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The controversial law outlawing public discussion of Poles’ collaboration with the Nazis will not be enforced in the near future, Polish Ambassador to Israel Jacek Chodorowicz told the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee on Monday.

“The Polish Justice Ministry committed to not enforcing the new law before there is an in-depth examination of all of its components, including a discussion with Israeli representatives,” Chodorowicz said.

“We will talk about the subject more quietly and peacefully. Too much has been said that was criticized by Israelis,” he stated.

Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee chairman Avraham Neguise (Likud) called for the law to be canceled immediately, and said the Foreign Ministry needs to take steps to fight Holocaust denial.

Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovski said, “You can legislate whatever you want, but no one can change history. We appreciate those who helped and saved Jewish lives, but there were also people who participated in the Jewish genocide, and no one has a right to say anything else. It pains me… that there are many who can no longer tell the story of what happened to them.”

Chodorowicz spoke at a discussion on preserving World War II sites, an issue of concern to Soviet-born MKs who called the meeting.

At least one Red Army veteran was in attendance, wearing his war medals affixed to his suit jacket.

The lawmakers and veterans took issue with a Polish law that allows the government to take down Soviet-era monuments.

“It’s revenge for the sake of revenge,” Zionist Union MK Ksenia Svetlova lamented. “These are monuments for the Red Army that liberated Poland; it shouldn’t matter who built them. I’m proud of every person who contributed to the victory over the Nazis,” she said.

Svetlova also said that while the government is not touching Red Army graves, it turns a blind eye to those who desecrate them.

Neguise said the discussion is taking place on the background of increased antisemitism and Holocaust denial in Europe.

“It’s important to prevent any violation of the memory of the Holocaust and those murdered in it, and we must preserve its memory in Israel and the world,” Neguise said. “It’s important to learn about the contribution of the Red Army to the victory over the Nazi beast and the allies’ contribution to that goal.”

Yesh Atid MK Yoel Razbozov accused Poland of trying to “change historic facts and allow the gravestones of Red Army soldiers to be desecrated.”

hodorowicz promised that since Poland declared its independence, no Red Army graves have been moved.

“What changed in the new law gives an opportunity for the authorities to dismantle symbolic sites that are identified with the communist regime that ruled Poland after the war and were built in the 1950s and 60s. It’s very different,” he stated.

In a related event, Svetlova and United Torah Judaism MK Uri Maklev launched a Knesset Caucus for Preserving Jewish Sites and Cemeteries Abroad. The meeting was held to discuss the desecration and misuse of Jewish burial sites in Europe.

“There are no disputes on this issue. We all see eye-to-eye and want to help,” Maklev said. “As the years pass, the worse the problem gets… In many places, there are no longer Jewish people there to protect Jewish sites.”

Paul Packer, chairman of the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, said the US is in dialogue with many countries on this issue and is working on a database to track Jewish and non-Jewish cemeteries across the world.

“I didn’t know what to expect in the Knesset and I’m shocked. Good for you,” Packer said. “What I love about Israel is they talk about the future and pride themselves on helping the world. A strong America means a strong Israel, and a strong Israel means a strong Jewish people. America is here for you.”

The discussion was held in conjunction with the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF) and was backed by the US and German governments as well as private donors. It was founded by Rabbi Isaac Schapira, son of a former UTJ leader who was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 2014. Former justice minister Yossi Beilin has also taken an active part in the organization’s work, helping it connect with foreign governments.

The ESJF’s central goal is to build fences around as many Jewish cemeteries as possible in Eastern and Central Europe. The group has built 102 fences since its founding in 2015 and has found a total of 1200 relevant locations.

Some sites, however, have been plowed over and turned into agricultural land or school grounds.

“In Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, we reach these places and there’s no cemetery anymore,” ESJF CEO Philip Carmel said. “We want to finish our work before all these places disappear. We think we can do it in 10 years.”

Beilin recounted visiting the town of Frampol, in Poland: “We talked to children there and they had no idea there were ever any Jews. They had never met any Jews… We built access roads and fences around the cemetery and the locals took an interest. Now the school nearby is protecting the cemetery. The children researched and wrote reports on the Jews of Frampol. They sang to us [in Hebrew],” he said.

“This project is more than just a cemetery. The unexpected results are bigger than the project itself. Without it, the contribution of Jews to the development of Eastern Europe will simply disappear,” Beilin added.

Chodorowicz, who also attended the caucus launch, said the Polish Ministry of Culture decided last year to create a database of all cemeteries in the country and create “unified and dignified” ways to mark them.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Envoy-Polish-Holocaust-law-wont-be-enforced-without-Israeli-coordination-543741?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=27-2-2018&utm_content=envoy-polish-holocaust-law-wont-be-enforced-without-israeli-coordination-543741

The book was returned to the family as part of a German initiative to return Nazi looted heirlooms to their rightful owners.
Berl Schor and his son David, an attorney, flew to Berlin to accept the book from the University of Potsdam on Monday and reunite it with the family’s extensive collection in Israel.

