Jan. 16



CZECH REPUBLIC:

Holocaust supporter gets 15 months suspended sentence
PRAGUE- Antonin Cermak, 21, was given 15 months in prison with a probation
of 3.5 years for support for Holocaust.
Cermak reacted "only, only" to a Nazism opponent shouting "You have killed
1.7 million Jewish children" during a neo-Nazi demonstration in Prague
last year.

Cermak and the state attorney have both taken time to appeal.

The demonstration of about 70 neo-Nazis took place outside the German
embassy in Prague on October 28 in support of Ernst Zuendel, alleged
German denier of the Holocaust.

Zuendel has been accused in Germany of spreading hatred of Jews via the
Internet and claiming that the Holocaust had never occurred.

Cermak called at the court today that he was reacting to a remark that
concerned the number of demonstrators.

According to the verdict Cermak's behaviour was confirmed by three
witnesses - policemen, who stood right behind him during the
demonstration.

Judge Edita Beranova said that Cermak had already been prosecuted for an
attack against a man and unauthorised use of a car, but on the other hand
he is young and has not yet been in prison.

She said however that the offence he was sentenced for today is very
dangerous to society. He will now be supervised by the probation and
mediation service.

(source: Czech Happenings)




IRAN:

Iranian appeal for proof of Holocaust further irks U.S.----Plan fortifies
U.S. plea for sanctions


The United States wants to get Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
government before the UN Security Council. (VAHID SALEMI/Associated Press)
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran announced plans Sunday for a conference to examine
evidence for the Holocaust, a step likely to deepen the nation's
international isolation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi didn't say where or when the
conference would be held, or who would attend.

"It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the
Holocaust," Asefi said. "The Foreign Ministry plans to hold a conference
on the scientific aspect of the issue to ... review its repercussions."

Late last year, the leader of Egypt's main Muslim opposition group joined
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in characterizing the Holocaust as a
myth and lambasted Western governments for criticizing those who dispute
that the Jewish genocide happened.

"Western democracies have slammed all those who don't see eye to eye with
the Zionists regarding the myth of the Holocaust," Muslim Brotherhood
chief Mohammed Mahdi Akef wrote on the group's Web site.

World leaders condemned Ahmadinejad after he called the Nazi slaughter of
Jews during World War II a myth. He later said that if the Holocaust did
happen, then Israel should be moved to Germany or North America, rather
than making Palestinians suffer by losing their land to atone for crimes
committed by Europeans.

Last week, Iran reopened its uranium enrichment facility, leading the
United States and its allies to renew their push to take Iran before the
UN Security Council for possible sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program
is to generate electricity, not make weapons.

U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., pointed Sunday to the plans for the
Holocaust conference as further evidence of the need for economic
sanctions, "unless there is some dramatic change in the Iranian position,"
he said on CNN.

The Israelis -- who have nuclear weapons but don't admit to it -- have
refused to rule out using military force to destroy the Iranian program.

(source: Associated Press)





AUSTIRA:

Austria must return 'Nazi-theft' Klimts
Paintings worth $150 million to be given to Jewish family


The Austrian governments should return five paintings by Gustav Klimt to
the heir of a Jewish family, a Vienna arbitration court said Monday,
indirectly backing the family's claims that the pictures were stolen by
the Nazis.

While the ruling was not binding, lawyers for both the family and the
government have said they would abide by it to end an 18-year legal
struggle over who owns the paintings, estimated to be worth at least $150
million.

A decision to return the paintings would represent one of the costliest
settlements since Austria's government started more than a decade ago
returning valuable art objects looted by the Nazis.

Austrian government officials were not immediately available for comment.
But E. Randol Schoenberg, the lawyer for Maria Altmann, the California
woman claiming the paintings, said the decision "matches all of hopes and
expectations."

"It will make Mrs. Altmann very happy," he told the Austria Press Agency.

The paintings include a gold leaf-clad portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, one
of the most reproduced pictures of all time.

Lawyers for the Austrian government and Altmann, 90, who is Bloch-Bauer's
niece, have fought since 1998 to over rights to that and four other
paintings -- a lesser-known Bloch-Bauer portrait as well as "Apfelbaum"
("Apple Tree"), "Buchenwald/Birkenwald ("Beech Forest/Birch Forest) and
"Haeuser in Unterach am Attersee" (Houses in Unterach on Attersee Lake").

The two sides began mediation in March, following an earlier U.S. Supreme
Court decision that Altmann could sue the Austrian government.

The case stems from a 1998 law passed in Austria that required federal
museums to review their holdings to see if they included works seized by
the Nazis after they took over Austria in 1938, and to find out whether
the works were obtained by the museums without remuneration.

Schoenberg contended the art work was looted by the Nazis, and as such,
U.S. law mandates its return. Attorneys for Austria have argued Altmann's
aunt clearly intended to give the works to the Austrian Gallery, where
they are now displayed, and, in any case the conflict should be settled in
an Austrian court.

The decision is painful for Austria, even as it seeks to show it is ready
to comply with all serious restitution claims arising from wrongs during
the Nazi era.

The nation considers the paintings part of its national identity and Klimt
an Austrian icon. He was a founder of the Vienna Secession art movement
that for many became synonymous with Jugendstil, the German and central
European version of Art Nouveau.

Aside from its returning valuable art objects, Austria also has returned
properties in government possession that were looted by the Nazis.

The country also began paying compensation to Nazi victims from a $210
million fund endowed by contributions from the federal government, the
city of Vienna and Austrian industries.

The fund was created in 2001 to compensate those stripped of businesses,
property, bank accounts and insurance policies under the Third Reich.

Austria was among the most fervent supporters of Adolf Hitler. But
recognition of the need for restitution was delayed because for decades
history books depicted the country as Nazi Germany's first victim, through
annexation in 1938.

Vienna was home to a vibrant Jewish community of some 200,000 before World
War II. Today, it numbers about 7,000.

(source: Associated Press)