The Michigan Daily-Monday, February 19,1990 - Page 3 Curators aim to preserve Auschwitz OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) - If the masses of human hair turn matted and the piles of inmates' shoes fall apart, museum conser- vators wonder how future genera- tions will know the horror of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Alarmed by the worsening con- dition of the barracks, gas cham- bers, crematoria and archives of victims' belongings, a team of 'Western specialists has volun- teered to map out a preservation :effort that could cost up to $40 million. The Culture Ministry of the new non-Communist Polish gov- : ernment also has formed a com- mission to change the 35 year-old ,museum exhibition, which high- lights the Soviet army's liberation ,of the camp but mentions the Holocaust only in passing. "If nothing is done, in 10 or 20 years, this site will be practically :non-existent," said Frank Reiss, vice president of the New York- based Ronald S. Lauder Founda- tion. "It is falling apart. It is in :urgent need of repair." The foundation struck an agreement with the government- yrun museum to provide technical ;advice and raise funds for the preservation. It sent a team of ex- perts, including the chief conserva- tor from New York's Metropolitan Nicaragua' s UNO party holds last rally MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters waving blue-and-white flags gathered yesterday for their last rally before next week's elections to decide whether the Sandinistas will remain in power. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the presidential candidate of the 14-party United National Opposition (UNO) is challenging President Daniel Ortega for a six-year term. The U.S.-backed UNO coalition is the strongest rival to the Sandin- istas in the Feb. 25 general elec- tions, but most public opinion polls show it lagging behind the ruling party. Sandinistas hold their final rally in Managua on Wednesday. Mrs. Chamorro is publisher of the opposition newspaper La Prensa and widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, a civic leader whose memory is revered by all sides of the Nicaraguan political spectrum. She was scheduled to address the rally to end UNO's campaign. She promises economic recovery and a more conservative administration. Approximately .7 million Nicaraguans, nearly half of the popu- lation of about 3.8 million, have registered to vote in the elections for president and vice president, National Assembly, 144 municipal councils and two regional councils on the re- mote Atlantic coast. There were unconfirmed reports of authorities stopping a UNO cara- van from leaving the northern town of Matagalpa on its way to Managua and of police barring trucks carrying UNO supporters from entering the capital. Both complaints were broadcast on Radio Corporacion, one of 11 ra- dio stations nationwide transmitting in tandem for the rally. The Sandin- ista government controls the major- ity of Nicaraguan radio stations. However, dozens of trucks from outlying districts began arriving in Managua at dawn and continued to come in at mid-morning, jamming some of the main avenues. Young women wearing UNO T- shirts clustered at street corners hand- ing out the alliance's blue-and-white plastic flags to passing motorists. "What do the people want?" the young women asked, and UNO sup- porters in passing trucks answered: "For the (Sandinista) Front to leave!" a UNO slogan that rhymes in Spanish. The rally was staged in the Plaza of the Revolution, named for the 1979 popular uprising that ousted U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio So- moza and allowed the Sandinistas to take power. But UNO has been call- ing it "Plaza of the Republic," its previous name. International observers were out in force throughout Managua. More than 1,000 have been accredited. Police in riot gear fanned out around the city to prevent distur- bances. Interior Minister Tomas Borge in campaign speeches has ac- cused UNO of planning to stage vio- lent acts, purportedly to mar the elections. AP Photo American museum conservators and a private foundation are working with Polish counterparts to preserve the ruins of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex as an ongoing memorial to the millions killed there by the Nazis. Museum of Art, to assess the damage in December. "The tens of thousands of pairs of shoes...if you touch them they fall to dust," Reiss said. "The ru- ins of the gas chambers...they have to be preserved - but as ru- ins, not put back together Holly- wood style." Nazi Germany built the Auschwitz concentration camp and the adjacent Birkenau death camp in southern Poland to carry out Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution." Estimates of the number of people killed there range