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WARNING
NEWS
Ground Broken In L.A.
For Holocaust Center
541-5373,
"Security is our middle name"
13740
W. 9 Mile
Next to
Oak Park
Post Office
wish all their patients, friends and family
a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season and a
Happy New Year!
548-6633
1.
M a the occasion .
-This removable bow slide with diamonds will make Ito special memory. Perfectly sculptured in fourteen karat gold.
DRAKE SUMMIT
5568 Drake Rd.
W. Bloomfield
661 -2655
54• Friday, DecOmber 26, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
EWELERS INC
Tues.-Fri. 11-6
Sot. 11-3
Sun. & Mon.
Closed
.
TOM TUGEND
Special to the Jewish News
os Angeles — As 200
survivors of the Holo-
L caust placed handsful
of earth taken from eight
Nazi death camps on the site,
ground was broken on a va-
cant muddy lot for a $24
million complex that will
stand as a memorial to a
man's past inhumanity and
as a warning to future
generations.
Formally named Beit
Hashoah (House of the Holo-
caust)/Museum of 'Iblerance,
the project by the Simon
Wiesenthal Center is sched-
uled for completion in August
1988, after overcoming some
opposition within the Jewish
community and protests by
neighboring residents.
The bare statistics for the
complex, encompassing
150,000 square feet, are im-
pressive. The main domed
structure of glass and granite
will rise four stories above
. ground, with an additional
three levels underground. At
the heart will be the Museum
of Iblerance itself, billed as
the world's largest exhibit of
its kind, complemented by a
research library, auditorium,
theatre, media center, film
and video studio, art exhibit,
and formal memorial garden.
A major portion of the
museum will consist of a
graphic history of the Holo-
caust, with visitors passing
through progressive chron-
ological stages of the tragedy.
Another section will deal
with the 1915 Armenian
genocide in 'flukey, and a
third with the history of in-
tolerance in the United
States, from the Salem witch
trials in colonial America to
prejudice against new ethnic
immigrant groups.
As Gerald Margolis, direc-
tor of the museum, noted
with pride,, the exhibits will
differ from traditional
"static" museum displays and
be on the "cutting edge of
technological advances."
With three-dimensional
dioramas, computers, and
audio and video displays to
recreate historical scenes,
visitors will be drawn into
"full sensory involvement,"
Margolis said.
He emphasized that the ex-
hibits will "not be presented
as a house of horrors;' but will
also depict scenes of physical
and spiritual resistance
against the Nazis.
So far, $18 million of the
$24 million cost of the project
has been raised, much of it by
Samuel, William and Hyman
Belzberg, the earliest and
strongest supporters of the
Wiesenthal Center. The three
Canadian-born brothers
direct a vast financial empire
in the United States and
Canada.
The California legislature
also appropriated $5 million
for the new museum, an ac-
tion that was unsuccessfully
challenged by a few Jewish
organizations and individ-
uals. The opponents noted
that the Wiesenthal Center
was created as part of the
Yeshiva University of Los
Angeles, that the two institu-
tions still share the same
campus and retain common
leadership, and warned that
the legislative appropriation
breached the Constitutional
separation between state and
religion.
More persistent opposition
came from the museum's
neighbors, who feared that
the museum would cause ad-
ditional traffic, noise and
parking problems in the
predominantly residential
section of West Los Angeles.
In a series of hearings
before the city planning com-
mission, the neighborhood
group succeeded in placing
restrictions on the size of the
museum's auditorium, the
length of visiting hours, and
the number of outdoor rallies
to be held in the museum
garden.
A notable absentee at the
groundbreaking ceremony
was Nazi hunter Simon Wies-
enthal, whose name the
center bears, and who was at-
tending a family reunion in
Israel, according to Rabbi
Abraham Cooper, the center's
associate dean.
Cooper emphasized that
the absence had no connec-
tion with recent disagree-
ments between Wiesenthal
and the leadership of the
Wiesenthal Center• on how
strongly to press the case
against Austrian President
Kurt Waldheim on his alleged
part in German war crimes.
In a message from Jeru- .
salem read at the ceremony,
Wiesenthal expressed his feel-
ing that "this is one of the
greatest days of my life:. .
The (museum) will help socie-
ty to recognize the dangers of
hatred and bigotry, and to
prevent the consequences of
these evils."
Over a thousand people at-
tended the groundbreaking
ceremony, including many
California political leaders.
Not present was Ivan F.
Boesky, who is listed by the
Wiesenthal Center as a
"capital benefactor," a
designation bestowed on
those who have pledged
$500,000 or more.
According to Cooper,
Boesky resigned from the
center's board of trustees
shortly before his role in the
Wall Street inside traders
scandal became public.