JERUSALEM (WJC) — Samuel Willenberg, the last survivor of the Treblinka death camp who died on Friday in Israel at the age of 93, beat the odds.. About 870,000 people, most of them Jews, died in the gas chambers at Treblinka. It was the second largest Nazi German death camp after Auschwitz-Birkenau. “Samuel Willenberg wa a hero
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International, Jewish History, Obituaries & memorialsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — You can have a flock of sheep and a herd of cows, a covey of witches and a murmuration of starlings, so why not a transport of translators? This is one of the thoughts that occurred to me in the course of the recent annual Conference organized by the
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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison CHULA VISTA, California –Temple Beth Shalom, a Conservative congregation that in 1958 became one of the first local Jewish houses of worship to locate outside the City of San Diego, was designated on Wednesday, Feb. 17, as a historic site of the suburban City of Chula Vista. The Jewish congregation, then
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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County
By Lisa Herndon NEW YORK — At 102, J. Zel Lurie “39 is likely the Columbia Journalism School”s longest-working journalist. Lurie, who lives in Delray Beach, Florida, suffers from macular degeneration and can no longer read, but it has never occurred to him to end a writing career that started decades ago. Only now, he
Retire at 102? Not a chance! Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, USAPoland to outlaw phrase ‘Polish death camps’ WARSAW (WJC) — Poland is planning to adopt a law to punish people who use the phrase “Polish death camps” in relation to Nazi concentration camps in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro declared on a radio channel that his bill would “meet the expectations of Poles, who
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International, Jewish HistoryAnti-Semitic cartoon printed, prosecutor offends Holocaust survivors in Europe (JNS.org) Anti-Semitism has come to the forefront in European media this week after an anti-Semitic cartoon was published in Spain and an Austrian prosecutor said that a magazine was justified in describing Holocaust survivors as a “plague.” In Spain, the Jewish community is threatening legal action
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International, Jewish History, USA(JNS.org) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday convincingly won the Democratic presidential race’s New Hampshire’s primary over opponent Hillary Clinton, 60-38.3 percent, becoming the first Jewish candidate to ever win a presidential primary. Clinton, the former secretary of state and first lady, had narrowly defeated Sanders in the Iowa caucus earlier this month. Business
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Jewish History, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — History is a mess. It’s filled with bad acts, feeding anger and demands for revenge, as well as lots of myths, half-truths, and just plain lies. Napoleon provided his share, as well as the line that history was myth that people believed. Jews have been creators and victims. There aren’t
Middle East history a jumble of fact and myth Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Jewish History, Middle East
The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window by Jeff Gottesfeld; illustrated by Peter McCarty; ©2016 Alfred A. Knopf, Junior Library Guild Selection; 34 pages; $17.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This beautifully written, magnificently illustrated, sentimental remembrance of Anne Frank is being marketed as a children’s book, but I’m not
Can a derivative story teach the Holocaust? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History
Ghosts: Images of War by Carrie Zeidman; © 2015 Swiss Creek Publications; ISBN 978-0970227652; 71 pages; $40. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This is an unusual book of photo essays touring venues of the American Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II and the Holocaust. Photojournalist Carrie Zeidman visits these places
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, USAThe Law; directed by Christian Faure; France; 2013; 90 minues; French with English subtitles; drama to be shown twice during the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at 2 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 11, and at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 13 at the Reading Cinemas 14, 4665 Clairemont Drive, San Diego. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO
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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Joe Spier CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — Long before Teddy Kollek became mayor of Jerusalem, he was a gunrunner for the Yishuv, the Jewish community of pre-State Israel. When it became clear that the British would withdraw from Palestine and a war between the Jews and Arabs over Israel’s independence was inevitable, the Jews would need
Frank Sinatra: Friend of Israel, foe of anti- Semites Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, USAA Blind Hero: The Love of Otto Weidt; directed by Kai Christiansen; Germany; 2014; 90 minutes in German with English Subtitles; Drama; to be shown three times during the San Diego Jewish Film Festival, at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Carlsbad Village Theatre, 2822 State St., Carlsbad and at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb.
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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
JERUSALEM (WJC)–Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday released several documents, including a handwritten request for clemency from Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann sent to then President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. Eichmann, one of the masterminds of the Holocaust, was captured by the Mossad in Argentina and sentenced to death by an Israeli court in 1961. At a ceremony in Jerusalem to mark
Rivlin releases Adolf Eichmann’s clemency request Read More »
International, Jewish History