I know I haven't been blogging much of late...I've actually got such a hectic schedule. Here's an interesting item that I want to share. It's from today's JERUSALEM POST online:
Mar. 28, 2007 18:37 Updated Mar. 29, 2007 0:28Holocaust book launched in Lords, by JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT LONDON
A book chronicling a survivor's harrowing and moving experiences during the Holocaust, his imprisonment in seven different death and concentration camps, the loss of many family members and struggle for survival was launched at the House of Lords on Tuesday night.
Lord Janner, chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), together with Labor Member of Parliament Jim Murphy, hosted a reception, attended by a large number of Holocaust survivors, to mark the release of Ernest Levy's autobiographical book The Single Light.
Speaking at the event, Levy spoke about the importance of telling his story so that the next generation learns the lessons of the Holocaust from first-hand testimony.
"I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone responsible for bringing The Single Light into realization," Levy said."Just a few years back, at the age of 19, I was witnessing the total breakdown of civilization and today I am standing here in the House of Lords, an example of the survival of the Jewish people. This book will allow future generations to read about my experiences for years to come. We must guard the single light for the future; please don't let it go out."
Levy was a young teenager in Czechoslovakia when the Nazis expelled Jews of Hungarian origin back across the border. He was in Auschwitz-Birkenau and when the Russians closed in was marched to Bergen-Belsen. Since finding a home in Scotland in the early 1960s, he has been able to educate young people about the Holocaust.
Murphy, MP for the Glasgow area where Levy lives, said: "Have you ever met someone in your life, so inspiring, that you have felt honored just to meet them? Ernest Levy is such a person.
"The remarkable story of this inspirational man's horrific journey through the darkest period in human history…The Single Light entertains, inspires and at times makes you want to scream at the top of your voice in anger."
"For more than 40 years, Glasgow has been Ernest's journey's end. He is loved and revered by generations who have listened and been inspired. In a world of all too frequent darkness, Ernest Levy OBE is a Single Light."
Addressing the gathering, Lord Janner said: "We are so proud to have so many survivors here tonight who are able to share their stories with the next generation. Your personal memories, along with the experience, facilitated by the HET, for students from every UK school to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, is a true testament to our commitment to ensure the next generation make sure such an event never happens again."
The publication of the book was made possible thanks to sponsorship and donations from many sources and after publication costs, the author's proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the HET and Jewish Care Scotland.
The HET was established in 1988 with the aim of educating young people from all ethnic background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learnt for today. The organization works in schools, universities and in the community to raise awareness and understanding, providing teacher training, an outreach program for schools, teaching aids and resource material.
One of the Trust's earliest achievements as ensuring the Holocaust formed part of the National Curriculum for History and it continues to play a leading role in training teachers on how best to teach the Holocaust.
In November 2005, the Treasury awarded HET funding of 1.5 million to support its Lessons from Auschwitz Project for teachers and 12-grade high school students. The funding will enable HET to facilitate visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau for two students from every school in the UK.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Korean Publisher Finally Pulls Racist Book
Yesterday's JERUSALEM POST online had an interesting article re: a racist book (it is both anti-Semitic and anti-African American book for children, written by a South Korean professor, which has finally been pulled from the market, three years after its publication. It seems. It's too late to undo the damage that has been done. It has been a bestseller and thousands upon thousands of Korean kids have been exposed to its lies and hatred:
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A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a best-selling children's book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda.
The series of comic books, titled "Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara," or "Far Countries, Near Countries" and authored by visual arts professor Rhie Won-bok, purports to teach children about the world and has sold more than 10 million copies since the first volume was published in 1987.
One of three books on the US published in 2004 contains a chapter claiming Jews were the driving force for the hatred that led to the Sept. 11 attacks, that they exert control over all US media and also prevent Korean-Americans from succeeding in the United States.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center met with the author at his publishing company Thursday in Seoul, confronting Rhie with copies from the group's archives of the early 20th century Nazi magazine Der Stuermer to show its similarity to caricatures in the South Korean books.
"I asked him straight out, 'Where did you get your stuff from, did you get it from Der Stuermer?'" Cooper told The Associated Press.
Accompanying Cooper was Richard Choi Bertsch, a member of the National Korean-American Coalition, who also called Rhie's book prejudiced. "We condemn the content of this book," Bertsch told reporters.
Cooper also raised questions about drawings of African-Americans, prompting the publisher to pledge an extensive review of the entire series. In addition, Seoul-based Gimm-Young Publishers Inc. agreed to translate into Korean a book by the Wiesenthal Center that aims to reveal anti-Semitic mistruths.
The publisher also will send officials to the US to meet with Korean-American and Jewish communities, Cooper said. The company confirmed it would take the steps in response to the center's complaints.
Rhie said he would consider how to change the book and would undertake an "all-out revision." Earlier, he had maintained despite the criticism that his depiction of Jews was accurate and insisted he was not anti-Semitic. Rhie has previously lived in the US as a guest professor.
"I'm sorry to see things like a frog in a well," Rhie said Thursday, referring to a traditional Korean saying that a frog in a well is unaware of the larger world outside. "In the future, I will write books in a more responsible way."
However, Cooper said Rhie's responses were inadequate and that he did not expect him to play a role in resolving the issue.
"The net effect of what he's done here is a disaster and he just doesn't get it," Cooper said. "I hope he will someday, but in the meantime this book's got to go."