to 4 million, mostly Jews from across Europe. Victims also included Gypsies, homosexuals and political prison- ers. Partly demolished as the Red Army approached, Auschwitz was liberated on Jan. 27, 1945. The camp remains much as it was left: the sign reading in German "Work Makes You Free" above the gates, the train tracks bisecting the vast expanse of Birkenau and ending feet from its destroyed crematoria. Pollution and a rainy climate also make things worse, Smolen said. Students stage skit on Diag to support rain forests Automakers look to cut costs DETROIT (AP) - U.S. auto companies that learned to make bet- ter cars are scrambling to build them for less, and companies that make the dashboards and driveshafts are feeling the pressure. Automakers are in a profit crunch, unable to raise prices or cut incentives when a sluggish economy already has buyers slow to deal. The only other way to boost prof- its is cut costs, and the makers ex- pect suppliers that sell them bumpers and door panels to do their part. "Production schedules are down 20-plus percent in the first quarter," said James Paper, auto analyst with Kirkpatrick, Pettis and Polian in Omaha. "Hopefully they'll pick up again, but in the meantime, the automakers are going to the suppliers and saying 'Hey, you've got to suffer, too.' You share in the good times and you share in the bad times," Paper said. For the automakers, push has come to shove, Chrysler Corp., in the midst of a program to cut costs by $1.5 billion, said last week that job cuts and plant closings caused much of its two-thirds decline in 1989 profits. Ford Motor Co. said its 1989 profits dropped 27.6 -percent and General Motors Corp. earnings fell 13.1 percent for the year. by Geri Alumit About twenty students adorned with branches and capering about like monkeys to the tune of bongo drums, staged a theatrical skit on the Diag last Friday to raise awareness about rain forest deforestation. The Rain Forest Action Move- ment (R.A.M) - a campus-com- munity organization which was stated three years ago by a group of students - organized the skit. The local group is an affiliate of the na- tional R.A.M. "One of our objectives is to fo- cus on what we can do as citizens in the U.S. to help this problem be- cause we contribute to it indirectly and we can influence what happens by what we do," said Christine Housel, committee head of the skit and a junior in the school of natural resources. In the skit the harmony of a jun- gle was broken by a student equipped with a vrooming chain saw, progres- sively dicing down the trees. The bodies of severed trees and indige- nous people were carried off by a human bulldozer, leaving just one tree standing. After a few moments of loneliness, a band of students clutching signs surrounded the tree yelling, "Help Save the Rain forests!" One observer, Al Kaul, an LSA junior said, "This is exciting. People are walking through the Diag and taking the time to see what's going on because it's not one of those commonplace lectures." R.A.M. performed the skit four times during the noon hour. R.A.M. distributes newsletters and sponsors speakers to educate the community about environmental is- sues. The group also holds various fundraisers, which help buy rain for- est land and support international conservation organizations. Housel said "these programs work to help countries sustainably use their land so that they can use their rain forests and protect them at the same time." 'One of our objectives is to focus on what we can do as citizens in the U.S. to help this problem because we contribute to it indi- rectly and we can in- fluence what happens by what we do' -Christine Housel R.A.M committee head Recently R.A.M. sponsored a benefit concert, R.A.M. JAM, that raised $2,500. The money was di- vided between a temperate rain forest protection group and a tropical rain forest conservation group. " Suspected crime boss claims he bribed politicians CHICAGO (AP) - The city of Al Capone and feisty politics has been abuzz for a week over claims bjy a suspected crime boss that the mob bribed local politicians and even helped engineer Mayor Richard IDaley's election last year. ' Cook County Republican Party Chair James Dvorak is at the un- comfortable center of the controversy over allegations that he was paid thousands of mob dollars in bribes. IIe and others hit by the tape- recorded allegations, including his one-time boss, Sheriff James O'Grady, deny the claims. There also are questions about why federal prosecutors would let explosive taped allegations against known officials by played in open court with no advance notice, little follow-up and, to date, no criminal charges filed. The tapes dominated local news- casts and had wide play in Chicago's two largest daily newspapers- the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun- Times. Tribune