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Ephraim ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS Headquarters for ( rnif.3M1Ild 851-9244 ). Luggage ,f4 !Iraq gut, •,,, the °Inmate source tor on your travel occessones , 6253 ORCHARD LAKE RD. NORTH OF MAPLE RD. In Sugar nee • West Bloomfield DAILY 10 to 6:30 • THURS. 10 to 8 • SUN. 12 to 5 • CALL: 855-3180 86 FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1989 ive teenagers from the Metro Detroit area "went home" to Vien- na, the city from which their grandparents had to flee in World War II. They were among 95 young Americans, age 16 to 25, welcomed into the Austrian city in April by the Jewish Welcome Service of Vienna for two weeks, all-expenses paid, to explore the city their families once called home. Members of the group shared one common denominator: all were grandchildren of Austrian Jews who fled the city from Nazi persecution. The participants were selected based on age and familial connection to Vienna from 250 applicants, said Susi Schneider, U.S. representative of the Jewish Welcome Ser- vice of Vienna. Each student wrote a letter about his grandparents and himself, ex- plaining his connection to the city. Four groups of 25 came to Vienna over a three-week period in April. According to Leon Zelman, executive director of the Jewish Welcome Service of Vienna and the mastermind behind the program, the ob- jective was to show young peo- ple of Austrian descent the city of Vienna and bring them with non-Jewish young Austrians to create a dialogue and "immunize the new generation against racism and fascism." The itinerary included a reception at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Henry Grunwald; a ball at city hall sponsored by the mayor, Helmut Zilk; a three-hour cruise on the Danube; discus- sions at gymnasiums (Austrian high schools) and a visit to the former Mauthausen concentration camp. American students also saw the Parliament, the Burgtheater, the National Theater, and the Schattskam- mer, the Imperial Treasury, a collection of historical jewels, and toured the city. More than 1,000 families applied to serve as hosts for the American group, Zelman said. Nine Americans stayed with Jewish families and the rest stayed in non-Jewish homes, he said. Each participant experi- enced Vienna according to his individual interest and the The American group visited a Vienna synagogue on Seitenstettengasse in the old Jewish district. perception of his host family. For Karen Lee, an 18-year- old senior at Lahser High School, the trip was fun and enlightening. Lee, who came to the city just days after returning from a senior trip to Cancun, enjoyed the ar- chitectural and cultural beau- ty of the city. But Lee's response to the people was not as enlighten- ing. While she enjoyed meeting individual Austrian families like her Jewish hosts, the Hosemann family, she felt uneasy about the locals as a whole, "citizens who had elected Waldheim as president." "The program did a good job of showing that the country is not composed of just Nazis," Lee said. "Our presence also made an impression on them. But I did feel the sense that it's in their blood to hate." Her Viennese-born grand- parents, Herman and Pearl Greenbaum of Southfield, left Vienna in 1938 with Lee's mother, Sylvia, when she was less than a year old. Although Lee enjoyed seeing her fami- ly's old apartment, she did not feel the visit made her any closer to her roots. Lee was most affected by her visit to the former concen- tration camp Mauthausen, 150 miles outside of Vienna. "Seeing where Jewish peo- ple were gassed and cremated made all the difference," she said. "Until you see some- thing like that, it doesn't click. Before I went I had no idea how well planned the killing was." Confronting the Holocaust first-hand strengthened Lee's desire to have a Jewish home, she said. "I used to think it didn't matter if I married someone Jewish," she said. "But at the camp I looked at pictures of the victims and wondered if perchance I saw someone I'm related to. Peo- ple died for my religion. It definitely matters." Rachel Erdstein, a 16-year- old sophomore at Detroit Country Day School, came back from Vienna with a greater understanding of her Viennese-born father's past. George Erdstein left in 1939 with his parents, Berthold and Idi Erdstein of New York. Rachel, who was surprised at the low percentage of Jews in the Austrian city, was disturbed by the lack of com- munication between Jews and non-Jews there. In discus- sions with Austrian students whe said she often served as the mediator between the two.