David Schor, a keen family historian, told The Jerusalem Post that he had identified the book online by coincidence.

“I often search online because many new documents and information are becoming more readily available,” he said. “I typed in the name of my father’s maternal great, great, great grandparents just for the sheer fun and all of a sudden the photograph of the book appeared on my screen.”

Schor said he was “surprised” to see that one of the books in the Potsdam library had the same stamps and signatures as many books in his family’s library.

The Schor-Frankel family collection of Hebrew books dates back to the very beginning of the history of print. These books were acquired “not to decorate the book shelves,” but were intensely studied and passed on from generation to generation, Schor said.

After the death of Berl Schor’s grandparents, Berl Frankel and his wife, Sara, the Frankel Library joined the library of their son-in-law, Majer Schor (Berl Schor’s father), from Krakow.

Majer Schor and his wife, Mila, (Marjem Mirla) were Turkish citizens and as such were immune from Nazi persecution and decrees, even though they were Jewish.

Schor said his grandparents decided to remain in Krakow to help other Jews by engaging in anti-Nazi activities, such as transferring money, supplying false documentation and smuggling people out of Nazi-occupied Poland. The Schor family’s house also served as a “safe house’’ for anyone who needed shelter or a bed for a night.

When the couples’ Turkish passports were set to expire, they applied for their renewal.

However, the Turkish consul general in Berlin, H. Basri Danismend, sent a letter on October 15, 1942 to the Gestapo in Krakow, informing them that he is “honored” to advise that the Turkish citizenship of the Schor Family had been canceled. No such notice was sent to the Schor family.

“By sheer luck,” Schor explained, the letter was seen on the Gestapo chief’s desk by a police officer of the “Blue Police,” a Polish police force subordinate to the Nazis, who knew Majer Schor.

The officer warned Majer, and the Schor family was able to escape and go into hiding.

According to Schor, the original letter was found 70 years later in the Polish National Archives in Krakow.

Upon going underground, Majer Schor arranged with a friend of his, Prof. Tadeusz Kowalski, an Orientalist at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, to store the Schor-Frankel Family Library for safekeeping in the cellars of the university.

Majer and Mila Schor were able to elude the Nazis for seven months, but were eventually identified and arrested as they attempted to escape by car. They were sent to the Plaszow concentration camp on the outskirts of Krakow and were murdered by the notorious commandant of the camp, Amon Goth, on July 8, 1943.

“Though my grandparents did not survive that war, quite a few thousand volumes did survive,” Schor said.

After the war, the library was returned to the family who fled from Poland, via Russia and Japan to New Zealand. The collection was later transferred to Israel after Berl Schor made aliya, and it has been in his possession ever since.

“Our family lost not only a lot of lives in the Holocaust, but also a lot of wealth and art, as well as books,” Schor said, adding that many family possessions were still missing.

In 1998/1999, the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and Germany’s federal, state and municipal declaration on the tracing and return of Nazi-confiscated cultural assets, especially from Jewish holdings, provided the foundation for provenance research.

These declarations called upon public libraries, museums and archives to identify any of their holdings that might be Nazi loot, to identify any possible heirs, and to return the affected volumes.

To date, however, Schor explained that only six such institutions, including the University of Potsdam Library undertook actions to assess whether any of their holdings are Nazi loot.

The research is funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. At the Potsdam library, it is led by Andreas Kennecke, subject librarian responsible for Jewish studies and Jewish theology, and project associate Anke Geißler-Grünberg.

“The University of Potsdam Library became the first German institute to identify and return a looted book in accordance with this project,” said Schor.

Three additional German libraries: the Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin – Centrum Judaicum Library, the Freie Universität Berlin University Library and the Berlin Central and Regional Library, together with the University of Potsdam Library have published a list of 12,000 books that may have been looted by the Nazis and that are in their possession.

“This should be brought to the attention of the public at large to see if they can find any books belonging to them,” said Schor.
Schor said his family wished to thank the Potsdam library for having published the list in which the book was found and the “correct and elegant manner” in which it was returned.

Potsdam University asked for permission, which the Schor family “gladly gave,” to digitalize the book so that it will be available for future reference and research.

“The university was so excited to see us and return the book to us and now it will join the collection in Israel where it should belong,” Schor said.

The list of books can be found at http://lootedculturalassets.de

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Rare-1546-book-looted-by-Nazis-returned-to-family-in-Israel-539629?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=24-1-2018&utm_content=rare-1546-book-looted-by-nazis-returned-to-family-in-israel-539629