UAE Museum Unveils Torah Scroll That Survived The Holocaust In Tolerance Push

A private museum in the United Arab Emirates unveiled on Saturday a Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust, the latest sign of what Israel and its new Arab allies describe as a new approach to understanding Jewish history in the Middle East.

Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai's historic district, said the display, unveiled for International Holocaust Remembrance Day would help combat "big denial" of the Holocaust in the region.

"For us peace is a complete peace," Al Mansoori said. "Many people have forgotten the Jews are part of the region. So here, we're trying to show ... the good days between the Jews and the Arabs in the past."

The scroll is on permanent loan to the museum from the Memorial Scrolls Trust, which looks after more than 1,000 Czech scrolls saved from the Holocaust and later sent to London.

"I lived in the Arab world when I was young, and the term Holocaust does not exist ... So this is a huge step," said Edwin Shuker, an Iraqi-Jewish businessman and vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who facilitated the loan.

Israel has reached out to promote understanding of Judaism among its new allies in the two years since the UAE and fellow Gulf state Bahrain, followed by Morocco and Sudan, forged ties with it under U.S.-brokered pacts known as the Abraham Accords.

The history of the killing of six million Jews by Nazi Germany is little taught in the Arab world, where some politicians say it was wrongly used to justify the creation of Israel in 1948 at the expense of Palestinian Arabs.

In the years that followed Israel establishment, Jews were expelled from Arab countries, with all of their assets and property taken without compensation. Approximately one million Jews lived in Iran and other Arab countries having arrived in the region more than 2,000 years before. It is estimated that only around 15,000 remain, as the majority of the Jewish population in Muslim lands were forced to flee their homes in the years following the establishment of the State of Israel. This mass expulsion and exodus is part of modern history, but inexplicably, it’s neither taught at schools nor remembered within the context of the conflicts in the Middle East..

The Emirati embassy in Washington, in a Twitter post earlier this month, said the UAE would include Holocaust education at schools, the first country in the region to do so.

"It's important to remember what happened. It's important to make sure that it will never happen again. And it's important to stand here together, all of us, Israelis, Emiratis and others in order to say: Not anymore," Israeli ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, told Reuters on the sidelines of the museum event.

By Bushra Shakhshir

First Stone Laid At Dutch Holocaust Memorial In Amsterdam

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A friend of World War II Jewish diarist Anne Frank laid the first stone at a new memorial under construction in Amsterdam to honor all Dutch victims of the Holocaust.

The ceremonial laying of the first stone, on which the name of a Dutch Holocaust victim was engraved, is the latest step in construction of the Dutch memorial, which will feature the names of more than 102,000 Jews, Roma and Sinti who were murdered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II or who died on their way to the camps.

“I almost can’t believe it, but it is now really happening,” Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Netherlands Auschwitz Committee, said in a statement. “The first of the more than 102,000 stones has been laid.”

The last of the stones, each of which is engraved with a name, is expected to be placed in the memorial in March.

A Dutch court cleared the way last year for the memorial to be constructed. Amsterdam Municipality had granted permission for construction to start in 2017, but residents argued that it was too big for the location and could cause traffic problems.

Jacqueline van Maarsen, who knew Anne Frank before the diarist and her family were captured and sent to Nazi concentration camps, laid a stone engraved by laser with the name, date of birth and age of Dina Frankenhuis, who was murdered, aged 20, on June 4, 1943, at the Sobibor camp.

Designed by Polish-Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind, the memorial in the heart of Amsterdam’s historic Jewish Quarter will be made up of walls shaped to form four Hebrew letters spelling out a word that translates as “In Memory Of.”

Ottawa Unveils New Tourist Destination: National Holocaust Monument

The Holocaust was the mass extermination of over six million Jews and millions of other victims, and one of the darkest chapters in human history. The National Holocaust Monument unveiled today in Ottawa, Canada, commemorates the millions of people who suffered such atrocities at the hands of the Nazi regime, and pays tribute to those whose stories must never be forgotten.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today inaugurated the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. The monument serves to honor the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, and the important lessons it so painfully taught us.

