April 29


FRANCE:

Court turns down Nazi collaborator's request


In Paris, France's highest court on Thursday rejected a retrial request
from Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, but said it will revisit his case
again in June.

The Court of Cassation ruled that a new law on prisoners' rights could not
be applied retroactively to Papon's 1998 conviction for complicity in
crimes against humanity. Under the new law, he could have been entitled to
a retrial.

Papon, 93, a former French budget minister, was convicted for his role in
deporting French Jews to death camps during World War II. He was freed
from prison in September 2002, less than three years into a 10-year
sentence, under a law allowing early release for the ill and aging.

But he has continued to fight to have his name cleared.

Papon's first request for a new trial was rejected in October 1999 because
he had fled to Switzerland after his conviction. His lawyers argued Papon
should have the chance to appeal on the grounds that a procedural error
was committed at his trial.

A year later, however, France did away with a law obliging people to turn
themselves in before their appeals are considered. That opened the way for
judges to study the case again.

But with the court on Thursday finally rejecting that line of argument,
Papon's lawyers will get one more chance to argue that proper procedures
were not followed at his original trial because of a ruling in 2000 from
the European Court of Human Rights that said France violated Papon's
rights in rejecting his 1999 appeal.

Papon was convicted for his role in deporting 1,690 Jews in the Bordeaux
area to Nazi death camps. He was the No. 2 official in the southwestern
city during the German occupation of France.

During World War II, some 76,000 Jews, including 12,000 children, were
deported from France, many to Auschwitz. Only 2,500 survived.

(source: Associated Press)




USA//NEW YORK:

Suit Targets Nazi-Era Swiss Bank Accounts


A lawyer filed a motion Wednesday demanding more openness from Swiss banks
over Nazi-era transactions, and protesters gathered Thursday to criticize
what they see as unfair treatment to Holocaust survivors living in the
United States.

"I am very frustrated and disappointed witnessing this process first
hand," said Thomas Molnar, a Hungarian immigrant. He said he has struggled
in vain for access to an account opened by his father before his death.

The Swiss banks' continuing refusal to open thousands of accounts to
scrutiny is the target of fierce criticism, including a searing opinion
from a federal judge who compared the banks' legal tactics to Nazi
propaganda.

Inside the courtroom, survivors and their heirs pleaded with Chief Judge
Edward R. Korman to expedite the release of family money that remains in
Switzerland. Some blamed Swiss banks for the delay, others blamed the
Zurich-based tribunal that hears Jewish claims under the settlement
agreement.

The hearing followed a searing opinion by Korman that blasted the Swiss
banks' legal tactics, comparing their maneuvers to Nazi propaganda.

"The truth appears to be that the banks fear the embarrassment that will
come from further access to accounts, deeper probing into their history
and further successful claims by Nazi victims and their heirs," Korman
wrote in February. "These objections bring to mind the theory that if you
tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come
to believe it."

In August 1998, Switzerland's two largest banks agreed to pay Holocaust
survivors $1.25 billion to settle lawsuits over alleged Nazi-era misdeeds.
The deal was supposed to ease thousands of survivors' twilight years and
restore the reputation of the Swiss banking industry, which was accused of
hiding and misappropriating Jewish accounts worth hundreds of millions of
dollars.

Six years later, many involved in the settlement say both goals remain
unfulfilled.

Many Holocaust survivors object to a proposal to take money that has gone
unclaimed by account holders and distribute most of it to survivors in the
former Soviet Union.

Dozens of elderly protesters, some wearing paper yellow stars, gathered
Thursday outside Brooklyn federal court before a hearing on the issue. Two
men wore their Red Army uniforms and chestfuls of medals.

The motion filed Wednesday asked the court to force the banks to open more
banking records. James Nason, a spokesman for the Swiss Bankers'
Association, said the banks had been simply following the recommendations
of a committee headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker that
audited Nazi-era bank accounts and warned against publishing massive lists
that could lead to frivolous claims by people with no link to Holocaust
victims.

"We are here today for justice," said Fira Stukelmen, a survivor from
Ukraine.

The renewed attention threatens to revive negative publicity that peaked
for the Swiss when bank guard Christoph Meili rescued Nazi-era documents
from a shredding room and turned them over to a Jewish group in Zurich.

Meili watched the 1998 settlement announcement in Brooklyn along with
Estelle Sapir, then 73, the original lead plaintiff.

Sapir eventually received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Credit
Suisse, which for decades refused to turn over the account of her father,
a concentration camp victim, without a death certificate, which she and
other victims' families did not have.

