OTHER VIEWS

Goering's Captor

is

ay 8 was the 60th anniversary
of VE Day, marking surren-
der of the Third Reich to the
Allied Forces. May 7 was the 60th
anniversary that my father and his men
captured the most wanted man on the
European continent — Hermann
Goering, Hitler's field marshal. My
father personally guarded Goering from
May 7 to 9, 1945. Then, per Goering's
request, my dad was one of Goering's
guards at the Nuremberg Trials.
We each have a gift to give the world
and within that gift lies our destiny.
Everything that happens is either meant
to mold and shape our character or
reveal our true purpose. My full maiden
name is Barbara S. Shapiro. My father
passed away April 4, 1968. I am his eld-

Stephanie Mellen is a Troy resident. Her
e-mail address is stefinellen@msn.corn.

"thought it especially appropri-
est child. The past month has
ate that a Jew be involved in
been one filled with deep reflec-
this momentous occasion."
tion and healing.
Stack emphasized the impor-
On May 7, 1945, upon learn-
ing that the 36th Division of the
tance of capturing Goering.
Intelligence reports estimated
7th Army had moved into his
that over a quarter of a million
mountainside hideout at Castle
armed German troops were
Fischhorn at Zell am See,
STEPHANIE active in the countryside.
Austria, Goering sent one of his
MELLEN
Goering was to be the No. 1
personal aides, Col. Berndt von
Community
defendant at the Nazi war trials.
Brauchistch, to Brig. Gen.
On a snowy road in Austria,
Perspective
Robert I. Stack, assistant divi-
80 miles behind enemy lines,
sion commander, and Major
my dad, his driver and his two
General John Dalquist, com-
riflemen hoped to capture Goering, a
manding the division. The aide
signatory to the Final Solution. He was
explained that Goering wished to sur-
head of the German air force and after
render to the Americans rather than
Hilter's death, the leader of Nazi
advancing Soviet troops.
Germany.
My father, 1st Lt. Jerome N. Shapiro,
When this small platoon encountered
commanded a platoon of the 636th
Goering in his black Mercedes, a heavily
Tank Destroyer-Reconnaissance
armored staff car, there were 78 people
Company attached to the 36th Texas
with him. Goering calmly surrendered
Division and 142nd Infantry
his gun to my father. My dad in was in
Intelligence & Reconnaissance. General
charge of 30 soldiers detailed to guard
Stack wrote in his memoirs that he

College Zionism Paying Off

Washington/JTA
arents are frightened, defense
organizations are sounding the
alarm and community-based
activists are in a state of near apoplexy
over the alleged dominance of anti-Israel
forces on American college campuses.
In the past few years, however, there
has been a quiet revolution in pro-Israel
campus advocacy — supported by such
mainstream organizations as the
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, Hillel and the Israel on
Campus Coalition. Savvy pro-Israel stu-
dents have made stunning inroads at
colleges and universities across the coun-
try, including those frequently pointed
to as the most hostile to Israel.
Some have come to believe that
today's pro-Israel students are silent,
apathetic and even fearful. From our
experience, nothing could be further
from the truth.
This generation constitutes the most
confident and competent community of
pro-Israel student leaders America has
ever seen. What accounts for this stag-
gering discrepancy in perception? The
problem may be an outmoded system of
metrics ill-equipped to gauge inroads
made by sophisticated advocates in a
radically transformed campus environ-
ment.

ro

JN

5/26

2005

30

Barry Silverman is chairman ofAIPAC's
leadership development committee and a
member of Hiders scholars council.
Randall Kaplan is chairman of the
board of directors of Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and
a member ofAIPAC's board of directors.

Today's college students grew up in an
era defined not by '60s-style street the-
atrics, but by the entrepreneurial ethos
of the start-up phenomenon. They
spent their teenage years watching small,
innovative firms undermine giant indus-
try monopolies through a mastery of
new technology, strategic use of
resources and a devout commitment to
quality and efficiency.
College students are the leading pur-
veyors of these new approaches. They
have found faster, more economical
ways of getting a job done.
Consequently, college students'
approach to problem-solving and goal
attainment tends to be more stream-
lined, agile and imaginative than that of
their parents and grandparents.

