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World Briefs

Hitler's Town
Addresses Past

Hitler's Book
`Worthy Of Study

Iran Won't Kill
Jailed Jews—Egypt

Work On Shabbat
Is Monitored

Berlin/JTA—Officials in the Austrian
town where Adolf Hitler was born
want to turn his birthplace into a "cen-
ter of international understanding."
Joined by many residents of
Braunau am Inn, the officials said
their move is prompted by interna-
tional criticism over the recent inclu-
sion of the xenophobic Freedom Party
in Austria's government.
Residents of the picture-postcard
town have debated the fate of the
building in which Hitler was born
on April 20, 1889, since the end of
World War II.
The only current indication that
the Nazi leader spent his first
two years in an apartment on
the first floor of 15 Salzburger
Vorstadt is a large stone on the
pavement outside.
The stone contains the inscrip-
tion, "For peace, freedom and
democracy. Never again fascism.
Millions of dead serve as a warn-
ing." An attached note indicates
that the stone came from the
nearby Mauthausen death camp.
From 1939 to 1944, the Nazis
used the house as an art gallery,
and it has since accommodated a
school, a bank and a library. The
house currently serves as a work-
shop for the disabled.
The aim of Braunau's resi-
dents, supported by all of
Austria's political parties, is to
demonstrate that Braunau and
Austria are prepared to confront
their past and participate in the
fight against fascism.

Prague/JTA—Hitler's Mein Kampf
should not be banned in the Czech
Republic, President Vaclav Havel told a
group of students.
He said the book should be available
in libraries for those studying history,
but added that he did not like the book
being sold for profit.
Meanwhile, Czech police are
investigating whether Prague pub-
lisher Otakar II, which recently pub-
lished a full and unabridged Czech
translation of the book without
commentaries or disclaimers, has
broken Czech laws.

Teheran/JTA —Iran does not plan to
execute the 13 Jews facing trial on
accusations of spying for Israel and
the United States if they are convict-
ed, according to Egypt's president.
Hosni Mubarak, who said he
received this assurance from Iranian
officials, made the comments during a
meeting with officials of the European
Jewish Congress in Cairo. At the same
meeting, Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat said he received
assurances from Teheran that the 13
would receive a fair trial and "will
most probably be set free."

Tel Aviv/JTA —Tel Aviv is employ-
ing Jews to monitor whether other
Jevvs are working on Shabbat,
according to the Israeli daily

Documentary
Focus Of Boycott

Tel Aviv/JTA—The families of the
11 Israeli athletes murdered by ter-
rorists at the 1972 Munich
Olympics are calling for a boycott of
the Academy Award-winning docu-
mentary about the attack when it
opens in Israel.
The families contend the makers
of "One Day in September," used
photographs of the mutilated bodies
of the athletes against their wishes.
But the British director of the film,
Kevin MacDonald, told Israel Radio
that a representative of the families
and Israeli lawyers helped the film-
makers obtain the photographs.

uestion

Three members of the Detroit-area
Jewish community have reported
receiving telephone calls from a person
who says he represents a market
research organization collecting infor-
mation about Jewish philanthropy.
The caller identifies himself as
working for "Coast to Coast Telephone
Center." The second question on the
survey asks the respondent if the com-
bined income for his or her household
is above or below $150,000 annually.
If the answer is "below $150,000," the
interview is terminated.
The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit did not commis-
sion this survey, said Federation
spokesperson Charlotte Dubin. "We
know absolutely nothing about it."

Telephone surveys of this sort are
not illegal.
Lorraine Kweskin, vice president for
client services at Coast to Coast
Telephone Center in Stamford, Conn.,
said, as far as she knew, the survey had
not come from her company.
"To say I'm upset is putting it mild-
ly," stated Kweskin, who said she
recently helped organize a seder for
women in her community.
In the market research business, it's
bad enough if we get a bad name on
our own behalf," she said "I would
like to find out who it is because I'd
like to put a stop to it."

❑

-- Diana Lieberman,
Staff Writer

Compromise Eyed
Over Conversions

Hoop Fans Are
Going To Greece

Tel Aviv/JTA —After little more than
a two-hour session, Israel's Supreme
Court abruptly ended deliberations
on the bitterly disputed question of
whether the state should recognize
non-Orthodox conversions to
Judaism performed in Israel.
The petitioners from the Reform
and Conservative movements sug-
gested the judges might be trying to
delay the case in the hopethe con-
troversy would be resolved in a com-
promise outside the courts.

Jerusalem/JTA—Some 3,000 Israeli
basketball fans are expected to
descend on the Greek city of
Salonika for the European "final
four" basketball tournament on
April 18-20.
The fans are coming to watch the
Maccabi Tel Aviv ream, a tourna-
ment participant.
The local Jewish community is
bracinc, itself because the games will
coincide with Passover, and many of
the fans will want to attend seders.

-

Hdaretz.
The paper added that the city
issues 15 times as many Shabbat
fines as the rest of the country com-
bined.

Nun Friendly
To Jews Beatified

Vatican City/JTA—Pope John Paul II
beatified a Swedish nun who helped
save Jews during World War II.
Sister Mary Elisabeth
Hesselblad, who died in 1957,
was one of five people beatified
by the pope during a ceremony
Sunday. Beatification is the last
step before sainthood.

Israel OKs
Golan Housing

Tel Aviv/JTA —Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak approved
tourism and housing projects
on the Golan Heights, includ-
ing 200 new housing units in
-Katzrin, a Cabinet minister
said.
Haim Ramon added that in
the absence of serious negotia-
tions with Syria, which
demands the full return of the
Golan, Israel would continue
to provide for the area's devel-
opment.

Jerusalem Called
Israel Capital

New York/JTA—B'nai B'rith
International called on the National
Geographic Society to stand firm in
its plan to refer to Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel in a board game that
it created.
B'nai B'rith described the efforts
by a group called American Muslims
for Jerusalem to have the reference
deleted as a "mendacious cam-
paign."

WORLD BRIEFS

on pag ,,, 42