On the Net: Holocaust Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/registry

(source: Associated Press)


***************

Holocaust survivors criticize settlement


In August 1998, a historic deal was announced outside federal court in
Brooklyn. Swiss banks, accused of hiding Jewish accounts, would pay
Holocaust survivors $1.25 billion to settle their lawsuits.

The deal was meant to ease life for survivors and clear the reputation of
the Swiss banking industry, but at a hearing in the same court Thursday,
Holocaust survivors, Jewish charities and the state of Israel said both
goals remain unfulfilled.

Survivors and their heirs pleaded with Chief Judge Edward R. Korman to
expedite the release of family money that remains in Switzerland.

Some blamed Swiss banks for the delay; others blamed the Zurich-based
tribunal dedicated to hearing Jewish claims under the settlement
agreement.

"I am very frustrated and disappointed witnessing this process firsthand,"
said Thomas Molnar, a Hungarian immigrant who said he has struggled in
vain for access to an account opened in Switzerland by his late father.

The Swiss banks' continuing refusal to open thousands of Nazi-era accounts
to outside scrutiny has become the target of fierce criticism, including a
searing opinion from Korman, who compared the banks' legal tactics to Nazi
propaganda.

"The truth appears to be that the banks fear the embarrassment that will
come from further access to accounts," Korman wrote in February. "These
objections bring to mind the theory that if you tell a lie big enough and
keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

The Swiss Bankers' Association said Thursday that the banks were simply
following the recommendations of a U.S. committee that had audited
Nazi-era accounts after the settlement and warned against publishing
massive lists that could lead to frivolous claims by people with no link
to Holocaust victims.

Many survivors at Thursday's hearing objected to a proposal to take money
that has gone unclaimed by account holders and distribute most of it to
survivors in the former Soviet Union.

As much as $500 million in unclaimed money could be placed into that
special fund for needy Holocaust survivors.

Natan Sharansky, Israel's minister for diaspora affairs, testified by
video link that poverty-stricken survivors in Israel would be ill-served
by the geographic emphasis on the former Soviet Union in the formula,
which was proposed by the special master appointed to oversee the
settlement.

"We, the government of Israel, have a strong disagreement with the
recommendations of the special master," he said.

The renewed attention to the banks' conduct threatens to revive negative
publicity that peaked for them in the late 1990s, when state and local
governments threatened sanctions and bank guard Christoph Meili rescued
Nazi-era documents from a shredding room and turned them over to a Jewish
group in Zurich.

Meili watched the 1998 settlement announcement in Brooklyn along with
Estelle Sapir, 73, the original lead plaintiff. Sapir has since died and
Korman has allocated most of the money in the settlement, $800 million, to
survivors like her, Jews who had accounts in Swiss banks or their heirs.

But only $154 million from that fund has been distributed, partly because
the Swiss have kept thousands of possible victim accounts secret but
largely because a vast proportion of the account holders and their
families were wiped out, said Stuart Eizenstat, the former undersecretary
of state who negotiated the Swiss settlement.

(source: Newsday)

*****************


USA//NEW JERSEY:

Rutgers students apologize for Holocaust cartoon


The editors of Rutgers University's student-run humor newspaper apologized
yesterday for a cartoon mocking the Holocaust and promised to institute a
new policy to review potentially offensive material.

The weekly newspaper should never have printed the full-page drawing
depicting a "Knock a Jew in the Oven" game, the staff of the Medium said
in a five-paragraph letter distributed on the New Brunswick campus. The
cartoon appeared on the April 21 cover.

"Many people on campus took this past week's cover as an attack on the
Jewish community. Certainly, that was not our intent," the letter read.
"Meant to amuse through extraordinary absurdity, the cover instead was,
quite simply, a failure; a failure we must recognize, admit and sincerely
apologize for."

The image showed a man throwing a ball at a bearded man sitting on an oven
at a campus fair during Holocaust Remembrance Week. The caption read,
"Knock a Jew in the oven! Three throws for one dollar! Really! No,
REALLY!"

University officials and the editors of the student-funded newspaper
received hundreds of complaints, including several from area Jewish
groups. Some critics called for the state university to shut down the
alternative weekly, which also drew protests last semester for printing
racist personal ads.

In their apology letter, the Medium's staff said they will introduce a
policy requiring several student editors to review and approve the images
that appear on their front page. The Holocaust cartoon was selected by one
editor, who happened to be Jewish.

