German may give organ to Jew

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (JTA) — A German woman hopes to donate an organ to atone for the Holocaust. Kerstin Heimbold of Borsdorf, Germany, recently sent a letter to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, explaining that she hopes to save a Jewish life as an atonement for Germany’s mass destruction of European Jewry. The letter explains that Heimbold’s grandfather was a soldier during World War II. “Perhaps I, who comes from a people who eliminated millions of Jews, can save at least one life,” wrote Heimbold. Heimbold, 34, has registered with a transplant center in Berlin and is listed as a bone marrow donor at the Leipzig University Organ Transplant Center, but has not been selected by either institution to be a donor. The hospital responded to Heimbold’s offer by expressing its gratitude and informing her that she should contact the Israeli Ministry of Health to learn about the rules that apply to organ donations from people who live outside of Israel.