Jan. 28



VATICAN CITY:

Vatican is unflinching on Holocaust-denier

The church says Bishop Richard Williamson's ideas have nothing to do with
the pope's decision to return him to the fold.


The Vatican stood firm Tuesday on a decision to rehabilitate a
Holocaust-denying bishop, even as Jewish leaders warned that the move
will set back decades of Roman Catholic overtures to mend strained
relations between the two faiths.

The Vatican joined Jews and fellow Catholics in condemning the British
bishop's assertions that no Jews died in Nazi gas chambers. But the
Vatican also said Richard Williamson's ideas had nothing to do with the
decision by Pope Benedict XVI to return him and three other traditionalist
bishops to the fold.

The controversy over lifting the excommunication of Williamson came as
people worldwide Tuesday observed an annual commemoration of the
Holocaust.

The Vatican's embrace of Williamson has incensed Jewish groups in the
United States and Europe, who noted that Catholic-Jewish relations have
warmed since the 1960s, when the Second Vatican Council issued a
groundbreaking condemnation of anti-Semitism.

"This is an astounding departure," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "It violates all of the goodwill
of Vatican II, where the church said that . . . the long history of hatred
toward Jews, silence toward Jews during the Holocaust is a thing of the
past."

In an interview broadcast on Swedish television days before the pope
lifted his excommunication Saturday, Williamson said: "I believe that the
historical evidence is hugely against 6 million Jews having been
deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf
Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers."

He added: "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi
concentration camps, but none of them by a gas chamber."

Williamson's comments drew condemnation from Catholic bishops in Italy and
Germany and from his own order, the Society of St. Pius X.

The leader of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, said in a statement that
Williamson's views did not reflect the society's position. Fellay forbade
Williamson to speak publicly and asked the pope's forgiveness for "the
dramatic consequences" of the bishop's remarks.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Williamson's
"unacceptable" ideas had "nothing to do with the thinking of the pope or
the ideas expressed in the many documents of the church that condemn the
Holocaust."

He said there has been no talk of revoking the decision because it
represents a first step toward eventual reconciliation with an entire
religious community, not a single clergyman. "This regards an issue of the
internal life of the Catholic Church," Lombardi said in a telephone
interview Tuesday.

Lombardi said the Vatican expected some negative response but has been
surprised by the reaction. "We are sorry, and we hope that the Jewish
world understands that this decision has nothing to do with Williamson's
ideas," he said.

Williamson and three other bishops were excommunicated by Pope John Paul
II 20 years ago after they were consecrated by an ultraconservative
archbishop, Marcel Lefebvre, without papal consent. The Vatican viewed the
step as a schismatic act.

Lefebvre, who opposed liberal reforms introduced by Vatican II, founded
the Society of St. Pius X.

From the start of his pontificate in 2005, Benedict made it known that he
wanted to reunite the society with the church, angering Jews in the
process in 2007 when he relaxed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin
Mass, which on Good Friday calls for the conversion of Jews.

Benedict made his announcement about the lifting of excommunication after
Williamson's interview aired. It was not clear whether he knew of the
interview, but those familiar with the decision say he consulted only a
few advisors.

Among those not in the loop, according to one source, was Cardinal Walter
Kasper, who oversees the Vatican department that handles Jewish relations.

"The Vatican was not prepared for the firestorm that resulted," said the
Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock
Theological Center at Georgetown University. "If the White House did this
kind of thing, everybody would say they were tripping over each other and
weren't organized."

The fallout among Jewish leaders continues.

"Given the centuries-old history of anti-Semitism in the church, this is a
most troubling setback," Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's
national director and a Holocaust survivor, said in a statement.

Amid the outcry, the Vatican has moved swiftly to defend the pope's
decision and his record of condemning the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.

On Tuesday, Vatican Radio devoted a program to the Holocaust, highlighting
the pope's efforts to reach out to Jews, including his 2006 visit to the
Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

Catholic leaders in the United States also denounced Williamson even as
they endorsed the pope's actions.

"We support the Holy Father's decision to lift the censure," said the Rev.
James Massa, who oversees ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Any division in the body of
Christ that can be overcome is to be received with gratitude. This
particular decision is made in the shadow of the unacceptable comments of
Bishop Williamson."

