This may sound perverse, but it's also a truism:
The last 12 months have been "good" for the Holo-
caust. Friday, April 22, will mark the first an-
niversary of the dedication of the United States
Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington. And
this marks the 18th week that Schindler's List is
playing in film houses around the country.
Both are runaway successes. Since it opened,
the Holocaust museum has had 1.6 million
tors, more than double the original estimate of
750,000. To date, Schindler's List has grossed $79.6
million — which translates into an awful lot of
moviegoers.
But the dual impact of these twin events goes
beyond numbers. Their true effect can be seen
on the faces of the people who leave the museum
or the theaters where Schindler's List is playing:
They are tear-streaked, stunned, silenced. Those
who witness these two powerful recollections of
the Holocaust are shoved into a corner of bewil-
dering, staggering incomprehensibility that such
slaughters could have occurred among supposed-
ly civilized people. And most mutter under their
breaths a few words or a prayer that is the equiv-
alent of "Never again."
What is dubious is the depth of the conviction
giving rise to that muttering. Exactly what long-
term effect have either the museum or Schindler's
List had on the average visitor? Or, to be more spe-
cific, on Bill Clinton?
The night before he spoke at the museum's ded-
ication, the president toured the museum and was

Again

vastly moved by it. In December, he said that
Schindler's List, which he had just seen, was "as-
tonishing." And yet, after almost a year of bluff-
ing, threatening, cajoling and feinting, the United
States, through NATO, did not take action to stop
Serbian "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia-Herzegovina
until last Sunday.
This is not to draw an equivalence between the
Holocaust of the Nazis and the "ethnic cleansing"
of the Serbs. But until last Sunday, when two
American planes first struck Serb positions out-
side Gorazde in Bosnia, all that the West had done
for the 20 months since August 1992, when it first
learned of Serbian-run concentration camps, was
to scold and badger.
The four syllables of "Never again" make for a
fine slogan. But it remains a slogan as long as it's
just that. Films and museums that exhort us to
such mutterings fuel our sense of outrage and in-
justice, without which the demons of the world
have full sway. But giving justice to the memory
of the Holocaust requires more than wiping away
tears or repeating a brief slogan. It requires the
sort of action that ensures there will be no repeat
of the Nazi genocides.
Sadly, such action, seems to be in as short sup-
ply as ever. Perhaps it will increase during the
next 12 months. If so, one year from now, we'll
be able to say — without a tinge of contrary per-
versity — that the last 12 months have truly been
"good" for the Holocaust.

Heroes Of Faith

On April 19 at the Shrine of the Little Flower
church in Royal Oak, two-"heroes of faith" will be
honored by the Ecumenical Institute for Jewish-
Christian Studies.
The University of Detroit-Mercy's Father Mal-
colm Carron, who brought Jewish studies to his
school, and Temple Israel Rabbi M. Robert Syme,
always outspoken when it comes to issues of hu-
man rights and basic civility among faiths and peo-
ples, will be justly honored.
Two better men could hardly have been found
for such an honor. Both religious leaders have
worked behind the scenes for years to promote in-
ter-faith dialogue and understanding. Here they
will be recognized, in all places, at a church that
before and during World War II was better known
for the anti-Semitism of its spiritual leader, Fa-
ther Charles Coughlin.
Times have clearly changed for the better. While
there's so much attention given to increases in hate

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crimes, the deadly stress in the Middle East and
even questions about black-Jewish relations, there
are those who quietly make it their business to cre-
ate a better world where people of different colors,
faiths and cultures can get along.
"I've learned nobody is truly safe until
everyone is safe," said Rabbi Syme. "If I want
freedom for my grandson, everyone must have it
too."
These words speak volumes about Rabbi Syme.
Because it's not only at the large event where he
is asked to speak or in front of his Temple Israel
congregation — Rabbi Syme works full time to
bring about better intergroup relations and a bet-
ter world.
Both he and Father Carron not only give the
people of Detroit hope, but hopefully their work
will be learned and duplicated around the world.
Goodness knows we're in short supply of heroes
such as these.

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Opinion

Arabs Are Attacking
Schindler's List'

MORTON A. KLEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

ll across the nation,
Schindler's List, the
Academy Award-win-
ning Steven Spielberg
film about the Holocaust, has
been acclaimed by educators,
historians and a wide range of
prominent Americans. But in
Syria, Jordan and Egypt, the
movie has been banned or de-
nounced by government spokes-
men. What could the Arabs
possibly have against
Schindler's List?
The Syrian government-con-
trolled newspaper Al Ba'ath has
disparaged Schindler's List as
an attempt by Jews to exploit
the Holocaust in order to divert
attention from Israeli "aggres-
sion." The newspaper accused
"Zionism" of "feeding the anti-
European fire" by blaming Eu-
ropeans for the Holocaust and
claimed that "the Zionist move-
ment itself played a role in the
persecution, in order to rally the
Jews around it." As a result, the
Syrian government organ as-
serted, "Military and econom-
ic aid has poured into Israel
from its inception to its last ag-
gressive war."
Meanwhile, Jordan has
banned Schindler's List, with a
Jordanian government spokes-
man explaining: "It's time that
films be made showing not the
suffering of the Jews, but the
misbehavior of the . , .10.2ws toward
the Arabs." Sounding a similar
note, the managing editor of the
Egyptian government-con-
trolled newspaper Al-Ahram
declared that Western praise
for Schindler's List indicates
that "the Western world has an
uncanny ability to suffer terri-
ble pangs of guilt for crimes
committed in the past, while
turning a blind eye to the
crimes committed by the Jews
in the present."
Elsewhere in the Muslim
world, Schindler's List has met
with a similar reception.

Morton Klein is national
president of the Zionist
Organization ofAmerica.

Malaysia, which is predomi-
nantly Muslim, has banned the
film on the grounds that the sto-
ryline "reflects the privilege and
the virtues of a certain race
only." Muslim leaders in neigh-
boring Indonesia have urged
their government to do likewise,
claiming that the movie is
"Zionist propaganda."
Perhaps these Arab and
Muslim attacks on a film about

t

An undated file photo of Oskar
Schindler in New Providence, N.J.

the Holocaust should not be a
surprise, in view of previous
Arab actions concerning Holo-
caust-related issues. After the
Holocaust, Egypt and Syria
openly gave sanctuary to dozens
of Nazis and Nazi war criminals
— and Alois Brunner, perhaps
the most notorious Nazi war
criminal alive, is still being shel-
tered in Syria today. The Pales-
tinian Arab leader Haj Amin
el-Husseini, better known as
the Gran Mufti, is still regarded
as a hero by Palestinian Arabs
even though he actively collab-
orated with the Nazis during
the Holocaust and helped sab-
otage a plan to rescue 4,500
Jewish refugee children from

ATTACKING page 8

Photo by AP/Abraham Zuckerman

`Never Again'

