Jewish History

How an escape from the Nazis colored the career of Harvard’s longest-serving dean

Now retired, Michael Shinagel reflects on his family’s flight from Vienna and how he, a boy who didn’t know English until age 7, earned a PhD in literature By Rich Tenorio CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Seventy-five years ago, a young Austrian-Jewish refugee fled Nazi-occupied Europe with his parents and older brother. That 7-year-old boy named Michael […]

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Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

MDA reunites family separated in Holocaust

TEL AVIV, Israel (Press Release)– Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency medicine service and operator of the national blood services center, is also Israel’s national society within the international movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Under this capacity, MDA operates a division for tracing. The organization’s association with the Red Cross exposes it

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International, Jewish History, Middle East

Former FBI agent details long search for ‘Devil’s Diary’

Nazis’ ‘minister of hate’ planted ‘seed’ of ideology Robert Wittman signs copies of his book detailing his search and recovery of the diary of Alfred Rosenberg, a leading architect of the Third Reich who “in some respects turned Hitler into Hitler.” Photo by Debra Rubin Many consider Alfred Rosenberg the “architect” of the Third Reich,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History

Docu on PH rescue of Jews debuts in Israel

A Filipino filmmaker will premiere this week in Tel Aviv his documentary on how the Philippines provided refuge to some 1,300 Jews fleeing from the Holocaust. According to Philippine ambassador to Israel Neal Imperial, ‘An Open Door: Holocaust Haven in the Philippines’ by Noel Izon will be shown at the Cinematheque Tel Aviv on Jan.

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International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘America First’: a phrase with an anti-Semitic and isolationist history

WASHINGTON — At the center of his foreign policy vision, Donald Trump has put “America First,” a phrase with an anti-Semitic and isolationist history going back to the years before the U.S. entry into World War II. Trump started using the slogan in the later months of his campaign, and despite requests from the Anti-Defamation

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Jewish History, USA

Argentina Jewish center evacuated after bomb threat

A Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was briefly evacuated on Thursday following a false bomb threat, Argentina”s Jewish community association AMIA said in a statement quoted by Reuters. The AMIA statement said police had received an anonymous phone call threatening a center for senior citizens near the AMIA building that was attacked nearly 23

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International, Jewish History

Polish president: Jews safer in Poland than Western Europe

Andrzej Duda rejects country’s collective guilt in Holocaust, insisting ‘we were conquered, we had no free choice’ By Times of Israel staff Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and his wife, Sara, host Polish President Andrzej Duda (second from right) and his wife, Agata Kornhauser, at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on January 18, 2017. (Kobi

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International, Jewish History

German official blasts right-wing politician’s Holocaust remark

Germany’s vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, on Wednesday blasted remarks by a prominent member of the German right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who suggested that Germany should end its decades-long tradition of acknowledging and atoning for its Nazi past. Bjoern Hoecke also criticized the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, saying, “We Germans, our people, are

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International, Jewish History

Remembering Wannsee: A lakeside villa keeps Holocaust memories alive

Berlin (dpa) – The House of the Wannsee Conference sits nestled between guesthouses and leafy beer gardens. Located on Wannsee lake west of Berlin city centre, today it is an incongruous memorial to the Holocaust in an otherwise picturesque setting, attracting around 100,000 visitors a year, including many groups from Israel and elsewhere around the

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International, Jewish History

A grim day out: Germany’s WWII tourist attractions

Berlin (dpa) – Germany’s thriving tourism industry attracts seas of selfie sticks and entire wardrobes of novelty merchandise, particularly in the buzzing capital Berlin. But behind the crowds lie historical sites for reflection, marking the country’s dark and tumultuous 20th century: THE TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR This museum lies on the grounds of the former Gestapo

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International, Jewish History, Travel and Food

To one Jewish professor, Martin Luther King Jr. was an idol and a mensch

Susannah Heschel was just a child in the spring of 1965, when her father left for Selma, Alabama, to march with those demanding that everyone be allowed to vote regardless of their skin color. “He kissed me goodbye,” says Heschel. “And I remember thinking ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.’” Just a

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA

Foreign Ministry welcomes Torah scroll from Bucharest

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday held a ceremony welcoming a Torah scroll to its synagogue in Jerusalem’s government complex. Attending the ceremony were Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) and Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau, senior officials in both the Religious Services and Foreign Ministries, and representatives from Romania’s Jewish community. The “new” Torah scroll

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East