(source: Los Angeles Times)


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


Israel's highest Jewish body severs Vatican ties


Israel's chief rabbinate severed ties with the Vatican on Wednesday to
protest a papal decision to reinstate a bishop who publicly denied 6
million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Israel's highest Jewish body sent a letter to the Holy See expressing
"sorrow and pain" at the papal decision. "It will be very difficult for
the chief rabbinate of Israel to continue its dialogue with the Vatican as
before," the letter said. Chief rabbis of both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic
Jews were parties to the letter.

The rabbinate, which faxed a copy of the letter to The Associated Press,
also canceled a meeting with the Vatican set for March. The rabbinate and
the state of Israel have separate ties with the Vatican, and Wednesday's
move does not affect state relations.

Pope Benedict XVI, faced with an uproar over the bishop, said Wednesday he
feels "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews and warned against any
denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide.

The remarks were his first public comments on the issue since the
controversy erupted Saturday.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican hoped
that in light of the pope's words, "the difficulties expressed by the
Israeli Rabbinate can be subjected to further and deeper reflection."

Lombardi expressed hope that dialogue between the two parties can continue
"fruitfully and serenely."

Oded Weiner, the director general of the chief rabbinate's office,
welcomed the pope's remarks, calling them "a big step toward
reconciliation."

With his comments, the pope reached out to Jews angered by his decision to
rehabilitate bishop Richard Williamson, who told Swedish TV in an
interview broadcast last week that evidence "is hugely against 6 million
Jews being deliberately gassed." He said 300,000 Jews were killed at most,
"but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber."

About 6 million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazis and their
collaborators during World War II. Many were gassed in death camps while
others were killed en masse in other ways, including shooting and
starvation. About 240,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel.

Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, the Simon
Wiesenthal Center and Israel's quasi-governmental Jewish Agency, denounced
the Vatican for bringing a Holocaust denier back into the fold.

The Vatican quickly distanced itself from Williamson's comments and said
removing the excommunication by no means implied the Vatican shared his
views.

Williamson and three other bishops were excommunicated 20 years ago after
they were consecrated by an ultraconservative archbishop without papal
consent a move the Vatican at the time called an act of schism.

Benedict said Wednesday he had lifted the excommunication because the
bishops had "repeatedly shown their deep suffering over the situation."

The German-born Benedict expressed his "full and indisputable solidarity"
with Jews.

He recalled his visits to the Auschwitz death camp including as pope in
May 2006 and the "brutal massacre of millions of Jews, innocent victims
of blind racial and religious hatred."

The Vatican and the rabbinate launched formal relations in 2000 when Pope
John Paul II visited Jerusalem. Since then, delegates from the Holy See
and the rabbinate have met twice a year to discuss religious issues. This
is the first time ties have been severed.

The Vatican and the state of Israel have had their own relationship since
establishing diplomatic ties in 1993.

(source: Associated Press)


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

Pope rejects Holocaust denial, urges SSPX to accept Vatican authority


Pope Benedict XVI reaffirms his "full and indisputable solidarity" with
the Jewish people in mourning the Holocaust, during his regular weekly
public audience on January 28. Although the Pontiff did not explicitly
mention the fierce controversy over the published remarks by Bishop
Richard Williamson denying the severity of the Holocaust, the intent of
the Pope's remarks was clear as he pointed to commemorations of the
genocidal Nazi drive as "an admonition against oblivion, negation, and
reductionism." The Vatican's new YouTube channel drove home the message of
solidarity, offering short videos of the Pope's visit to Auschwitz and his
talk at a synagogue in Cologne.

The Holy Father did speak about his decision to lift the excommunications
of Williamson and three other bishops of the Society of St. Pius X,
telling the audience that he took the step as an "act of paternal
benevolence" in response to the traditionalists' fervent petitions. "I
hope that this gesture of mine will be followed by a prompt commitment on
their part to take the further steps necessary to achieve full communion
with the Church," he said, "thus showing true faithfulness to, and true
recognition of, the Magisterium and authority of the Pope and of Vatican
Council II."

(source: Catholic Culture)



GERMANY:

Council of Jews snubs German Holocaust ceremony


Germany's Central Council of Jews boycotted a ceremony in the Berlin
parliament on Tuesday which commemorated victims of the Holocaust, saying
their leaders had been treated without the proper respect in previous years.

