The Claims Conference froze allocations to the Jewish Agency yesterday due to public criticism by Jewish Agency Chair Zeev Bielski. The move will affect education programs for Jews in eastern European and the former Soviet Union and assisted living for Holocaust survivors. The Claims Conference is the central entity transferring German reparations to survivors and Jewish organizations worldwide, as well as being responsible for restitution of Jewish property in the former East Germany and Austria. The committee is managed by representatives of major Jewish organizations and Bielski serves as an officer.

Last year, Bielski accused the conference of not transferring enough funds to social and educational projects in Israel and the Diaspora and pushed for an audit of its books. A leaked copy of the preliminary audit findings revealed a $1 billion surplus, which the conference argued was earmarked for future nursing care for elderly survivors. At last week’s Claims Conference allocations meeting, some representatives attacked Jewish Agency delegates and said that only if Bielski apologizes will the $4 million annual funding resume.

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Originally published October 30, 2007
Teachers learn to teach the Holocaust
By TaMaryn Waters
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

A room full of educators gathered Monday at Tallahassee Community College, hoping to discover a renewed approach to teaching the Holocaust.

A workshop, sponsored by the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Hollywood, Fla., gave more than 100 teachers from the Big Bend a snapshot into the lives of 11 survivors.

“All of the lessons we are trying to teach are relevant to everyone, regardless of race, color, creed and ethnic background,” said Rositta Ehrlich Kenigsberg, vice president of the education center.

more.

The Claims Conference is allocating up to $25,000 to establish a fund to
assist Holocaust survivors displaced or otherwise affected by the
California wildfires. The Claims Conference will work with the Jewish
Family Service agency of San Diego and any other relevant agencies to
help provide emergency assistance to survivors.

Funds will be used by JFS to provide emergency cash assistance to
survivors for home repairs, medication, utilities, and other urgent
needs caused by the fires.

Holocaust survivors requiring assistance should contact the emergency
fire hotline at JFS of San Diego, 800-295-4254.

The United Nations Department of Public Information’s Holocaust Outreach Programme will partner with Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, to provide training to United Nations information officers on the history of the Holocaust and its relevance today. This “International Forum on Holocaust Awareness and Genocide Prevention”, will be held from 27 October to 1 November 2007 at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel.

“The United Nations must never forget that it was founded as a reaction to the brutality of the Second World War, or that the horrors of the Holocaust helped to shape its mission. That response is enshrined in our Charter, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are grateful to Yad Vashem for this opportunity to examine together the motives that led to the human tragedy of the Holocaust, and to understand how and why its lessons are so important today,” said Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

Led by Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies, the forum will outline the circumstances that led to the Holocaust and examine the individual and collective responsibility in preventing genocide. The participants will include information officers from the global network of United Nations Information Centres located in: Ankara, Baku, Bangkok, Bucharest, Kiev, Manila, Minsk, Moscow, Pretoria, Tbilisi, Tokyo and Yerevan.

“I am very pleased to welcome the UN information officers to Yad Vashem for this seminar. The Holocaust, while targeting Jews, has universal significance for the community of nations. It represents a time when the values that underpin our joint civilization collapsed, and forces us to contend with how such an event was possible. While interest in the Holocaust continues to grow, misinformation, whether deliberate or out of ignorance, is increasingly problematic. This seminar with the UN will help ensure that the information officers have the tools and knowledge to disseminate accurate information in a relevant and effective manner,” said Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem.

The Holocaust and United Nations Outreach Programme, mandated by General Assembly resolution 60/7, was established in 2006 to warn against the dangers of hatred, bigotry, prejudice and racism, in order to help prevent future acts of genocide. It has since developed a series of discussion papers on genocide drafted by scholars from around the world, and has created the “Electronic Notes for Speakers”, an online pedagogical tool for educators.

More information on the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme’s seminars, film screenings and special events can be obtained at www.un.org/holocaustremembrance or by contacting Kimberly Mann, Chief, Advocacy Unit, Outreach Division at (212) 963-6835; mann@un.org

The cabinet approved an NIS 250 million cut in ministerial budgets to finance the increase.
Lilach Weissman 29 Oct 07 14:22
The government has approved a cut of NIS 250 million or 0.85% of all ministerial budgets to finance the increase in benefits to needy Holocaust survivors and the elderly. The cuts will also apply to the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Education, which were not affected by the previous round of cuts. The Education Ministry budget will be cut by NIS 26 million, and defense expenditure will be cut by NIS 30 million.
Last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Minister of Finance Ronnie Bar-On, and Minister of Welfare Isaac Herzog presented the government’s aid package for the impoverished elderly, including Holocaust survivors. The package calls for the provision of an extra NIS 1.5 billion in benefits.