62 Friday, December 23, 1983 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS . A Second Barbie-Like Case Emerges NEW YORK (JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith Wed- nesday revealed that U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) employed a Nazi war criminal convicted by a Belgian military court of 67 war crimes, including the torture of two American Army pilots.- The ADL identified him as Robert Jan Verbelen, a former Belgian citizen now living in Austria, and de- scribed his connection with the CIC. According to ADL, Verbe- len, who fled his native country after the war, worked for American authorities in Austria from 1946 to 1955 under the name Alfred H. Schwab,. The ADL said it has infor- mation that the U.S. Army was aware of Verbelen's true identity when he was hired. In 1947, Verbelen was tried in absentia and sen- tenced to death by a pd.- gian military court after having been convicted of crimes involving mass murders and terrorist acts. The acts he was found guilty of, ADL further disclosed, in- cluded unlawfully cap- turing, imprisoning and torturing two American pilots, identified as Lt. Nuntio Street and Lt. Eugene Dinglecline, who were shot down over Bel- gium. The two eventually wound up at Buchenwald concentration camp, from which they were liberated by the Russians in the clos- ing days of World War II. The ADL said it did not know where the men were from or whether or not they are still alive. In a letter to U.S. Attor- ney General William French Smith (dated Dec. 16), Justin Finger, director of ADL's civil rights di- vision, called on the Justice Department to investigate how Verbelen was able to escape to Austria, the cir- cumstances of his recruit- ment and employment by the CIC and his having se- cured Austrian citizenship. Pointing out that the Verbelen case is the second of its kind to be uncovered, he further requested a com- prehensive Justice De- . partment investigation of the role of Nazi war crimi- nals in U.S. counterintelli- gence operations after World War II. Finger said the documentation on Verbe- len was obtained by ADL from the U.S. Army In- telligence and Security Command at Ft. Meade, Md., under the Freedom of Information Act, and on Barbie that "intelligence from the Belgian gov- operations should not be ernment, and other spared the democratic proc- sources here and abroad. ess of accountability that we He noted that the Verbe- apply to the rest of our gov- len case follows by four ernment." months the Justice De- "It is in this spirit that the partment's confirmation League requests an inquiry that Klaus Barbie, known into the Verbelen and other as the "Butcher of Lyon" possible cases," Finger de- was employed by American Glared. authorities, including the - According to ADL, CIC, after being given the Verbelen, now 72, lives in death penalty by a French Vienna, speaks before court for sending thousands pro-Nazi groups and to their deaths in Nazi con- writes for right-wing centration camps. publications. Before and Finger, in his letter to during World War II, he Smith, recalled that Allan was a leader of the • Ryan, Jr., former head of Flemish Nazi group De the Justice Department's Vlag (The Flag), which Office of Special Investiga- was responsible for or- tions, had said in his report ganizing terror and mur- Survey of Children's Books By SOL MARSHALL der operations in Bel- (Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.) gium. "Shabat, a Peaceful Is- The records show that fol- land" by Malka Drucker, lowing the withdrawal of American troops from Au- • illustrated by Brom Ho- stria in 1955, Verbelen was ban, Holiday House, Inc. This story of Shabat is an hired as an agent by the country's state police and exciting, adventurous his- four years later was granted tory of the Jewish people Austian citizenship. In through the ages. Shabat is not merely a day, a period of 1965, he was tried and ac- 24 hours during the week; it quitted by an Austrian court on war crimes is a concept, a spirit that in- charges, which triggered fuses the life of Jews. Other days have numbers sharp protests in Belgium —the first day of the week, as well as in other nations: or even the day before For a time during his re- Shabat. But only this day sidence in Austria, ADL has a name, a deep signifi- said, Verbelen used the name of Isaac Meisels as an cance. And it pervades the entire week. Food is bought alias. Meisels, a Jew from and saved for Shabat. Clo- Brussels, was murdered by thing is purchased, or the Nazis during the war. cleaned or repaired in time for Shabat. Preparations are made all week long, and just completed on Friday. have instructional All the meanings and value." symbolisms are woven to- The policy was proposed gether in this guide to the by the Farmington ad- day which "has kept the ministration following ob- Jewish people more than jections raised by some par- the Jews have kept the Sab- ents over the activities of bath," according to the early Campus Life, a Christian 1900s cultural Zionist, student group, at North Ahad Ha-Am (Asher Farmington High School. Ginsberg). It is the fifth Jewish holi- day book written by Malka Drucker of Los Angeles. Like the others, it tells poenas which required about customs i other them to appear last Monday -countries and gives crafts, to give depositions in the games and recipes for all libel case. ages. * * * Cousens filed motions with Judge Robert Ander- "Bubby, Me and son asking the judge to Memories" by Barbara "compel discovery," find the Pomerantz, photographs school's attorneys in con- by Leon Lurie, Union of tempt of court and assess American Hebrew Con- costs. Donald Scharg of the gregations. Fishman Group, the attor- Death is not easy to ex- neys representing Akiva, plain to children, and espe- was unavailable to com- - ment on Cousens' allega- Stone Throwers tions. The libel suit stems Are Marginal from a letter printed