Russian Increases
Jerusalem (JTA) — Russian immigra-
tion to Israel is up by 116 percent dur-
ing the first quarter of 1999, according
to the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Some 7,933 Russian Jews immigrat-
ed to Israel in the first three months of
the year, compared with 3,673 during
the same period in 1998.
Some 31 percent of the 1,054
immigrants surveyed by the Jewish
:,Agency cited anti-Semitism as one of
•the main reasons for their move, an
increase from 9 percent in a similar sur-
vey conducted before Russia's economic
crisis began last August. Overall,
16,389 immigrants from the former
Soviet Union arrived in the Jewish state
in the first quarter. Some 13,336 did so
during the same period in 1998.
Ha
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4.1- bN
saS.
Submarine's Fate
Three hundred wooden crosses from a lot that borders the former Auschwitz German death
camp lie on the ground in the Franciscan friars' monastery in Harmeze, Poland.
Breathing Room
Poland's removal of crosses at Auschwitz earns goodwill.
A
move by the Polish govern-
ment to remove some 300
' crosses near the Auschwitz
death camp appears to have
earned Poland some goodwill with the
international Jewish community.
Polish police removed the crosses
last Friday from outside Auschwitz,
sending them to a nearby church.
The,police action occurred only
days befOre Pope John Paul II is
scheduled to begin a trip to his home-
land, during which he will stress
religious tolerance. The pope's 13- •
day visit is slated to begin Saturday.
The Polish move also came one
day after police detonated explo-
sives at a site where Kazimerz
Switon, the Polish Catholic activist
who led a campaign beginning last
August to erect the sea of crosses,
was staging a sit-in.
"We have to congratulate the
Polish government and President
Kwasniewski for their swift action,"
said Kalman Sultanik, vice president
of the Auschwitz Museum Council,
referring to President Aleksander
Kwasniewski's signing last month of
a bill that would sez- up.protective
6/4
1999
zones around Auschwitz and other for-
mer German death camps in Poland.
"This action will enable the Polish
government to renew its dialogue
with the Jewish community and
Israel," he said.
Some 1.5 million people, mainly
Jews, were killed at Auschwitz and
neighboring Birkenau during World
War II. Tens of thousands of Poles
were murdered there as well.
The controversy over religious sym-
bols at Auschwitz is nothing new —
Last month Polish Catholic mourners walked
toward the crosses. The "papal cross" is in the
foreground; Block 11, known as the "Death.
Block, in the background.
and despite the burst of goodwill, the
controversy over crosses is far from over.
In 1984, a Carmelite convent was
installed against the Auschwitz camp's
northeastern wall. By 1988, Jewish
groups were pressing for the convent
to be relocated, which it was in 1993.
It was in 1988 that a 26-foot "papal
cross" reappeared, erected next to the
convent as a sign of resistance. The
large cross was originally erected for a
mass Pope John Paul II held at
Birkenau in 1979 that was attended
by 300,000 Poles. Until 1988, the
cross was stored in a local parish.
Despite a yearlong protest by
Israel and Jewish groups, the papal
cross will remain near Auschwitz —
at least for now.
The position of the Jewish commu-
nity, said Sultanik, remains firm:
Religious symbols have no place at
Auschwitz — "not crosses, not Stars of
David, not anything."
But, he added, the removal of the
smaller crosses makes it likely that
Jewish leaders will give the Polish gov-
ernment more time to remove the
papal cross. El_
— Peter Ephross/JTA
An Israeli submarine
Jerusalem (JTA)
discovered last week at the bottom of
the Mediterranean, 30 years after it dis-
appeared, probably was rammed acci-
dentally and was not the target of an
attack, a navy investigator said Tuesday
The crew of the Dakar probably
spotted a large ship coming at them
when it was already too late. The
Dakar's entire crew of 68 went down
with the submarine during its maiden
voyage from Britain to Israel.
—
Expansion Scored
Jerusalem (JTA) — An Israeli plan to
extend the West Bank settlement of
Maaleh Adumim four miles westward
to Jerusalem is a "provocative act by
an outgoing aovernment," the U.S.
State Department said last Friday.
The statement came one day after
outaoina b Defense Minister Moshe
Arens announced the expansion. The
Palestinian Cabinet had said the plan
Was "destroying the p e ace process"
and appealed for U.S. intervention.
'Palestinian officials designated
Thursday as a "Day of Anger" to
protest the planned expansion.
c_
Miss Israel Misses
Trinidad — In case you were wonder-
ing, Miss Israel Rana Raslan, did not <
win the Miss Universe contest. The
winner was Miss Botswana Mpule
Kwelagobe, who beat out other final-
ists Miss South Africa Sonia Raciti,
Miss Philippines Miriam Quiambao,
Miss Spain Diana Nogueira and Miss
Venezuela Carolina Indriago.