West Germany Donates $10,000 to Holocaust Memorial in Nyc

The Federal Republic of Germany presented a $10,000 check yesterday, for the construction of a “Garden of Remembrance” for Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps at the Brotherhood Synagogue in Manhattan.

The West German Ambassador to the United States Berndt von Staden, in presenting the check to members of the synagogue, spoke about the excellent relations between the Bonn government and Israel and noted that a government sponsored Jewish theological seminary will open in Heidelberg at the end of this year.

Commenting on the significance of the German gift to the synagogue, the synagogue, the Ambassador said, “We are every bit as indebted to the Jews as to all our intellectual forefathers. We ought to be aware of the expulsion of the Jews and that the murder of innumerable Jewish citizens robbed our nation of creative minds who to this day have not been replaced and who remain irreplaceable.”

Von Staden also paid tribute to the late Roy Blumenthal, the brother of a synagogue member, and long-time public relations consultant to West Germany Blumenthal was instrumental in arranging the historic meeting between Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Premier David Ben Gurion which decided the question of German reparations to Israel after World War II.

The garden, to be located at the synagogue, will have two parts. Inscribed on a marble wall in a garden behind the synagogue, will be the names of the deceased members of the synagogue community. In a corner of the garden, a memorial to the Holocaust victims will be constructed.

William Cohen, a spokesman for the synagogue, felt that the German wish to make amends to the Jewish people was sincere. He also noted that an open international competition for sculptors and artists will be held to decide on the design for the memorial.