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DETROIT

24 ADAR I 5755/FEBRUAR Y 24, 1995

Model Citizen
Or Nazi Guard?

PICKING
UP ME

A Sterling Heights man
denies past Nazi involvement.

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER

C

ontinuing to insist that the gov-
ernment has the wrong man,
Ferdinand Hammer last week
filed a six-page document deny-
ing all U.S. allegations that he was a
Nazi death-camp guard who aided in the
murder of millions of Jews during World
War II.
In an answer to the government's com-
plaint filed against him in federal court
last December, Mr. Hammer, through his
attorney William Bufalino II, contested
the Department ofJustice's intentions to
have him stripped of his citizenship and
deported from the country.
The government, through the
Department ofJustice's Office of Special
Investigations (OSI), alleged in a civil
complaint against Mr. Hammer that he
lied about serving as a Nazi guard in
Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and
Flossenberg death camps and on a trans-
port to Mauthausen.
In a document filed Feb. 16, the re-
tired blacksmith from Sterling Heights
denied everything the government had
set forth in its complaint except his ad-
dress, citizenship and issues oflaw and
procedure.
HAMMER page 10

As_

!AL 4 4 4

As souring
congregational-rabbinical
relations shatter
synagogues and temples,
professionals move in to
heal the rifts.

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
ILLUSTRATIONS BY GREG FOERTSCH

Story on page 38

A Unique Place

DETROIT

The JCC dedicates a children's and special-needs poo

Colorful Canopies

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Different perspectives
for a new wedding look.

obin Zucker made more than a
handful of calls to the Maple/
Drake Jewish Community
Center.
The mother of a 3-year-old son
with special needs, Ms. Zucker
was waiting for the day the JCC's new pool,
for those with disabilities, would open.
She and her husband believe their son,
Blake, who loves to swim, will benefit
tremendously from the new Maple/Drake
facility which features a sloped entrance,
warmer water temperature and deep-end
bench.
This week, a large group of family and
friends gathered to dedicate the pool, built
in memory of 2-year-old Samantha Erin
Rosen. The ceremony included affixing a
mezuzah on the door of the new addition.
"Samantha's love of people and her will-
ingness to give will be remembered through
this pool," said Samantha's father, Alan
Rosen, who spoke during the ceremonies
with his 16-month-old daughter Elana in
his arms.
Because Samantha loved to swim, her

Page -14

BUSINESS

All You Can Eat

A nutrition tour at the
supermarket.

Page 48

GENERATION

Bachelor Portrait

A sign of desperation? Hardly.

Page 106

Contents on page

grandparents, Helen and Sy Indianer, felt
building a pool in her memory would be an
appropriate tribute.
Plans are being finalized for special-needs
programs which will make the JCC's pool
the only one of its kind in the area.
Organizations including the Easter Seals
and the Arthritis Foundation are among
the groups who have been in contact with
the JCC about bringing their own pro-
gramming to the West Bloomfield building.

Programming will include
range-of-motion classes,
birthday parties and
nursery classes.

The indoor facility, built adjacent to both
the main indoor and outdoor pools, extends
from 0 to 4 feet, includes a hydraulic chair
lift for handicap access to the pool and a
deep-end bench which can be used by in-
dividuals with poor leg strength.

The pool entrance and changing room
facilities are also handicap accessible, said
JCC aquatics director Wendy Schmidt.
JCC President Douglas Bloom said,
"This pool gives the JCC a unique capa-
bility to provide services and exciting swim
activities for children as well as the spe-
cial-needs population."
"Swimming is important for special-
needs children," said Blake's father, Eric
Zucker. "Their minds are growing and they
are capable of thought, but they can't al-
ways communicate and that can be stress-
ful. Swimming is a good way to release
those tensions."
Programming will include range-of-mo-
tion and nursery classes as well as birth-
day parties.
Madalyn Rosen, who is not related to
Samantha, added funds in memory of her
husband, Stanley. Her gift went toward
creating the program endowment, which
will cover the cost of ongoing pool opera-
tions.
"Swimming was something my husband
POOL page 8