DETROIT
State Of Michigan Kills Funds
For Holocaust Memorial Center
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
G
ov. John Engler's re-
cent vetoes of discre-
tionary grants for
museums leaves the Holo-
caust Memorial Center in the
lurch and Jewish state
legislators fuming.
In previous years, the state
contributed $110,000 to
$115,000 to the Holocaust
Center's annual budget of
$900,000. For this fiscal
year, which began Oct. 1, the
state contribution is zero.
Last March, Gov. Engler
called for slashing the
state's contribution to the
HMC, which attracts nearly
150,000 visitors a year —
more than half of them
students. House and Senate
compromise bills later called
for $50,000 —a substantial
decrease — to be awarded to
the HMC.
"I am disgusted," said
Rep. Maxine Berman, D-
Southfield. "This has been an
attack on the cultural needs of
the state. I thought $50,000
was a compromise. This is no
compromise. It is another
sign of the governor having
absoutely no ability to unders-
tand the importance of cul-
tural organizations," Ms. Ber-
man said. "The Holocaust
Museum is used by many peo-
ple — Jews and non-Jews."
Mr. Engler's veto is part of
a plan to cut back state-
funded cultural arts pro-
grams. He has merged the
Michigan Council for the
Arts, the Commission on Art
in Public Places and the
Film Office into one Arts,
Film and Cultural Affairs
unit within the state's
Commerce Department.
The purpose of this office is
to advocate statewide pro-
grams. No grants will be
made. In protest of the
moves, Bunny Goldman, a
Democrat and director of the
Michigan Council for the
Arts, resigned last week.
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig,
founder and executive vice
president of the Holocaust
Memorial Center, said the
HMC is not giving up hope of
obtaining state funds. He
will apply for a grant from
the Outstate Equity Pro-
gram within the Michigan
Department of Commerce
before the Jan. 15 deadline.
Grants are expected to be
awarded in March.
"This is a travesty," said
Sen. Jack Faxon, D-
Farmington Hills. "The
amount of money that was
requested was much less
than they got the previous
year, and he (Gov. Engler)
just blocked it out entirely.
How do you account for that?
"He (Engler) has two lists,
and if you are on the wrong
side of the list, you get cut,"
Mr. Faxon said.
Sen. David Honigman, R-
West Bloomfield, said he is
not happy with the guber-
natorial veto.
"I am very personally dis-
appointed," Mr. Honigman
said. "Of course, I don't like
it. The Holocaust Center is a
memorial to 6 million and its
core mission is educational.
It is a unique institution in
the country, where school
children come in and learn
an important moral lesson."
Mr. Honigman said he has
a "strong feeling" that the
HMC will receive a grant
from the Commerce
Department and vowed to
"use every ounce of in-
fluence I have to see that
they get some money."
Sen. Lana Pollack, D-Ann
Arbor, said Gov. Engler did
not single out the HMC. But,
she said, "he is at war with
the state. He places ab-
solutely no value in the chil-
dren and adults in Michigan
Holocaust Memorial Center
having opportunities to
understand the history of
the Holocaust," Ms. Pollack
said.
Rabbi Rosenzveig, mean-
while, said the HMC will not
charge admission to the mu-
seum.
"It would defeat the pur-
pose if we would charge ad-
mission," he said. "We are
trying to, find ways to secure
funds. We hope the governor
will realize that we serve the
schools more than perhaps
any other institution in
Writer Says Holocaust Is Ignored
NOAM M.M. NEUSNER
Staff Writer
s
ill udith Miller, a New
York Times editor and
writer, said Sunday
night that the preservation
of the memory of the Holo-
caust has been inadequate in
several countries, including
the United States.
"To me, it is a barometer of
how honestly people are con-
fronting their past," she said
in a speech at the Holocaust
Memorial Center's annual
fund-raising dinner. "There
is a long way to go."
