c. 2005 Religion News Service
Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal Dies at 96
JERUSALEM (RNS) Simon Wiesenthal, the Jewish concentration-camp survivor who dedicated his life to bringing Nazi war criminals to justice and combating anti-Semitism, died Tuesday (Sept. 20) in Vienna at age 96.
Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, said, “No Nazi war criminal, big or small, was able to rest peacefully because he never knew when Wiesenthal’s voice of moral outrage would find him.
“His determined leadership in the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of prejudice will be sorely missed.”
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust center, called Wiesenthal “the world’s conscience, determined to document the full extent of Nazi war crimes, and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.”
Wiesenthal, who was born in 1908 in what is now the Lvov Oblast section of Ukraine, is best known for hunting down Adolf Eichmann, who along with Adolf Hitler spearheaded the genocide of 6 million Jews and many others during the Holocaust.
With Wiesenthal’s assistance, Israel’s Secret Service captured Eichmann and brought him to Israel, where he was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1961.
An architectural engineer by training, Wiesenthal weighed barely 100 pounds when American troops liberated the Mauthausen death camp. When he regained his strength, he gathered documents and testimony related to the actions and whereabouts of the thousands of Nazis and their sympathizers who committed atrocities. His work led to the conviction not only of Eichmann, but of many other war criminals.
Wiesenthal’s memoirs, “The Murderers Among Us,” was published in 1967. He also served as a consultant for the film “The Odessa File.” His hunt for Eichmann inspired the book “The Boys of Brazil,” by Ira Levin, which was turned into a 1978 film starring Laurence Olivier.
Wiesenthal continued his work until the final days of his life, despite receiving almost constant death threats. He received decorations from the Austrian and French resistance movements, the Dutch Freedom Medal, the Luxembourg Freedom Medal, the United Nations League for the Help of Refugees Award, the French Legion of Honor and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal.
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center Web site contains a story explaining Wiesenthal’s motivations for hunting down Nazis. Quoting a 1964 article in The New York Times Magazine, the center relates how the Holocaust survivor once visited the home of another former Mauthausen inmate who had become a successful jewelry manufacturer.
After dinner, the manufacturer said: “Simon, if you had gone back to building houses, you’d be a millionaire. Why didn’t you?”
“You’re a religious man,” replied Wiesenthal. “You believe in God and life after death. I also believe. When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, `What have you done?’, there will be many answers. You will say, `I became a jeweler.’ Another will say, `I have smuggled coffee and American cigarettes.’ Another will say, `I built houses.’ But I will say, `I didn’t forget you.”’
_ Michele Chabin
Judge Allows Church Counseling to Prevent Suicides Among Abuse Victims
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Two months after the most recent suicide of a victim of clergy sexual abuse, a federal bankruptcy judge said Monday (Sept. 19) that she will allow the Archdiocese of Portland to resume paying counseling expenses for some remaining plaintiffs.
The church had paid for counseling for certain sex-abuse claimants before July 2004, when the archdiocese declared bankruptcy.
Two suicides and one apparent suicide among plaintiffs since December prompted lawyer Daniel J. Gatti, who represents more than two dozen men alleging clergy abuse, to ask the court to permit the archdiocese to resume the payments.
The latest suicide, on July 21, came five weeks before the man, Larry Lynn Craven, was scheduled to enter settlement talks with the archdiocese over his $2 million claim.
Both Gatti and the archdiocese agree on the need for counseling for some plaintiffs. But one of the church’s lawyers told Judge Elizabeth Perris during a hearing that her client disputes the cause of the suicides.
“We disagree that any particular person committed suicide in anticipation of mediations,” said lawyer Margaret Hoffmann, who represents the church in settlement talks.
Perris said she will sign an order that sets up a system to determine who is qualified to get up to 12 sessions of counseling. Only people who have no other means of paying for counseling will qualify.
In addition, the archdiocese has the right to approve or suggest the counselor. The statements made in counseling can’t be used as evidence in any of the pending sex-abuse cases, although both the plaintiff and the archdiocese will have access to the counseling records.
