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104
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1991
WEST BLOOMFIELD • MICHIGAN
Orchard Lake Road • North of Maple
Vancouver, British
Columbia (JTA) — A town-
hall style discussion of edu-
cation in Calgary, Alberta,
last week erupted into a
shouting match over
teaching the Holocaust.
The dispute was triggered
by about 10 people, de-
scribed as die-hard Holo-
caust deniers, who charged
that genocide against the
Jews was being emphasized
to the exclusion of other
atrocities.
The value of teaching the
Holocaust in the local school
system was disputed, Bob
Bergen, a reporter for the
Calgary Herald who attend-
ed the meeting, told the Jew-
ish Telegraphic Agency.
Jim Dinning, the provin-
cial minister of education,
who was present at the
meeting, told JTA he be-
lieves any group has the
right to offer its opinion,
even if it is to deny the Holo-
caust happened or to say
there is too much teaching
about it.
Personally, he said he tells
such people "each time" that
"I fundamentally and
categorically reject your
position."
Yet at one point, the min-
ister, apparently angered by
the raucous nature of the
debate, told the audience, "I
am mad. There's nothing in
the curriculum that says:
`Thou shalt teach the Holo-
caust of the Jews alone.' "
Riki Heilik, community re-
lations director of the
Calgary Jewish Centre, said
she understood Mr. Dinn-
ing's frustration.
"We believe Dinning's
statement" that the cur-
riculum doesn't mandate
teaching the Holocaust
alone "was taken out of con-
text," she said.
"When we teach about the
Holocaust, it's not for the
purpose of just the Jews; it's
for the questioning of what
happens to a society when
hatred is promoted against
any group."
She said the Jewish com-
munity's "purpose is to
teach about racism and in-
tolerance."
Mr. Bergen said the uproar
was started by a small, noisy
group "seeming all to have
thick European accents,
with one being a definitive
German accent."
The reporter singled out
one of them, Mark Kruezer,
who acknowledged his Ger-
man descent and complained
that he "was subjected to
abuse in school because he
was made to feel the brunt of
the Holocaust."
Mr. Bergen said the
Kruezer family were known
Holocaust deniers "very ac-
tive in Calgary with Holo-
caust-denial literature."
Rita Dempsey, 'who chairs
the Calgary Board of Edu-
cation, said she recognized
the protesters from other
meetings and cor-
respondence.
"What they are fundamen-
tally asking is that we write
the curriculum the way that
they want it," Ms. Dempsey
said.
She added, "These people
are filled with hatred and
are very negative. I don't
know if they even want a
dialogue."
Ms. Heilik described the
excellent relations the Jew-
ish community has with the
Calgary School Board and
the local Catholic School
Board.
They have co-sponsored an
annual Holocaust Sym-
posium for 12th-grade
students for the past six
years, she said.
Group Finds
Less Abuse
Jerusalem (JTA) — While
there has been a sharp
decline in the number of
human rights abuses in the
administered territories, the
Israeli justice system there
still systematically discrim-
inates against Palestinian
Arabs, an Israeli watch-dog
-group has charged.
B'tselem, the Israeli In-
formation Center for Human
Rights in the Occupied Ter-
ritories, claimed in its latest
bi-annual report that a
double standard of justice
operates for Arabs and Jews
in the territories.
According to the report, a
Palestinian who kills an
Israeli receives a long prison
sentence, and his home is
demolished. But Israelis who
kill Arabs get off with light
penalties,'if they are
brought to trial at all.
Only three Israelis have
gone on trial for killing
Arabs during the period
covered by the report. All
received short sentences and
none is presently in jail.
B'tselem found that Israeli
security forces demolished
47 Arab homes and detained
tens of thousands of Palesti-
nians during the past year.