Feb. 14



ITALY:

Nazi SS chief Engel, 'Butcher of Genoa', dies aged 97


Friedrich Engel, a former Nazi SS officer known as the "Butcher of Genoa",
has died aged 97.

His wife has confirmed that he died 10 days ago, and he was buried in a
private ceremony in Hamburg last week, the city's prosecutor's office
said.

Engel became known as the "Butcher" after a court in Hamburg convicted him
of 59 counts of murder in 2002. He received a seven-year suspended jail
sentence.

The court ruled he had ordered the execution of Italian naval commandos on
a mountain pass outside Genoa, in northern Italy, on 19 May 1944. Engel,
who was the head of the SS security service in the city, insisted that
although he observed the event he did not supervise the executions. He
admitted that his unit was responsible for selecting the victims from
Genoa's Marassi jail, but he blamed Nazi naval officers for the shootings,
which were a reprisal for a partisan attack on a cinema that killed five
German soldiers.

In 2004, the federal appeals court quashed the conviction. The court
maintained that he was legally responsible for the massacre, but
questioned whether there was enough evidence to secure a murder
conviction. Engel, who was then aged 95, was told he would not face a
retrial because of his advanced age.

After the war, he worked as a timber salesman, travelling the world until
his retirement in the 1970s. He did not serve any time in prison, though
authorities investigated him in 1969 for his role in Nazi executions in
Italy. The case was dropped the same year for reasons that have remained a
mystery after files connected to the investigation were lost.

In 1999, an Italian military court convicted Engel in absentia and
sentenced him to life for war crimes connected to 246 deaths.

(source: The Independent)




AUSTRIA:

Austria condemns Holocaust cartoons in Iran


Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country holds the presidency
of the European Union, Monday condemned the publication on an Iranian
website of a first cartoon in an international contest on the theme of
the Holocaust, AFP reported.

The "misuse of symbols" and the violation of taboos such as the Holocaust
must be condemned, Schuessel said following a meeting with representatives
of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities in Vienna.

"A balance must be found" in the reaction to the publication by European
newspapers of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed, he said, adding
that the EU wanted to show "understanding for the feelings (of Muslims)
but also persistence in its way of life."

The website irancartoon.com published the first entry in an international
Holocaust cartoon competition launched Monday by the Iranian daily
Hamshahri and entitled "What Is the Limit of Western Freedom of
Expression?"

On Saturday, the Austrian presidency of the EU condemned a statement by
ultra-conservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling the
Holocaust a "myth."

(source: IranMania)




USA//OHIO:

Art exhibits provide powerful subtext to Anne Frank

The images speak for themselves.

The Anne Frank Story, from The Anne Frank Center USA in New York,
recreates, through words and pictures, the personal story of Anne Frank
and her family set against the larger backdrop of the Holocaust.

Living Testament, by Plain Dealer staff photographer Mike Levy, includes
photographs of Holocaust survivors living in Cleveland as visual testimony
to the triumph of the human spirit.

Together, the two exhibits provide the powerful subtext of a living drama,
past and present, to The Diary of Anne Frank now at The Beck Center.

The Anne Frank Story consists of 17 large panels that illuminate events in
the life of Anne Frank and her family. The reader-friendly exhibit starts
with an overview, including a notation of Annes 13th birthday, June 12,
1942, when she received the small red and white plaid diary that would
become arguably the most famous symbol of the Holocaust. It proceeds, in
linear fashion, to tell the story of an old-line German-Jewish family who
easily assimilated into German-Jewish society.

Text and pictures describe, in graphic detail, how Hitler made the Jews
scapegoats for everything that was wrong in Germany, including inflation
and unemployment.

The Frank familys flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam is set against the
larger flight of 250,000 Jews between 1933-39, half of Germanys Jewish
population.

As the number of refugees grew, nations tightened their borders. A photo
of the ill-fated S.S. St. Louis, turned away by the U.S. and Cuba,
underscores a tragedy that returned more than 600 refugees to the European
mainland and almost certain death.

The Nazis invaded The Netherlands and caught up with the Franks. A sign
outside a public facility in Amsterdam reads: Voor Joden Verboden: Jews
Not Allowed. Within nine months, Dutch Jews had gone from integrated
members of society to outcasts.

Each panel is titled to underscore the sweeping tide of events.

Going into Hiding includes a drawing of the Secret Annex, as well as
captions from Annes diary.

Betrayal and Deportation includes a copy of the train log listing the
names of the Frank family and other residents of the Annex; they were on
the last transport to leave Westerbork for Auschwitz.

Unmarked Graves describes the fate of each of the eight residents of the
Annex. Only Otto Frank would survive. Anne was buried in a mass, unmarked
grave.

Living Testament includes images from Mike Levys series of photographs of
survivors in the Cleveland region, which ran in the Plain Dealer last
October.

Levy was working on assignment with Plain Dealer reporter Diane Suchetka,
who was interviewing Cleveland survivor Gita Frankel for a story
commemorating the anniversary of Yom HaShoah. Levy photographed Frankel in
her University Heights home.

For Levy it was a life-altering experience.

Frankel told Levy that for herself and her fellow survivors, there was
great concern that were all getting older, our voices will be gone, and no
one will be left to talk.

This revelation led to the birth of Levys own photography project, in
which he photographed 11 survivors over a three-month period.

Levy describes the survivors he photographed as all heroes for other
people; people who took care of other people.

All of the photographs on display are manipulated photographs in black and
white. Each one speaks volumes.

A split image of Sylvia Malcmachers face, whom Levy describes as a
beautiful woman, reflects the pain of memory and the trauma of living
through the Holocaust.

The picture of Gita Frankel shows her, surrounded by family photos,
including one of a grandson who, she says, looks just like her brother who
died in the camps.

Albert Hersh is photographed standing next to a gigantic, somewhat
ominous-looking tree and seemingly dwarfed by it. For Levy, the image
shows a man who has gone on with his life. I love this picture, says the
photographer.

Joseph Ferber gazes at his reflection in the bedroom mirror, surrounded by
some of his favorite things, including the clown figures he enjoys
collecting and photographs of family. The latter stresses the importance
of photographs in survivors lives.

A double image of Jack Mintz, a Schindlers List survivor, is made up of
two different photos that bleed together.

Cleveland State University professor Zev Harel is pictured sitting next to
a window. Nearby is a photograph of him taken after his release from the
camps.

Each of these photographs is profoundly moving as living testaments to the
indomitable spirit of these survivors.

The Anne Frank Story will be on view through Feb. 22; Living Testament,
through Feb. 26. Both are being shown in conjunction with the staged
production through Feb. 26 of The Diary of Anne Frank at The Beck Center
for the Arts, 17801 Detroit Ave. in Lakewood.

(source: Cleveland Jewish News)