Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - Dec-98

Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - December, 1998

General

The wave of violence by radical organizations directed against the government and other western targets continues in South Africa. The local Jewish community is in the eye of the storm, the climax of which was the explosion of a pipe bomb in a Capetown synagogue.

The escalation of the Gulf crisis also resulted in various anti-Jewish manifestations throughout the world.

Anti-Semitic Attacks and Incidents

South Africa - A pipe bomb exploded in the Wynberg Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Capetown. The synagogue windows were shattered by the explosion and the entrance gate was torn away. No one was injured.

Germany - The gravestone of Heinz Galinski, the former chairman of the Jewish community in Berlin, was shattered in the Jewish cemetery in Charlotternburg. It was shattered by explosives and had been desecrated in the same manner by explosives in September as well.

Georgia - The Jewish cemetery in the Dampalo quarter outside Tbilisi was desecrated. Some thirty gravestones were damaged. The background to the incident is unclear.

Britain - A window in the Southampton synagogue was smashed. No one present in the synagogue at the time was hurt.

A Jew walking through a park in Salford was robbed by three youths who shouted anti-Semitic derogatory remarks at him and beat him over the head with a bottle. The man was slightly injured and the youths fled.

France - Students from the ORT school in Montreuil were attacked on Christmas.

During the lighting of the Chanukah candles in the plaza of the new community center in Toulouse, unknown persons threw eggs at the rabbi and shouted at him 'Light your beard instead of the candles'.

Sweden - A Jewish-owned restaurant in Stockholm was damaged twice this month. The first time a window was smashed and the second time the entrance door was set on fire.

Denmark - Unidentified persons hurled six granite stones at the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen. The building was slightly damaged. A Star of David and swastika were drawn on each of the stones.

Threats

Russia - A bomb threat of a bomb planted was received in the synagogue in

St. Petersburg. The worshippers were evacuated from the synagogue which was searched and nothing was found returned to resume the prayer service.

Chile - The 'La Hora' newspaper published that bomb threat had been received in one of the Internacional Bank branches in Santiago. One of the bank owners is Jewish. In the eighties the bank had been called 'Banco Israelita De Chile' and its name was changed after it was sold. It is assessed that the threat followed the U.S. bombing of Iraq.

Brazil - An anonymous bomb threat was received at the Jewish 'Einstein' hospital in Sao Paolo.

Racist and Anti-Semitic Propaganda

France - Youths who were passing by the Boulogne synagogue after the Sabbath prayer service shouted anti-Semitic slogans at the Jews standing there.

An anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial pamphlet was distributed in the mailboxes of buildings in the Courbevoie area.

Greece - An accusing article appeared in the 'Ta Nea' newspaper, one of the most important and widely circulated newspapers in Greece. The article referred to the conspiracy between the Jewish lobby and Turkey in connection with events in the Middle East. Accompanying the article was a caricature of a dwarf with a helmet bearing a Turkish symbol on his head. He is giving the Zeig Heil salute and standing on top of a dwarf who has a Star of David on his head, also giving the Zeig Heil salute. These two are standing on another dwarf with an American helmet who is saying 'Zeig Shit'.

Sweden - During the month swastikas were drawn on the mailbox and garbage can of a Jewish family in Stockholm. The family had a similar experience the month before.

The Jewish community received a blatantly anti-Semitic letter. Among other things the letter said that 'Hitler was too soft to the bastard Jews'.

Britain - During an event which took place in the 'King David' high school in Manchester, anti-Semitic derogatory remarks were shouted by three boys who were circulating in the vicinity. Among some of the things shouted out were 'All the Jews should be killed' and 'Jews are fat pigs'.

Unknown persons carved the word 'Jews' on the front window of the Habad shop in London.

A number of organizations received abusive letters. The first letter contained a list of Jewish government officials in the U.S. and Britain and it mentioned that they controlled the media and the press. The second letter contained comments such as 'The Jews should live, but not here - down with Zionism' and 'the American leaders are all Jews'.

A senior member of the Jewish community in London received two anti-Semitic letters. One of them referred to the subject of the Nazi gold and the Jewish preoccupation with it. The second letter, among other things, said 'Human rights for everyone, not only for the Jewish rats, hyenas and parasites'.

An anti-Semitic letter was received by the publisher of the 'Jewish Telegraph' newspaper in Glasgow. The letter said that the Jews don't let anyone forget their suffering and the Holocaust but ignore the suffering of others.

A number of people and veterinary clinics received anti-Semitic letters which were ostensibly sent by an organization called 'The Cat Protection League'. The letter said that in recent months many cats had been attacked in north London and that they were used as sacrifices by orthodox Jews.

During the 'Week Against Racism' at the University of Manchester, anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist pamphlets were distributed by the Islamic Society.