The Council said its representatives would not attend a speech by
President Horst Koehler for the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
concentration camp as they had not been greeted personally and had been
treated merely as "onlookers."

"At some point, it is enough," Stephan Kramer, General Secretary of the
Council, told Reuters.

He also complained that in previous years the Council's leaders, including
Holocaust survivors, had been given seats among other visitors in the
gallery rather than in the main plenary hall.

"This symbol speaks for itself and is unsurpassable in terms of its lack
of respect," Kramer told Die Welt newspaper.

He criticized politicians for failing to adjust the protocol at a time
when Germany was seeing a record number of far-right crimes and when Pope
Benedict was rehabilitating a bishop who had denied the extent of the
Holocaust.

In his speech, Koehler said Germans had a duty to protect Jews and the
constant threat of anti-Semitic attacks was shameful in the country
responsible for the Holocaust.

"It is a scandal that police have to protect Jewish places from old and
new extremists," said Koehler. "Let us stand on the side of our fellow
Jews. Whoever attacks them, attacks us all."

Nazis killed some six million Jews in the Holocaust. An increase in
Germany's Jewish community in the last few years is mainly due to an
influx from the former Soviet Union.

Violent right-wing crime, which includes anti-Semitic offences, jumped 9
percent in 2007 and the Interior Ministry has said it was up significantly
in the first half of last year.

Synagogues and Jewish community centers usually have round-the-clock
police guards and there are regular reports of vandalism of gravestones in
Jewish cemeteries.

"We can't allow Holocaust deniers and extremists of any sort to find
approval or understanding in our country," said Koehler.

"Whoever incites hatred against Jews and other minorities has learnt
nothing from history," he added.

Pope Benedict has unleashed a storm of criticism from Jews by deciding to
rehabilitate a British-born bishop who has denied the full extent of the
Holocaust. Germany's Central Council of Jews has condemned the move.

(source: Reuters)






BRITAIN:

British Library Holocaust recordings launched online


The testimonies now available are drawn from a major oral history
programme - ; The Living Memory of the Jewish Community - which between
1987 and 2000 gathered 186 audio life story interviews with Jewish
survivors of the Holocaust and their children. It was initiated by
National Life Stories based in the BL's oral history section and funded by
a number of organisations including the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation,
the John S Cohen Foundation and the Porjes Charitable Trust.



The moving and often disturbing testimonies of Jewish migrants and
refugees to Britain, many of whom survived Nazi concentration and labour
camps, are being made available online in their entirety for the first
time at
http://sounds.bl.uk/Browse.aspx?collection=Jewish-Holocaust-survivors.

Over 440 hours of life story recordings explore 66 personal experiences of
persecution across war-torn Europe and the impact of the Holocaust,
covering:

Anti-Semitism before the Second World War
Pre-war refugees and the "Kindertransport"
Ghettos and concentration and labour camps
Survival in hiding
Resistance and liberation
Searching for family in the aftermath
Building a new life in Britain
The legacy of the Holocaust

Education is absolutely vital to preserving and honouring the memories of
those who suffered during the Holocaust and to helping ensure that such
atrocities are never repeated. As well as providing academic researchers
the world over with access to valuable source material, the Jewish
Survivors of the Holocaust resource will also support primary and
secondary education, supplementing the study materials and lesson plans
provided by the British Library's Learning team and online at
http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/voices/holocaust.html.

The testimonies now available are drawn from a major oral history
programme - ; The Living Memory of the Jewish Community - which between
1987 and 2000 gathered 186 audio life story interviews with Jewish
survivors of the Holocaust and their children. It was initiated by
National Life Stories based in the BL's oral history section and funded by
a number of organisations including the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation,
the John S Cohen Foundation and the Porjes Charitable Trust.

Many other Holocaust oral history interviews are available at the BL,
collected through collaborative projects or deposited by other
organisations and projects - details about these can be found at:
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/sound/ohist/ohcoll/ohhol/jewish.html

Rob Perks, Curator of Oral History at the British Library Sound Archive
says: "These oral testimonies personalise the enormity of the Holocaust in
a very direct and human way, emphasising the variety and complexity of
individual experience. They also provide the broader context: that these
individuals are survivors of whole communities that were often destroyed
by the Holocaust, and that they have lived lives since the war. They are a
cross-section of the many hundreds of Holocaust survivor accounts that we
hold in the BL's oral history collection."