The monument also stands as a testament to the resilience and courage of Holocaust survivors. Many found a home in Canada, and profoundly shaped our country and society.

In honoring the victims of the Holocaust, we recognize their humanity, which no human act can erase. The National Holocaust Monument reminds us that it is our collective and vital responsibility to stand against anti-Semitism, racism, and hatred, and to bring meaning to the solemn vow, “never again.”

“This monument, so close to our Parliament and Supreme Court, is a reminder of the devastating cost of allowing hatred and tyranny to overcome openness, inclusion, and freedom. Today we reaffirm our unshakeable commitment to fight anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, and discrimination in all its forms, and we pay tribute to those who experienced the worst of humanity. We can honor them by fighting hatred with love, and seeking always to see ourselves in each other,” said Rt. Honorable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.

The Honorable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, said: “This monument is a powerful tribute to the millions of Jewish men, women and children and other victims whose lives were extinguished during one of the darkest chapters in human history. As we reflect and honor their memory, we also pay tribute to the courage and strength of the survivors who came to Canada following the Holocaust. Their stories are a powerful reminder of our responsibility to stand against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms and to never allow intolerance and hate to take root in our communities. We will never forget.”

Tracing The Tragic Past And Rebirth In Berlin's Jewish Community

Contributed by Denis D. Grey, AP.

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2013 file picture a woman cleans a so called 'Stolperstein', or stumbling stone, set by German artist Gunter Demnig, to remember Nazi victims in Berlin, Germany. The epicenter of the Holocaust, the city where Hitler signed the death warrants of 6 million Jews, seems an unlikely candidate for the world’s fastest growing Jewish community. But despite this stigma of Nazism, Berlin’s dynamic, prosperous present and its rich, pre-World War II Jewish past initially attracted an influx from the former Soviet Union and has continued with the arrival of thousands of Israelis and smaller numbers of often young immigrants from Australia, France, the United States and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber,File)

The epicenter of the Holocaust, the city where Hitler signed the death warrants of 6 million Jews, seems an unlikely candidate for the world's fastest growing Jewish community.

But despite this stigma of Nazism, Berlin's dynamic, prosperous present and its rich, pre-World War II Jewish past initially attracted an influx of Jews from the former Soviet Union. The community has kept growing with the arrival of thousands of Israelis and smaller numbers of often young immigrants from Australia, France, the United States and elsewhere.

And this upsurge in the Jewish population - believed to be more than 40,000 - has also spurred tourism to an array of monuments, synagogues, museums and workaday places related to Jewish history and present life in Germany's capital.

In fact you can literally trip over this history while walking the streets and looking down on some of the 2,800 shiny brass tiles embedded in sidewalks by artist Gunter Demnig. These palm-sized "Stolpersteine," or stumbling stones, bear the names of those murdered by the Nazis, and are placed in front of their onetime homes.

Like these stones, Berlin's most prominent Jewish sites are connected to the tragic past, but a healthy antidote and probably the best way to begin a tour is a visit to the Jewish Museum, a multi-layered panorama of 1,000 years of Jewish culture, lore and history in Germany. And it's housed in one of the city's most striking contemporary buildings, a jagged structure coated with silvery zinc plates and punctured by slanted windows slits.

"What we didn't want to do is just present the death, persecution, prejudice. There was a great deal of normal life, regular life too. Before you die, you live and we want to stress the living," says Cilly Kugelmann, the museum's vice director.

Exhibits include vivid recreations of family life from 1850-1933 through paintings, writings, everyday artifacts and even a 16mm home movie, showing a family skiing, swimming and playing with their dog before moving to California in the 1930s. Although past suffering is starkly portrayed, there are also games and cartoons for children and displays celebrating prominent German Jews from poet Heinrich Heine to jeans inventor Levi Strauss.

