DETROIT

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

T

here are times when
Yetta Rosenthal
dreads the mail.
Mrs. Rosenthal, 68, a
Holocaust survivor from the
former Soviet Union,
receives restitution checks
each month from Germany.
"When it comes, I can't sleep
for a week," she said. "Old
wounds burst when I look at
that envelope."
According to the German
schlussgesetz or Final Law,
persons (of any religion)
persecuted by the Nazis had
from 1953 until 1969 to app-
ly for restitution. However,
for the last few years, Ger-
many has been accepting
applications from former
Soviet citizens who never
before had the ability to file.
Mrs. Rosenthal, who lives
in Oak Park, is one of hun-
dreds of Michiganians re-
ceiving restitution checks
from Germany. Each ap-
plication goes through
Regina Feuer, 77, sole res-
titution worker at Jewish
Family Service.
"Nothing compensates a
survivor for what he or she
has lost or suffered," said
Mrs. Feuer, who's processed

applications for 30 years.
"But at least it's something."
Mrs. Rosenthal fled her
home in Ukraine when she
was 16. She spent the next
four years in a concentration
camp. When the camp was
liberated in 1945, she was
put into a displaced person's
camp in Italy. She came to
Detroit in 1949.
"What I get from the Ger-
man government doesn't
cover one week's worth of
expenses," Mrs. Rosenthal

Germany is now
taking applications
for restitution from
former Soviet
citizens who never
before had the
ability to file.

said. "You don't make up for
ruining someone's life."
Mrs. Feuer became in-
volved in restitution work
through her husband, Ar-
thur, who served as a physi-
cian for the German Con-
sulate in Detroit. "He gave
every applicant a physical
examination and took down
their history," Mrs. Feuer
said. "The stories he heard

— babies smashed against
walls, families cruelly
separated — each story was
worse than the next."
Reinhard Paellmann, a con-
sul with the German Con-
sulate in Detroit, said per-
sons applying for restitution
had to prove they were
persecuted because of re-
ligion, race or politics.
Mrs. Feuer said it takes
years for some claims to go
through.' "There are claims
I've been working on for
years," she said. "There is so
much red tape to go through.
I still have 400-500 active
files!'
People can apply for loss of
life, damage to health, or
confiscation of jewelry, Mrs.
Feuer said. They have to
qualify for certain percen-
tages of damage. There's
also a special category for
loss of business, which is re-
stricted to German citizens.
There are new laws and
conditions all the time, said
Lotte Foroo, a case worker
with the United Restitution
Organization in New York.
"If you get a pension from
Germany, you have to prove
you're alive every year,"
Mrs. Foroo said.
Mrs. Foroo, one of a reduc-
ed staff of about 40, said
there is good cooperation

Photo by Glenn Triest

Holocaust Restitution
Still Opens Old Wounds

Regina Feuer: Thirty years of horror stories.

between Germany and URO.
"Since unification, people
who lost property in East
Germany can claim it now."
Matvay Galperin, from
Minsk, is waiting for his
check. He's been working
with Mrs. Feuer for a couple
of years now.
"I had nothing after the

war," said Mr. Galperin,
now living in Oak Park.
Mr. Galperin was 13 years
old when German bombs
blew up his house and town.
"When I came back after the
war, 90 percent of Minsk
was not the same. I've been
waiting a long time for com-
pensation." ❑

Former Garrison Aide Doubts Veracity Of New JFK Film

Professor Slovenko is the son
of Russian Jewish immi-
grants. He described Mr.
Garrison as "tall, imposing,
authoritative and private.
We called him 'The Jolly
Green Giant' because of his
height (Mr. Garrison is

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

R

alph Slovenko doesn't
like what he sees:
Hoards of young
people convinced Jim Gar-
rison was a great hero. A
film director named Oliver
Stone glorifying a district
attorney who had more con-
spiracy theories than Loui-
siana has crooked politi-
cians. A movie that purports
to show the truth about
President John Kennedy's
assassination.
All of it is "hogwash," says
Dr. Slovenko, professor of
law and psychiatry at
Wayne State University and
former colleague of Jim Gar-
rison. "I'm not even going to
see the film because it's
nothing more than crass
commercialism."
Mr. Garrison, from 1961-
1974 the district attorney of
Orleans Parish in Louisiana,
is the author of On the Trail
of the Assassins, upon which
Oliver Stone's new film JFK

14

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1992

Ralph Slovenko:

JFK is "hogwash."

is based. In his book, Mr.
Garrison implicates every-
one from the CIA to New
Orleans businessman Clay
Shaw in JFK's murder.
Professor Slovenko met
Mr. Garrison when the two
were in law school at Tulane
University in New Orleans.

Mr. Garrison also loved
eating at restaurants and
hanging out at the New
Orleans Athletic Club, Pro-
fessor Slovenko said.
Later, Mr. Garrison would
write the introduction to the
book Crime Law and Correc-
tions written by his fellow
law student, Ralph
Slovenko. It included a
photograph of a Nazi death
camp survivor, taken by Mr.
Garrison, who served in the
U.S. Army. Seeing Holo-
caust victims "really moved
him," Professor Slovenko
recalled.
In addition to Mr. Gar-
rison, Professor Slovenko
also attended Tulane Law
School with Dean Andrews,
portrayed by John Candy in
JFK. Dean Andrews would

later figure as a player in
Mr. Garrison's assassination
theory.
After graduating from
Tulane, Mr. Garrison work-
ed for the FBI, "but he left
because he was bored," Pro-
fessor Slovenko said. He also
ran for New Orleans district
attorney and "to his great
surprise, he won." Among
his colleagues: a senior
assistant named Ralph
Slovenko.
Mr. Garrison became in-
terested in the JFK
assassination after a conver-
sation with Louisiana Sen.
Huey P. Long, Professor
Slovenko said. He quickly
became obsessed with the
subject.
"He would go to the
bathroom and come back
with another theory," Pro-
fessor Slovenko said. "One
time it was somebody com-
ing out of a manhole; then
there was somebody in the
bushes. And everybody was
involved: the CIA, the FBI,
the Mafia and anti-Castro
forces."

Mr. Garrison's investiga-
tion began to focus on Clay
Shaw, head of the New
Orleans International Trade
Mart. He tried to link Mr.
Shaw with Lee Harvey
Oswald, accused assassin of
the president, through his
former fellow law student,
Dean Andrews.
In the film, Mr. Andrews
(who has since died) is shown
as having vital information
about the Kennedy
assassination which he
refuses to turn over to Jim
Garrison. Handing over the
information, he says, would
mean his certain death.
"To believe him was to
believe the moon is made of
cheese," Professor Slovenko
said.
He recalled Mr. Andrews
as a large man with thick,
black glasses. He sat behind
him in law class, where Mr.
Andrews played with his
desk as though it were a
pinball machine. "Tilt!" he
would cry repeatedly.
Mr. Garrison's investiga-
tion of Clay Shaw included a