Ben Barkow, Director of the Wiener Library notes that, "With the
inevitable passing of the generation of Holocaust survivors, the issue of
how to preserve their memories for the education of future generations has
become pressing. Initiatives to create sound archives and open them up to
digital access are vital to this work and the British Library has made a
major contribution with its Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust Collection
on Archival Sound Recordings. Such primary sources will form the bedrock
of future Holocaust education."

For more information and access excerpts and transcripts, please contact
Ben Sanderson at the British Library Press Office, ben.sanderson@... T:
+44 ( 0 )20 7412 7111 M: +44 ( 0 )78100 56848

Archival Sound Recordings | http://sounds.bl.uk

The Archival Sound Recordings project makes a variety of music, spoken
word, and environmental sounds from the British Library Sound Archive
available online, and is part of the British Librarys ongoing commitment
to improving access and ensuring the preservation of invaluable primary
source materials for research, teaching and learning. All recordings on
Archival Sound Recordings can be accessed from British Library reading
rooms and are available for free to licensed UK higher and further
education institutions. In addition, over 2000 recordings, including
Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust, are available to the public via the
website.

The British Library Sound Archive holds over a million discs and thousands
of tapes. Its collections come from all over the world and cover the
entire range of recorded sound from music, drama and literature, to oral
history and wildlife sounds. Formats range from cylinders made in the late
19th century to the latest digital media. In addition to copies of
commercial recordings issued within the United Kingdom, the Sound Archive
keeps selected commercial recordings from overseas, radio broadcasts and
many privately-made recordings

The catalogue includes entries for millions of recordings held in the
Sound Archive and is updated daily. It is one of the largest catalogues of
its kind anywhere in the world, covering both published and unpublished
recordings.

(source: Media--Newswire)






UKRAINE:

Ukrainian communities mark Shoah

Jewish communities in Ukraine lit candles and observed a moment of
silence to honor the 6 million Jewish Holocaust victims.

Tuesday's moment of silence culminated a week of events to commemorate
International Holocaust Remembrance Day and to remember the 1.5 million
Jews killed in Ukraine, including meetings, roundtables, seminars and
discussions, exhibitions and film screenings.

There was no official national ceremony, but the Jewish Forum of Ukraine,
the All-Ukrainian Association of Jews -- made up of concentration camp and
ghetto survivors -- and the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies
co-hosted a memorial meeting called Six Million Hearts in Kiev on Tuesday
at the Academic Institution for Political and Ethnic Studies. At the same
time, a group of Ukrainian youngsters gathered to mark the event at the
Jewish Council of Ukraine.

Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov hosted commemorative meetings in
remembrance of Holocaust.

The meetings, discussions and film screening in Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa
were organized by Tkuma, Ukraines central Holocaust foundation based in
Dnepropetrovsk.

(source: JTA)




BOSNIA:

Bosnias Ethic Tensions Delay Holocaust Denial Law


The decision of Bosnian Serb deputies to vote down a law on Holocaust and
genocide denial confirms the high level of distrust between the estranged
communities.

Despite pressure from the international and local public, Bosnia and
Herzegovina has not adopted a law on holocaust and genocide crimes denial,
although the UN International Day for the Commemoration of the Holocaust
is again approaching on January 27.

Amir Kulagic, a rare survivor of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when almost
Bosniak 8,000 men and boys were killed by the Bosnian Serb army, is not
surprised. "Knowing the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there
is no hope such law will be adopted," he says.

On December 17, 2008, Bosnia's House of Representatives rejected a draft
law to prohibit the denial, minimization, justification or approval of the
Holocaust or genocidal crimes and crimes against humanity.

The law foundered when 11 delegates from the Republika Srpska, RS, voted
against it. Ekrem Ajanovic, the deputy from the mainly Bosniak Party for
Bosnia and Herzegovina who proposed the law, says its adoption would have
been an important sign in the run-up to the international day of
commemoration, while the failure to do so had inflicted "multiple damage
to Bosnia and Herzegovina."

"It has impaired the moral pride of all those who denied the genocide
while depriving returnees of their right to protection by law when they
go back to Srebrenica," he said.