Cooper noted the controversy in South Korea comes amid other recent incidents of anti-Semitism in Asia, including a group of university students in Taiwan who have founded a Nazi political movement.
"We can't afford to have a scenario where mainstream democratic communities absorb these kind of lies that in the past have caused so much pain and suffering," Cooper told journalists. "Unfortunately in Asia, conspiracies sell."
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A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a best-selling children's book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda.
The series of comic books, titled "Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara," or "Far Countries, Near Countries" and authored by visual arts professor Rhie Won-bok, purports to teach children about the world and has sold more than 10 million copies since the first volume was published in 1987.
One of three books on the US published in 2004 contains a chapter claiming Jews were the driving force for the hatred that led to the Sept. 11 attacks, that they exert control over all US media and also prevent Korean-Americans from succeeding in the United States.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center met with the author at his publishing company Thursday in Seoul, confronting Rhie with copies from the group's archives of the early 20th century Nazi magazine Der Stuermer to show its similarity to caricatures in the South Korean books.
"I asked him straight out, 'Where did you get your stuff from, did you get it from Der Stuermer?'" Cooper told The Associated Press.
Accompanying Cooper was Richard Choi Bertsch, a member of the National Korean-American Coalition, who also called Rhie's book prejudiced. "We condemn the content of this book," Bertsch told reporters.
Cooper also raised questions about drawings of African-Americans, prompting the publisher to pledge an extensive review of the entire series. In addition, Seoul-based Gimm-Young Publishers Inc. agreed to translate into Korean a book by the Wiesenthal Center that aims to reveal anti-Semitic mistruths.
The publisher also will send officials to the US to meet with Korean-American and Jewish communities, Cooper said. The company confirmed it would take the steps in response to the center's complaints.
Rhie said he would consider how to change the book and would undertake an "all-out revision." Earlier, he had maintained despite the criticism that his depiction of Jews was accurate and insisted he was not anti-Semitic. Rhie has previously lived in the US as a guest professor.
"I'm sorry to see things like a frog in a well," Rhie said Thursday, referring to a traditional Korean saying that a frog in a well is unaware of the larger world outside. "In the future, I will write books in a more responsible way."
However, Cooper said Rhie's responses were inadequate and that he did not expect him to play a role in resolving the issue.
"The net effect of what he's done here is a disaster and he just doesn't get it," Cooper said. "I hope he will someday, but in the meantime this book's got to go."
Cooper noted the controversy in South Korea comes amid other recent incidents of anti-Semitism in Asia, including a group of university students in Taiwan who have founded a Nazi political movement.
"We can't afford to have a scenario where mainstream democratic communities absorb these kind of lies that in the past have caused so much pain and suffering," Cooper told journalists. "Unfortunately in Asia, conspiracies sell."
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
A Book And A Blood Libel
Ariel Toaff is a professor of Medieval and Renaissance History at Israel's Bar Ilan University, and son of the former chief rabbi of Rome. Now, he has had his fifteen minutes of fame...or perhaps more appropriately, his fifteen minutes of infamy. His new book, "Pasque di Sangue" ("Bloody Passovers") uses confessions, obtained by torture, to falsely assert that during the Middle Ages, a Jewish sect may have ritually murdered Christian children in order to use their blood in unleavened bread (matzoah). Over the centuries, numerous innocent Jews were butchered because of such canards. And now the moronic and sardonic Toaff has given those intent on persecuting and murdering Jews a gift. Neo-nazis (I never capitalize the "n" in nazi), jihadists, and some anti-Israel leftists have already expressed delight in Toaff's "research," shoddy as it is.
There is a movement afoot in Israel to bring criminal charges against Toaff. Generally, I would oppose prosecuting someone for writing a book, but what this self-hating jerk has done is the equivalent of falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater. He should, indeed, be criminally charged. There also are many precedents in which universities have fired faculty members for buffoon-like research. Bar-Ilan should give Toaff the heave-ho! I hope he gets the book thrown at him (figuratively speaking, that is).
There is a movement afoot in Israel to bring criminal charges against Toaff. Generally, I would oppose prosecuting someone for writing a book, but what this self-hating jerk has done is the equivalent of falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater. He should, indeed, be criminally charged. There also are many precedents in which universities have fired faculty members for buffoon-like research. Bar-Ilan should give Toaff the heave-ho! I hope he gets the book thrown at him (figuratively speaking, that is).
Friday, March 2, 2007
An Actress And A Library
I just read a fascinating interview entitled "The Passion of Estelle Parsons" which was conducted by her daughter, journalist A. G. Britton. Published in the March, 2007 issue of THRIVE, a magazine directed at senior citizens, the venerable actress talked about her preparation for the role of Blanche Barrow, in a now-classic motion picture: Arthur [Penn] gave me this script for Bonnie and Clyde. I had turned down a lot of movies and TV because I was interested in the theater. But I kept reading, and I realized it was an extraordinary role, the emotional journey of Blanche Barrow, Clyde's sister-in-law, was fascinating. I spent the fall in the library researching this character. I never do that_because usually with good material you have everything you need to work on a role. But this was a real life character. I went to the public library on 42nd Street and I would sit in the locked room they have, pouring over a book about Bonnie and my character, Blanche Barrow. I went through all the newspapers."
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