THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 30 Friday, March 14, 1986 THE SEVENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON THE HOLOCAUST "FAITH IN GOD, FAITH IN EACH OTHER" FOCUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN (All programs are free and open to the public) • Sunday, March 16 — Keynote Address "CAN WE BELIEVE IN GOD AFTER THE HOLOCAUST?" 7:00 p.m. in the Rackham Amphitheater (4th floor) Professor Steven Katz, Cornell University Monday, March 17 "ETHICAL CHOICES WITHIN THE DEATH CAMPS: TESTIMONIES OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS" 7:00 p.m., Pendleton Room in the Michigan Union Professor Lawrence Langer, Simmons College Tuesday, March 18 "'THE COURAGE TO CARE': A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT CHRISTIANS WHO CHOSE TO HELP JEWS DURING THE HOLOCUAST" 7:30 p.m., Natural Science Building Auditorium Nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Documentary. Premier Ann Arbor showing. Free. Co-producer Sister Carol Rittner,. Mercy College in Detroit Wednesday, March 19 "ARGUING WITH GOD, REFLECTING ON GOOD & EVIL: AN EVENING WITH SURVIVORS"' 7:30 p.m., Rackham Amphitheater (4th floor) For More Information, Call The B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation 663-3336 GRAND OPENING March 20th. ,,,e,, . ._, 4 .,... . . 0 1) 0 ( / . C. , ntinued from preceding page months S}'ahal has been trying to arrange for a decent burial. Two lessons stand out in the problematic legacy of the MDP: Don't mix philanthropy with cost-benefit analysis, since energy development planning is complicated enough without in- jecting the temptation of playing to the crowd. Don't create a situa- tion where the body charged with studying the feasibility of a proj- ect has such a strong interest in its implementation that it monopolizes and manipulates key data to further this end. The latest steps taken by the Energy Ministry push the pros- pects of the Med-Dead farther into the future. By that time, nuclear power, synthetic fuel from shale oil and new solar energy systems may well become fixtures on Is- rael's energy scene, thus reducing the need for the grandiose project. By then the dream of the Med- Dead will have been reduced to a curiosity, recalled by tour-guides as their buses pass the explorat- ory tunnel and Canal Founders slab down at the Dead Sea. Charles Hoffman, a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, recently re- turned to Israel after spending a year as a shaliach in America. Canal Founders Knew The Score Detroiters took an active role in the funding of the feasibility studies for the Mediterranean- to-Dead Sea Canal project. Some 37 Canal Founders in Michigan loaned Israel Bonds a total of $4 million for the project. Hershell Wais, Michigan direc- tor for State of Israel Bonds, told The Jewish News that Sam Cohodas of Ishpeming, David Hermelin and the late Paul Zuc- kerman were the most active in promoting the project locally. "When Israelis came into town," Wais said, "those three, and Irwin Green, arranged the meetings with local people." Hermelin, when asked if there was negative reaction when the project was placed on hold, em- phasized that Detroiters were made to understand from the be- ginning that "we were undertak- ing to raise the $100 million seed money for a feasibility study, to see if it was viable. Keep in mind that when this started energy was at an all-time high and projected to go up to $100 per barrel in the near future. Three years later the trend reversed." The war in Lebanon and the subsequent downturn in Israel's economy also were factors, Hermelin said, and finally Israel had to choose between developing the Lavie jet fighter and the Canal. "One or two people may have been unhappy with the decision," said Hermelin, who is a national chairman of Israel Bonds. "After all, people want to see something built that they were part of. And it still could be built someday ... maybe. "But in Detroit especially," few people were unhappy with the Is- raeli decision on the Canal "be- cause these are major Israel Bond buyers and they continue to be. They know the money is going to help the Israeli economy." Waldheim Linked To Nazis . 4 Med-Dead Hours: Monday-Saturday 10a.m.- 6p.m. I Thursday 10 a.m. - 9 pm. 41111 1 800 N. Woodward Ave., Suite 101, Birmingham, MI. 48011 (313) 645-0311 New York (JTA) — Former United Nations Secretary Gen- eral Kurt Waldheim served on the staff of a German army gen- eral in 1943 who was described as "perhaps more implicated in Jewish deportations than any other Wehrmacht commander," the World Jewish Congress re- vealed. The documents follow the dis- closure in Vienna that Wal- dheim, now a conservative can- didate for the presidency of Au- stria, had an active Nazi past. Documents published in Vienna show Waldheim in his youth was a member of the Nazi SA and the National Socialist Stu- dent Organization. Waldheim had denied mem- bership in either, though he conceded that he had in fact joined the groups in order to protect his family. Waldheim's association with the SA was in his pursuit of horseback riding. The records of Waldheim's de- Nazification process in 1946 con- firmed that his association with the SA was solely in pursuit of his passion for horseback riding. The WJC documents disclose that Waldheim served on Gen. Alexander Loehr's Staff at Salonika, Greece, in March 1943, when, at the same time, Wehrmacht trains were carrying 2,000-2,500. Jews to Auschwitz every day. Waldheim has denied knowing of any deportations. "I regret these things most deeply, but I have to repeat that it is really the first time that I hear such things happened," Waldheim told the New York Times. "I never heard or learned anything of this while I was there. I hear for the first time that there were deportations of Jews from there." According to the WJC, docu- ments and testimony at the Nuremberg trial established that Loehr and personnel under his command supervised the 1943 deportations to Auschwitz of the large Jewish community in Salonika. The operation, con- ducted with SS assistance, began in mid-March 1943 and was largely over by mid-May, by which time more than 42,000 men, women and children had been transported to Poland, where they were gassed shortly after arrival at the death camp.