A German court will try a far-right politician next month over a second alleged use of a Nazi slogan
A court says a prominent member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party who was fined for knowingly using a Nazi slogan in a speech will go on trial again next month for allegedly using the slogan a second time.
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of outspoken cabaret performer killed in the Holocaust
Seven valuable art pieces plundered by the Nazis more than 80 years ago are being returned to the heirs of a cabaret performer, who was killed during the Holocaust and whose massive art collection was stolen by the Third Reich.
KFC apologizes for app alert urging orders for Kristallnacht
KFC has apologized for accidentally sending an automated push alert to its app users in Germany that appeared to urge people to order food to commemorate the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht โ the โNight of Broken Glassโ โ when Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria.
Germany expands pensions to more Holocaust survivors
The organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis says Germany has agreed to extend compensation to Jewish survivors who endured the World War II siege of Leningrad and two other groups who had not received any monthly pensions from Germany.
Israeli police, ultra-Orthodox protesters clash over schools
Men walk amid smoke from a dumpster fire, in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators clashed with Israeli police officers dispatched to close schools in Jerusalem and Ashdod that had opened in violation of health regulations on Sunday. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)JERUSALEM โ Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators clashed with Israeli police in two major cities on Sunday, as authorities faced new difficulties in enforcing coronavirus restrictions in the country's religious communities. Throughout the pandemic, many major ultra-Orthodox sects have flouted safety regulations, continuing to open schools, pray in synagogues and hold mass weddings in funerals. In the coastal city of Ashdod, police scuffled with dozens of protesters outside an ultra-Orthodox school.
Arnold Schwarzenegger compares US Capitol mob to Nazis
Schwarzenegger compared the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol to the Nazis and called President Donald Trump a failed leader who will go down in history as the worst president ever. โThe broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol. But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol, they shattered the ideas we took for granted," he said. โPresident Trump sought to overturn the results of the election โ and of a fair election," Schwarzenegger said in the video. โAnd to those who think they can overturn the United States Constitution, know this: You will never win,โ Schwarzenegger said.
US Embassy in Hungary slams article likening Soros to Hitler
BUDAPEST โ The U.S. Embassy in Budapest on Monday condemned an article published by a Hungarian official that drew parallels between American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros and Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The statements prompted strong reactions from several Hungarian Jewish groups and Hungarian opposition politicians while the Israeli Embassy condemned the article. More than 12,000 people including numerous Hungarian public figures like Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony have so far signed a petition demanding Demeterโs resignation. Demeter retracted the article on Sunday following the backlash and said he would delete his Facebook account. He wrote that (his article) could harm the memory of the victims, so he admitted his mistake,โ Varga said, and accused the opposition members of parliament of โapplying a double standard.โ
Hungarian official retracts comparing George Soros to Hitler
BUDAPEST โ After facing strong condemnation, a Hungarian commissioner on Sunday begrudgingly retracted an article comparing American-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, a staunch critic of Hungaryโs government, to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. โEurope is George Sorosโ gas chamber,โ Szilard Demeter, ministerial commissioner and head of the Petofi Literary Museum in Budapest, wrote in an opinion Saturday in the pro-government Origo media outlet. In a statement Sunday on Origo, Demeter said he would retract his article โindependently of what I think" and will delete his Facebook page. Government media campaigns targeting Soros have led to charges of anti-Semitism. The article also noted the conflict over the European Unionโs next budget, which Hungary and Poland are holding up over provisions that could block payments to countries that do not uphold democratic standards.
Jewish familyโs painting looted by Nazis in 1933 is returned
The painting, discovered in an upstate New York museum, was part of a cache of art seized by the Nazis from the Mosse family in Berlin in 1933. (AP Photo/Michael Hill)(AP) โ A painting of two young, 19th-century skaters that was looted by Nazis from a Jewish family in 1933 and recently discovered at a small museum in upstate New York was returned Thursday after 87 years. โThe Mosse family lost nearly everything because they were Jews. Hoffmann heads the Mosse Art Research Initiative, a university-based collaboration involving Mosse heirs and German public cultural institutions. Federal authorities were contacted as Mosse Art Restitution Project manager J. Eric Bartko was working to get the painting returned from the museum.
