Feb. 25


USA//NEW YORK:

Holocaust survivors sue lawyer


The lawyer who represented Holocaust survivors in a lawsuit against Swiss
banks is facing criticism from some of the victims - they say he is
charging millions for work they believed he was doing for free.

A group of Holocaust survivors in the United States has filed a court
objection to lawyer Burt Neuborne's almost $4.1m (R24.6m) bill for work he
did after the 1998 settlement in the case.

According to The New York Times, Neuborne filed papers seeking to refute
those objections on Friday. He also asked a judge to hold a hearing on his
fee.

One of the Holocaust survivors in the dispute, David Mermelstein, 77,
said: "Neuborne was telling us all along that he will not get paid, to
take away this money from the needy survivors is a crime."

Holocaust survivors and their families sued Credit Suisse, UBS AG and
other Swiss banks, accusing them of stealing, concealing or giving the
Nazis hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings and
destroying bank records to cover the paper trail.

In 1998, US district judge Edward Korman approved a $1.25-bn (R7.5-bn)
settlement and appointed a tribunal to process thousands of claims.

Neuborne, the court-appointed representative for survivors worldwide,
defended his work, which he said he never promised would be free.

Neuborne said: "It was a gruelling job that nobody else wanted, and that I
have done faithfully and successfully for seven years."

(source: News 24)


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


USA//MICHIGAN:

Nazis coming to state Capitol


A neo-Nazi group is organizing a trip to the state Capitol on April 22,
and a local organization is preparing to counter the white supremacists
message.

There is no room in Lansing for white-supremacists, said Lacey Harris, a
member of the local group Direct Action. Its important for people to know
that the neo-Nazi movement is real and its growing, she said, adding that
the April trip to the Capitol is proof of the increased membership and
momentum of the Aryan-centered ideology.

The neo-Nazi group, known as the National Socialist Movement, makes no
secret of its beliefs, which follow the Nazi Germany standard of social
cleansing and Aryan power.

Harris warns that there are huge implications attached to the Nazis trip
to Lansing, and she speaks from experience: While groups like Direct
Action are preparing to go head-to-head with the supremacy group in April,
they are scrambling to raise money for the legal defense of six Lansing
residents arrested in Dec. 10 at a Toledo, Ohio, counter-rally against the
same group. Harris was among a group of Lansing residents that
participated.

The Toledo law enforcement agencies were prepared with 700 coordinating
officers, police horses and an armored vehicle on hand. The extensive
preparation was to prevent any violent outbreaks. The area previously
experienced a violent demonstration among Nazi and anti-Nazi groups two
months earlier.

Despite the increased police presence, the Dec. 10 demonstration resulted
in 20 arrests, according to the Toledo Blade. That included six
Lansing-area residents who had traveled with a group of 15 people to
counter the neo-Nazi message. Charges ranged from obstruction of justice
to assaulting a police horse.

The Lansing residents who were arrested in December were advised not to
speak to the media because of an upcoming court date. Harris said the two
women and four men who were arrested ranged in age from 19 to 33. She said
one of the women was tazered in the encounter with police.

Harris said her organization doesnt expect the Lansing community to
participate in anti-neo-Nazi rallying or demonstrations rather, she hopes
the community can organize in ways to ensure the area conveys a clear
message that white supremacy is unwelcome in Michigan.

We come with more of a direct approach, Harris said. Thats why its
important for local organizations and communities to identify a strategy
in challenging white supremacy that works best for them.

In the meantime, Direct Action plans to coordinate with other
peace-oriented groups willing to travel to the Capitol to oppose the
neo-Nazi sentiment. Harris anticipates anywhere from 500 to 1,000 people
could participate in the counter-demonstration. Comparatively, there were
only about 60 neo-Nazis and 150 counter-protesters at Decembers Toledo
rally.

Lansing has seen similar demonstrations. In 1994, 27 Ku Klux Klan members
rallied in front of the state Capitol, where they encountered mass
opposition. State police posted 400 troopers at the 1994 rally.

Lansing police Lt. Bruce Ferguson said the department hasnt created a
strategy yet to deal with the April rally, but he added it plans to meet
with both sides. He said the goal is to keep the peace.

Most protests here in town are peaceful, Ferguson said. We may have
officers to create a barrier and we may shut down streets, but our concern
is that no one gets hurt.

Ferguson said past demonstrations havent had large turnouts.

