By WAYNE DRASH, CNN

(April 23) — The photograph is a jarring image that shows Nazi Party members, shovels in hand, digging up graves of American soldiers held as slaves by Nazi Germany during World War II.
While the men dig up the site, U.S. soldiers investigating war crimes stand over them. Two crosses with helmets placed atop them — the sign of a fallen soldier — are visible. Two Germans are knee deep in mud. Another, with a handlebar mustache, has the look of a defeated man. The bodies of 22 American soldiers were found in at least seven graves, according to the photographer.

MORE.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY.

Eizenstat: “No Holocaust fatigue” on part of Germany.
by Stewart Ain

Stuart Eizenstat, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union who held several positions in the Clinton administration, including undersecretary of Commerce, undersecretary of State and special representative of the president and the secretary of State for Holocaust issues, is the new special negotiator for Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. He held his first negotiating session in mid-March.

Q: How would you assess that first session?
A: It was excellent — a very intensive two days and we met with the heads of all the major political parties. As you know, I was the chief negotiator for the Clinton administration for Holocaust issues with Germany, and at least at the leadership level there is no Holocaust fatigue. This issue is something that is
built into their DNA; there remains a profound commitment to help. This was reinforced not only by the heads of the political parties, but by the eight hours of nonstop negotiations we had and by a reception given for me by the Future Foundation, the $700 million foundation created for private companies so they could make a long-term commitment to Holocaust remembrance projects.
What did the negotiations accomplish?
There were three areas where we made specific breakthroughs. First, there was a reversal by the German government of a longstanding position that people could not apply again who had been turned down during the ‘70s and ‘80s for a onetime hardship payment that amounts to about $4,000 because they had not met the medical criteria. Now, second applications will be accepted.
What kind of figures are we talking about?
About $42 million in additional payments for 13,000 applicants, about half in Israel and 2,400 in the U.S. This is a very significant breakthrough for a group that had been largely uncompensated in the past.
What was the second accomplishment?
There had been a differential in pension payments between those who live in non-EU countries in Eastern Europe, like Bulgaria and Ukraine, and those who live in Eastern European countries that are in the EU. We have given those in non-EU countries a significant boost — a 35-40 percent increase — and equalized the treatment of all of those in Eastern European countries so that they all now get 240 euros ($319) a month. We estimate that will affect about 7,500 people within EU countries and 5,400 people who are in non-EU Eastern European countries.
And what was the third achievement?
It was only partially satisfied—a homecare program for severely disabled survivors. In 2008, they were paying 15 million euros ($20 million) and 30 million euros ($40 million) in 2009. [The 2010 figure will remain the same during the first quarter.]
How did these negotiations differ from when you were negotiating for the Clinton administration?
It was very different because then I was representing the government and people were shooting at me from all directions — victims’ groups, plaintiffs’ attorneys … and we were talking of billions and not millions and a vast number of people benefited. So you are dealing with a different order of magnitude. But this is equally rewarding because there is a far more personal connection and the programs are more finite, like home care. It’s a different kind of satisfaction.

1.
Yom Hashoa – 2009

“Learn the ways of time to come. Know the
past, and you will understand the end.”
/Anonymous/

As years go by, memories are dropped,
witnesses of the Holocaust, faithful to
the dim-dark past, are less and less.

For the general public it’s a chapter of
history, for survivors it’s very real life,
therein lies the value of our testimony.

Our woeful memories are distressing,
we feel miserable telling our stories,
but we feel an indebtedness to the martyrs.

An obligation to the heroes of the Shoah,
to recall the past is a commemoration to
our families and millions that perished.

We don’t let the Holocaust be forgotten,
the essence of our own survival is to bear
witness, for us every day is Yom Hashoah…

Remembrance of our families is eternal,
we are inflicted by many ailments, amnesia
in not in our vocabulary. We say: Zachor!

2. SUSI SPEAKING…

זכרונם ילך ויאור ימי נער ויוסיף עת זקוני

“Their memory brightened my youth,
and shines even more now that I am old”.
Judah Halevi

You filled to the brim the story
of your life during the Holocaust,
from peaceful childhood years
to the disaster that followed you;
loss of your mother and sister.

You did avoid talking about the
murder of your grandmother,
killed upon arrival in Riga Ghetto,
too much a detail to share with
the people in our congregation.