Assaults, arson, slurs: Report finds anti-Semitism in Berlin
The Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism Berlin, or RIAS documented 410 incidents in Berlin, more than two a day, in the first half of 2020, including physical attacks, property damage, threats, harmful behavior and anti-Semitic propaganda. In a report released Tuesday, the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism Berlin, or RIAS, documented 410 incidents โ more than two a day โ during the first half of 2020. In Kreuzberg, 10 โStolpersteineโ โ brass memorial plates like the ones near the Lichtenberg bar โ were painted black. The latest threat came the Monday before the arson, when an anonymous caller told the bar owner he wasnโt wanted in the neighborhood. The Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism's Salomon said more investment is needed to help fight anti-Semitism.
Appeals court rules Spanish museum can keep looted Nazi art
Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest but possibly not the last in a case that has wound through the courts of Spain and the United States for 20 years. Neither Cassirer's heirs nor Spain's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum dispute the painting's early history. Both U.S. District Judge John Walter, in a 2019 ruling, and the appeals court in Tuesday's, criticized the baron and the Spanish foundation for not doing more to discover whether the painting was looted art. Both courts also criticized Spain for not living up to what the courts called moral commitments to return Nazi-looted art. But that is the state of the law," the appeals court said in its ruling.
US hits Poland, others in Europe over Holocaust claims
In a report issued Wednesday, the State Department called out Bosnia, Belarus, Ukraine and particularly Poland for not having acted on restitution claims. Croatia, Latvia and Russia were also taken to task in the report, which is likely to draw angry responses from the governments identified. The report noted that Poland, which had the largest Jewish community in Europe before the outbreak of World War II, has not yet enacted comprehensive legislation on national property restitution or compensation covering Holocaust confiscations. Only about half of 5,500 claims for Jewish communal property have been adjudicated and half of those were rejected, it said. As the JUST Act report makes clear, Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities continue to wait for justice for property that was wrongfully taken from them, said Gideon Taylor, operations chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization.
Albania Holocaust memorial honors locals who protected Jews
Israeli Ambassador in Albania Noah Gal Gendler speaks during the inauguration of a memorial in Tirana , on Thursday, July 9, 2020. A memorial to the six million Jews murdered during the World War II and for the Albanians who protected them from the Nazis was inaugurated Thursday in the capital. (Xhulio Hajdari /Tirana City Hall via AP)TIRANA Albania unveiled a Holocaust memorial in the capital on Thursday to honor the dead and the Albanians who protected Jews from the Nazis. Albanians protected their few hundred Jewish friends, and helped other Jews who fled from Germany and Austria by either smuggling them abroad or hiding them at home. A small Jewish community living in Albania left the ex-communist country for Israel just after the fall of the regime in 1991.
School history lesson compares Trump to Nazis, communists
โ Republican lawmakers in Maryland are criticizing a history lesson at a public high school near Baltimore that compared President Donald Trump with Nazis and communists. Kathy Szeliga arranged for copies of the slide and the school systemโs response to be sent to her fellow Baltimore County lawmaker. Baltimore County Councilman Wade Kach called it โa piece of propagandaโ that didnโt belong in a classroom. The school system said the slide was not part of the resources it provides for AP history teachers. The school system said the issue had become a personnel matter โwhich will be appropriately addressed by the school administration and is not subject to further clarification.โ
Survey: About 1 in 4 Europeans hold anti-Semitic beliefs
A new survey says about one in four Europeans hold anti-Semitic beliefs, with such attitudes on the rise in eastern countries and mostly steady in the west. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)BERLIN โ About one in four Europeans hold anti-Semitic beliefs, with such attitudes on the rise in eastern countries and mostly steady in the west, according to a survey released Thursday. In Western Europe, the study found that anti-Semitic views were either stable or down, with decreases in Britain, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Austria. Italy and Austria both posted significant decreases, dropping 11 percentage points and 8 percentage points to 18% and 20% with anti-Semitic attitudes respectively. The survey found that the attitudes of Muslims in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain tended to be more anti-Semitic than those countries overall.