Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - Jan-99

Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - January 1999

General

There was no change in the trend of anti-Semitic incidents throughout the world at the beginning of 1999. Most incidents were of a local nature and not organized. In any event anti-Semitic manifestations continued in the form of attacks or propaganda, especially in Europe, but in other parts of the world.

France - Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the entrance of the Yavne Jewish school in Paris. No one was hurt and slight damage was caused. The incident took place in the afternoon and fortunately only a few pupils were standing in front of the school. It appears the incident was the work of young ruffians.

A Jewish student who studies at the ORT school in Montreil was attacked and robbed in the Metro by youths living in that quarter. The background to the incident is unclear.

Unknown persons deliberately burned the door and mezuzah at the entrance to the synagogue on Mouzaia Street in the 19th Quarter, Paris.

The tires of cars owned by Jews who had parked near the Jewish community building in Toulouse were cut and deliberately damaged by unknown persons. Two tires of each car were cut so that the owners could not move them.

Britain - A number of cases of stone-throwing occurred in Manchester this month: at houses, resulting in smashed windows, at moving or parked cars owned by Jews and at Jewish-owned shops and businesses.

The front door windows of the Ilford Federation synagogue in Essex were smashed.

A front door window of the Cockfosters and North Southgate synagogue in London was smashed.

Sweden - Seven windows of a synagogue were smashed in Norrkoping (south of Stockholm).

Germany - On two separate occasions unknown persons drew large swastikas on the walls of the Jewish cemetery in Goettingen. Swastikas were also discovered on the walls of one of the citys shopping centers and a playing field.

Unknown persons pasted a paper with a swastika on it on the entrance door to the Cologne synagogue.

Greece - Unknown persons tried to desecrate the synagogue and the Holocaust victims memorial site in Larisa by throwing quantitites of garbage next to the synagogue and the memorial site.

Uzbekistan - More than thirty Jewish graves were desecrated in the main cemetery of Tashkent.

Morocco - Abusive slogans were written on the walls of a synagogue in Casablanca. Among other things was written Jews, go home! Hitler.

Australia - Pieces of glass were thrown at the doors and windows of a Jewish-owned bookstore and business in Sydney.

U.S. - Abusive slogans and swastikas were drawn on a number of doors and windows of a synagogue in San Diego. The number 88 (symbolising the initials of Heil Hitler) also appeared beside one of the slogans.

Unknown persons broke into a day nursery in a Brooklyn, New York synagogue. Equipment was stolen and a swastika was drawn on one of the walls.

Britain - A number of threatening letters were received in the office of the Chief Rabbi of London. In one of the letters the writer threatened to break into the rabbis office and cut any Jew who would come his way.

Uruguay - Anonymous announcements of bombs planted were received at the home of the rabbi of the Ahdut Israel synagogue, at the Spanish synagogue and at the home of a Jewish family in Montevideo.

Brazil - An anonymous phone call was received at the Beit Aharon synagogue in the Largo Do Machado neighbourhood in Rio De Janeiro. The phonecall said that a non-Jew who had malicious intentions was participating in the prayer services.

Britain - A letter was received in the editorial office of the London Jewish News containing newspaper clippings with anti-Semitic comments.

The Jewish National Fund received an anti-Semitic pamphlet of the radical right-wing British Nationalist Party (BNP).

A number of Jewish organizations and senior officials of the Jewish community received anti-Semitic pamphlets and mail.

France - A number of Jewish families living in Plan-De-Cuques (north of Marseilles) received anti-Semitic pamphlets which were a reproduction of German Nazi pamphlets from 1931. The pamphlets were signed with a swastika. The families who received the pamphlets all live on the same street.

On the wall of an elevator in the Ministry of Tourism in Paris a sticker was pasted which read Jews to the ovens.

A new format of the well-known anti-Semitic pamphlet LEmpire Invisible was distributed in mail boxes in the 15th Quarter, Paris.

In the Habonim-Dror' building in the 11th Quarter, Paris anti-Semitic slogans such as Dirty Jews appeared on the walls.

Anti-Semitic curses were directed at girls belonging to the Bnei-Akiva movement in the 19th Quarter, Paris.

Denmark - The Chief Rabbi of Copenhagen received an anti-Semitic booklet called Letter to the German People. Blatant anti-Semitic statements appear in the booklet.

