Young Families Bringing New Life To Budapest Synagogues

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Lemberik
budapest

From the Jewish Telegraph Agency Linda Ban is a rebbetzin, but with a mass of curly hair and chunky rings on the fingers of both hands, she hardly fits the stereotype of a Central European rabbi’s wife. A mother of two in her mid-30s, Ban is married to Tamas Vero, the 38-year-old spiritual leader of Budapest’s Frankel Leo Street Synagogue, a neo-Gothic building hidden in a courtyard near the Danube. The congregation may hold a key to the Jewish future in Hungary. “My husband and I are building a Jewish community at our synagogue,” Ban says. “But my goal is more »

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Impressive Jewish Visitors’ Center In Brno

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Lemberik
brno

From Ruth Ellen Gruber: Jewish Heritage Travel Once again I have to hand it to the Czechs for the exemplary way that they preserve and promote Jewish heritage, heritage sites and memory. I spent a day this past week in Brno, the Czech Republic’s second largest city and the capital of Moravia. I was there for a totally different —- non-Jewish—reason (a country music concert and a meeting related to the Czech country music and bluegrass scene) but I took the time to visit the Jewish Tourism and Information Center that was opened last year at the city’s Jewish cemetery, more »

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Czech Anti-Semitism Remains Fairly Low

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Lemberik
Czech Republic Flag

From the Associated Press A new study by Prague’s Jewish Community says that anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic has not risen over the last year and remains at a relatively low level. The annual report on anti-Semitism released Thursday notes that unlike in the Czech Republic, anti-Semitism is on the rise in other parts of the world. It notes a swastika painted on a Holocaust memorial and another one on a synagogue, a physical attack on a Jew, and several verbal attacks and threats in the Czech Republic in 2011. In total, the report compiles five attacks against Jewish property, more »

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American Jewish Comittee Contributes To Bulgaria’s Positive Image

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Lemberik
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From Novinite The American Jewish Committee is among the strongest advocates for Bulgaria’s better in the US, Maxim Behar, a prominent Bulgariam media and public relations expert said after his brief meeting with the Executive Director of AJC David Harris in Washington D.C. Behar is an official delegate of the AJC Global Forum 2012, which is taking place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the US capital. “I’ve participated in the annual forums of the AJC for many years, and can definitely say that you can hardly find a more active and convinced promoter of Bulgaria not only in the more »

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Dnepropetrovsk Jewish Community Anger At Recent Terrorist Attacks

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Lemberik
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The Jewish community of Dnepropetrovsk has expressed deep sympathy to the victims of a series of attacks that took place in Dnipropetrovsk on Friday. This is stated in the declaration of the Jewish community, made its official representatives. “We are deeply angered and dismayed with all the citizens – said in a statement – we express our deepest sympathy to all those affected, and pray for the speedy and full recovery of those who are in the hospital.” The Jewish community also called for calm and responsibility, to refrain from spreading rumors and untested versions. “We must await the outcome more »

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Polish Artist Plants Living Holocaust Monument In German Capital

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Lemberik
polishgerman

From Haaretz “Berlin-Birkenau,” a new installation by Polish artist Lukasz Surowiec, was put in place in the German capital last week as part of the Berlin Biennale. Surowiec, 26, took hundreds of birch trees from the area surrounding the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Poland and placed them around the German capital. Also featuring in this year’s Biennale are works by Israeli artist Yael Bartana and Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar. This weekend also marks the opening of an exhibition in the Berlin Medical Historical Museum of Israeli artist Aya Ben Ron. The birch trees, called Birke in German, lent their more »

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China’s Premier Visits Auschwitz

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Lemberik
chinese

From the European Jewish Press Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa visited Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland, Friday to honour six million Jews killed during the Holocaust. Wen place a floral wreath in China’s national colours of red and yellow at the foot of the infamous “wall of death” at the World War II-era camp, an enduring symbol of the genocide of European Jews. Leading a Chinese delegation, Wen walked through the camp’s notorious “Arbeit macht frei” (Work will set you free) gate before visiting the remainder of the site including its gas chambers and crematoria. “The tragedy more »

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Hungary Revisits Blood Libel Conspiracy

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Lemberik
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From the AIGAC Far-right political parties appear to be making a comeback in Europe, especially in Hungary and in Greece. In Hungary, the radical nationalist party commonly known as Jobbik – (‘The Movement for a Better Hungary’), has been growing in power and popularity and is considered by many scholars to be fascist and antisemitic. These concerns were reinforced when on April 3, Deputy leader of Jobbik, Zsolt Barath made a speech in Budapest Parliament that revisited the Tiszaszlar Blood Libel Claim. In 1882 the local Jewish community in Tiszaeszlár were blamed for the murder of a young girl Eszter more »

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Lithuania Government Approves Jewish Compensation Fund

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Lemberik
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From Y-net Jewish World Foundation to allocate $49.45 million in compensation for Jewish communal property appropriated during Nazi, Soviet times Lithuania’s government on Wednesday approved a foundation to allocate 128 million litas ($49.45 million) in compensation for Jewish communal property appropriated during Nazi and Soviet times. The step follows last year’s decision by the parliament to pass a special law after years of negotiations and calls from Lithuania’s Western allies, including the United States, to reach the settlement. “It’s a historical step. As far as I remember, it took 18 years to arrive to this date,” Simonas Alperavicius, chairman of more »

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Holocaust Centre In Romania Protests Children’s Book With WWII Fascist Leader On Its Cover

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Lemberik
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From the Associated Press A Holocaust research center in Romania says public funds were used to finance a children’s poetry book that features on its cover Romania’s World War II-era fascist leader. The National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania blasted a local council on Tuesday for helping publish the book by 100-year-old George Ungureanu, a former member of a pro-Hitler group active in Romania during the World War II. The book has Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of the fascist Iron Guard legion, in its cover. There was no immediate reaction from Ungureanu or Romanian authorities. more »

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