Russia - Pamphlets were put into the mailboxes of many citizens in Krasnodar calling for mounting a pogrom against the Jews, torching their homes and expelling them from the city. The incident had many repercussions throughout Russia and followed anti-Semitic declarations by the regional governor Nikolai Kondratenko. Kondratenko stressed that the Jews were to blame for all of Russia's troubles and that they should be expelled from the country in general and from Krasnodar in particular. Similar pamphlets were distributed in citizens' mailboxes in Novosibirsk.

Anti-Semitic abusive slogans were sprayed in various areas of Novosibirsk.

In Borovichi, a city in north-west Russia, hundreds of stickers appeared with the words 'Jews are trash' and a drawing of a man throwing a Star of David into a garbage can.

South Africa - An abusive slogan was found at the entrance of a Betar youth camp in Capetown. The slogan said 'Joede Go'.

U.S. - An abusive letter arrived at the Israeli Ministry of Tourism offices in Chicago. The letter contained newspaper clippings on Israel, an accusation of the Jews controlling the U.S. in general and the media in Chicago in particular, as well as a drawing of a swastika.

Peru - During the lighting of the first Chanukah candle in front of the Habad building in Lima, derogatory anti-Semitic remarks were heard from a number of passing vehicles .

Argentina - Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel abusive slogans were written on an entire wall in the city of Avellaneda (on the outskirts of Buenos Aires).

Struggle Against anti-Semitic Manifestations and Racism

Germany - The trial began of five men accused of distributing a CD of Neo-Nazi music ('skinhead music'). The disc contains songs praising the SS and calling for the use of violence against strangers. The five were accused of breaking the German law against the use or distribution of Neo-Nazi organization symbols.

The German left-wing PDS party (which is a continuation of the ruling East Germany Communist party ) denounced the anti-Semitic statements of Makashov and declared that it condemns any kind of anti-Semitism (opinions, statements and actions).

Switzerland - The lower house of the Swiss parliament voted on 17 December, 1998 in favour of removing the immunity of MP Rudolf Keller. Keller is an MP from the radical right-wing SD party (the Swiss Democrats) and he is expected to stand trial on charges of incitement to anti-Semitism for his call last summer to boycott American and Jewish stores. Removing the immunity of an MP in Switzerland is unprecedented and the affair has had much media coverage. The upper house must now debate the matter. If most of the house members also vote to remove Keller's immunity, he will be accused of violating resolution 261B of 1994 for the prevention of racial incitement and anti-Semitism.

France - The Court of Appeals in Paris gave a stiffer sentence to Roger Garaudy after it found him guilty of racial libel, Holocaust denial and incitement to racial hatred. The 85 year old Garaudy was fined 160,000 francs (29,000 dollars) and received suspended prison sentences of six months and three months. In February that same court found him guilty of only casting doubt on the crimes against humanity in World War II. At the time he was fined 120,000 francs (21,700 dollars) with no imprisonment at

all. Garaudy's lawyers appealed the verdict but the Public Prosecutor demanded a prison sentence in addition to the fine. The lawsuit in France against Garaudy's book 'The Fundamental Myths of Israeli Politics' turned him into a hero in a number of Middle East countries.

Russia - President Yeltsin promised to mount an 'attack' against radical and anti-Semitic statements. The Russian Ministry of Justice announced that it would propose a new bill against radicalism and anti-Semitism. If the law is not passed due to the opposition of the Communist and nationalist majority in the Duma, Yeltsin may enforce the law by presidential decree.

The 31 December, 1998 edition of the 'Sevodnya' newspaper reported that the Russian security service had presented testimony for a suit on 30 December, 1998 in connection with racist, anti-Semitic and inciting statements made by the Communists Makashov and Ilyukhin, but the F.S.B. (the former K.G.B.) rejected the claims against Makashov and other radical politicians.

A Russian man was convicted of ethnic incitement for a speech he had delivered at the time of the explosion in the Marina Roscha synagogue in Moscow in May 1998. The man was photographed by Russian television while he was masked and delivering an anti-Semitic speech beside the burning synagogue.

Following the anti-Semitic statements of senior Communists, 31 members of the U.S. Congress urged President Yeltsin to increase efforts to stop increasing anti-Semitism. A Jewish group is also requesting the European Union, the European Parliament and European governments to sever relations with the Communist party until it denounces the anti-Semitic statements of the Communist leaders.

Croatia - Dinko Sakic, the commander of the Jasenovac camp, one of the terrible camps in Croatia in World War II was extradited to Croatia by Argentina six months ago and was charged in a croatian court with murder of over 2000 persons on 1944. He is to stand trail in March.

Poland - Prime Minister Buzek of Poland sent a note in early December 1998 to Jewish leaders promising that 300 crosses erected by Catholics at the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp would be removed 'as soon as possible'. Official elements are now trying to remove the crosses by legal process. Buzek claims that if this move does not succeed the government will pass a law which will enable the removal of the crosses.