When you give them media attention, you give them free publicity, Ferguson
said of the neo-Nazis. The less media attention, the better.

(source: City Pulse)


AUSTRIA:

Speaking out on 'hate laws' and the Holocaust----Michael Shermer's
criticism of "hate laws" (Opinion, Feb. 22) is misguided. Free speech has
never been absolute, nor should it be.


You may not defame someone without legal consequences. You may not falsely
shout "fire" in a crowded theater without legal consequences. You may not
incite to riot without legal consequences. Had hate laws been around in
Germany during the 1930s, perhaps millions of lives would have been saved.
Civilization as we know it will not end because Holocaust denier David
Irving is imprisoned for his hate speech.

WILLIAM ELPERIN----Los Angeles

The writer is president of a Holocaust survivors' organization.

**

On the surface, Shermer seems to accept that different legislation has
different standards. But then he doesn't. It is a bit rich for any
American to tell others what to make of the Holocaust and how to deal with
it. The world is still waiting for the U.S. to come to terms with its own
(and rather successful) attempt at genocide in the 19th century.

And how much free speech is there really in the U.S. when it comes to
certain issues? The safe bottom line is to let Germans and Austrians
decide on their own laws and their own history. After all, Irving could
have uttered all his rubbish views safely outside those countries.
Instead, he chose to test the Austrian legal system.

RONALD VOPEL----Brussels

(source: Letters to the Editor, Los Angeles Times)




ROMANIA:

Roma recognized as Holocaust victims


The Senate yesterday debated President Traian Basescu's request for the
Roma community to be recognized as victims of the Holocaust that took
place during World War II.

Senators decided for the new draft to stipulate that a part of the Roma
population was oppressed during the war.

The initial law defined the Holocaust as the systematic persecution
supported by the state and the annihilation of European Jewish people by
Nazi Germany, as well by its allies and collaborators between 1933 and
1945.

Basescu last month sent a request to Parliament asking senators to
reexamine the ordinance that forbids fascist, racist or xenophobic
organizations and symbols as well as the promotion of people guilty of
having committed felonies against peace and humankind.

The president criticized the fact that the Holocaust's definition included
only Jews, ignoring the tragedies also suffered by the Roma people because
of Nazi oppression.

Basescu said several nongovernmental organizations defending Roma rights
and several important people in Romania criticized the initial law for not
including the Roma minority among the victims of the Holocaust.

The president said the report issued by the International Commission for
Studying the Holocaust in Romania and other documents published by the
Memorial Museum of the Holocaust from the U.S. also mention Romas as
victims of the Holocaust.

The delicate subject of the Holocaust in Romania has many times been the
cause of controversy. Former President Ion Iliescu's statement in 2003,
when he said there was no Holocaust on Romanian territory, stirred fierce
reactions from national and international nongovernmental organizations.

(source: Bucharest Daily News)





FRANCE:

Rgine Elkan, a French national residing near Avignon, France, just filed a
lawsuit against the French Prime Minister over a significant Holocaust art
claim involving the Carnavalet Museum in Paris, France. This action was
filed this week in a Paris court after a government commission in charge
of Holocaust assets claims refused to return a large decorative art
collection currently with the Carnavalet Museum.

This art collection, one of the most prestigious XVIIIth Century French
Furniture collections in the world, was initially donated by Henriette
BOUVIER, an antique dealer, to the Carnavalet Museum, in 1968. Elkan
filed a restitution claim on May 21, 2002 with the so-called Drai
Commission, a government-appointed commission in charge of resolving all
Holocaust-related claims involving assets looted from Jews during the
Vichy Regime in France.

In the lawsuit, Elkan claims that this collection belonged to an estate
which was looted during World War II. The complaint also establishes that
this estate, formed after the death of Elkans ancestor, Adolphe Fraenkel,
was controlled by a French Government official who played a central role
in the looting of real estate from Parisian Jews during the Vichy Regime.

Following the Drai Commissions refusal to return the collection, Elkan
filed this lawsuit against the office of the French Prime Minister,
Philippe de Villepin. The lawsuit is filed in Administrative Court, the
arm of the French judicial system which adjudicates suits between
individuals and the French state. The French prime Ministers Office has
statutory oversight over the Drai Commission.

In addition, Elkan also reported she recently laid claim to an artworks
currently with the Metropolitan Museum in New York. This items provenance
originates with Henriette Bouvier and was sold to the Metropolitan in the
50s. Elkan's claim against the Metropolitan links the Bouvier provenance
to the original estate of Adolphe Fraenkel.