Speaking about the Holocaust
maddens the mind, lead to astray,
but you were guided by a feeling
of obligation to remember, share
your story, accepting the pain…

You said: “How could I refuse not
to share the memories of the Shoah,
when we, survivors accuse the world
for being silent during our misfortune?
I stand in our Shul reciting Kaddish”.

“The subtle images of my grandmother,
mother and sister were present as I spoke,
as were the thousands of martyrs, heroes
who perished in the Shoah, they all were
visiting guest at the memorial in our Shul”.

“Speaking on this Shabbat about my life,
was the fulfillment of an obligation and
oath: Never to forget what happened to
our people who perished in the Holocaust.
Maybe, this is the reason that I survived”.

April 19, 2009, Yom Hashoa.

3.THE HOLOCAUST SHABBAT

“All I ask is that You listen to
my plea. This is my request,
neither more nor less.”
Solomon Ibn Gabirol

All borders were shut for us,
no ears did hear our lament,
no eyes did see our distress,
we were sentenced to dead,
we were deprived of all rights
to be called ‘human-beings’.

Still we blamed our misfortune
on men, the perpetrators and
the close-mouthed. bystanders.
But, sometimes we wondered,
is our destiny God’s judgment?
Did HE dispatched this on us?…

Our parched bodies who survived,
cry out to You, our Heavenly Father,
Let Gentiles hate toward us cease.
This is our appeal on Yom Hasoah,
We mourn the lost thrid of our people,
one Holocaust in our life is enough!

4.YOM HASHOA , 2009

Wind and rain lasted all night,
Heaven and Earth observed
Yom Hashoah, perhaps the rain
were tears shed by the Angels
and the Shekhinah in Heaven,
grieving for millions of martyrs,
and all that perished in WWII,
by evil people, while the great
powers silently standing by,
remaining unperturbed, calm…
Still this morning, the news
reports of worlds leaders, like
Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president,
deny that the Shoah happened,
he calls for the elimination of
“the repressive racist Israel”.

At the Geneva U.N. Conference
on Racism, many of the delegates
applauded the Iranian leader,
some gave him a standing ovation,
even the Vatican delegation did
not leave when Iran’s president,
claiming their participation in the
assembly was the Pope’s decision.
There is no end to the hate attacks
against Jews all over the Globe,
New wars, race-excesses continues,
On this Yom Hashoa we must call
to righteous people everywhere;
Race hate wrongs all of humankind,
None but us can help establish peace.
My God hear our cry in Heaven…

5.WAR KNOCKS ON THE GATES
“I am tossing out at sea,
sailing without a captain”.
/Anonymous/

A new war is coming that will
make the world to fritter away,
for old people there is no place
to hide , nowhere to go.

I dream of becoming a sailor,
take my family and friend on
a boat to far away Islands,
but I’m very scared of pirates.

I may as well stay where I am,
at my age there’s no use worrying,
it will not help being downcast,
anyhow, I don’t know how to swim.

I only feel sorry for my children,
they face a future of great chaos;
war, terror, economic discomfort,
the whole world is in big turmoil.

in the meantime, the sun is shining..
I learned to live a day in a time,
I ask God to renew my strength,
so I can hope and dream of peace…

Voice of America: Obama and Days of Remembrance Ceremony

The Forward: WAGNER’S THE RING IN LA

Online research project “The Untold Stories,”
100 Killings Sites of Jews murdered in the USSR and local Jewish communities’ commemorations since the Holocaust, This present database is the first stage of an extensive project to publish online the murder sites of Jews in the USSR. The project is being carried out by the staff of the International Institute for Holocaust Research – Yad Vashem.

The Jewish Week:YOM HASHOAH 1944

Phil. Enq: New book on the hunt for Eichmann

The Arts: An Israeli, a German and a Palestinian Walk Into a Theater…

Times UK: Israel: Iran trying to do ‘what Adolf Hitler did to Jewish people

RDPulpit: Ahmadinejad Gives Another Victory to the Israeli Right
By Rabbi Michael Lerner

Jpost: Durban parallel slams ‘Israeli swimming pools’

AP: Netanyahu: No second Holocaust against Jews

The Forward: Arthur Szyk

Huffington Post: Antisemitism without Antisemites

The Nation: What’s left of the Jews?

JohannesbergTimes: The Art of Making War (the arts)

JTA: Denying the Deniers AN INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH LIPSTADT

Jpost: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews, said Martin Luther King
by ARNO LUSTIGER