columnist Mike Royko, thought a longtime critic of politicians, said the feds' tactics were unfair. "It seems to me that the federal prosecutors, out of fairness, should do something more than play a tape that causes a media uproar, then clam up," wrote the Pulitzer Prize- winning commentator. "It's great fun for the news busi- ness and for the political enemies of those mentioned on the tape," Royko wrote. "But I didn't know that the Justice Department believed in trial by a jury of gossip column items." Ira Raphaelson, acting U.S. at- torney, declined to comment on the tapes' release. The story began with a continu- ing federal probe into organized crime that yielded indictments of 20 people and allegations that they used murder, other violence and threats to run a gambling operation. U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh jetted in to announce the busts in a Feb. 7 news conference, calling the operation one of the largest crackdowns ever on organized crime in Chicago. That generated some interest, but nothing like the detention hearing two days later that sent politicians scrambling to clear their names. At that hearing, prosecutors played a secretly recorded conversa- tion of Rocco Infelise, a reputed mob gambling boss, in which he talked about payoffs to officials and about influencing the last Chicago mayoral race. In the Sept. 14 conversation with William Jahoda, a bookie-turned-in- formant who was wearing a "wire," Infelise said he had been making $35,000 in monthly payoffs to po- lice and officials. Included, he said, was $10,000 a month to the sheriff's office. "I lay out $35,000 a month for guys that are away and the coppers," Infelise said on the tape. "Between you and I, ten goes to the sheriff." Dvorak denied the allegations, as did O'Grady. "If this were true, I would be in Argentina right now, not before you," Dvorak said at a news conference. Correction Monday's article on meal credit reform incorrectly attributed the quotation lieginning "We've talked to people in both Housing and Student Services..., Jpe Sciarotta made the statement. THE LIST What's happening in Ann Arbor today Faculty to hold annual Senate meeting toay by Donna Woodwell Daily Faculty Reporter Meetings UM Taekwondo Club - beginners welcome 7-8:30 p.m. 2275 CCRB UM Shorin-Ryu Karate-do Club - beginners welcome 7:30- 8:30 p.m. in the CCRB small gym Asian American Association - general meeting and sexuality workshop at 7 p.m. in the Trotter House Speakers "Jose Donoso and the Subversion of Childhood" - Sarah King speaks at 5 p.m. in the 4th floor Commons of the MLB "Seeing Narratives: Ancient Art, Renaissance Eyes" - Leonard Barkan speaks at 3 p.m. in the E. Lecture Hall, 3rd floor of Rackham "Onward! Onward! Onward! as Theatre and Politics" - a Furthermore Free Tutoring - for all lower level science and engineering courses; 8-10 p.m. in UGLi Rm. 307 Safewalk - the night-time safety walking service is available from 8 p.m.-1:30a.m. in UGLi Rm. 102 or call 936-1000 Northwalk - the north-campus night-time walking service is available from 8 p.m.-1:30 a.m. in Bursley 2333 or call 763- WALK ECB Peer Writing Tutors - peer writing tutors available for help on papers 7-11 p.m. in the Angell/Haven and Church St. computing centers Career Planning and Placement - defining a career objective 4:10-5 p.m. in CP&P Room 1; summer job fair workshop 4:10-5 p.m. in CP&P Conference Room "Music for the Wedding The University Senate, comprised of all 3,000 university professors and research scientists, will have it's annual meeting today at the Rack- ham Building to discuss the faculty's advisory role in university affairs. Gayle Ness, chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) said although the annual meeting is generally not well attended, it is "the one time when the entire faculty, all three thousand members can come together." Sen. Lana Pollack, keynote speaker of the meeting, will address the role of the University as a state institution. Ness said the faculty will be drawn to Pollack's speech because "relations with the state over the last ten yeanrshave deteriorated substan- and colleges, inter-collegiate aca- demic affairs do fall under the juris- diction of the University Senate. The faculty governance system has two other branches, the Senate Assembly and SACUA. The 72-member Senate Assem- bly, meets monthly to examine fac- ulty concerns on such issues as the harassment policy, extension of tenure review and faculty parking fa- cilities. Assembly representation, much like the U.S. House of Representa- tives, is allotted according to the number of faculty members in the school or college. The Senate Assembly has estab- lished 13 standing committees to ad- vise executive officers on University policy. I l i} ., ;:. 1