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August 13, 1993 - Image 148

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1993-08-13

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

In Memorium

To

Edith Berk

Germans Release
Kurt Franz

Who Passed Away July 30, 1993

TO MY BAUBI

ONLY MY BAUBI
BEFORE HOLD ING A BABY WOULD WASH HERSELF GOOD
AND THEN HOLD UP HER HANDS TO SHOW NO
GERMS.

ONLY MY BAUBI
SANG "YIDDLE DIDDLE DEE" THAT WOULD MAKE ALL BABIES
DANCE
OR GOT ANY CHILD TO EAT BY URGING "EAT MUMELAH EAT."

ONLY MY BAUBI
MADE GEFILTE FISH AND KUCHEN THAT NO ONE COULD MATCH
A "STATUS SYMBOL" FOR T HOSE WHO RECEIVED THEM THE
TRUEST ENVY OF ALL.

ONLY MY BAUBI
HAD HANDS THAT MEASURED ALL RECIPES WITH EASE
OR WITH A KISS ON THE KEPEE COULD FEEL WHO WAS SICK.

ONLY MY BAUBI
COULD SIT WITH MY DATE AND I AT THE KITCHEN TABLE
AND GIGGLE AND TALK FOR HOURS LIKE ONE OF THE GROUP.

ONLY MY BAUBI
KNEW EVERYONE WHEN THEY WERE THIS HIGH
WHICH ONE WAS THE TRUMBANICK OR WHICH ONE WAS SHY.

ONLY MY BAUBI
WON THE HIGHEST DISTINCTION OF BEING TOTALLY COOL
BY ALL OF MY FRIENDS.

ONLY MY BAUBI
(MANY TIMES) WOULD
WAIT THROUGH OUR BUSY SCHEDULES
O
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING US EVERY SATURDAY
FOR A COUPLE HOURS.

ONLY MY BAUBI
WOULD WORRY IF YOUR COAT WASN'T WARM ENOUGH
BOOTS WEREN'T HIGH ENOUGH
THE HEAT WAS ON
OR IF YOU HAD FOOD FOR THE KIDS FOR DINNER THAT DAY.

ONLY MY BAUBI
WOULD EAT HOT DOGS OR MCDONALDS OR KIT KATS OR ICE
CREAM WITH ME AND MY KIDS.

ONLY MY BAUBI
COULD MAKE ME B FEEL THINGS OULD REALLY BE ALRIGHT WHEN
A MOTHER
I FIRST EC
OR KEPT MY SPIRITS UP WHEN THINGS SEEMED SO BLEAK.

ONLY MY BAUBI
HAD ADVICE THAT WAS RIGHT
AND I KNEW IT WAS RIGHT BECAUSE ONLY MY BAUBI HAD THAT
"WISDOM THAT KNEW."

ONLY MY BAUBI
HAD A HOME SO CLEAN
A REFRIGERATOR SO FULL
AND A HAPPINESS SO DEEPLY FELT WHEN WE CAME TO VISIT.

WELL I ONLY HOPE MY BAUBI KNEW
HOW JEN LOVED TO CALL HER
HOW DAVID LOVED THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE "DO YOU KNOW
WHAT?"
HOW MUCH HER ADVICE HELPED
HOW THIS YEAR I WILL BUY BOOTS
HOW I TOO ALWAYS WASH MY HANDS BEFORE I PICK UP MY
FRIENDS BABIES
AND HOW MUCH AT 9:00 EVERY MORNING I WILL MISS HER
PHONE CALLS.

LAURIE

148

THE BRAVER FAMILY

New York (JTA) — Jewish
groups were astounded last
week to learn from news
reports that Germany had
released Kurt Franz, deputy
commandant of the
Treblinka death camp, who
had been serving a life
sentence for his wartime
crimes.
The information about the
release, which was learned
only from a wire service
report, rubbed fresh wounds
opened by the acquittal last
week by the Israeli Supreme
Court of John Demjanjuk,
who had faced charges that
he was "Ivan the Terrible,"
the notorious Treblinka
guard.
Mr. Franz, 79, was freed
sometime in May, German
officials told reporters after
the release was made
known.
Mr. Franz was sentenced
to life in prison in 1965 by a
war crimes tribunal in
Dusseldorf for his part in the
murder of at least 300,000
people, including 193 by his
own hand in Treblinka.
Mr. Franz was freed,
despite objections from
German prosecutors, under
a proviso of German law
permitting release any time
after a minimum 15 years of
a life sentence is served.
"I can tell you that it's not
at all linked to Demjanjuk,"
said an assistant to the
German ambassador in
Washington.

and most terrifying of the SS
officers there."
"It is incomprehensible
how someone who caused so
much harm to so many could
ever receive a lightening of
his sentence," said Weizman
of the Wiesenthal Center.
Elan Steinberg, executive
director of the World Jewish
Congress, called Franz's
release "obscene. It is a
crime against memory."
Amcha-The Coalition for
Jewish Concerns sent tele-
grams protesting his release
to German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl and to the
German ambassador to
Washington, Immo
Stabreit.

Representatives of Jewish
organizations were shocked

and angered by the release.
"I didn't know about it. I
think we were all taken by
surprise here," said Mark
Weizman, director of educa-
tional outreach at the Simon
Wiesenthal Center's New
York office.
"I think that his release
makes a mockery of the
sentence, in that Kurt Franz
was not just a cog in the
machinery. He was not
drafted," Mr. Weizman said.
He pointed out that Mr.
Franz had a full Nazi
resume, beginning with his
participation in the eutha-
nasia program at the
Buchenwald concentration

camp, and on through a stint

as deputy to the comman-
dant at Belzec and then on to
Treblinka.
According to the En-

cyclopedia of the Holocaust,

"At Treblinka, Franz
dominated daily life at the
camp. He was the cruelest



Knesset Adopts
Health Bills

Jerusalem (JTA) — Israel
moved this week a step
closer to having a unified
national health insurance
system, as the Knesset
adopted seven different —
and at times conflicting —
bills in its first of three
readings under the
parliamentary system.
In the present situation,
health insurance is offered
by a number of sick funds.
each with a certain political
affiliation.
The largest sick fund, the
Histadrut's Kupat Holim, is
suffering from a deep finan-
cial crisis.
Health Minister Haim
Ramon presented a bill
which was also supported by
members of the opposition,
granting citizens health ser-
vices in return for 4.8 per-
cent of their income.
The bill is revolutionary in
that it removes the insurea
from the politically affiliated
sick fund.
The government would be
responsible for a co-called
"health basket," which
would allow each citizen to
choose a sick fund.
The fees would be collected
by the Institute of National
Insurance, in contrast with
the present situation.
Some Labor Knessef
members, concerned that the
new bill would empty ti , c
Histadrut trade union fed-
eration of its powers, pre
sented a separate bill that
would leave money collec-
tion in the hands of the
Histadrut while providinL2
better-quality health ser
vices.



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