75¢
17 ADAR I 5755 / FEBRUARY 17, 1995
Hate Rising
The ADL audit reveals state
figures are down, but
national numbers show an
increase in anti-Semitism.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
omewhere, somebody knows who
ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Story on page 60
A Doll, A Spoon, Small Shoes
The Holocaust Memorial Center receives a rare
shipment from the National Museum of
Majdanek in Poland.
PHOTO BY BOB BENYAS
Rabbi Charles
Rosenzweig with some
of the items from
Majdanek.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
sent a Bloomfield Township cou-
ple a half of a pig's head wrapped
in an anti-Semitic note.
The couple, in their mid-50s, re-
ceived a notice from the post office
around Nov. 7 informing them that a
package had arrived for them. The cou-
ple wasn't expecting anything so they
waited a day to pick it up.
The man went to the post office and
paid the postage due. The package
smelled a little foul, but he opened it
anyway.
At first, the man saw a white bag
decorated with swastikas and the
words "Dirty Jew." Inside of that was
another bag containing the head. A lo-
cal veterinarian later used X-rays to
determine that the decomposed, mu-
tilated head belonged to a pig.
"We have not had anything like this
in years," said Lt. Jeffrey Werner, com-
mander of the detective bureau for
Bloomfield Township Police
Department.
While Bloomfield Township may
have seen only one anti-Semitic act,
more were reported in the United
States than ever before. A 1994 audit
of such acts released Wednesday by the
Anti-Defamation League revealed that
vandalism and harassment incidents
against Jews were up more than 10
percent over 1993 figures.
The ADL reported that the crimes,
broken down into categories of van-
dalism and harassment numbered
2,066, up from 1,867 in 1993.
HATE page 8
T
he collection includes a red-and- Rabbi Charles
year, 6,000 came from
white shoe, a doll with no eyes, a Rosenzweig said.
Holland and Greece,
child's worn boot — all from the last Their story began
with another 74,800
moments of a life.
in Poland.
from Poland.
It arrived in a large wooden crate, nailed
Majdanek was
The total number of
shut, that had to be pried open. It had had established July
Jews arriving in
a long journey. The return address read: 21, 1941, just out-
Majdanek from 1942-
Panstrowe Muzeum na Majdanku side Lublin.
1943 was 130,000.
(National Museum of Majdanek), Lublin. Headed by Anton
More than half were
Last week, the Holocaust Memorial Thumann, it was
children, women, the
Center in West Bloomfield received 32 planned as a con-
elderly and the sickly,
items from the Majdanek museum, re- centration camp
all of whom were im-
calling one of the Holocaust's most infa- for prisoners of
mediately gassed.
mous death camps. On loan for the next war, and 5,000
In total, 125,000
20 years, with an option to extend after Soviet soldiers died
Jews were murdered
that, the collection will be on exhibit at the there, of starvation
at Majdanek.
HMC beginning later this month. (The and exposure, in
When Soviet forces
Majdanek museum has a comparable 1941.
liberated the death
agreement with its collection on loan to
But by 1942 the vast majority of camp on July 24, 1944, several hundred
Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memori- Majdanek's inmates were Jews.
prisoners were all that remained.
al.)
The first transport, which arrived in
As at other death camps, the Nazis al-
It took nearly two years to bring the 1942, comprised 15,000 Jews from ways collected the prisoners' few remain-
items to Detroit, HMC founding director Moravia and 36,500 from Poland. The next DOLL page 10
TR I
Monumental Success
National artifacts?
Class creates its own.
Page 14
BUSINE
Our annual supplement
looks at local business.
Center
Contents on page 3