Estonian newspaper runs fake weight loss ad using photo of Nazi victims

Published on September 10, 2012

An Estonian weekly newspaper ran a mock ad for weight loss pills using a photo of prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp.

Australian court’s failure to extradite alleged ex-Nazi raises ire, questions

Published on August 15, 2012

In a court ruling that is bringing new attention to Australia’s failure to prosecute alleged Nazi-era war criminals, the government will not surrender to Hungary the man believed to be the country’s last World War II war crimes suspect.

Suspected war criminal escapes extradition from Australia on legal technicality

Published on August 15, 2012

Australia's highest court has ruled not to extradite suspected war criminal Charles Zentai to his native Hungary.

Amsterdam to name bridge for WWII savior of 350 Jewish children

Published on August 14, 2012

The City of Amsterdam will name one of its last remaining nameless bridges for Pieter Meerburg, who saved 350 Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Survivor: Sol Berger

By Jane Ulman
Published on August 1, 2012

“Where are the dollars?” two plainclothes Gestapo officers demanded as they appeared without warning on both sides of Sol Berger. Sol denied any knowledge, even though the daughter of a local currency dealer was hovering nearby at the train station in Tarnow, Poland, holding the dollars he desperately needed to immigrate to Palestine.

Obama names seven to Holocaust memorial council

Published on July 25, 2012

President Obama named or renamed seven members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

Clinton: Remain vigilant against Holocaust denial

Published on July 24, 2012

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Holocaust denial and Israel criticism that crosses into anti-Semitism require vigilance.

French president blames his country for WWII roundup of Jews

Published on July 23, 2012

The roundup of thousands of Jews in Paris during World War II was a crime "committed in France, by France," French President Francois Hollande said.

Israel salutes non-Jewish Poles for heroism and preserving Jewish memory

Published on July 10, 2012

Israel in twin ceremonies honored non-Jewish Poles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust and those who have preserved Jewish memory since World War II.

With Tony Curtis profile, docs shine at Jewish fest

By Tom Tugend
Published on April 18, 2012

For its opening night on May 3, the Jewish Film Festival appropriately returns to one of Hollywood’s golden ages and to one of its most celebrated Jewish stars, Bernie Schwartz, aka Tony Curtis.

We are all here

Published on April 11, 2012

“Mir zaynen do!” The Yiddish song, composed in the Vilna ghetto during World War II, is defiant. “We are here!” it thunders.

Jan Karski honored in Poland for WWII resistance work

Published on February 16, 2012

The Polish Senate has posthumously honored World War II hero Jan Karski for his work in revealing details of the Nazi genocide taking place in Poland.

Clooney to chase Nazis in new film

Published on February 8, 2012

George Clooney is expected to star in a film about U.S. and British art experts who tracked down Nazi-looted artworks, mainly from Jewish owners

Conference calls on Romania to acknowlege WWII war crimes

Published on November 9, 2011

A conference focusing on Romania's Holocaust-era war crimes in Ukraine and Moldova called on Romania to acknowledge and apologize for the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Golda Meir wanted Allies to bomb Auschwitz

Published on September 6, 2011

Golda Meir, the future Israeli prime minister, wanted the United States and its allies to bomb Auschwitz, researchers have learned.

WWII resistance heroine Nancy Wake dies

Published on August 8, 2011

Nancy Wake, a New Zealand-born World War II heroine codenamed “The White Mouse” because of her ability to elude the Nazis, has died.

Wiesenthal Center: Will, not age, major obstacle in Nazi prosecutions

Published on May 5, 2011

A lack of political will is more to blame than aging in the failure to prosecute Nazi-era war criminals, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in an annual report. "The lack of political will to bring Nazis war criminals to justice and/or to punish them continues to be the major obstacle to achieving justice, particularly in post-Communist Eastern Europe," said the center's report on on the Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals released May 1. "The campaign led by the Baltic countries to distort the history of the Holocaust and obtain official recognition that the crimes of Communism are equal to those of the Nazis is another major obstacle to the prosecution of those responsible for the crimes of the Shoah."

Hate in Translation

By Rob Eshman
Published on March 27, 2008

Book review of Matthais Kuntze's "Jihad and Jew Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11" (Telos Press, 2007).

Letter from London: ‘An English Tragedy’ is timely on stage

By Ivor Davis
Published on March 27, 2008

In an atmosphere of increasing British anti-Semitism and vitriolic anti-Israel rhetoric in the left-wing press here, the play we're about to see, "An English Tragedy," couldn't be more timely. Written by South African Jewish playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), it is the story of John Amery, son of a Cabinet minister, who along with the infamous Lord Haw Haw made propaganda radio broadcasts for the Nazis that were beamed to England.

Firsthand accounts bring WWII London ‘Blitz’ to life

By Amanda Susskind
Published on December 13, 2007

There is no shortage of books, historical and fictional, on the bombing of London during World War II. Peter Stansky's new book, "The First Day of the Blitz," combines history, political commentary and firsthand testimony in a compelling account.

Family’s tale recounts Libyan Jewish dispersion

By Danielle Berrin
Published on November 29, 2007

The opening line from the documentary "The Last Jews of Libya" begins a nostalgic visit to an ill-fated community of 25,000 people living between the Mediterranean Sea and North African desert at the dawn of World War II. It's a story we know too well -- pious, successful and family-oriented Jews living in coexistence with their neighbors suddenly become targets of racial hatred and are ultimately expelled or destroyed. Once in the United States, the immigrants struggle to find their place within an American Jewish life rooted firmly in Eastern European culture.

