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C0lBbntlng Mon Than 75 Yean of Service VoL LXXIV No. 3
1997 UJA/ Federation Campaign by Pam Monaky Federation Communications Director Rescuing the imperiled, caring for the vulnerable and revitalizing Jewish life are the goals of the UJA/Federation Campaign.
Barbara Platt (left), and Linda Mann.
Paul Epstein
14 TUhrei, 5757
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Paul Epstein and Steve Simon, General I.Campaign Co-chairmen, and Linda Mann and Barbara Platt, Women's Campaign Co-chairmen, ;have been working with Campaign Divisional leadership for several months preparing to raise the funds to meet those goals in Omaha, Israel and 68 countries around the world. The Campaign supports the programs and services of the Federation and its beneficiary Agencies-the Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Service, Bureau of Jewish Education, Bureau for the Aging, ADL/CRC, Jewish ^Federation Library and the Jewish Press. In addition. Campaign funds support social services in Israel and for Jews in need worldwide. (Continued on page 2)
Nazi gold stored in N.Y. By Stewart Ain New York JeuUh Y/eek staff Writer Millions of dollars in gold bars looted by the Nazis - possibly including gold fillings pulled from the corpses of Jews murdered in the Holocaust are sitting in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York vaults in Lower Manhattan, according to recently dectassifled documenU. "It totals millions of dollars. Whether its tens of Bullions we don't know," said the executive director ilf the World Jewish Congress, Elan Steinberg. Nobel laureate and survivor Elie Wiesel was •hocked by the news. "We will never come to the end of the story," he said. "Something new will felways appear about that period." The World Jewish Restitution Organization, Mtabliihed in 1992 to receive restitution in behalf Bf the Jewish people, called upon the United States, Britain and France to turn over the gold ind other looted Nazi treoiur* to "individual lufbrera from Nazi persecntfM, their heira and their Euniliet." Tha gold bars, some perhaps with the Nazi iwattika emblazoned on them, have been sitting DO the bedrock of Manhattan Island, 60 feet below lea level, at 33 Liberty St. for 50 yean. (Continued on page 19)
September 27,1996
Anne Frank Center USA seeks 'spirit' nominees NEW YORK-The Anne Frank Center USA urges the public to submit nominations for its 'Spirit of Anne Frank' awards which will be presented at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, in New York City, Oct. 28. The awards will honor three students, one teacher, one outstanding citizen and one business or community leader who have demonstrated courage, compassion and responsibility in the face of discrimination and violence. The New York based Center is dedicated to carrying on the legacy of courage in the face of discrimination shown by Anne Frank. The awards will be presented by Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Prank; Hannah Pick-Gosler, Anne's childhood friend, and by other notables and celebrities. The event will also feature the New York premiere of a song based on the original theatrical production of Yours, Anne. To nominate someone for the awards, call the Anne Frank Center, USA, at 212-431-7993. The deadline for nominations is Oct. 1. Anne Frank Remembered, the 1995 Academy Award winner for Beat Documentary will be released on videocassette on Nov. 5. Combining personal testimony, never-before-seen photos, previously undiscovered family letters, rare archive footage (including the only known moving footage of Anne herselO with contemporary film, the documentary chronicles the history of the Frank family.
Locally, the Omaha Theater Company for Young People will present The Diary of Anne Frank, Oct. 11 through Nov. 3 at the Rose Blumkin Performing ArtvOenter. For information about ticketa, call the box office at 345-4849.
Based on the diary she left behind, the documentary Anne Frank Remembered will be released on video Nov. S.
Rabbi l\/lendel Katzman seeks $1 million to establish cnsi^id-Hbiisrcm Pacific Street by Morris Mallne, Editor emeritus
J" Plans call for this residence at 117th and Pacific St, to be converted to a Chabad Houv Nebrasiia'a Lubavltcher presence. Rabbi Mendel Katzman has announced plans to other support services,* he noted. raise $1'million to establish a Chabad House on According to Rabbi Katzman, initial giits are Pad&c Street. being solicited from supporters in the community "Our goal is to purchase the one-acre lot and before a general fund-raising campaign gets under residence on the North side of 117th and Pacific way. and renovate the building into a full-service Since their arrival in Omaha, Rabbi and Shani Chabad House.* Katzman have been involved in numerous outHe explained that the work would take place in reach activities ranging from providing a fullstages and ultimately provide the community range of educational opportunities for children to with a facility offering a mikvah, classrooms, a offering programs for the general community and sanctuary, lodging for out-of-town visitors and a special activities for the elderly. kosher kitchen. Rabbi Katzman also is serving a police chaplainRabbi Katzman said he hopes that much of the cy with the Omaha Police Department and a work would be accomplished before next May-the prison chaplaincy serving Nebraska, South Dakota 10th anniversary of a Chabad presence in Omaha. and Western Iowa. *When Shani and 1 came to Omaha we initially 'We have an obligation to help Jews no matter utilized our residence for Chabad acUvitiat, but where they are. Wherever there is a need, we try then with the help of supporters we opened a to fill that need thereby helping to bring perfection Chabad House in a storefront at South 119th to the world through all of our efforts,* he said. Street,* jutt south of Pacific. A sampling of current programs offered locally Rabbi Katzman said the current location worked includes weekend davening, Talmud and Yiddish well for a number of years, but that activities and classes, crisis and preventive counseling for programs have grown to the point where more teenagers and adults in addition to a variety of space is needed. pre-school activities. *We already have reached agreement on the pur'Chabad not only involves itself in filling needs chase on the Pacific Street location, and we now within the Jewish community, but also service* are in the process of working with our volunteers the general community by providing a Jewish presand friends to establish a building committee and ence wherever it is needed," he added.