A Wise Approach

Pro-Israel student activists are smart,
focused and intensely results-oriented.
They realize that "standing up" to
Israel's detractors through zero-sum con-
frontations on the quad is more likely to
alienate potential allies than engage
them, more effective at securing short-
term publicity than long-term impact,
and subsequently constitutes a poor use
of time and talent.
The sharpest pro-Israel activists prefer
to identify key sources of power and
influence that will determine the
strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship
for years to come, and then invest the
bulk of their advocacy in influencing
those strategic targets.
It is also worth remembering that
today's pro-Israel students reached polit-

Goering and his retinue on May 7 until
he was taken to higher division head-
quarters.
May 4 was the official opening of the
newest exhibit at the Simon Wiesenthal
Center Museum of Tolerance in Los
Angeles honoring the Allies of World
War II: "Liberation! Revealing the
Unspeakable." It will be going on a
worldwide tour. Included is Goering's
engraved, gold-plated Walther PPK in
its original case, which he surrendered to
my father on May 7, 1945. The exhibit
also contains my father's 1911 Colt serv-
ice revolver and his uniform.
I remember opening the red case that
held Goering's PPK for the first time .
when I was 7. I saw it on the top shelf
in a closet in my younger sister's bed-
room next to something very shiny —
the armband that Goering was wearing
when he surrendered to my dad. I used
to wear the heavily gold-braided arm-
band as a little girl when I played Miss
America. I used to sit on a rug in our

to remove barriers to
ical awareness in an
studying abroad in
era of transformational
Israel.
change: the second
When Israel's detrac-
Palestinian intifada, 9-
tors indulge in simplis-
11 and the war in Iraq
tic and distorted sloga-
came at them fast and
neering about the
furiously. Acutely
security barrier, pro-
aware of the accelerat-
Israel activists at the
ing pace of history,
BARRY
RANDALL
University
of Colorado
they bring to their
S I LVERNIAN
KAPLAN
set up coffee dates
activism the start-up
Special Commentary
with the editors of the
principles of ingenuity
campus newspaper for
and effective impact.
extended conversations about how the
Savvy pro-Israel students approach
barrier saves lives and facilitates peace.
their advocacy by remembering that
there are but 24 hours in a day and then
asking themselves, "How can I employ
Building Strong Ties
my limited personal resources to achieve
Pro-Israel students spend months —
maximum political influence?"
even years — cultivating personal rela-
While Israel's detractors at the
tionships with influential people, both
University of California at Berkeley
on campus and beyond.
make fellow students late for class by
They bring Jewish and non-Jewish
erecting mock Israeli checkpoints on the
campus leaders into the pro-Israel
main campus drag, pro-Israel activists
movement by inviting them to partici-
recruit student government officials and
pate in such national and international
other ma i nstream campus leaders to
gatherings as the AIPAC Policy
sign petitions expressing support for the
Conference - which next week will
U.S.-Israel relationship.
host more than 800 students from 250
When Israel's detractors disaffect the
campuses in all 50 states, including
politically moderate majority of students
100 student government presidents —
by accusing the U.S. and Israeli govern-
as well as the Hillel-AIPAC Advanced
ments of "neo-colonialism" and "imperi-
Advocacy Mission to Israel and the
alist aggression," pro-Israel activists at
Birthright Israel program.
Rutgers University engage the College
As a result of these relationships, pro-
Democrats and College Republicans,
Israel students are spectacularly posi-
volunteer on political campaigns, organ-
tioned for success if large-scale mobiliza-
ize student-lobbying missions and build
tion is determined to be a strategic
enduring relationships with members of
objective.
Congress.
When an anti-Israel divestment res-
While Israel's detractors at the
olution was presented to the
University of Florida sponsor propagan-
University of Michigan's student
distic "Palestinian Awareness Weeks,"
assembly last year in Ann Arbor, pro-
pro-Israel activists work with campus
Israel students rallied hundreds of
political leaders to compel the university