22nd Ann Arbor Spring Art Fair

Arts st Entertainment

May 6 & 7, 2000

cM

Washtenaw Farm
Council Grounds

SILENT PARTNERS

from page 95

5055 Ann Arbor-Saline Rd.

Saturday, May 6 10am to 6pm
Sunday, May 7 11am to 5pm

O

cr)
cl)

L Ross fabric

Admission $5.00
12 and under FREE

O

painting

M Denn & K Hewitt J Boget
sculpture

2500 Free
Parking Spaces
Indoor Heated
Facility

Audree Levy presents 160 of the finest artists
and craftspeople in the country.

Exit 1-94 at Ann Arbor-Saline Road, turn
south and follow the signs.

O

O

Visit our web site to preview the artists' work and
sign up for the $100.00 Gift Certificate Drawing.

clay

K Busch

<W '

www.levyartfairs.com
e-mail: audree@levyartfairs.com

AwAr' V'2,:` , WAV.,5 :MRSa

SZECHUAN • HUNAN CUISINE

• Cocktails,
• Beer & Wine

• Healthy Diet
Dishes Available

TOTAL
DINNER

BILL
DINE IN OR CARRY-OUT

• Excludes Holidays

• Expires 12-31-2000

j

Complete Catering Service For A!! Occasions
Open 7 Days A Week

29875 NORTHWESTERN HIGHWAY
At Inkster • Applegate Square • 353-7890.

Former Location: 5815 Dixie Highway • Waterford

MAXIMA
I* OP

OPEN 7 DAYS • LUNCH & DINNER

featuring

AUTHENTIC JAPANESE CUISINE

AS YOU LIKE IT!

• Elegant Atmosphere • Gracious Warmth • Reasonable Prices
• Sushi Bar • Private Japanese Rooms
• Cocktails including 30 Different Kinds of Sake

4/28

2000

96

Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 - 2 p.m. • Dinner: Mon.-Sat. 5:30-10:30 p.m.
Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
(248) 737-7220
32443 NORTHWESTERN HWY.
(Between Middlebelt & 14 Mile)
Fax (248) 737-7223

Visit us on the web www.hakatasushi.com

this book. I've interviewed a couple
hundred of these people face to face.
"I don't think anybody would be
able to do [as many] interviews again
because these people won't be alive
much longer. I think I'm the only
person to go in depth into the back-
ground lives and mentalities of peo-
ple who were Gestapo officers them-
selves and uncover what they were
like."
Johnson's research started with vis-
its to the population bureaus in each
city. He asked for random samples of
3,000 people born before 1928 so he
could survey individuals who would
have been in at least their teen years
by the end of the war. The question-
naire asked if they would be willing to
participate in face-to-face interviews.
With a 60 per cent response, and
one-third of them willing to meet,
Johnson made arrangements to con-
verse with random respondents as well
as those with special experiences.
"Throughout the book, I stress the
role of individuals in creating and
maintaining the Nazi terror," Johnson
says about reporting his firsthand find-
ings. "Although the Nazi Party leader-
ship in Berlin set the terror in motion
and determined its broad contours, its
implementation and effectiveness
depended on the voluntary choices
and local actions of individual
German citizens.
"Through personal decisions they
made, they had determined who
should live and who should die. They
had spared a few, but they had con-
demned most to death. They had even
escorted their victims to the trains
[taking them 'to the camps]."
Johnson's book is not restricted to
the treatment of Jews. He recounts the
story of Josef Spieker, the first Catholic
priest to be sent to a concentration
camp because of his opposition to
Hitler.
"I was struck by his personal courage
and the support he received from large
numbers of people in Cologne,"
Johnson says. "It was heartwarming in
the middle of much sadness.
"He stood up for the right thing
even though it could and did mean
very dangerous things for him, and it
also was something of a consolation to
feel that at least some Germans were
concerned that the right thing was
being done. It's important to remem-
ber that not all Germans were out
there loving Hitler, even though they
were not courageous enough to stand
up and do something."
Using his time and research in
Germany as the basis for current

analysis, Johnson believes that Jews
are not the target of hatred anymore.
Instead, he has noticed an anti-for-
eign feeling as people fear the loss of
their jobs to immigrants from Poland
and the former country of
Yugoslavia.
The author is concerned about the
mood in Austria, where, for example,
the late Karl Lueger, head of the anti-
Semitic party at the turn of the last
century, is still honored in Vienna
through building and street names
and statuary.

Cologne's Father Josef Spieker: The first
Catholic priest to be sent to a concen-
tration camp because of his opposition
to Hitler. "Its important to remember
that not all Germans were out there
loving Hitler, even though they were
not courageous enough to stand up
and do something" says Johnson.

Recently back from the
Netherlands, where his book has been
published in its first foreign-language
edition, Johnson is pleased with the
positive response his writing is getting.
"My wife answered a call from an
82-year-old man living in New Jersey,"
Johnson says. "He was brought up in
Krefeld and was very kind in his com-
ments about how important the book
is to him and many others from the
surviving Jewish community of the
city. He thinks I've done a good job
with describing their lives, and that's
very gratifying." ❑

Author Eric Johnson will
speak 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, June
6, at Temple Shir Shalom.
The event is free. To reserve a
seat, call (800) 358-6903.

