DETROIT

American-Israel Group
Honors Masco Executive

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

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or the past decade,
Masco Corp., the
Taylor-based company
that sells furniture, doors,
auto parts and plumbing
supplies, has been doing
business with Israel.
In the Golan Heights,
Masco sells doors through
Pazgal Imports. Outside Tel
Aviv, Amcor Corp. exports
shower heads for distribu-
tion in the United States
through Brass Craft, the
Southfield-based subsidiary
of Masco.
Now the company, under
the direction of interna-
tional sales director George
Herrera, is considering
expanding its business deal-
ings in Israel.
"We hope to increase our
connection with Israel," said
Mr. Herrera, who will be
honored at a dinner on
Wednesday by the Ameri-
can-Israel Chamber of
Commerce of Michigan with
the 1991 American Israel

Trade Award. "We also are
now working on a free trade
agreement with Mexico,
which will give Israeli goods
a broader market as well."
Ever since Mr. Herrera
traveled to Israel with the
American-Israel Chamber
three years ago, he has been
looking for new business op-
portunities in Israel.
Since the visit to Israel,
Masco began selling after-
market auto parts there.
Now under negotiation are
sales of kitchen sinks and
certain dies.
"We hope to make the
parts there and bring them
back to the United States,"
Mr. Herrera said.
Mr. Herrera, born in
Havana, moved to the
United States at age 16 to
complete his education. He
joined Masco. in 1982 after a
long association with A-Z
International in Houston, a
division of Masco.
Mr. Herrera has lived in
Venezuela, where he
managed operations for A-Z,
and he lived in London,
where he supervised opera-

tions for Europe, the Middle
East and the Far East.
"George has been involved
in importing and exporting
with Israel for a long time
and it is not a long-distance
relationship with Israel,"
said Shelly Jackier, ex-
ecutive director for the
American-Israel Chamber of
Commerce. "He has been
successful in identifying
more business opportunities
for Masco, which translates
into more business for the
company arid also benefits
Israel."
In the last eight years, Mr.
Herrera has set up a foreign
distribution network fOr the
Masco Group, developing
and managing the firm's
global network of agents and
distributors.
For his success, Mr. Her-
rera was awarded the Mich-
igan Exporter of the Year
Award in 1990. He serves on
the board of the American-
Israel Chamber, and he is a
committee member for the
Japan Working Group of the
National Association of
Manufacturers.0

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Linda Foster of the Jewish Community Council packages Torah covers
for the Jewish community in Minsk, Soviet Union. The covers were a
gift from Jewish contributors in Detroit.

Construction To Start
On New B'nai Moshe

ALAN HITSKY

Associate Editor

C

onstruction may
begin as soon as next
week on a new B'nai
Moshe synagogue in West
Bloomfield if final negotia-
tions are completed with the •
contractor.
The synagogue board
voted 20-6 last week to go
ahead with construction of a
new facility on Drake Road,
several hundred yards south
of Maple Road. The new
facility will include a 550-

seat sanctuary, social hall
and offices, totaling 28,000
square feet.
Robert Roth, former B'nai
Moshe president who is
chairing its building com-
mittee, said negotiations
with Turner Construction of
New York should be com-
pleted by Monday, and the
company was anxious to
begin work immediately.
The project is expected to
take 9-12 months.
The new synagogue is ex-
pected to cost $3.1-$3.5 mill-
ion. ❑

ROUND UP

Seaman's Bias
Claim Investigated
New York — The U.S.
Navy has launched an in-
vestigation to determine if a
woman was denied a securi-
ty clearance because of her
Jewish heritage and
perceived ties to Israel, the
Anti-Defamation League re-
ported this week.
Seaman Deborah Berns-
tein, who alerted the ADL to
her situation, is an Arabic
language student at the
Naval Postgraduate School
at the Monterey Language
Institute in California. She
alleges that improper and
prejudicial inquiries played
a significant role in a deci-
sion by the National Securi-
ty Group Command (NCGC)
to deny her a sensitive com-
partmentalized information
security clearance.
In a letter to Capt. Steven
Myers, special assistant of
the Navy's security group
command headquarters,
ADL National Director Ab-
raham Foxman commended
the NSGC-HQ's decision to
order an investigation and
said he was pleased the
NSGC has temporarily
canceled Ms. Bernstein's

.

;

tea

"Would you have difficulty
carrying out an order to bomb
Israel?"

transfer orders pending the
outcome.
However, Mr. Foxman ex-
pressed concern that Ms.
Bernstein "may have been
subjected to questions and
comments that potentially
impinge upon the civil and
constitutional rights of all
cadets and staff at the facili-
ty."
Ms. Bernstein, who has
lived in Israel, told the ADL
that a chief warrant officer
asked her if she would have
difficulty carrying out an
order to bomb Israel. When
she hesitated, Ms. Bernstein

said, the officer allegedly
accused her of not being
loyal to the United States.
Ms. Bernstein said the offi-
cer then launched into a
harangue about the 1967 ac-
cidental sinking of the USS
Liberty by Israel Defense
Forces.
The situation was further
exacerbated, Mr. Foxman
pointed out in his letter,
when Ms. Bernstein's com-
manding officer told her "we
may eventually be against
Israel if they don't settle the
Palestinian issue" and "I
wouldn't want to fly side by
side with you in an aircraft if
we had to bomb Palestine, or
Israel, or whatever you call
it."
In addition to alerting the
ADL, Ms. Bernstein has con-
tacted California and New
York representatives, along
with Michigan Senator Carl
Levin.

Hitler Youth
Focus Of Program
New York — "I belonged
to Hitler body and soul,"
says Alfons Heck, recalling
how he became a high-
ranking member of the
Hitler Youth during World

War II. Along with 8 million
other German children, this
10-year-old belonged to the
loyal army of Hitler Jugend,
who pledged their lives to
Adolf Hitler and the Third
Reich.
In June, Home Box Office
will show "Heil Hitler! Con-
fessions of a Hitler Youth,"
combining recent interviews
with Mr. Heck and rarely
seen newsreel footage. The
program will air 10 a.m.
June 3, and on June 6, 12,
16, 24 and 28.
Based on Mr. Heck's book
A Child of Hitler, the docu-
mentary reveals the intense
feelings of pride and
patriotism that led Alfons
Heck to join the Nazi Party.
He remembers being taught
"racial science" in elemen-
tary school, through which
Germans could differentiate
themselves from "inferior
races." From an early age,
he was told the Jews were
"different" and the Germans
were "the master race." Mr.
Heck recalls, "I had accepted
what was being taught in
school, and I fully believed
that we, as the master race,
were entitled eventually to
rule the world."

Filmmaker Seeks
Greenberg Items
Washington, D.C. — Di-
rector Aviva Kempner is
seeking Hank Greenberg
anecdotes, film footage,
photographs and
memorabilia for a new
biographical documentary
she is making about the
former Tiger great.
Material should cover his
early playing in the Bronx to
his professional career with
the Detroit Tigers and the
Pittsburgh Pirates as well as
later involvement with
management of the
Cleveland Indians and
Chicago White Sox.
Ms. Kempner also is inter-
ested in anecdotes,
photographs of film footage
from the late 1920s to the
1940s of children, especially
Jewish and immigrant
youth, playing stickball or
baseball in urban settings,
such as the Bronx.
Contact Ms. Kempner at
The Ciesla Foundation, 1707
Lanier Place NW, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20009.

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11

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