"Worse, it has sent a message to all those who keep denying genocide
crimes and the Holocaust that they can go on with their acts," Ajanovic
told Justice Report.

Deputies of the Union of Independent Social Democrats, SNDS, the leading
party in the RS, said they voted against the draft law because the
Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina already dealt with the issue, so a
separate law on this subject was not needed.

But another, possibly more important, factor was their continuing
sensitivity over the issue of war crimes committed in Bosnia in the 1990s,
and worries on the part of the Bosnian Serbs that the new law was intended
as a weapon against their community.

Ajanovics party has campaigned for the total abolition of the Republika
Srpska, on the grounds that it is "a genocidal creation."

"War crimes are a sensitive issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina," a SNSD
delegate Lazar Prodanovic said.

"I am not sure this law would actually lead to reconciliation and justice
fulfillment. This law pertained to the verdict on Srebrenica passed down
by the International Court of Justice. We, therefore, consider that its
adoption would cause disagreement and even animosity."

Legal opinions differ. Some Bosnian Serbs, while themselves opposed to
hate speech and genocide denial, say such acts cannot be prevented by laws
alone but rather by education.

Other voices, mainly in the Bosniak camp, say the failure to pass the law
was a missed opportunity "to have hate speech treated and sanctioned by
law."

Srebrenica survivor Kulagic told Justice Report that the Bosnian
Parliament should have passed a resolution on the commemoration of
Srebrenica genocide victims long before the European Parliament did, last
December.

It should also have adopted a law to prohibit genocide denial. "But
looking at the current situation I'm not optimistic. I think this issue
will become politicized, and in the end, bring no benefits to the
victims," he said.

Is this about the Holocaust, or Bosnia?

The Holocaust refers to the systematic extermination of about 6 million
Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies in the Second World War. It affected
Bosnia too. In 1939, about 14,000 Jews lived on the territory of the
future republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina of whom more than 10,000 were
killed.

The General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted a
Resolution proclaiming January 27 as the Holocaust victims commemoration
day in 2005. It urged the world's countries to mark the day also in order
to spare future generations from similar genocidal acts.

Jakob Finci, president of the Jewish Community in Bosnia, says it is of
key importance "for the reputation of this country" to adopt the law
outlawing Holocaust and genocide denial, but was careful to add that in
ethnically tense Bosnia, the Holocaust was not the main issue.

"The law was not rejected because anyone tried to deny Holocaust -
everyone in this country agrees that it happened," he said.

This law refers to denial of genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina
as well, and the three political fractions in this country disagree on
this issue. That is why the law was not adopted.

That the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica constituted an act of genocide was
determined by the International Court of Justice, ICJ in February 2007.
Then, last December, the European Parliament adopted a resolution, calling
upon European Union and Western Balkan countries to mark July 11 as
commemoration day for the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica.

Ajanovic, the deputy who proposed the law on prohibition of Holocaust and
genocide denial, says one reason why it is so important to adopt the law
is because Bosnia is the only country in which genocide was committed
since the end of the Second World War.

"I am disappointed it was rejected because the text of this law is
universal," he said. Similar drafts were adopted in 11 European countries.

But Lazar Prodanovic, deputy chair of the SNSD delegates club in the State
Parliament, said the attempt to include the events in Srebrenica in the
1990s in a Holocaust denial law had complicated the matter.

His party voted against the law because, when it referred to "the verdict
on Srebrenica, rendered by the International Court of Justice," they felt
it could tbecome a permanent source of disagreement, he said.

"If we adopt this new law, we enter the cycle of revenge," he said. Bosnia
existing criminal code, he went on, already contained a provision about
genocide.

This referred to Article 171 of the Criminal Code, which says any person
with the aim of totally or partially exterminating a group of people, or
who "orders or commits murder, torture, or imposes difficult conditions,
prevention of birth or forcible resettlement of people" is liable to a
jail sentence of at least ten years.

Prodanovic said that if any of the provisions in the existing law on
genocide were unclear, they should be forwarded to the Council of
Ministers for revision and amendment, in "order to include an article
concerning prohibition of denial."

What the draft law contained:

Supporters of the law continue to insist the draft law was not aimed
mainly at those who deny that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of
genocide. It was intended to have a more universal character.

