Shorts: World

Auschwitz: a beer or a bread?

According to the results of a survey published in London’s Telegraph on March 9, some British schoolchildren believe that Auschwitz is the name of a type of beer or a religious festival.

A survey of more than 1,000 secondary school pupils ages 11-16 revealed that a quarter did not know the purpose of the Nazi death camp. Of those, about 10 percent believed it was a country bordering Germany, 2 percent thought it was a beer, 2 percent said it was a religious festival and 1 percent believed it was a type of bread. Organizers said the results could be translated into 90,000 11-to-16-year-olds in the United Kingdom identifying Auschwitz as a beer.

The survey was commissioned to mark the DVD release of “The Boy In The Striped Pajamas.” — jpost.com

German groups urge boycott of Durban II

Three German organizations are pressing Germany to join with the United States, Israel, Canada and Italy in boycotting next month’s U.N. anti-racism conference, Durban II, in Geneva.

In a statement issued March 9, the Jewish community of Berlin and Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism, as well as the Coordinating Council of German NGOs Against Anti-Semitism, said Germany must not legitimize what is likely to be an anti-Semitic event.

In related news, France appeared to be pressing for a common European Union decision on whether to attend. —  jta

Vatican: List shows Pius XII saved Jews

The Vatican has produced another document to bolster its assertion that Pope Pius XII worked behind the scenes to save Jews during World War II. Vatican Radio said last week that a 1943 document found in a convent in Rome listed the names of 24 people who were to be sheltered by the nuns there in accordance with the pope’s desire.

“The Holy Father wants to save his children, also the Jews, and orders that hospitality be given to these persecuted [people] in the monasteries,” Vatican Radio quoted from the document, which it said was dated November 1943, just weeks after German occupiers rounded up about 2,000 Roman Jews and deported them to Auschwitz.

Jewish critics and other historians have said Pius turned a blind eye to the fate of Jews during the Holocaust, but the Rev. Peter Gumpel, the German Jesuit historian in charge of promoting the cause for beatification of Pius XII, said the document shows otherwise. — jta

Britain to talk to Hezbollah

The British government said it will re-establish contact with Hezbollah’s political wing after halting all contact with Hezbollah four years ago. The Lebanese Shiite militia group is considered a terrorist group by the United States and Israel.

A statement from the British Foreign Ministry said the government had “reconsidered our position on no contact with Hezbollah in light of more positive recent political developments in Lebanon”—notably, the participation of Hezbollah in the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon.

Hezbollah fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, firing more than 4,000 rockets into Israeli territory. —  jta

Mauritania expels Israeli ambassador

According to media reports, Mauritania expelled the Israeli ambassador and his staff on March 6, with officials telling the ambassador, Miki Arbel, that he had 48 hours to leave the country.

Mauritania, a West African nation that is overwhelmingly Muslim, is one of only three members of the Arab League, along with Egypt and Jordan, that maintains full ties with Israel. But relations between Israel and Mauritania have been strained since the recent military operation in Gaza.

In response to the Gaza fighting, Mauritania already had suspended contacts and recalled its own ambassador from Israel. —  jta

Poland embraces new effort to fight anti-Semitism

A human rights group and Poland’s Education Ministry introduced new teaching materials for Poland’s middle schools last week in an effort to combat anti-Semitism.

Poland is the fifth in a group of 12 countries adopting such workbooks, after Germany, Ukraine, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe guided the project as part of an overall effort to fight anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination.

Each country’s texts cover similar topics, such as the history of anti-Semitism in Europe from the Middle Ages to World War II, but the books are written in the local language and focus on local issues. Poland’s books attempt to undermine a long-held assumption in Poland that a person cannot be Jewish and Polish at the same time, a notion that has led to the exclusion of Jews from mainstream society. — ap