The Insider - Long Shoah Shadows n some parts of the world like Iran, Holocaust denial prevails. In other areas like the Gaza Strip, teach- ing about the Holocaust is forbidden. In many places, Hitler's final solution to destroying European Jewry is minimized via the argument that surviving Jews exag- gerated the effects of Nazi Germany to curry favor for a Jewish state. I Make no mistake about it: Attempts to diminish the murder of 11 million people considered subhuman to Aryans are on the rise. Nazi Germany's death toll included six million Jews and five million others — Gypsies, Poles, Russian prisoners of war, political prisoners, male homo- sexuals, disabled persons and religious believers deemed gone astray like Jehovah's Witnesses. Sixty-four years later, shadows of the Shoah still cast a pall. To think the Holocaust is too distant in our past to be top of mind is to reopen the floodgates for intense anti- Jewish sentiment. Consider: The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center continues its relentless search for Nazi hench- men. Just two weeks ago, for example, Hungarian officials questioned and confiscated the passport of a suspected Nazi collaborator. As many as 20 important surviving Nazi war criminals of Hungarian origin are still to be brought to justice, Peter Feldmajer, chairman of the Alliance of Hungarian Jewish Religious Communities, told the New York-based Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Here in America, the Harvard student newspaper, Crimson, attributed publication of a Holocaust denial advertisement to a miscommunication. The ad was placed by the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, whose founder, Bradley Smith, has been placing ads in college newspapers for nearly 20 years. The Crimson ad asked readers if they could "provide, with proof, the name of one person killed in a gas chamber in Auschwitz." The newspaper canceled the remainder of the publication schedule and planned to return all revenue it received for publishing the ad. Anti-Semitism has infested the Middle East and parts of Europe. It also is on the rise in North America and else- where. We can't forget what happened on June 10 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington when a gunman killed a security guard and wounded another per- son in a violent tirade against Jews. The depth of Jewish hatred hasn't been this pervasive since the 1930s. It's against this troubling backdrop that the Detroit Jewish community's Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) on the Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills will mark its 25th anniversary with an Oct.18 gala. The dinner not only will pay tribute to the first free- standing Holocaust memorial in the country, but also serve as a reminder of which side ultimately won World War II. HMC founder Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, who died last December, would have been so proud of this mile- stone celebration. He worked tirelessly to make a visit to the HMC a transformative experience. More than 125,000 people, Jews and non-Jews alike, come to learn about acts of depravity and lessons on morality while touring the striking structure on Orchard Lake Road. In the HMC's International Institute of the Righteous, visitors discover actions that demonstrate the capacity of good people to reach the highest rung of vir- tue and compassion. Metro Detroit is home to between 1,000 and 2,000 sur- vivors. As the ranks of survivors thin, it is crucial that we preserve, honor and memorialize their stories. Incoming HMC President Gary Karp put it well, "The education of the young and all of society requires our constant attention and resources as the days of the Holocaust fade into the annals of history. We must under- score the importance of educating and teaching about the horrors of the Holocaust, about the dangers of big- otry and prejudice as well as about the courageousness and righteousness of too few. It is through education that knowledge flourishes and through knowledge that power triumphs — power to prevent atrocities such as the Holocaust from ever happening again." Never again, indeed. II - Robert Sklar, editor NOT STAN:N Di APATHY ASHION FEEDS OFF EMOTION.' I FINDS YOU, VERWHELMS Y EAD OVER H N LOVE YOUR HEA "NUR SLEEVE. OR IN T H LERT? - LITTLE: YOUR. FAVORr'E PAIR OF OUR-INCH HEEL EA:: OUT €Nr'"0. - PE SUNSHINE A, HARE FT WITH THE WORD; 0 he f.:,̀ PP.CY IS t401" " 0 0 Iran isn't Joking ran's newly "re-elected" president denies the Holocaust not only to perpetuate the myth that Zionists concocted it, but also to divert attention from the Islamic Republic's rush toward nuclear arms. Such armaments would reinforce Iran's military might in the region. They also would endan- ger Israel, which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists is the cause of the Middle East insecurity. At a Sept. 21 rally marking Al Quds/Jerusalem Day, when the Iranian regime expresses solidarity with the Palestinians, Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a "lie" and that Israel's days were "numbered" and that its regime was "dying." He expressed pride in angering Israel and its supporters. He also seems to be sympathetic toward the Palestinians, but they really are mere pawns in Iran's pursuit for global dominance. That pursuit requires Iran to first jettison Israel, the Palestinians' neighbor. I Referring to Western leaders, Ahmadinejad said, "They launched the myth of the Holocaust. They lied; they put on a show and then they support the Jews." Iran, under the command of its Revolutionary Guard, isn't bluffing with its hatred of Israel. But know that it despises the West equally. The combination of an embargo on Iran's crude oil exports and international sanctions on Iran's import of refined oil is the preferred way to neutralize the Persian state's nuclear threat. Iran has test-fired missiles with a range of 1,200 miles, putting Israel in the line of fire. Israeli military action shouldn't be stymied by America and Russia if that proves the only ultimate option. Israel might not root out all of the uranium enrichment facilities in Iran, but it could wreak economic havoc there. II - Robert Sklar, editor TENDER EXCLUSIVE RETAILER OF FASHION'S HOTTEST LABELS 271 WEST MAPLE BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN 248.258.0212 TENDERBIRMINGHAM.COM - October 1 2009 5