More than 200 people have filed claims alleging sex abuse by clergy within the Archdiocese of Portland. Gatti said he expected only a fraction of those to apply for counseling.
_ Steve Woodward
Magazine Turns Down Ad for Talking Jesus Doll
(RNS) Scholastic Parent and Child, a magazine for parents of young children, has refused to advertise a talking Jesus doll, citing the need to respect pre-school students of all faiths.
“Scholastic has a long-standing credo that promotes tolerance and diversity,” said Kyle Good of Scholastic. Because the national magazine is often distributed in public classrooms, Good said, advertising the dolls in its November/December holiday gift guide would be inappropriate.
“We don’t accept any kind of religious advertisement,” Good said.
The scripture-spouting figures of Jesus, Moses and other Bible characters hit the market in August, and have met with a flurry of media coverage. At the push of a button on their backs, the foot-high dolls recite popular biblical verses. They sport hand-stitched costumes typical of the character’s era.
Scholastic first asked dollmaker One2believe to “tone down” the religious message of the $14,000 advertisement, said One2believe director Joshua Livingston. When Livingston refused, he said, Scholastic chose not to run the ad.
“I believe that faith is pretty universal,” he said of his decision to advertise in a secular magazine. “We’re just trying to bring faith to the community that we know _ the Christian community. We’re not trying to force it on anyone.”
One2believe criticized Scholastic for inconsistency, citing an editorial on a Noah’s Ark play set published in its gift guide last year. Scholastic acknowledged the article was “a mistake.” “It doesn’t follow the policy of the magazine,” Good said.
Based in California, One2believe is a subsidiary of Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Company, which manufactures plush toys deemed to fit the company’s wholesome image. The company has sold between 4,000 and 5,000 “Messenger of Faith” dolls since production began in August, Livingston said.
While One2believe has sought publicity in mainstream publications and television shows such as “The Today Show,” most of their advertisements run in Christian publications, said Livingston. “It’s definitely our audience,” he said.
_ Nicole LaRosa
Habitat, Thrivent Team Up to Build Houses
(RNS) Habitat for Humanity and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans have joined forces in a four-year partnership that both organizations hope will result in thousands of additional homes for low-income families by 2008.
The financial, volunteer and advocacy alliance represents a $100 million commitment by Thrivent Financial, a Wisconsin-based organization that caters to the financial needs of nearly 3 million members. The Fortune 500 group also announced plans to supplement the initial sum with a $5 million donation for disaster relief efforts occurring in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The Sept. 8 announcement marks the largest partnership in the 30-year history of Habitat for Humanity, an ecumenical Christian ministry.
Naming the joint home-building initiative Thrivent Builds With Habitat for Humanity, the two organizations plan to construct an additional 500 Habitat homes per year, engage 500,000 volunteers in Habitat building projects and provide grants to improve substandard housing in low-income neighborhoods across the nation.
To promote the partnership and rally support, the organizations unveiled a mobile education center housed in a 48-foot semi-trailer. Using video, room re-creations, and lighting and sound technology, the truck, named “Thrivent Builds Mobile,” will take its message to Lutheran churches and community events in cities throughout the nation in the next three years.
Up to 120 visitors per hour can tour the mobile facility, which introduces Americans to the physical and emotional problems experienced by the 30 million Americans who live in substandard conditions.
“We can talk about substandard housing until we’re blue in the face, but sometimes words just aren’t enough to cause people to care,” Paul Leonard, chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement. “When they see what it looks like and feel what it feels like, I believe visitors will be forever changed and motivated to take action.”
_ Jason Kane
Quote of the Day: Southern Baptist religious liberty expert Richard Land
(RNS) “The greatest threat to religious freedom in America are secular fundamentalists who want to ghettoize religious faith and make the wall of separation between church and state a prison wall keeping religious voices out of political discourse.”
_ Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, speaking Sept. 9 at a Baptist Distinctives Conference at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He was quoted by Baptist Press.
KRE/PH END RNS