Americans don’t forget Eastern Europe’s survivors

By Jane Ulman
Published on November 22, 2007

Galina's renewed sense of hope for her future -- for the chance to relax and to read and memorize her beloved poems about Victory Day -- comes as a result of the work of comedy director/producer Zane Buzby and the Survivor Mitzvah Project, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that brings direct financial assistance to about 700 elderly and ill Holocaust survivors in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Lithuania.

Books: Too fond of Jews

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on August 30, 2007

By the age of 26, Winston Churchill had fought in several wars, become a hero by daringly escaping prison during the Boer War, been elected to Parliament and written several popular books (including "My Early Life," which dramatically recounts his escape). Already he was well on his way to becoming what we now know him to be, the most extraordinary character of the 20th century.

Lecturer’s Shoah ‘revisionism’ angers Conejo residents

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on July 19, 2007

The way Jews in the Conejo Valley describe it, Joseph Goebbels would be proud of the propaganda proffered as academic discourse at the Goebel Senior Adult Center last month.

New Wiesenthal documentary recounts Nazi hunter’s turbulent life

By Tom Tugend
Published on June 14, 2007

"I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal" runs for close to two hours, but the documentary is barely long enough to encompass the 96 years of the legendary Nazi hunter.

Poland and the Jews:
Is it time to stop hating the country when positive changes are transforming it?

By Jane Ulman
Published on June 7, 2007

Many Jews still view Poland as the land of pogroms, persecution and prejudice; a terminally anti-Semitic and blood-drenched country where 3 million Jews were mercilessly murdered during World War II; a land dotted with death camps, desecrated cemeteries and deserted synagogues. What most Jews don't know is that Poland has changed radically over the past couple of decades, and these days, it is reaching out to Israel and to Jews --and not just socially, either.

1+1+1+1 ... = 6 million

By Nicole Behnam
Published on May 31, 2007

On April 11, I embarked on a journey back in time to one of the darkest chapters in human existence with the Los Angeles delegation of the March of the Living Program, sponsored by the Bureau of Jewish Education, an agency of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. I felt myself detaching from the comfort and security of my family and many of my friends.

Better late?

By Steve Greenberg
Published on May 24, 2007

Cartoon.

Survivors blast Holocaust Museum over archive access restrictions

By Edwin Black
Published on May 17, 2007

Holocaust survivors are venting their anger at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington over its decision not to allow immediate electronic access to the long-secret records of the International Tracing Service at Bad Arolsen, Germany.

Film director Verhoeven defies Dutch Shoah myth in ‘Black Book’ thriller

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 29, 2007

"Black Book" is a first-class thriller, pitting the Dutch resistance against the Nazi occupiers in the waning months of World War II, and it holds plenty of unexpected plot twists.

Hitler’s carmaker: How General Motors helped jump-start the Third Reich’s military machine

By Edwin Black
Published on November 30, 2006

Just the day before, May 1, 1934, under a brilliant, cloudless sky, James D.Mooney, president of the General Motors Overseas Corp., climbed into his automobile and drove toward Tempelhof Field at the outskirts of Berlin to attend yet another hypnotic Nazi extravaganza. This one was the annual May Day festival.

Hitler’s carmaker: How General Motors helped jump-start the Third Reich’s military machine

By Edwin Black
Published on November 30, 2006

During the late 1930s, Hitler's persecution of Jews was building to a frenzy even as fears of a war escalated. Nevertheless, General Motors' German automotive subsidiary, Opel, remained a loyal corporate citizen of the Third Reich -- content to obediently do the Nazi regime's bidding, and unstintingly supporting Hitler's program on many fronts. These included economic and employment recovery, anti-Jewish persecution, war preparedness and domestic propaganda. In return, Opel prospered.

Hitler’s carmaker: How General Motors helped jump-start the Third Reich’s military machine

By Edwin Black
Published on November 30, 2006

Within a few years of partnering with the Hitler regime, Opel began to dwarf all competition. By 1937, GM's subsidiary had grown to triple the size of Daimler-Benz and quadruple that of Ford's fledgling German operation, known as Ford-Werke.

Hitler’s carmaker: How General Motors helped jump-start the Third Reich’s military machine

By Edwin Black
Published on November 30, 2006

Opel became an essential element of the German rearmament and modernization Hitler required to subjugate Europe.

Hitler’s carmaker: How General Motors helped jump-start the Third Reich’s military machine

By Edwin Black
Published on November 30, 2006

Mr. Big Sloan lived for bigness. Slender and natty, attired in the latest collars and ties, Sloan commonly wore spats, even to the White House."Deliberately to stop growing is to suffocate," Sloan wrote in his 1964 autobiography about his years at GM. "We do things in a big way in the United States. I have always believed in planning big, and I have always discovered after the fact that, if anything, we didn't plan big enough. I put no ceiling on progress." For Sloan, motorizing the fascist regime that was expected to wage a bloody war in Europe was the next big thing and a spigot of limitless profits for GM.

Hitler’s carmaker: How General Motors helped jump-start the Third Reich’s military machine

By Edwin Black
Published on November 30, 2006

Hitler knew that the biggest auto and truck manufacturer in Germany was not Daimler or any other German carmaker. The biggest automotive manufacturer in Germany -- indeed in all of Europe -- was General Motors, which since 1929 had owned and operated the long-time German firm, Opel.Impressive production statistics aside, the Fuhrer was fascinated with every aspect of the automobile, its history, its inherent liberating appeal and, of course, its application as a weapon of war.

B’nai Mitzvah: War, politics, bonds enliven a basement rite-of-passage

By Yehuda Lev
Published on November 16, 2006

This is a report on a bar mitzvah, although you may not recognize it as such.