WONDERING HOW TO PAY FOR YOUR CHILD'S JEWISH EDUCATION? For families with children in Sunday, afternoon, or evening classes, the Jewish Educational Scholarship Program may be the answer. This communal scholarship fund was established by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit to promote Jewish education and to encourage synagogue and temple membership. Nazi hunter won't let his prey fade away. DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITER Scholarships are based on financial need, with priority given to families who are affiliated with a congregation or sponsoring organization. Application forms are available at any of the participating schools, or from the Planning Department of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. APPLICATION DEADLINE JUNE 30, 1996 egg MUNK'AtiltWONM OMMA WaSSMXSOM 03=8*ISIONSSMS ""ais!!2 z$236m mt0;,:i=0 at\ 11 QUESTIONS? Call the Jewish Federation, 642-4260, ext. 221 Participating schools: Adat Shalom Belt Kodesh Beth Abraham Hillel Moses Beth Achim Beth Shalom Birmingham Temple ignatiVrat: sr =!** ••: Xann %MS* #RIPA4 B'nai Moshe Jewish Parents Institute Shaarey Zedek Shir Tikvah T'chiyah Temple Beth El Temple Emanu-El • Temple Israel Temple Kol Ami Temple Shir Shalom Workmen's Circle Join us for a seminar on HE CELESTINE PROPHECY' AND KABBALA Strategies for Self Change With RABBI LEIBEL WOLF Noted Kabbalist and Meditation Expert from, Melbourne, Australia MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1996 7:00 p.m. 9:30 p.m. Sponsored by JEWISH FEDERATION BUILDING 6735 Telegraph Rd. ■ Bloomfield Hills "The rabbi (Levi Shemtov) flew to Miami, and walked into a crack den to rescue a troubled Michigan man." Bob Talbert, The Detroit Free Press "eXPERIENCE A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHAI" 4/3/96 For more information call: (810) 855 1212 - DANIEL SOBEL. FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE VIMMIMOMMIUMMINIMMINNIMUSIMIS Rabbi Levi Shemtov Director The End Of The Hunt W hen the court hearing Mr. Rosenbaum attributes the ended, the enfeebled 74- rise to the collapse of the Soviet year-old man begged to Union and other Communist-bloc stay in the United governments. States, close to his family and his "We can now get into archives beloved grandchild. in countries that were formerly "I love this country," a tearful behind the Iron Curtain," he said. Ferdinand Hammer told the me- As a result, OSI historians have dia last week. "I love the people. access to records that may cor- I am no criminal." roborate a suspect's participation Instead, the Sterling Heights in Nazi atrocities. man faces deportation for con- The new documents have cealing his role as a Nazi death- strengthened the government's camp guard when he sought U.S. ability to cross-check Nazi per- citizenship more than 40 years sonnel records overseas against ago. a database kept by U.S. immi- Mr. Hammer, a retired black- gration officials. smith who walks with a cane, is Mr. Rosenbaum said it was a typical of the aging Nazis the U.S. miracle, really, that these papers I Office of Special Investigations came to light while Nazis and has brought to justice. Plucked their collaborators were still alive from obscurity, Mr. Hammer and and subject to prosecution. those like him are invariably de- Indeed, this treasure trove of scribed as quiet, pleasant neigh- war documents helped to under- ). bors who tend to their own affairs mine Mr. Hammer's defense. Slowly, they are dying. And Mr. Hammer obtained a visa that saddens Eli Rosenbaum, the in 1955 by swearing he merely, OSI director. Not that they are served in the German army dur- dying, but that they are dying be- ing the war. He later gained citi- fore they can be unmasked and zenship after telling immigration ejected from this country. agents he had been "drafted" into "Most of the perpetrators will the "German army SS." He de- certainly get away with it," Mr. nied ever working as a concen- Rosenbaum said glumly from his tration-camp guard. Washington office last week. "It's But documents discovered by one of the many frustrations in the government, including a duty working these kinds of cases." roster from Auschwitz, placed Mr. Since 1979, the OSI has pros- Hammer where he claimed he ecuted 101 people for their activ- wasn't: at the Auschwitz, Sach- ities during World War II or — senhausen and Flossenburg more commonly — for lying about death camps and on a transport those activities in their applica- to Mauthausen death camp in tions for citizenship. Austria. Mr. Hammer's case is not un- After nearly a week of testi- usual. mony in Detroit, U.S. District He is one of 38 former death- Judge Horace Gilmore revoked camp guards to have their citi- Mr. Hammer's citizenship, ruling zenship challenged by the federal that his testimony was not cred- government. The next largest ible and that his application for group of OSI defendants, 34, were citizenship contained material alleged members of special Nazi misrepresentations. police units. Sixteen defendants An appeal is almost certain and have been accused of serving on could take years. If that fails, Mr. civilian police units which aided Hammer will likely be deported. the Nazis. If so, he will not be the last. Mr. Rosenbaum is acutely There are at least 16 OSI cases aware that in the next decade or pending in U.S. courts and more so, as Nazis and their accomplices than 300 other individuals who perish, he and his staff will have remain under investigation, in- to find other work, though what cluding a number in Michigan. kind they do not know. And yet after all these years, "My mortgage banker asks me Mr. Rosenbaum said he still is un- that question all the time," Mr. able to answer a fundamental Rosenbaum said. question about his prey, which is: He said the OSI either will be What made these people partic- closed or the government will ipate in these horrible acts? redirect the office's efforts to find "We have one case involving a war criminals from other conflicts. man who signed a death warrant In the meantime, the OSI of- for a 6-year-old girl," he said. "I fice has never been busier. While would love to know from him the prosecution of individuals like what would bring him to do such Mr. Hammer waned in the late a thing. Of course, we may never 1980s as suspects began to die, know because this man has tak- there has been a surprising resur- en the Fifth (Amendment). gence in recent years. "But I would love to know." ❑