in Problem: Shamir The Jewish News in Sep- - JERUSALEM (JTA) — tember in which Akiva Premier Yitzhak Shamir president Ronald Be- last week flatly rejected rman claimed that there demands by West Bank was violence at the settlers for harsher teachers' picket line. punishment of Arab stone- In unrelated legal action, throwers. He said the prob- the Michigan Employment lem was "marginal" and Relations Commission •is that while it must be eradi- scheduled Jan. 9-12 to hear cated, there was no need for the teachers' charges of un- a change of policy in the fair labor practices during territory. the contract negotiations. Shamir made his remarks Schools Unveil Religious Policy The Farmington Public Schools this week unveiled a proposed policy that would ban religious or anti- religious activities in the schools. A committee of the Far- mington Board of Education unanimously adopted a pol- icy that says students and staff must not be subjected to, sponsor or promote reli- gious activities in the schools. The full board must adopt the policy before it would be placed into effect. Superin- tendent Lewis Shulman said the full board may dis- cuss the issue again at its next meeting Jan. 31. Schulman said he was very pleased with the recep- tion given the proposed pol- icy "by the board and by the community." Schulman was asked if the new policy would prohibit Christmas pro- grams in the schools. He said that "holiday pro- grams that are religious in nature would not be proper, but programs or classroom work in music, art, literature and drama are permitted when they Akiva Suit Charges The attorney represent- ing the striking teachers at Akiva Hebrew Day School, who have now lost their jobs, has filed several mo- tions in Oakland County Circuit Court in the teachers' libel suit against the school. Mark Cousens told The Jewish News that he be- lieves that Akiva employees were told to disregard sub- Jerusalem. Blasts Injure Two JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two booby-trapped hand grenades exploded in an Arab suburb of Jerusalem Tuesday slightly injuring a nun and a Moslem religious functionary. The devices had been planted outside a mosque and near a Greek Orthodox monastery in Azariye. The incident was the latest in a recent series of grenade assaults aimed at Moslem and Christian reli- gious institutions in and around Jerusalem. A gre- nade exploded in Houssan village on the West Bank last week and two un- exploded grenades were found and defused. Several days earlier, five booby- trapped grenades were dis- covered at Moslem and Christian sites in Jerusalem and defused be- fore they detonated. The explosions in Azariye were the first that caused injuries. Police are investigating a group that calls itself "ter- ror against terror" which claimed responsibility for the earlier grenade attacks in anonymous telephone calls to the press. Similar incidents occurred two years ago. Meanwhile, Israeli secu- rity forces fired into the air and lobbed tear gas bombs at student demonstrators at Najah University in Nablus Tuesday. The students were protesting the erection of roadblocks on the ap- proaches to the university to prevent what the Israeli authorities called "pro- vacateurs" from entering the campus. Earlier, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israel army patrol in Nab- lus but caused no injuries or damage. Dayan Center Opens at TAU TEL AVIV — Tel Aviv University inaugurated its Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies in ceremonies at the school earlier this month. Former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was the keynote speaker at the in- auguration. Vance heads the center's international advisory council. Thursday during a tour of West Bank settlements. The rock-throwers, he said, were "marginal and unim- portant elements in the Arab public." Stone- throwing was not typical of relations between Arabs and Jews in the territory, the Prime Minister asserted and he appealed to Jewish settlers to exercise self con- trol. Envy has no holidays. "Serving the Jewish community with traditional dignity and understanding" cially in children's lan- guage. This slim volume can be read in a few minutes to a child — who can easily follow the short sentences and paragaphs. The lan- guage flows like poetry. Photos complement the text, so that the entire con- cept holds together. Just the thing for a critical time in a young child's life. * * * "How Yossi Beat the Evil Urge" by Miriam Chaikin, illustrated by Petra Mathers, Harper and Row Junior Books. Yossi had trouble getting his Good Urge to help him fight the Evil Urge. It was so hard to concentrate on his studies. Even when the rabbi warned him — he couldn't concentrate for a week on learning to concen- trate. But guess what hap- pened? He became so in- volved in the joy of the Sab- bath eve service that his thoughts didn't wander a bit. And everybody was happy! Israeli Firm to Help Build Calif. • Plant TEL AVIV (jta) — An Is- raeli company considered a pioneer in the development of solar power signed a $15 million contract here Tues- day with the Southern California Edison Co. to supply equipment for a plant to be built in San Ber- nardino County in southern California. The American utility will purchase low temperature steam turbines from the Ormat Turbine Co. of Yavne. Ormat produces solar energy collectors for private use. The Family of the Late ZOLTAN KREISMAN Acknowledges with grateful appreciation the many kind ex- pressions of sympathy extended by relatives and friends during the family's recent be- reavement. The Family of the Late BEN MASLOWSKY Acknowledges with grateful appreciation the many kind ex- pressions of sympathy extended by relatives and friends during the family's recent be- reavement. 543.1622 HEBREW MEMORIAL CHAPEL 26640 GREENFIELD ROAD OAK PARK, MICHIGAN 48237 SERVING ALL CEMETERIES tii% • AI a Alan H. Dorfman Funeral arector & Mgr.