U.S. - On 23 December, 1998 a suit was filed against the American companies J.P. Morgan & Co and Chase Manhattan Bank and another seven French banks accusing them of robbing the assets of their Jewish clients. Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan are the first American banks added to the suits of survivors who lost their money during the Holocaust. The prosecution claims that Chase Manhattan collaborated with the Germans and showed extraordinary enthusiasm for enforcing anti-Jewish laws. According to the prosecution, J.P.Morgan boasted before German authorities of his anti-Semitic policy in hiring workers which gave this institution the nickname of the 'International Aryan Organization'.

Miscellaneous

Germany - Hundreds of persons demonstrated (apparently on 14 December, 1998) in Berlin in protest against the decision of the right-wing 'Die Republikaner' party to move its party HQ's to a building which had been owned by a Jewish family. The protest against the transfer of the Republikaner party HQ was organized by the Berlin Jewish community and the SPD party, Chancellor Schroeder's party.

The center-left government, led by Chancellor Schroeder, is proposing an alternative plan for the central memorial site for victims of the Holocaust which was planned to be constructed near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. This plan aroused many arguments in Germany. According to the alternative plan a museum would be built which would be used for exhibitions and educational activities on the Holocaust. The plan would be in cooperation with the Holocaust Museum in Washington and the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem.

One out of every five Germans holds latent anti-Semitic opinions. This was revealed in a public opinion poll conducted by the 'Forza' Surveys Institute for the weekly 'Die Woche'. Twenty-one percent of those questioned think that 'Jews have too much influence' and 41 percent think that 'the importance of the Jews in the economy is disproportionate to their numbers'. The most anti-Semitic age group was 68 years and older. Thirty-eight percent of those questioned hold anti-Jewish opinions.

Poland - The site where the synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis was restored to the Jewish community in Gdansk. The head of the 200 member community said that a smaller model of the large synagogue which had been built around 1880 will be constructed at the site. The property was returned to the Jews as part of an agreement signed in 1997 by the Polish government according to which it undertook to return community property to the current community.

Slovakia - The first Jewish old people's home since World War II was opened this month in Bratislava and is called 'Ohel David' after the house in western Slovakia where the Chief Rabbi of Slovakia hid Jews during world War II from transports to the death camps. The renovation of the building was financed by the governments of the Czech Republic and Slovakia with funds earmarked for the Jewish community in Slovakia as compensation for property that had been confiscated from the Jews of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War.

U.S. - An international conference was held in Washington between 30 November and 3 December, 1998 on the subject of Holocaust Era Assets. The conference was organized by the State Department and the Holocaust Museum and the main initiator and organizer was Under Secretary of State, Ambassador Stuart Eisenstadt. Forty-four countries and 13 NGO's participated in the conference, of which ten were Jewish organizations. The conference was a further step in the process begun at the December 1997 meeting in London on the stolen Nazi gold. The conference covered a wide range of subjects, including community property, insurance, works of

art, opening archives, education and commemoration and historical conventions. In the conference's closing plenary session the Swedish representative publicly invited the participants to an international convention of representatives and experts on Holocaust education and commemoration in Stockholm in late 1999 or early 2000.

International Red Cross - The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Dr. Cornelio Sommaruga, publicly expressed regret for the actions and failures of the Red Cross during the Holocaust period. In an official document distributed by the organization, Sommaruga wrote ' I feel it my duty to emphasize the lessons learned which analyze the weaknesses of the organization during World War II. These lessons are being applied today. This has led me to say how much I regret the possible mistakes of the Red Cross during the period when all of humanity failed, especially with regard to the Holocaust'.

Lebanon - A public opinion poll was conducted in Lebanon in late 1998 to determine who were the Lebanese people's favourite individuals in 1998. President Lahoud took first place with 36 percent. Among the historical figures the Lebanese still classify Gamal Abdul Nasser in first place with 24 percent and afterwards Adolf Hitler with 14 percent. The survey includes personalities in the Arab world and in the world at large.

International - Return of Jewish Property and Compensation for Holocaust Victims

Britain and the Netherlands announced the establishment of a 'Compensation Fund' to compensate Holocaust victims.

The German Supreme Court passed a judgment in principle that Jewish Holocaust survivors cannot demand that their property be returned. Only the property of Jews who perished in the Holocaust could be returned. Jewish synagogues and cemeteries which were expropriated would be returned. The judgment also established that in the event that Jewish property was acquired by German investors, the survivors' heirs would receive financial compensation and not the property itself.

Russia agreed to return to France works of art that had been stolen by the Nazis but France rejected the request to auction works of art in the government is possession since World War II and to give the proceeds to Holocaust survivors.

Italy announced it was setting up a committee which would investigate the subject of stolen property of Holocaust victims.

The Vatican refuses to open its archives from the Second World War period to the public because the material contains details considered 'relations between the priest and the confessant' which it is forbidden to expose. The theological reason was given by Vatican representatives at the conference in Washington which discussed the return of Jewish property.