111c3.0g139 11. JINIfi. NEWS

months of each other and though officials of each public-
ly deny it, there is still resentment between the supporters
of each institution. Simon Wiesenthal had a role to play
in the development of both museums and that is the core
of the controversy.
Here is what happened: more than a dozen different
Holocaust survivors groups in the Los Angeles area had
tried to build a memorial of some kind since 1962. The
Federation agreed to help coordinate the work, to provide
space, staff and advice, but the fund-raising was to be done
by the survivors groups. Over the years there was much
talk but little progress.
Eventually a plan was agreed on to have a museum built
adjacent to the Federation building. When the Federation
moved to a 12-story building on a site with no useable land,
though, the new proposal was to allocate the top floor of
the building for the project.
A fund-raising dinner was held in June,1973, and the
guest speaker was Simon Wiesenthal who told the crowd:
"One day your children will mark this historical date:
namely, the decision of the Jewish people of Los Angeles
to erect a memorial to our martyrs."
The proposal moved ahead slowly over the next several
years and a major fund-raising event was scheduled with
Wiesenthal again invited to be the guest of honor. He ac-
cepted, but shortly before the event he cancelled abrupt-
ly and the dinner was called off.
The survivors groups learned that, after agreeing to ap-
pear, Wiesenthal had met with Rabbi Hier in Vienna and
pledged to help establish a center in his name in Los
Angeles, so he withdrew from the other commitment.
The surviors groups were furious. "We felt like we had
the rug pulled out from under us," one leader recalled.
"This project had been in the works for years and years
and was finally coming towards completion. And then we
find out that Wiesenthal is going to help start another
museum a couple of miles away. We felt we had been sold
out — that he was a carpetbagger."
The Federation set up meetings between the new
Wiesenthal Center group and the Federation-affiliated sur-
vivors groups. There was some attempt at merging the
two museum projects but that was unsuccessful. There
was even talk of a lawsuit. In the end, the Wiesenthal
group agreed to donate $25,000 to the local museum pro-

Simon Wiesenthal
had a role to play in
the development of
both Los Angeles-
based Holocaust
museums and that is
the core of the bit-
terness between them.

ject to compensate for any monies lost by the cancelled
dinner and to help ease the tensions between them. But
the bitter feelings remain.
"We shouldn't have taken the Wiesenthal people's
money and allowed them to buy us off," says Anna
Fischer, a survivor whose husband designed the Martyrs
Memorial and Museum.
Ethel Lozabnick, chairman of the Martyrs Museum,
stressed that it represents the entire Jewish community
(some feel the Wiesenthal museum represents only the Or-
thodox) and is the official West Coast representative of
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. She said the museum attracts
more than 100,000 people a year, more than half of them
school children. The museum has its own curriculum,its
own tours given by survivors, its own extensive outreach
program, and a visiting director from Yad Vashem. She
denies any competition between the two museums. "I wish
there were ten such memorials in this city," she said,
"because the point is to make people aware. People ask
why does Los Angeles need two museums devoted to the
Holocaust and we say, 'how many synagogues does your
city have?' "
But moments later she noted that the Wiesenthal Center
museum is "too flashy, too noisy — we have a certain
serenity here."
The Martyrs Museum does have a quiet dignity. The
room has photos, documents, figures and maps depicting
the Holocaust, as well as a commemorative crypt with a
suspended gravestone. The most dramatic features of the
room are a small sanctuary area and a simulated transport
boxcar that serves as an exit. The passage is dark, except
for a yellow light behind the slats on the walls which
display the names of once-flourishing Jewish communities
in Europe. Under foot one hears the metallic clanking of
the train and envisions the horror of Jews crammed into
cattle cars.
After visiting both museums (one a bit more strident in
tone, one a bit quieter), a visitor is struck more by their
similarities than their differences. Both museums leave
the visitor with an understanding of the facts of the
Holocaust and a gnawing sense of unfathomable loss.
"It's a shame there are two museums here," says Nathan
Gierowitz, a survivor who is active in Federation. "Each
costs money, and many survivors feel as I do that such
a split is unhealthy." He blames the Federation for drag-
ging its feet for years on the community museum and put-
ting the financial burden on the survivors themselves. But
he faults the Wiesenthal Center for its "Hollywood style."
Based on interviews with a number of survivors in Los
Angeles, is seems clear that the majority of them are less
than sympathetic to the Wiesenthal Center. In part there
is the bad blood over the initial competition between the
two museums, and then there is Wiesenthal's universalist
views on the ll million rather than the six million. But there
is also the question of approach, which many feel is de-
meaning to the Holocaust. They cite the Center's use of
entertainment industry stars to promote its cause, its
direct mail letters which emphasize the dangers of current
anti-Semitism in this country and, critics say, trivializes
the Holocaust.
Ethel Lozabnick of the Martyrs Museum says her only
quarrel with the Wiesenthal Center is that "they don't
work together with us. If you love a community, you
should be a part of that community."
That complaint is heard often about Rabbi Hier and the
Wiesenthal Center which, for example, has its own Yom
Hashoah service each year on Holocaust Memorial Day
in addition to the organized Los Angeles Jewish communi-

,rigaY.0094Qr1 2 ,1 90 19

Sunlight shines
through the Wiesen-
thal Center's
Memorial Plaza.