"The law was intended as prohibition of Holocaust, genocide and all crimes
against humanity denial and it was in the best interest of all people to
adopt it," Ajanovic said.

Legal expert Dennis Gratz agrees. There was a deliberate misunderstanding
on the part of some people meaning the Bosnian Serbs - that the proposed
law only addressed crimes committed in Bosnia.

"This law treats the denial of the Holocaust, as well as the crimes
committed in Bosnia or some other country," he added. "Passing this law
would have had an unquestionable symbolic worthiness. I think that every
normal person would welcome it."

The draft law recently rejected by parliament contained three articles and
an explanation of terms such as Holocaust and genocide.

The first stipulated that any person denying, minimizing, trying to
justify or justifying "the Holocaust, genocide or crimes against humanity
is considered to have committed a crime" and could be liable to prison
sentences of eight days to three years or fines of 1,000 to 10,000 KM.

The second stipulated that anyone who distributes or "makes available to
the public" material that minimizes or approves of the Holocaust, or of
genocide or of crimes against humanity, has committed a crime and may face
up to three years in jail or fines of 1,000 to 10,000 KM.

The last article says that when a verdict is passed down on the basis of
this law, "an order may be rendered to publish the mentioned verdict in
the newspapers, while the related costs are to be paid by the crime
perpetrator."

To further justify the proposed law, Ajanovic also referred to Bosnias
international commitments under which it undertook to protect the human
rights of its citizens, as well as to current international practice and
the fact that 11 European countries, including Germany and Italy, have
passed similar laws.

Gratz said that because the Bosnia was one of a handful of modern
societies to have experienced the horror of genocide, it had a "social and
historical obligation to commemorate" this fact.

"By rejecting this law, we have demonstrated our political immaturity and
even worse, have missed an important step towards normalization of
relations in this country," he added.

"Had the politicians voted for this law, they would have proven that they
represented all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and protected human
rights and freedoms."

How best to curb hate speech:

Branko Todorovic, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in
the RS, is no friend to hate speech or Holocaust denial.

At the same time, he said he doubted the value or effect of using the law,
or legislation alone, to outlaw the language of hatred, "because those
things cannot be eliminated by implementation of laws."

He added: "You cannot make the Bosnian people civilized just by applying
strict laws."

"When citizens of this country stop supporting the politicians who spread
the language of hatred, those politicians will disappear from the
political scene," Todorovic told Justice Report.

But Gratz disagrees, saying the law played an important role in the whole
process, and it was high time for "the language of hatred to be sanctioned
in a criminal and legal sense."

He added: "Adoption of this law would help spread confidence among various
ethnic groups in Bosnia [and] at least part of the victims dignity would
be restored."

Srebrenica survivor Amir Kulagic fears Bosnias ethnic politics means
victims of the war in the 1990s will never achieve full satisfaction; the
issue will only be partially solved while, and because, the Serbian people
continue to deny genocide.

But Ekrem Ajanovic is not about to give up and insists a law on the
prohibition of Holocaust and genocide denial will soon be adopted.

"As soon as the legally determined timeframe between the two readings has
passed, I shall renew my proposal," he said. "I think it will be adopted
next time, because this is what people want."

(source: BalkanInsight.com)





NEW ZEALAND:

New Zealand honours victims of the Holocaust


Victims of the Holocaust were remembered with ceremonies in Wellington
yesterday.

The ceremonies to honour the victims were conducted at the Holocaust
Memorial at Makara cemetery during the United Nations International Day of
Commemoration.

Representatives from the New Zealand National Commission for Unesco, the
Wellington Regional Jewish Council and the Holocaust Research and
Education Centre joined others at the cemetery , followed by a ceremony at
Parliament's Grand Hall led by Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris
Finlayson.

The day marked the 64th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz
death camps, deputy chairman of the National Commission Andrew Matthews
said.

In 2007 Unesco requested member states to place education at the centre of
the work for remembrance in order to keep the memory of Auschwitz alive.

"Through learning programmes about the Holocaust, our younger generation
comes to value the importance of tolerance and freedom in a just society,"
Dr Matthews said.

"This knowledge is essential to ensure that such atrocities never take
place again."

(source: New Zealand Press Agency)