(source: I-Newswire)




ENGLAND:

Holocaust advertisement offends, flares tempers

To the Editor:


I am shocked and appalled to see that The Observer would include an
advertisement for a website that supports the denial of the Holocaust.

It may say that the purpose is to encourage open debate, but it is not.
The purpose of it is to be inflammatory and legitimize their viewpoint.
Their viewpoint is not legitimate, and you have an ethical

responsibility to not print this sort of trash. My grandmother is a
holocaust survivor. My great grandparents were killed in the Nazi death
camps, as were many people in my family and at least 9 million others. My
grandmother had to watch as children, pregnant women, and the elderly were
herded into the crematoria like sheep to be burned alive.

There is no excuse for this. There is no excuse for the denial of this.
There is no excuse for legitimizing anyone who would do so.

I demand an apology and an immediate retraction of future ads from this
group. I fully support freedom of speech, but freedom of speech does not
imply an obligation on your part to print this nonsense. If this persists,
I am sure will be joined by many others in a boycott of your newspaper. I
hope that this is simply a misunderstanding; if you would like me to refer
you to literature regarding the agenda of these Holocaust deniers, I would
be happy to do so.

Ben Schiller--Undergraduate student


**

To the Editor:

First, I want to compliment you on the quality of the paper you publish.

However, I want to express my feelings of dismay and sadness at the
advertisement I saw in the Feb. 10, 2006 issue for an organization calling
itself the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust. This group is at
the forefront in disseminating Holocaust denial literature in the United
States and is one that targets college campuses in an attempt to distort
factual history.

Just as I hope I will never see ads for the Ku Klux Klan, or the American
Nazi Party or any organization that attempts to rewrite history and
promote hatred in The Observer, I also hope that, even in the name of a
free press, better judgment is used in the future on what is published.

Lia Chesner -- Office of Faculty Affairs and Human


Editor's Note: The staff of The Observer in no way endorses the opinions
or statements of the organizations that choose to advertise within the
pages of this newspaper. As the newspaper of a private institution, The
Observer can choose to run or reject any advertisement at any given time.
However, the advertisement in question, which was paid for by an
organization claiming "Academic Freedom" by holding "An open discussion
about the Holocaust," is one that should have been rejected from the start
and has no place in this paper. The Case community deserves to have its
newspaper represent its ideals, which include tolerance and respect for
others without regard to race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or
any other characteristic that may distinguish them from the rest.

While others may disagree with this explanation, citing freedom of the
press as a justification for this mistake, that reasoning should only
apply to messages and ideals that we truly advocate and are actually
willing to stand up and fight for.

(source: Letters to the Editor, The Observer)




IRAN/AUSTRALIA:

Aussie Holocaust denier invited to Iran----Dr. Frederick Tobin, who claims
there is no possibility Jews were killed in Auschwitz gas chambers, set to
visit Tehran to 'testify' that Holocaust never happened


Australian Holocaust denier Dr. Frederick Tobin has been invited to Iran
to testify that Jews could not have been killed in gas chambers in
Auschwitz.

Tobin is presenting The Auschwitz Model in which he argues that he visited
the place and could not find the holes from which gas came out of.

He adds that the Holocaust is a myth and backs a call made by Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel the racist, Zionist, and
apartheid state should be wiped out.

Four years ago, an Australian federal court ordered Tobin to remove
claims published on his websites that the Holocaust never happened,
saying that the publication is offensive to Australian Jews.

Following the trial of British Holocaust denier David Irving , who was
sent by an Austrian court to prison for three years, Tobins planned visit
to Iran received heavy media coverage in the Australian media and prompted
a debate about freedom of expression and the right to deny the Holocaust.

'Holocaust myth' conference

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced its plan to hold a conference to
investigate the Holocaust myth. Tobin will lecture at the conference,
which will probe the scientific arguments related to claims of genocide
committed by the Nazis against the Jews.

A group of Israeli citizens is set to file an unprecedented criminal
lawsuit in a German court against Ahmadinejad, accusing him of Holocaust
denial, harming the memory of Holocaust victims, incitement to hatred,
racism, and violation of U.N. conventions and resolutions.

The submission of the lawsuit obligates Germany's chief prosecutor to
launch criminal proceedings against the Iranian president.

(source: YNetNews)