Tag: Holocaust

AI meets VR to keep Holocaust memory alive

By Deborah COLE Inge Auerbacher fears for a future when Holocaust survivors like her can no longer bear witness. But advances in virtual reality and AI give her hope their stories will live on. Auerbacher, 88, is the star of a new interactive VR experience called “Tell Me, Inge” in which she recounts her horrific experiences as a small Jewish child in a Nazi concentration camp and what it took for her to not give […]

Former Nazi camp guard, 101, gets five-year jail sentence

  by David COURBET Agence France Presse A German court on Tuesday handed a five-year jail sentence to a 101-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard, the oldest person so far to go on trial for complicity in war crimes during the Holocaust. Josef Schuetz was found guilty of being an accessory to murder while working as a prison guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945, presiding judge Udo […]

Shoah survivors condemn Putin’s claim of Ukraine ‘denazification’

VIENNA, Austria (AFP) – Leading groups representing Holocaust survivors have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the “denazification” of Ukraine was one reason he invaded the country. “The signatories of this appeal denounce the use of the words ‘denazification’ and ‘genocide’ to justify the attack on Ukraine,” reads the statement sent to AFP on Wednesday. “We cannot accept that these words are tarnished in this way,” it added. The statement was signed by representatives […]

Germany puts 100-year-old on trial for Nazi crimes

  by David COURBET Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A 100-year-old former concentration camp guard will on Thursday become the oldest person yet to be tried for Nazi-era crimes in Germany when he goes before court charged with complicity in mass murder. The suspect, identified only as Josef S., stands accused of “knowingly and willingly” assisting in the murder of 3,518 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 […]

Ceremonies chief sacked on eve of troubled Tokyo Olympics

  by Talek HARRIS Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony was fired for jokes about the Holocaust on Thursday, causing fresh embarrassment a day before the pandemic-delayed Games finally get under way. The latest row involving a senior Games figure comes at a time of widespread opposition to the 2020 Olympics as Tokyo battles its highest number of coronavirus cases since January. Japan’s Covid-19 crisis has […]

President Duterte, daughter Sara welcomed by Jewish refugee who came to PHL to escape Holocaust

  (Eagle News) – One of those who escaped from the Holocaust who sought refuge in the Philippines in 1941 was among those who welcomed Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte when he visited the “Open Doors Monument” in Israel at the end of his four-day visit in the Jewish State. The monument in Rishon Lezion, Israel stood for the courage and humanitarianism of the Filipino people during World War II in providing a haven to more […]

Duterte visits Holocaust memorial, hopes world learned from “horrific” period in history

  (Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte visited Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem on Monday, Sept. 3, and said he hoped the world learned lessons from the “horrific” period in history when more than six million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazis. Duterte, the first Philippine president to visit Israel, signed the memorial’s guest book, and also read out what he wrote, saying “may the world learn the lessons of this horrific […]

Robredo apologizes for Holocaust memorial photo

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The vice-president of the Philippines issued a public apology on Tuesday, April 17, for a photograph showing her and members of her political party posing and smiling at a German Holocaust memorial. Leni Robredo, who was elected separately from President Rodrigo Duterte, attracted widespread criticism over the photo, which was posted on Twitter by a lawmaker from her opposition Liberal Party. “While there was no malice in it, I take full […]

Poland’s president signs controversial Holocaust bill into law

by Mary Sibierski  © Agence France-Presse VARSOVIE, Poland (AFP) — President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday signed into law a controversial Holocaust bill intended to safeguard Poland’s image abroad but which has instead triggered an unprecedented diplomatic row with Israel and tensions with the US and Ukraine. Duda also said he would send the legislation, which now comes into force, to the Constitutional Tribunal to rule on whether it conforms with guarantees for freedom of speech. The law sets […]

Polish PM defends Holocaust bill that upset Israel, Ukraine

by Anna Maria Jakubek Agence France-Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday defended a controversial Holocaust bill intended to safeguard his country’s image abroad but which has instead drawn dismay from Israel, the US, the EU and Ukraine. The head of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party government spoke after the senate approved the legislation, which sets fines or a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German […]

Israeli president visits Greek site of future Holocaust museum

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AFP) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday announced the northern port city of Thessaloniki is to host a Holocaust museum, during a visit to the site with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos and the German government will each make a 10 million euro ($12 million) donation to cover the bulk of the cost of the museum on the site of a former railway station from where trains […]

World’s oldest man, Holocaust survivor, dies in Israel aged 113

(Reuters) — Holocaust survivor Israel Kristal, who last year was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living man, died in Israel on Friday (August 11), aged 113, local news media reports said. Guinness said Kristal was born in Poland on Sept. 15, 1903, and survived the Auschwitz death camp, where his first wife, two children and other family members were killed by the Nazis. He married again after the war and moved […]