Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 11, 2009 Page: 1 of 28
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The Texas Gulf Coast’s Jewish Newspaper Since 1908
June 11, 2009 - 19 Sivan 5769_#_Volume Cl - Number 10_#_Houston, Texas_$_$1 Per Copy
Obama calls Buchenwald 'the ultimate rebuke' to deniers
BERLIN (JTA) - United States President
Barack Obama visited the Buchenwald
concentration camp site, calling it “the
ultimate rebuke” to Holocaust deniers.
Obama joined German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust
memoirist who was a Buchenwald inmate,
on the tour on Friday, June 5, a day after
the president called on the Muslim world to
reject Holocaust denial.
“To this day, there are those who insist
that the Holocaust never happened,” Obama
said at a news conference at the gates of
the camp. Such statements are “ignorant,
baseless and hateful.”
For more than an hour, Obama and
Merkel walked the grounds of Buchenwald.
Out of sight of cameras, they entered the
crematorium building where camp victims
were turned to ash. They placed white
roses, a symbol of German resistance, at
several sites.
Obama said he had wanted to visit this
particular camp because his great-uncle,
GERMAN FEDERAL PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE / BERGMANN
Elie Wiesel, President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel and
Bertrandt Herz, president of the International Buchenwald Committee,
at the "Warm Memorial" at the former Buchenwald concentration camp.
The memorial is kept at human body temperature as a reminder of the
tens of thousands of prisoners who did not live to see the liberation.
Charles Payne, was among the U.S. soldiers
in Infantry Division 89 who liberated
the Buchenwald sub-camp of Ohrdruf in
early April 1945. Ohrdruf was the first
camp liberated by American soldiers. The
gruesome sights of burned victims haunted
his uncle for a long time, Obama said.
“It is understandable that someone who
witnessed what had taken place here would
be in a state of shock,” he said.
Wiesel, a Nobel Peace laureate whose
father died at Buchenwald, said, “Memory
must bring people together, rather than set
them apart.”
In an interview with NBC, Obama
expressed frustration with Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who
denies the Holocaust. “He should make his
own visit,” Obama said in Germany. “I have
no patience for people who would deny
history. And the history of the Holocaust is
not something speculative.”
Should he visit Germany, Ahmadinejad
could face arrest as a Holocaust denier. □
Diverse crowd
motivated at HMH
By BURT LEVINE
Brian Cweren, Holocaust Museum
Houston outreach chair, has been
commended by members of a diverse,
politically active group for bringing them
together to learn about the museum
and its facilities. The group, which met
recently at HMH, consisted of more than
30 Texas civic leaders, representing
different interests, but each committed to
expanding awareness of the museum and
availability as a meeting place.
“The museum is the one of the largest of its kind in the United States. Its
mission is to make people aware of the dangers of prejudice, hatred and violence
KAYE MARVINS
Brian Cweren
See HMH on Page 3
AJC receives Ford Foundation grant
for immigration reform advocacy
American Jewish Committee’s
Houston Chapter will be part of an
immigration reform advocacy effort
that will be funded by a grant from the
Ford Foundation. Houston is one of
four communities (Chicago, New Jersey
area and Phoenix) that will engage in
the program.
The program endeavor focuses on
the concept that to sustain a pluralistic,
yet socially cohesive America, it is
critically important that the United
States develop sensible policy
responses to the challenges posed - or
at least the perception that challenges
are indeed posed - by immigration.
Houston is a majority-minority
city, with more than 38 percent of the
population Hispanic, 36 percent Anglo,
18 percent black and almost 7 percent
Asian. Texas, already a majority-
minority state, is deeply impacted in
various sectors on the immigration
issue.
The $500,000 grant will enable
AJC to develop a comprehensive,
capacity-building program targeting
key local communities. Undergirding
the program model is the imperative
to challenge and change attitudes of
the larger American populace in a
harsh environment of anti-immigrant
sentiment. This harkens back to the
fundamental civic and moral values
of democracy and social justice upon
which both the United States and the
See AJC on Page 3
JHV: MICHAEL C. DUKE
A newly installed road sign, indicating left turns only from the far-left lane, may
confuse drivers seeing the double left arrows on the intersection’s traffic signal, at
the corner of West Bellfort and Stella Link Road, near The Emery/Weiner School.
EWS rabbi arrested
after traffic incident
with ‘mixed signals’
By MICHAEL C. DUKE
Rabbi Maccabee Avishur,
popular director of Judaics
at The Emery/Weiner School,
was arrested on June 3, after
attempting to intervene on behalf
of a lOth-grade student who had
received a traffic citation on her
way to school.
The student had been pulled
over, just inside the school
entrance, allegedly for making an
illegal left-hand turn from West
Bellfort onto Stella Link Road.
According to school officials,
Rabbi Avishur came over to aid
the student, who was scheduled
to take end-of-the-year finals
that morning. The Houston
Police officer arrested the rabbi,
allegedly for interfering with a
police investigation. He was taken
downtown, and was released late
that same night. Details on the
exchange that took place between
Rabbi Avishur and the officer have
not been released.
The intersection of West
Bellfort and Stella Link is heavily
See Signals on Page 2
WHAT’S
INSIDE
‘Texas Justice’ novel betrays
real-life family........................Page 7
Original cantata highlights
Beth Yeshurun graduation......Page 10
Bonds dinner features
noted journalist.......................Page 12
Coming Home: A return
to Jewish tradition..................Page 14
Tips to save energy
at home...................................Page 20
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Samuels, Jeanne F. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 11, 2009, newspaper, June 11, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth543949/m1/1/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .