbered around 100 people. His company employed around 1,000 workers in 1939. Marko Rosner had a strong sense for social welfare and he provided for many social services for his employees. He made several major donations and was involved in humanitarian activities. For his 50th birthday, he established a fund for his employees and contributed 100.000 dinars himself. Also, he contributed 100.000 dinars to at that time newly established academy of science and arts in Ljubljana. Marko Rosner also helped many Jews who were fleeing and crossed the border illegally. Just before the German attack on Yugoslavia in 1941, he fled with his family and travelled to Palestine through Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. In August 1945, Rosner was sentenced by the Communist authorities in a military court to 15-year imprisonment, including the deprivation of civil rights and the confiscation of property. In 1954, at the age of 66, he tried for the last time to restore the process, without demanding the return of property, but only in the repeated trial to clear his reputation. The Yugoslav authorities did not allow the rehabilitation until the end of his life and therefore he never saw Maribor again. He died in Haifa in 1969. Holocaust researcher and historians, Professor Boris Hajdinjak and Dr. Renato Podbersič together with Ambassador Barbara Sušnik visited the grave of Marko Rosner at the Joshua Field Cemetery in Haifa on June 6, 2018. Source: Boris Hajdinjak Photos: VTA 7 The Jewish cemetery between Nova Gorica (Slovenia)