Ms. Miller, in a summary
of some of the themes and
issues raised in her 1990
book, One, By One, By One,
described how many Euro-
pean nations have managed
to marginalize the Holocaust
as an element in their
histories.
Austria, for example, has
inverted the events of the
Holocaust by painting them-
selves as victims of Hitler's
aggression. This inversion,
14
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1991
Ms. Miller - said, besides be-
ing incorrect, often leads to
hostility to other victims,
especially the most promi-
nent victims of Hitler — the
Jews.
"The Austrians became
very defensive, extremely
hostile and quite unwilling
to examine their past," said
Ms. Miller.
- Similarly, the Dutch take
great pride in the legacy of
Anne Frank, the Amster-
She described how
many European
nations
marginalize the
Holocaust.
dam Jewish girl whose diary
has become part of the Hobo-
caust canon.
But the Dutch overlook
their past, which included
the highest kill rate of Jews
of any country besides
Poland, the highest percen-
tage of Nazi partisans before
German occupation and an
alarming compliance with
Nazi decrees for the roundup
of Jews.
Ms. Miller, who reported
for the Times - the trial of
Nazi war criminal Klaus
Barbie, said there are
"troubling indications" that
the lessons of the Holocaust,
if not faced, lead to a resur-
facing of the very same
strains of racial hate.
She pointed to the rise of
neo-Nazi skinheads in. east-
ern Germany as an example
of this phenomencin because,
she said, "this was not the
part of Germany which was
made to come to grips with
its past."
And in the United States,
which became the second
largest home to Holocaust
survivors after Israel, the
memory of the Holocaust has
become a "political football"
for fund-raisers and the
.publicity-hungry. Detroit's
Holocaust Memorial Center,
she said, is a notable excep-
tion to this.
"Many of the projects (in
the U.S.) are little more than
sound and light shows," she
said. "The Holocaust is not a
theme park."
What's worse, she said, the
Holocaust has become an
"obsessive interest of young
Jews." What's left is a Jew-
ish identity bereft of any of
the positive elements of the
religion and culture — its
values and customs.
"Is it any wonder that
these young people later re-
ject Judaism?" she said.
Also at the dinner, held at
the Westin Hotel, the Holo-
caust Center honored Jan
Karski with its annual
Righteousness Award. Mr.
Karski was a Polish diplo-
mat during the war, serving
as an underground courier
for the Resistance.
Mr. Karski, a Polish
Catholic, personally
witnessed the atrocities of
the Warsaw Ghetto and the
Belzec death camp, and he
told Allied leaders —in-
cluding President Franklin
D. Roosevelt — what he
saw. ❑
Michigan. To defeat such an
extremely educational vehi-
cle for the state is mindbog-
gling."
HMC opened as a museum
and research center in 1984
on the grounds of the Maple-
Drake Jewish Community.
Campus. The museum raises
about $150,000 a year from
its annual fund-raiser, held
last Sunday, and from its
2,200 members.
Membership fees range
from $100 to $1,000 a year.
"The funding cut to the
Holocaust Center eliminates
its ability to continue to
serve as one of the top
research centers in the
nation," Mr. Faxon said.
"Michigan's Holocaust
Center is the only Holocaust
museum in the nation that
will not receive some state
support." 1=1
Sexuality Series
Final Lecture
Dr. Mark Evans will pre-
sent the final lecture in a
series of lectures entitled
"Judaism and Sexuality," 8-9
p.m. Oct. 29 at United
Hebrew Schools.
Dr. Evans, director of the
Division of Reproductive
Genetics and associate pro-
fessor of OB/GYN, Hutzel
Hospital and Wayne State
University, will speak on
"Technologies of Parenting in
Modern Medicine."
The program is co-
sponsored by the Midrasha-
College of Jewish Studies,
Congregation Beth Achim
and Jewish Community
Center for Metropolitan
Detroit.
There is a charge. For infor-
mation, call the Midrasha of-
fice, 352-7117.