Poland - Anti-Semitic slogans and Nazi symbols were drawn on the gate of the Jewish cemetery in Cieszyn on the border between Poland and the Czech Republic. This is not the first time that anti-Semitic slogans have appeared in this cemetery.

The priest Henryk Jankowski is once again involved in anti-Semitic activity, despite the fact that he was suspended from his position for one year for his anti-Semitic statements in the past. He has recently been selling anti-Semitic publications in the church where he serves. A number of bishops criticized this activity. Two representatives of the Gdansk archbishop came to his church and instructed him to cease his activity. He responded by continuing sales from his home located next to the church.

The common theme of all the books Jankowski sells and which are written by various authors is that the Jews are running Poland and the Polish government and that Polish church officials are subordinate to the Jews.

Hungary - The crime prevention unit in the Hungarian police stated that the distribution and sale of the book Mein Kampf in Hungary is not considered an offence. This is contrary to the verdict of 1996 where the court declared the sale of the book in public places illegal.

U.S. - On the eve of Hanukah more than 100 anti-Semitic pamphlets were distributed to homes in two Florida neighbourhoods. The pamphlets accuse the Jews of taking over the media and define them as the source of all the U.S.'s troubles. The pamphlets were apparently distriubted by the National Aliance group, one of the largest and most active Neo-Nazi organizations in the U.S. today.

The editor of The Scarlet publication at Clark University received an anti-Semitic letter with a picture of a heap of corpses of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The picture was apparently cut out from a book on the Holocaust and the message was a reminder of what happened to your relatives because they ridiculed Christianity.

Swastikas and abusive slogans were drawn on the entrance to an apartment house in Brooklyn and on the walls of a Jewish community center in the same area.

Racist groups in prisons are increasing racial tension and violence inside and outside the prison walls. For example, Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam is operating an extensive outreach program with prisoners and sends them anti-Semitic literature and cassettes. When the prisoners are released they continue spreading these views outside the prison.

Mexico - In the Metro station next to the Ashkenazi synagogue in Mexico City an anti-Semitic placard was pasted saying that the banks are the root of the peoples economic problems and the owners of the banks are the dirty Jews.

Peru - An anti-Semitic pamphlet called El Ataque (The Attack) which is published in the San Marcos University Faculty of Law was sent to persons in the Jewish community in Lima.

Brazil - In the tourist town of Itaipava, which is 80 km from Rio De Janeiro, there is a store which sells Nazi type uniforms with all the insignia.

Swastikas and the words Fascists and Goebbels were drawn on a shop belonging to a minority group in the Botafogo neighbourhood in Rio De Janeiro. These neighbourhoods are a target for Neo-Nazi organizations in Brazil.

Black hats with a drawing of red swastikas in the front and on the peak are being offered for sale in many neighbourhoods in Rio De Janeiro.

A body called The National Center for Historical Research in Porto Alegre published a circular entitled Saint Edith Stein, an Invitation for Clarification. The circular states that after twenty years of research on the Second World War and the conjectured gas chambers, have revealed that the place where

Auschwitz is located is falsely pointed out as a death machine. On 2 May, 1994 the said research center proposed a prize of six million cruzeiros to the person who would bring one piece of evidence on the existence of the gas chambers and explain how they worked. Since then to this day no one has brought evidence of even one Jew who died in the gas chambers, not to mention six million. It is clear that the distorters of history are evading the public debate on the subject.

The rest of the circular deals with Edith Stein and accuses the Vatican of giving in to world Zionist pressure through the so-called Catholic-Jewish dialogue and adding one more reason for giving creditability to the most fantastic lie of mankind... The organization asks for proof that Miss Stein did indeed perish in the gas chambers and that the church authorities clarify essential details on the operation of these gas chambers. The circular is signed by the president of the National Center, the well-known anti-Semite Ziegfried Ellwagner who has written many anti-Semitic books.

Uruguay - The El Observador newspaper published an article stating that there are six Nazi Internet sites in Uruguay operated by Neo-Nazi groups. The center pages of the research article explains in detail that there is material in these sites which spreads racial hatred against the Jews and the blacks. There are explanations on how to organize Neo-Nazi cells and how to behave in the case of police harassment.

Australia - Swastikas were drawn on parking meters close to the Jewish community center in Sydney.

