WSU Hosts Bicultural
Forum On Genocides
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
W
hen Professor
Margaret Bed-
rosian lectured
about the Armen-
ian genocide in her litera-
ture courses at University
of California-Davis, she
occasionally encountered
Jewish students who com-
pared this early 20th-cen-
tury tragedy to the
Holocaust.
At an April 21 forum on
genocide, in part sponsored
by the B'nai B'rith Hillel
Foundation, Mrs. Bed-
rosian addressed 100 Jews,
Armenians and others who
gathered to learn more
about the atrocities that
befell their people.
"I see a lot of parallels
between the Holocaust and
Armenian genocide, though
I think that one has to dif-
ferentiate between them,"
said Alice Eckardt, a
Holocaust scholar who also
addressed the WSU crowd.
According to the speak-
ers, national identity and
land ownership were
volatile issues between
Turks and the Armenian
minority. In 1915, the
Turkish government de-
ported thousands of
Armenians to Syria, killing
between 600,000 and 1.5
million in the process.
Scholars estimate that
nearly 2 million Armenians
were massacred between
1895 and 1922.
In Europe, Hitler's moti-
vations against the Jews
were ideological, not con-
quest for land, said Ms.
Eckardt. Six million Jews
perished at the hands of
the Nazis.
"Hitler actually said,
`Who remembers the
Armenians today? We can
do the same thing,'..." she
said.
A Protestant, Ms.
Eckardt wrote
Long
Night's Journey Into Day:
Life and Faith After the
Holocaust. She and Ms.
Bedrosian, who has written
on the Armenian genocide,
agreed that the world must
study and remember both
atrocities.
Norma Goldman, an
adjunct professor in WSU's
College of Lifelong
Learning, said the forum
highlighted experiences
the Jewish and Armenian
communities share.
"Armenians were mer-
. chants. They were success-
ful, progressive, well-edu-
cated. They were the intel-
ligentsia," she said. "I
think those same descrip-
tive terms could be applied
to the Jews of Germany.
"The Armenian commu-
nity was viewed in Turkey
with the same fears and
jealousy that may have
motivated the Nazis (to
persecute Jews). The forum
gives us a chance to learn
what caused the attempts
at both genocides and to
help prevent them from
ever happening again."
Mother's Day
Brunch Set
The Men's Club of Congrega-
tion B'nai Moshe will present
a Mothers Day Brunch 11
a.m. May 9 at the synagogue.
For reservations by May 4
call the synagogue office,
788-0600.
Jewish Count
Up In Jerusalem
Jerusalem (JTA) —
Jerusalem's Jewish popula-
tion has reached 400,000 out
of 560,000 residents, or 72
percent of the city, according
to new statistics released by
the Jerusalem Institute for
Israel Studies.
Since the start of the new
wave of aliyah, Jerusalem
has absorbed some 35,000
new immigrants. Some 75
percent of the new immi-
grants said they were
satisfied with their absorp-
tion in the capital.
Despite these encouraging
figures, the new statistics
point out that 5,600 more
people left the city than
came to it last year.
Newcomers to the city are
represented most strongly
by haredi, or fervently Or-
thodox Jewish, families. And
since their birthrate is
higher than the average, the
rise in the haredi population
continued last year as well.
Waters wear the stones.
Bible: Job, 14:19
Mon-Thur-Fri 10-9 ♦ Tue-Wed-Sat 10-6
Sunday 12-5 ♦ 855-1600
DEAR SANDI,
"YOU WERE RIGHT! BARB AND I
LOVE OUR NEW BEDROOM. ALL THAT'S
NEEDED NOW IS ROOM SERVICE."
" THANKS STEVE
ONE LUMP OR TWO,
faati
IF YOU NEED NEW IDEAS FOR YOUR HOME CALL
SANDRA LORENCE, ALLIED MEMBER ASID OR
HER ASSOCIATE JENNIFER BINDES-WERNER
AT 313-851-8998
fte&e 0/ziaa
DESIGNING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.
Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results
Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060