Announcement of a $2 million fund for the promotion of a comprehensive program of Holocaust memorial projects throughout the world was made last night at a dinner of the World Federation of the Bergen Belsen Survivors. The money will be given by interested contributors and not through an organized fund raising campaign.
Four hundred men and women, who still carry bitter memories of the Nazi death camps attended the dinner which marked the liberation of those death camps 28 years ago by the Allied Forces, and also observed the 30th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the 25th anniversary of Israel.
The principal speaker at the dinner was Dr. Gerson D. Cohen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, who said that “while thousands upon thousands went to their death in the Holocaust, those who survived and the Jewish people as a whole, both through Israel and the diaspora, are graphic expressions of the eternity of the people and the values they represented.”
Joseph Rosensaft, president of the World Federation, said that “tragically the world has learned so little from those pathetic days when so many of our people perished at the hands of the Nazis. Today we face the tragedy of the Soviet Jews, the acts of terrorism that are committed throughout the world against Jews. We witness with pride and great concern Israel’s struggle for security against the hostile Arab world and their numerous supporters.”
The occasion was highlighted by the presentation of two $2500 Remembrance Awards for excellence and distinction in the literature of the Holocaust, to Daniel Stern, author of the novel, “Who Shall Live, Who Shall Die,” and to S.L. Shneiderman, author in Yiddish of the book. “When the Vistula Spoke Yiddish.” The awards were presented by Elie Wiesel. noted author and chairman of the Literary Jury of the Remembrance Award.
Sam E. Bloch, secretary general of the Bergen Belsen Federation announced that awards totalling $35,000 will be presented during the course of this year to 10 other writers in the U.S., Israel and Europe. The recipients include: Uri Tzvi Greenberg, Abraham Sutzkever, Mordecai Tzanin, Leib Rochman and Yitshak Mer of Israel; Mandel Mann, Leon Leneman, and Nichal Botwicz of France; Dr. Leo Eitinger of Oslo, and Dr. Jacob Robinson of New York.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