If you want a glimpse of what city life was like in 1929, before the diaspora from Berlin of some 80,000 Jews, stop by to watch "People on Sunday," a short silent film of residents enjoying a sunny weekend made by Billy Wilder, an Austrian-born Jew who was to become one of Hollywood's great directors.

Perhaps the most gripping of Berlin's Jewish sites is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Many do a double-take when in the bustling heart of the city, between the Potsdamer Platz and the Bradenburg Gate, they are suddenly confronted with a vast cluster of 2,711 coffin-like slabs of concrete.

The impact is most visceral when wandering through the labyrinth formed by the greyish rectangles. The sepulchral chill, abetted by a bleak winter sun and a few bare trees, is only lifted by children playing hide and seek within the maze.

Just north of this historic center is the Scheunenviertel, the Jewish Quarter, an area of sedate 19th century apartment buildings, contemporary art galleries and lively side-streets.

The centerpiece is the soaring New Synagogue. With 3,200 seats, it was Germany's largest before it was bombed in 1943. Partially reconstructed, it now serves as a museum about the synagogue and the former surrounding community. Worship does take place at two other synagogues and some 10 houses of prayer - compared to the 33 synagogues in pre-war Berlin.

Close by, the former Jewish Girls School has been converted to an art gallery, a museum to the Kennedy family and a New York-style Jewish deli, Mogg and Melzer (pastrami sandwiches and New York cheesecake are the hot items).

The boy's school, now co-ed, reopened in 1993as the Gymnasium Moses Mendelsohn. Like at most Jewish sites, there is substantial security, but outside the elegant building, knots of students snack, check their mobile phones and sprinkle their German with hip English phrases.

Only a few tombstones remain in the neighboring 17th century Jewish Cemetery, burial site of some 12,000. It was destroyed by the Nazis in 1943. Down the street, set in a small park, is the Deserted Room installation - a table and two chairs, one knocked over - that symbolizes the sudden eviction of Jews from their homes.

And within a narrow courtyard, in what is known as the Haus Schwarzenberg, are three small museums, probably the most moving dedicated to an Otto Weidt. Nearly blind himself, the Christian owner of a workshop producing brooms and brushes hired blind and deaf Jews and protected them from the Gestapo. The museum includes a room hidden by a cabinet where he secreted an entire family.

Several agencies offer walking tours of this quarter, but tourism here is low-keyed and free of the reconstituted "Jewish villages" and cultural shows found in some East European countries to attract visitors in search of a vanished way of life.

Those wishing to delve deeper into real and current Jewish life in Berlin can visit the functioning synagogues, check on ongoing community activities, eat kosher and hang out at restaurants like Shiloh, Zula and Sababa favored by young Israeli residents.

Visitors who do will find a diverse and sometimes divided population: ultra-Orthodox to various reform branches to non-believers, immigrants from the former Soviet Union and those with roots in Germany (fistfights have broken out between the two).

"As the city of Berlin is recreating itself, Berlin Judaism is. There are so many fights, but also many opportunities, a lot of creative people, new ideas. At least it is never boring," says Gabriele Noa Laron, general manager of the well-established Honey and Milk Tours.

Still, today's Jewish Berlin is still a far cry from the pre-Nazi era with its population of some 160,000. Only 8,000 were left when the war ended.

"If people come to Berlin they don't see real Jewish culture, but they see landmarks of the Jewish past, landmarks of destruction of Jewish culture," says Kugelmann. "When you visit you have to be a kind of archaeologist to decipher the Jewish past here, like reading the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta Stone."

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If You Go...

KOSHER FOOD IN BERLIN: http://www.jewish-berlin.com/kosher.php

JEWISH MUSEUM IN BERLIN: http://www.jmberlin.de/main/EN/homepage-EN.php

MILK AND HONEY TOURS: http://www.milkandhoneytours.com