"We have decided to institute a practice of multi-editor review of the
appropriateness of the future cover art," the Medium staff wrote.
"Hopefully, this will prevent similar problems in issues to come."

Rutgers President Richard McCormick praised the Medium's editors and
writers for saying they were sorry. McCormick harshly criticized the paper
last week and called on its editors to reflect on the hurt they caused.

"I credit the sincerity of the Medium staff's letter and am pleased that
the students have apologized," McCormick said in a written statement. "I
am hopeful that this apology is a sign of progress toward more responsible
editorial judgment and exercise of their First Amendment rights."

The Medium's last issue of the semester was scheduled to begin appearing
on newsstands yesterday and this morning. The newspaper, which receives
about $15,000 a year, is funded by Rutgers College and Livingston College
through the fees students pay along with their tuition.

University administrators, including McCormick, have called the Medium
"loathsome" and "an embarrassment."

Under the law, the state university must fund all qualified student
organizations, regardless of their views. Also, school administrators are
forbidden from censoring student-run publications.

But university officials have urged the Rutgers College and Livingston
College student governing associations to consider whether they want to
continue funding the Medium in future years.

(source: Star-Ledger)





CANADA:

Defence lawyer admonished by judge in review of Holocaust denier Zundel


In Toronto, a defence lawyer for Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was
repeatedly admonished Thursday for wasting the court's time in the
cross-examination of a CSIS agent, in a case that's dragged on for nearly
a year.

Defence lawyer Peter Lindsay was questioning CSIS intelligence officer
David Stewart, who has already completed nine days of testimony in
Zundel's appeal of his national security certificate. The Federal Court of
Canada began reviewing Zundel's case in May 2003, and Justice Pierre Blais
repeatedly expressed concerns Thursday that no progress is being made.

"This is a courtroom," Blais told Lindsay, advising him that his questions
to Stewart were repetitious and redundant.

"There is a time limit. It is not a hockey game."

"You cannot always get a second kick to the can on every question. . . .
You've already got an answer, you have to live with that."

Lindsay was questioning Stewart about the reliability of intelligence the
spy agency provided to federal officials about Zundel.

The defence is trying to establish a theory that CSIS conspired with other
groups, including the federal government, to launch a "smear campaign"
against Zundel.

But proving that scenario is tricky because Zundel's case is based on both
classified and non-classified information. While the judge and Crown are
privy to secret information, the defence is not.

Lindsay told the court he's exasperated with the lack of transparency.

"I have said a number of times that the credibility of CSIS is an issue in
this case," he said.

"I hope to demonstrate in this cross-examination - and I'll be frank -
this is all garbage."

Crown attorney Donald MacIntosh entered several objections on grounds that
Lindsay was circumventing court rules by wading into classified evidence
that cannot be revealed on grounds of national security.

Lindsay argued that Zundel is not and has never been a security threat to
Canada, going as far to characterize him as a "pacifist."

He was questioning Stewart about information the agency provided to
federal officials in 1995 regarding Zundel's alleged contact with white
supremacist groups abroad, including in Germany and South Africa.

Non-classified evidence suggests Zundel distributed hate propaganda to
groups overseas.

The court also heard that the basement of his former downtown Toronto home
was used as a circulation centre.

Blais said according to CSIS, Zundel fancies himself a "guru" of white
supremacy.

Lindsay argued the security certificate is "a politically motivated"
issue, and that federal officials would have acted back in 1995 if they
really believed Zundel was a risk.

The court heard that a 1995 CSIS report concluded that Zundel was a danger
to Canadian security.

When Stewart was asked if CSIS had any evidence to suggest that Zundel
participated or encouraged acts of violence in Canada or abroad, he
repeatedly answered: "Not in the unclassified material."

Stewart was repeatedly dismissed and recalled into the court as lawyers
argued over the defence's line of questioning.

Zundel, a 65-year-old native of Germany, is accused of inciting
anti-Semitism and white supremacy.

He is currently being held in a Toronto jail on a controversial
anti-terrorism measure known as a security certificate. That measure can
be used to deport non-citizens who may pose a national security risk.

Zundel was arrested in the United States last year after missing a routine
meeting with U.S. immigration officials. He had been living there since
his retirement three years ago. He was returned to Canada after his
arrest.

He has launched a constitutional challenge against the security
certificate and has been granted a hearing by the Ontario Court of Appeal
in May. If he loses, he will be deported to Germany. There is no appeal.

The Federal Court review resumes Friday.

(source: Canada Press)