THE JEWISH NEWS

13 FRONT

This Week's Top Stories

.

Man Without
A Country

The Justice Department moves to deport a former
Auschwitz guard.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

or many years, Ferdinand Hammer was choice. But not many nations are willing —
a man welcomed almost everywhere: in at least publicly — to open their arms to war
Germany and Poland, where he worked criminals.
Often, deported Nazis end up in their for-
as a guard at death and concentration
camps; in Yugoslavia, where he was born and mer homeland, where they may or may not
raised; in Austria, where he lived after the stand trial for their crimes. The problem in
war; and finally in the United States, where this case is that Mr. Hammer is a na-
he found a home in the Detroit suburb of Ster- tive of Yugoslavia, a country that no
longer exists. (As a result of the breakup
ling Heights.
Today, the question is whether there is any of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia has be-
come Serbia.)
place Mr. Hammer can go.
Office of Special Investiga-
Attorne y William
The Department of Justice late last
tions
(OSI) Director Eli M.
Bufali
no
with
week announced it had begun de-
portation proceedings against Mr. Ferdinan d Hammer, Rosenbaum said it's "too ear-
t he Justice ly" to say where Mr. Hammer
Hammer, 74. In May, Judge Horace whom
Depart ment is
Gilmore stripped Mr. Hammer of his seeking to deport. will go, though he expects him
to be out of the United States
U.S. citizenship, concluding that he
in the next year.
served as a guard at Auschwitz and
If Mr. Hammer is deported, he will
Sachsenhausen, had accompanied transports
of Jews to death camps, then lied about his become the 49th Nazi to leave this
wartime activities when he came to the Unit- country since the OSI's founding in
1979.
ed States.
Using the Refugee Relief Act, Mr.
Under U.S. law, those forced to emigrate
have the right to settle in the country of their Hammer in 1955 requested permission
to come to the United States from Austria,
Jill Davidson Sklar contributed to this story.
HAMMER page 19

F

A New Light

The U.S. Postal Service is daring to foray into
non-Christian depictions of the holiday season.

JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER

o far, the U.S. Postal Service
has received one complaint
about its first-ever "Hanu-
kkah" postage stamp.
"He said, 'It's another example of
religion on stamps,' and we said,
`Thank You,' " said Robin Wright,
a spokesperson for the Postal Ser-
vice. "Except for that one guy,
everybody else is ecstatic about it."
Not quite.
The Southern California District

S

HANUKKAH USA3

American and
Israeli versions of
the first Chanukah
stamp.

domestic stamps that were printed
sell out, the Postal Service will reis-
sue them.
Only 3 million stamps were
printed in Israel, but mint sheets
are available in the U.S. through
the Israel Philatelic Agency for
North America in New York.
The joint-issue stamp is the first
ever to celebrate a holiday, accord-
ing to the Postal Service. But there
have been others. Two years ago,
the U.S. and People's Re-
public of China issued
stamps celebrating the
American whooping crane
and the Chinese black-
necked crane. Another one
was issued with Monaco
and was graced with the
face of Grace Kelly.
While the Postal Service
does not track sales, Mr.
Wright said a stamp's col-
lectibility is a good measure
of its popularity. And so far,
collectors are snatching up
the Chanukah, he said.
And, "there's been a lot

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of the Workmen's Circle, a social-
ist Jewish organization, passed its
own resolution opposing the stamp.
According to the newspaper For-
ward, the group believes the stamp
is an example of the blurring of the
constitutional separation between
church and state.
However, neither the local chap-
ter of Workmen's Circle nor the na-
tional office has passed similar
resolutions. Karl Zukerman, na-
tional membership director, said
the issue surfaced in a board meet-
ing but was tabled for lack of in-
terest.
The 32-cent commemorative
stamp, the first one issued jointly
by Israel and the United States,
went on sale nationwide on Oct. 23
in both countries. If the 104 million

of interest in it, media interest
especially. We've seen clips from
all over the country, including
U.S. News & World Report and
CNN."
Mr. Wright said the stamp was
issued in response to requests, but
not from any particular organiza-
tion. It kicks off a series of "Holi-
day Celebrations" stamps and is
part of a seven-stamp package this
year that includes the perennial
Madonna and Child stamp, four
family scenes and one skaters
stamp. Next year's sectarian stamp
will feature the African-American
holiday of Kwanzaa.
To herald the new Chanukah
stamp, the Postal Service held a cel-
ebration in Washington ❑

