c
— c
o Ou.
J5ERVINGJ
^COUNCIL BLUFFS. LINCOLN, OrVKHA '
Omaha, Neb., Fri., May 9.1380
Council Oral History Here and memorabilia and documents to accompany the taped Interviews.
The Omaha Chapter National Council of Jewish Women is compiling an oral history of the Jewish Communities of Omaha-Council Bluffs, by conducting personal taped Interviews with long time Jewish residents. Mollcne Cassman, program coordinator, announced that Lois Devltt, a leader of the successful oral history project recently completed in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be In Omaha May 19 to assist the Omaha chapter. Mrs. Devltt will provide details and slides of the St. Paul campaign which mushroomed into a community-wide project. A meeting will be held at the Jewish Community Center at 7:30 p.m. on May 19, and Mrs. Cassman has invited anyone interested in being interviewed and all persons Interested In the history of the Jewish community to attend. Mrs. Devltt Is a past president of the St. Paul Chapter of Council of Jewish Women, active on the state and National level, and former director of the Women's Division, St. Paul United Jewish Fund and
New Books for Library The Adult Jewish Education Commission of B'nal B'rith International has presented five volumes of the Jewish Heritage Classics series to the Jewish FederaUon of Omaha library. Participating In the presentation ceremony are from left, Steven Rlekes, a national commissioner of B'nat B'rith; Edythe Wolf, librarian; Howard Epstein, president of Henry Monsky Lodge, and Ron Gordon, president of Cornhusker Lodge.
Mrs. Cassman indicated Holiday who the senior Jewish citizens that have been Interviewed Closing have revealed a wealth of hisThe Jewish Community torical Insight and anecdotes of early Jewish life In Omaha- Center will close May 20 at 7 p.m. for the holiday of ShavuCouncil Bluffs. ot. The building will reopen May 23.
Jewish Press Plans Two Special Issues Lois Devltt Council. Rol6 Meyers, Omaha cochairman, said "there is a wealth of insight available to the community in this kind of enterprise—Insight Into ourselves, into our structures, our Institutions; into our whole concept of community as it once was lived as compared to how we live today." She said "our objectives are to preserve Irreplaceable thoughts, feelings, ideas and reminiscences of our early community; collect pictures
The Jewish Press Committee has approved themes for two upcoming special issues of the Jewish Press.
bers may contact the Jewish Press office for details.
The second special issue will discuss the lives, interests and One of the special issues will activities of volunteers. Those ' present the experiences of Ho- to be selected for Interviews locaust survivors. Plans call were described as "unsung for this Issue to be widely cir- heroes"—people who go about culated among the education- the task of volunteering yet who receive little or no public al institutions in Nebraska. recognition. Those who are members of the Survivors of the Holocaust will be advised as to procedures through their organization. Those who are not mem-
Readers interested in recommending volunteers may do so by writing to the office of the Jewish Press.
Israel to Export Combat Planes TEL AVIV (JTA) - Defense Minister Ezer Welzman said that the U.S. has agreed to permit Israel to export its second generation combat plane, to be known as the Lavie, which will be powered by a General Electric engine. Weizman made the disclosure on his return from Washington where he met with President Carter, Defense Secretary Harold Brown and other Administration and Pentagon officials. American permission is needed for Israel to export any military plane it manufactures which incorporates American parts. Sales abroad of the first generation Israeli jet fighter, the Kfir, ran into difficulties on this point and several orders were lost because of U.S. objections. According to Welzman, the new agreement will allow Israel to sell the Lavle to any country the U.S. sells to. This will open a huge market for the new aircraft. Weizman said that Joseph Maayan, Director General of the Defense Ministry, remained in Washington to conclude a contract with General Electric for the Lavie engine. He said he expected no problems to arise with respect to the production of the plane and alerted its manufacturer, Israel Aircraft Industries, to prepare for the big job.
Jewish Holocaust Survivors Plan An international gathering of Jewish Holocaust survivors is scheduled to be held In Israel on June 15-18, 1981. It is envisioned as an event of major historical consequence In contemporary Jewish life, and is being organized by the survivors themselves as the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. The international event will be held under the patronage of Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel. Author Elle Wlesel, chairman of the United States President's Commission on the Holocaust, has agreed to serve as honorary chairman. At press conferences held in New York, Paris, and Melbourne spokesmen for the' group expressed their hopes that survivors throughout the world will participate. Members of the organizing group said that the press conferences have been arranged for the purpose of informing sur-
vivors of the planned gatherIng because no records of survivors exist anywhere in the world.
Mr. Wiesel commented that, "The gathering will be a unique event in our lives. Only by remembering what happened under the Nazi oppression can we be expected to remind and advise others how to prevent another such catastrophe. Only by remembering what happened to us can others be assured it will not happen to them."
Ernest Michel, a survivor and spokesman in New York, said, "It's been nearly 36 years since our liberation from the Nazis and we want to serve notice on the world that the Holocaust will never be forgotten." Mr. Michel added that, "Because of the advanc- . Kalman Sultanlk, member ing age of the survivors, this *of th,e World Gathering's Exegathering is likely to be a last, cutive Committee, who Is vice collective statement of our sol- president of the World Jewish idarity, determination and Congress and member of the purpose. Importantly, it Is Executive of the Jewish Agennow time for our children to cy for Israel, in his statement take on the responsibility of emphasized the new dangers perpetuating the significance facing the Jewish people as of the Holocaust to future gen- they slowly emerge from the erations. trauma of the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism, he pointed We feel the impact of the gathering and their participation out, is on the rise despite of the in it will be a personal experi- fact that survivors of the Holoence they will always remem- caust have expected that it ber and share with the world." 'will never reappear again.
"We must become aware," he noted, "that a new brand of genocide is being promoted by those I would term anti-Semitic 'ghouls'." Criticising United Nations actions and resolutions aimed against the State of Israel, Mr. Sultanlk added: "We, the Jewish survivors, have developed a particularly deep sensitivity toward these issues. Even as we live in the free world, we are constantly conscious of the fact that the Holocaust was a total Ideological commitment to a final solution for an entire people and that the heirs and followers of that evil ideology, now emerged from their lairs, are signalling another Holocaust. The convening in Israel of the world gathering of Jewish Holocaust survivors at a symbolic date Is, therefore, most timely." Among the activities being
planned for the World Gathering are the following: The construction of a permanent monument made from rocks brought to Israel by all participating survivors, An opening meeting and memorial service at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority center in Jerusalem. The dedication of an archive to include each survivor's autobiography recorded on a tape cassette. Simultaneous meetings for participants in the three kibbutzim In Israel that were founded by survivors. The collection and permanent exhibition of Holocaust keepsakes (such as concentration camp prisoner suits) brought to Israel for preservation. A march of survivors through the streets of Jerusa-
lem to the Western Wall. Ceremonies at the three major Israeli kibbutzim, or collective farms, where survivors reside. A concluding rally and concert at the Stadium in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Planning and preparations for the World Gathering are being conducted in consultation and cooperation with a group of survivors in Israel, including members of Kibbutz Netzer Sercni and other settlements created by individu-' als and families that escaped annihilation by Nazi Germany. Former partisans and resistance fighters, as well as survivors of concentration camps, ghettoes .and hiding places were urged to contact: Samuel R. Mozes, executive director of the World Gathering, One Park Avenue, Suite 418, New York, New York 10016. Telephone: (212) 6790600, extension 431.