COMMUNITY
Holocaust Dinner Will Cite
Warsaw Ghetto Witness
Karski To Give
Wallenberg Lecture
Dr. Jan Karski has been
named the second recipient of
the University of Michigan's
Raoul Wallenberg Medal. He
will deliver the annual
Wallenberg Lecture at 8 p.m.
Sept. 25 at the Horace H.
Rackham School of Graduate
Studies.
University President James
J.. Duderstadt will present the
Wallenberg Medal which was
established in 1989 in honor
of the U-M alumnus Raoul
Wallenberg, whose valiant ef-
forts saved thousands of
Hungarian Jews at the end of
World War II.
service before World Wai' II.
In 1942, while serving in
the Polish underground,
Karksi volunteered to be
smuggled into and out of the
Warsaw Ghetto and Belzec
concentration camp to gather
evidence of the atrocities com-
mitted against the Jews by
the Nazis. Belzec was selected
because it was thought to be
not well-managed and one of
the most vulnerable to enter.
By the end of November
1942, Karski was fulfilling
the mission entrusted to him
by the Ghetto leaders. He
made his way to Great Bri-
tain to report on the suffering
of the Jews in Poland to
British Foreign Secretary Sir
Anthony Eden and ultimate-
ly to the U.S. where he met
with and reported to Cordel
Hull, President Roosevelt and
Supreme Court Justice Felix
Frankfurter.
After the war, Karski refus-
ed to return to his native
Poland. He became a U.S.
citizen and received his Ph.D.
from Georgetown University
in 1952 where he has been
teaching Eastern European
affairs, comparative govern-
ment, and international
affairs.
Barbara Nusbaum
Chairs JARC Concert
Barbara Nusbaum will
chair JARC's fall concert, "An
Evening with Bernadette
Peters," 8 p.m. Oct. 28 at the
Fox Theatre. The benefit will
support the homes and ser-
vices for adults with develop-
mental disabilities operated
by JARC.
Serving as Mrs. Nusbaum's
associate chairpersons are
Nora Barron, Annie Cohen,
Michael S. Feldman, Harriet
Gelfond, Nancy Grosfeld, Ar-
thur Horwitz, Nancy Jacob-
son, Lois Katzman, Ellen
Labes, Elise Levinson,
Eugene Mondry, Donna
Pearlman, Charlotte Tessler,
Norman G. Wachler and H.
James Zack, as well as JARC
president Cheryl Guyer.
Mrs. Nusbaum serves as
JARC vice president and
member of the executive com-
mittee. She is co-chairperson
of the Acculturation Commit-
tee of Jewish Experiences for
Families, and an executive
board member of Resettle-
ment Service. She serves as
board member of Jewish
Home for Aged, Jewish Com-
munity Center, Fresh Air
Barbara Nusbaum
and Bar-Ilan
Society
University.
JARC operates 13 Haverim
Homes in southern Oakland
County, as well as two in-
dependent living programs.
Nearly 300 individuals and
their families wait for place-
ment in a JARC residential
program.
For concert information,
call JARC, 352-5272.
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
D
Dr. Jan Karski:
Righteousness award.
In 1974, Prof. Karski was
awarded a Fulbright
Fellowship to inspect Polish,
British and French archives
for his major work, The Great
Powers and Poland, 1919-1945
(From Versailles to Yalta). He
related his war experiences in
his book, The Story of a Secret
State.
For dinner information, call
the HMC, 661-0840.
Hermelin Presents
Farber Honor
At the dinner to be held
Sept. 4 at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, William
Farber will be receiving an
honorary fellowship from Bar-
Ilan University. It will be con-
ferred by David B. Hermelin,
a member of the university's
American board of overseers,
a past president of Congrega-
tion Shaarey Zedek and a
close associate of William
Farber.
The dinner will also mark
the inauguration of the
William Farber Alzheimer's
Research Center on campus.
Hermelin serves as interna-
tional campaign chairman of
State of Israel Bonds and vice
president of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit.
r. Abraham Nemeth,
a retired mathematics
professor who is blind,
was appointed this month by
Gov. John Engler as chair-
man of the Michigan Com-
mission for the Blind.
The commission, compris-
ed of five members, oversees
an $11 million annual
budget and conducts rehabil-
itation services for the blind
throughout Michigan.
Among the programs
funded through the commis-
sion are daily living skills
clinics, business programs
which provide guidance for
blind people to get into the
working world, and services
for the newly elderly blind.
The state mandates that
three of the five commis-
sioners be blind.
Dr. Nemeth, 72, who
taught mathematics and
computer sciences at the
University of Detroit, said
he applied for the position
during former Gov. James
Blanchard's administration
at the urging of some
friends.
"This is great," Dr.
Nemeth said. "It gives me a
chance to apply what I know
about blindness.
"My goal is to see that
blind people get the services
they are entitled to," he
said. "Many people believe
blind people can't do every-
thing. But we can do most
things."
Dr. Nemeth, of Southfield,
was born blind. He always
wanted to study
mathematics, and people
who knew him advised
Dr. Abraham Nemeth:
"We can do most things."
against it. He didn't listen.
Later, he studied computers
on a National Science Foun-
dation grant.
"I can do everything but
drive or pilot a plane," he
said.
He chaired his first com-
mission meeting last week.
"My goal is to see
that blind people
get the services
they are entitled
to. -Many people-
believe blind
people can't do
everything. But we
can do most
things."
Now Dr. Nemeth will travel
the state, seeking input on
ideas to better serve the
blind population throughout
Michigan.
❑
Eyeglasses
For Ethiopians
B'nai B'rith Michigan
Regional Council is a drop-off
point for the collection of eye-
glasses, frames and cases that
are critically needed by Ethio-
pian Jews who have recently
arrived in Israel via "Opera-
tion Solomon."
Location of drop-off is 25835
Southfield Road, Suite 111, at
the rear of the B'nai B'rith
Building.
Ernie Harwell, voice of the Detroit Tigers, addressed the
recent Economic Forum luncheon, sponsored by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. With him are Harvey Grace and
Michael Feldman.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
49
MIJMIMM
r-
Jan Karksi, professor
emeritus at Georgetown
University, has been named
the 1991 recipient of the
Holocaust Memorial Center's
Righteousness Award.
The presentation will be
made by Joel Dorfman, chair-
man of the HMC's Seventh
Anniversary Dinner, at the
event Oct. 20 in Detroit's
Westin Hotel.
Dr. Karski was born and
educated in Poland and
entered the Polish diplomatic
Engler Appoints Nemeth
To Chair Blind Unit