Copies of an anti-Semitic book called U.S. Doomed: The March of the Beast were sent to mail boxes throughout Adelaide.

An anti-Semitic Holocaust denial pamphlet which rejects the existence of the gas chambers was placed under the windshield wipers of cars in a New South Wales center.

Anti-Semitic cassettes and pamphlets were sent to homes in Tasmania.

The Adelaide Institute continued this month to publish anti-Semitic Holocaust denial propaganda in its news bulletin. The propaganda included slander against the vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry ECAJ)

and expressions such as the Auschwitz myth. The institute also sent anti-Semitic mail to a person with a Jewish name in New South Wales.

Many cases were reported of anti-Semitic electronic mail sent to Jewish institutions and organizations in Sydney. Anti-Semitic electronic mail was also sent to newsgroups such as Aus.Politics, Aus. General and others. The electronic mail arrived, among others, from Spain and the U.S. and included accusations along the lines of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.

Anti-Semitic electronic mail was sent to the home of a Jewish person in Sydney and called on him to roast himself.

An anti-Semitic book was sent by its author from Queensland to the leader of the community in South Australia.

The Strategy magazine published the name of a number of radical and anti-Semitic magazines as well as an article on the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' as a basis for what happens on Wall Street.

U.S. - A toy store in Texas agreed to an ADL request to remove dolls dressed as Nazi soldiers from its shelves. The store manager expressed regret over the distress the item caused.

Germany - The German police is about to file a lawsuit against 13 Neo-Nazis who were arrested during a meeting they held in a Bonn restaurant. The 13 Neo-Nazis, some of them with police records, will be accused of disseminating Neo-Nazi propaganda.

Poland - During his visit to Israel, the president of Poland announced that his government would work to legislate a law to settle the legal status of the death camps in Poland. In the framework of this law a solution would be found to the problem of the crosses at Auschwitz.

Russia - The Moscow claims department filed an indictment against General Makashov for national incitement.

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov promised he would fight political radicalism after the radical nationalist organization Russian National Unity held a parade in the capital where its members wore black shirts with Nazi-type ribbons on their sleeves. The mayor denounced the police for not having prevented the demonstration and prohibited the sale of Neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic newspapers in the central square near the Kremlin.

Latvia - The book Baigas Gads (The Terrible Year) was first published in 1942 by the workers of the German propaganda machine. The purpose of the book was to show the crimes of the Jews and the Communists against the Latvian people. The book is full of pictures of atrocities and hints that the Jews were responsible for the terrible year that Latvia underwent under the Soviet regime in 1940-1941. The book was banned from publication in Germany and in the former Soviet Union. In recent months the book was republished by a publisher who is a member of the Fatherland and Freedom party and the book was distributed throughout Latvia. Latvian intellectuals published a letter denouncing the distribution of the book. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman denounced the printing and distribution of the book by one of the parties which make up the government. He noted that the purpose of this Hitlerite propaganda against the Jews and the Russians was to justify the crimes of the Latvian Waffen S.S. The Latvian Foreign Ministry published a statement requesting the State Attorneys office to investigate the matter of the reprinting of the anti-Semitic book.

Germany -After a series of bitter confrontations on the appropriate way to commemorate the Holocaust, agreement was reached in Germany on the structure of the monument which would be constructed in the new German capital Berlin: a wide field with thousands of stone columns, a 100-meter long and 20-meter high wall of books and a research center. For more than a decade the memorial, which was proposed to be constructed beside the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, became the focus of a debate between various concepts on the appropriate manner to deal with the destruction of the Jews of Europe by Hitler, and to find a way to balance between remembrance and the growing desire to look to the future. The commemoration center will be run by the Jewish Museum and this will ensure the connection between the memorial and the museum.

Poland - On 18 January, 1999 Judaism Day was observed in the Catholic Church in Poland. During the day a joint prayer service was held for Jews and Christians in many churches and synagogues. The chairman of the Council of Bishops for Dialogue with Judaism, Bishop Godecki, said that the attitude of the Jews towards Christianity must be like that of a mother to her child since Christianity grew out of Judaism. Godecki added that despite anti-Semitic incidents, the dialogue between Christians and Jews is developing.

The Jewish cemetery which was established in the 16th century in Przemysl in south-east Poland (close to the border with Ukraine) and was destroyed by the Nazis will become a memorial site. A symbolic wall and gravestones will be constructed to commemorate the cemetery which was there. The Nazis tore out all the gravestones and used them for road construction. Most of the Jewish population of Przemysl, which amounted to 20,000 people perished in the death camps.

Russia - Dozens of students and lecturers from all over the former

Soviet Union and other countries convened this month in Moscow for three days of studies on Judaism. The conference symbolizes the revival of Jewish studies after the Communist regime. Some 2500 students in more than 70 universities throughout the CIS, Russia and the Baltic states are studying Judaism.

The Moscow Times published an article in its culture section on an exhibition of exhibits and posters in Moscow to show the absurdity of anti-Semitism.

The exhibits were strongly anti-Semitic with captions such as Jar for Christian Blood, Bottle of Water for Emergencies (after the Jews stole all the water in Russia) and so on. The curator explained the logic of showing the absurdity of anti-Semitism as a method of eradicating it.

Croatia - Croatia will revoke the indictment against Nadya Sakic who was a concentration camp guard in World War II. Sakic was extradited from Argentina last year to stand trial for war crimes. It was reported that Croatia is foregoing the suit since the investigation which lasted three months did not succeed in proving the suspicions that Sakic had committed crimes. Her husband Dinko Sakic, who was extradited in June and is to be tried in a similar trial in Zagreb, was the deputy commander of the Stara Gradiska camp during the period when Sakic worked there. Jewish organizations regarded the extraditions as an opportunity for Croatia to contend with its Fascist past.

Uzbekistan - In a plaza in central Tashkent, at a stuntman competition, two adults were seen dressed up as Lenin and Hitler. The man dressed as Hitler wore a uniform decorated with swastikas and looked very like the original. The figures took photographs with passersby for a fee.

U.S. - President Clinton announced the establishment of a working group which would enable the publication of documents on Nazi war crimes that are located in the state archives and are considered classified. The group will work with government agencies to enable the documents to be transferred to the National Archives and opened to the public. Among the members of the working group is Thomas H. Baer who was until recently the president of Bnai Brith.

International - Return of Jewish Property and Compensation to Holocaust Victims - A breakthrough was made in the effort to publish the list of insurance policies taken out in Europe before World War II and whose owners perished in the Holocaust. According to the agreement, the European insurance companies participating in the international committee (the Italian Generali, the German Alliance, the French Esque and the Swiss Wintertour and Zurich) will make up a joint list of the policies which have not been redeemed. The list will include complete information on the policy holders and their heirs but will not specify the name of the insuring company.

Eight million dollars from Swiss bank funds will be transferred to Yad Vashem for the purpose of modern computerization. This is the first step in exploiting unclaimed Jewish funds from the Holocaust period to memorialize the communities and study the lessons learned from the Holocaust.

The two leading Austrian banks - Kredit Anschtalt and the Bank of Austria - will publish a list of the dormant accounts of Jews from the Second World War. A government commission of inquiry will also be set up to investigate Jewish property remaining in Austria. It was decided that dormant accounts identified as belonging to Jews will be returned to their owners. Funds found in unidentified accounts and which belong to Jews will be used to commemorate the Holocaust. Austria is the second country after Switzerland which instructed its banking system to publish the list of dormant accounts and return to the Jews funds which belonged to them from before and during the war.

The German government presented a plan for granting compensation to forced labourers who were employed by the Nazis. In the framework of the plan a fund called Remembrance and Responsibility will be set up which will compensate the forced labourers from Eastern Europe, Jews and gypsies. Another fund is planned to be established called Remembrance and the Future which will finance international reconciliation campaigns. Both funds will be run by an institution called the German Memorial Foundation. Anyone receiving compensation in the framework of the plan will have to give up any legal claim he is undertaking against German companies. The survivors, most of whom are living in the former eastern bloc, have not yet suceeded in receiving compensation due to the Cold War.

General - On the occasion of Iranian Jerusalem Day, demonstrations were held in various cities throughout the world. Local Arabs and Muslims took part in these demonstrations. The demonstrators carried signs such as There is no place for Israel, Death to Israel and other anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans. Propaganda pamphlets, some of them anti-Israel, anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic were distributed at the demonstrations.