THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS `Holocaust' TV Show Overwhelms German television in Germany," on_e happen?" official told me. The Oberammergau More than 20,000 Town Council has sent people called the WDR around a questionnaire television offices follow- to all the villagers invit- ing the first installment, ing them to sign up for the and two-thirds of the cal- 1980 Passion Play. In lers were in favor of light of the shocked feel- "Holocaust" being tele- ing in the village in the vised in Germany. Many wake of 'Holocaust' of the viewers told the TV many are refusing to station authorities that answer the question- they could not go on naire, and it is now being watching it, and some extended for another said that they could not eight days. sleep and had to take val- Several hundred of the ium or sleeping pills, so younger villagers identified powerful wag- the prog- with the Rosner text have ram's impact. indicated that they will re- One authority told me, fuse to act in the Daisen- "The experience with the berger version of the Pas- program already has been sion Play which has been quite extraordinary. No- condemned by Christian body, even the most sym- and Jewish authorities pathetic in the TV industry, alike as "structurally anti- expected such an emotional Semitic." - reaction. It has staggered There were a good everybody." number of negative and The effect has even hostile reactions of Ger- spread to East Germany mans who asked, "Why where, according to reports, reopen old wounds? We many living beyond the should forget all this. It is West German regional enough time already." broadcasting range are de- Heinz Galinski, head of manding to see the series. the Jewish community in According to reports, among West Berlin, said, "The the East Germane whO had reaction of the Jewish com- seen the program and called munity throughout West to express their reactions, Germany had been posi- positive comments out- tive," adding that he had re- numbered negative com- _ ceived many calls from Jews ments 6-2. and non-Jews alike. There I spoke with several are about 27,000 Jews in people in the village of West Germany today, a Oberammergau who are in- tragic remnant of the more volved in an effort to revise than 500,000 Jews who the anti-Semitic version of lived in pre-war Germany. the Oberammergau Passion Galinski said the -"tim- Play scheduled for produc- ing of the showing was tion in April 1980. Hans perfect. It comes at a time Schwaighofer, director of when there is talk again the Rosner text of the Pas- ■ of the Auschwitz lie," a sion Play, told me: "Practi- reference to the Nazi ef- cally everybody in fort to revise history and Oberammergau has claim that the genocide of watched the first two in- _Jews never took place, stallments of 'Holocaust.' Bar Mitzva Wedding "when some students are The impact has been tre- making jokes again- Stationery Etc. mendous. There is a feeling about Jews, when the of shock throughout much of statute of limitations on Oberammergau. Many Nazi war crimes of mur- people are walking around der is an issue and at a the streets of the village time when everybody Call Barbara saying, 'God's sake!' and seems to be preaching let shaking their heads in dis- us forget.' " belief. How did we let that Perhaps the most sig- nificant response of all to "Holocaust" was that of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. In a debate in the lower house of the West German Parliament last Monday, Chancellor Hel- "Best Deal In Town" mut Schmidt commended WILSON-CRISSMAN CADILLAC the "Holocaust" series, said CALL BUS. MI 4-1930 RES. 642-6836 the film is a "must" in con- 1350 N. WOODWARD, BIRMINGHAM nection with the current controversy over extending the legal time limit under which Nazi war criminals can be prosecuted. He added that the series encouraged critical and WITH EACH PURCHASE OF $25 OR MORE moral reflection which "is important in view of the de- HAND CRAFTED TOOLED $7 & $9 cision each of us must make LEATHER BELTS for himself in the course of DRESS LEATHER BELTS $6 this year on the statute of limitations." Based on the impact al- 3 FOR$11 —V. EACH ready registered, the American Jewish Commit- PEARL SCISSORS NOW OTHERS AT $5, $8 AND $10 tee now plans to carry out a "THE BUCKLE LAP- IN STOCK HANDBAGS AND WALLETS! systematic study of ye- WHOLESALE TO STORES, SHOPS AND DEALERS sponses to the entire series 600 LARGEST BUCKLE DISPLAY IN MICHIGAN STYLE S in Germany as well as in the N. OF 11 MILE 15 other countries in which 2240 COOLIDGE 5 BLKS. BERKLEY, MI. 48072 the film is being shown, and Monday thru Saturday 10-6 FREE PARKING 545 - 6885 then an intensive follow-up By MARC TANENBAUM (Editor's note: Rabbi Tanenbaum, national inter-religious affairs di- rector of the Ainerican Jewish Committee, was script consultant to the NBC-TV "Holocaust" series.) NEW YORK (JTA) No- thing -- no book, no TV documentary, no film, no lecture — has touched the soul of modern Germany on the moral watershed tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust as has the NBC-TV series, "Holocaust." That dramatic but factual conclusion has emerged from a series of overseas telephone calls that I had with public offi- cials in West Germany, and in particular, with leaders in the village of Oberam- mergau, last Thursday fol- lowing the viewing of the third installment of "Holocaust." According to reports from West Germany in major American newspapers, an estimated 14 million people, or 39 percent of the 34 mill- ion people in the viewing audience, watched the third of the four installments last Thurday night. The German officials I spoke with said that the fi- gures reported in the American newspapers were underestimated, and that, in fact, some 20 million people had seen the second installment. That means that one in three potential regional viewers were ex- posed to the "Holocaust" ac- count. "That audience broke every record for regional •Ii1 r INVITATIONS InCy 968-5080 1979 CADILLAC ANDY BLAU BUCKLES FREE BUCKLE! BUCKLES $(1 _114, educational program in German religious and secu- lar school systems. I have no hesitation in saying that if this "Holocaust" series had achieved nothing other than the impact that it has already had in Germany, it more than justified all the investment of time and energy in helping bring its message before millions of Germans who might other- wise have avoided facing the tragedy of the Holocaust. Israeli System Is Warming Denver Buses BNAI BRAK, Israel — The success of Israeli equipment in one of Ameri- ca's largest solar energy projects has led to the con- struction of two new bus terminals in Colorado heated by solar collectors manufactured in Israel. Termed one of the most innovative solar installa- tions in the U.S. when started last year, the Col- orado Regional Transporta- tion District's $10 million bus maintenance terminal in Denver achieved a saving of approximately 1,000 bar- rels of heating oil in 1978. 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