Archive for the ‘stone for ben’ Category
Justice: France agrees Holocaust SNCF rail payout with US
Today, justice was served. The U.S., government and the State of France announced a compensation package from the SNCF – the French national railway – for their role in deporting 76,000 Jews from France during WW11. Better still, there will be an official apology from the company. The agreement, to be officially signed in the U.S. on Monday, will have to be ratified by the French parliament.
Frankly, I never thought I would live to see this day happen. Yet, it was my belief in justice that propelled me to write the story of my search for my uncle, Benjamin Albaum, one of 76,000 French Jews transported by the SNCF from France to the death camp of Auschwitz. Of that number only 2,500 survived. No amount of money or apologies can bring back their lives or take away the suffering and humiliation the victims suffered. But, as my daughter suggested when I shed a tear this evening, it may bring long overdue closure to survivors and victims’ families.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30351196
The Last Mezuzah Traces in Kazimierz Krakow, Poland.
With the intense, commercial refurbishment of Kazimierz in Krakow, the last traces of Mezuzot are disappearing fast … too fast. The visible recesses on stone door frames are still visible, though some have been filled in. In some cases, two nail holes are barely visible on wooden door frames where a Mezuzah once hung.
A Mezuzah is a piece of parchment (often contained in a decorative case) inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah. A mezuzah is affixed to the door frame in Jewish homes. Some interpret Jewish law to require a mezuzah on every doorway in the home apart from bathrooms and closets too small to qualify as rooms.
Mezuzat were sometimes removed from the front door by European Jews during WWII in an effort to avoid being identified and arrested by the Nazis.
(Pictures and story courtesy of Polin Travel-Guide and genealogy services in Poland, Cracow and Auschwitz).
