3 min read

News

Passover Greetings from SWC Founder & Dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier

PASSOVER GREETINGS FROM RABBI MARVIN HIER

This Passover marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration campsculminating with the 60th anniversary of the final defeat of Nazi Germany on May 8th. But what has the world learned from those horrible years? For today, in 2005,Jews in Europe are more fearful about their future than at anytime since the downfall of the Nazi Third Reich.

In a recent interview Paul Spiegel, President of the Central Council of Germany’s100,000 Jews stated, "The threshold for expressing antisemitic prejudices has dropped significantly…among groups of people in which I wouldn’t have expected it.But now we’re seeing [antisemitism] among intellectuals, in academic circles…There is a certain acceptance developing of things that deserves the attention of alldemocratically-minded people. I’m talking about desecrations of Jewish cemeteries, not once a month or once a week but almost daily."

In the UK, a shocking exposé in this week’s Sunday Times , reports thathostility towards Jewish students at British universities is escalating as academics push boycotts of Israeli educational institutions, teachers, researchers and goods.According to Luciana Berger a close friend of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s son, Euan, she has been forced to resign from a Student Union after being abused and spatat because she is Jewish. At the same time, a Member of Parliament has just called for economic sanctions against Israel, even as prospects for Middle East peace arebecoming a reality. According to author Douglas Davis, "Some British universities are reminiscent of Germany in the 1930’s. Let us not forget that the first place Hitlerhad Jews banned from was the universities."
Photo above: Israeli students gather beside the Jewish Memorial in the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen to commemorate the 60thanniversary of its liberation by British troops on April 15, 1945.

In France, an official report released last month described anti-Jewish acts at a15-year high reaching "worrying" levels unseen since 1990.

And in Turkey, a Moslem country where Jews have found safe haven for hundredsof years, the Center had to protest to the nation’s Foreign Minister after learningthat Hitler's Mein Kampf is being sold in four different editions as the bestseller in Istanbul’s bookshops, street stalls, and at the internationalairport. Also being sold are such antisemitic screeds including Henry Ford's The International Jew, and the Russian Czarist forgery, The Protocols of theElders of Zion, (see photo right). Beyond Europe, last week New Zealand Member of Parliament John Tamihere declared that he was "sick and tired" ofhearing about Jews gassed in the Holocaust.

There is no more significant way to commemorate these important 60th anniversaries thanto help empower organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center with the support and resources needed to carry on the battle against antisemites everywhere in theworld.

And we are doing just that.

Each and every day our representatives in the United States, Europe and around the worldare on the frontlines of a complex and ever shifting struggle against antisemitism. As one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over400,000 member families, as an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe, Center officials are meeting withworld leaders, attending international conferences, speaking out, and acting on your behalf against antisemitism and racism worldwide. And on this Passover we are in thefinal stages of producing, Ever Again!, a cutting-edge documentary that reveals the shocking reality of antisemitism in Europe today. We will use this filmto break through the apathy and cynicism that embattled Jewish communities face every day.

But we cannot do it alone. To be an innovative andeffective presence in the international arena we need your partnership. We can only be as effective as your support allows us to be. Help us better carry on this fight by using this link to send in a contribution to support ourcrucial work and by forwarding this email to your family and friends.


Wishing you and your family a joyous Passover.


We need your support to continue our work.

Please click here to support the work of the SimonWiesenthal Center.
Please do not respond directly to this email - the SWC will not receive your correspondence. Send inquiries to:information@wiesenthal.net

Or send mail to:
Simon Wiesenthal Center
1399 South Roxbury, Los Angeles, California 90035
310-553-9036
http://www.wiesenthal.com

This e-mail was sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, aninternational organization with 400,000 members, promoting tolerance and combating antisemitism worldwide.

SWC Snider SocialAction Institute

This e-mail was sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international
organization with 400,000 members, promoting tolerance and combating antisemitism worldwide.






Wiesenthal Center Mourns Passing Of Samuel Belzberg, Founding Board Chairman

The Simon Wiesenthal Center mourns the passing of Samuel Belzberg z”l, the Vancouver philanthropist who was the Founding Chairman of itsBoard of...

Read More

Wiesenthal Center blasts Friday’s Neo-Nazi march in center of Vilnius

Jerusalem - The Simon Wiesenthal Center has labeled a neo-Nazi march of approximately 1,000 participants held this past Friday in the heart of the...

Read More