Probe fateful Nazi meeting at the Wannsee Web site
Friday, June 15, 2001 | byJames Besser
Holocaust education sites abound on the Web, but too few of them originate from Germany—the country that most needs to remember the lessons of that terrible time
One of the exceptions: the Web site of the Wannsee House, the place where the leaders of the Third Reich concocted their mad plans for the Final Solution.
Now a museum, the Wannsee House is a gorgeous mansion in a placid, upper-class suburb of Berlin; the serene setting makes what happened inside even more jarring.
The Wannsee Web site offers visitors the basics—the history of the house and the conference that was held there in January 1942, documents from the session and brief glimpses of the museum's special exhibitions.
Fourteen high-ranking SS officials and civil servants attended that meeting chaired by the notorious Reinhard Heydrich. The minutes, discovered in 1947, were recorded by Adolf Eichmann.
This site reveals the effects of Nazism on German intellectuals:
"On May 10, 1933, students and librarians in every university town 'purged' libraries of all 'undesirable' literature, throwing the books onto flaming pyres. Professors, fraternities, members of the Stahlhelm, storm troopers, and Hitler Youth members all attended this spectacle. The blacklists later grew."
Banned works included those of François Voltaire, Karl Marx, Heinrich Heine, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht. "Almost the entire contemporary German literary community went into exile."
In addition, the site includes some tidbits about propagandist Julius Streicher, and his anti-Semitic weekly, der Stürmer. "Founded in 1923, it had increased its circulation to 20,000 by 1933 and to 600,000 by 1940." Its slogan: "The Jews are our misfortune."
When Streicher addressed 16,000 people in Berlin's Sport Palace in August 1935, another 5,000 Berliners gathered in another indoor arena where the speech was broadcast.
There is also information about visiting the house and links to other Holocaust-related sites, including many in Europe. The site is spare; there aren't enough pictures of the museum and its contents, and the information is somewhat thin. Still, as an introduction to the events that took place there, the Wannsee site is worth a visit. It's at http://www.ghwk.de/engl/kopfengl.htm
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OK, so you need something on the lighter side? Try "Moshe's Jewish Simcha Happiness Site."
This site is so amateurish, it's actually endearing. Mostly, it's an appeal to be happy no matter what our circumstances; Moshe seems to think he helps by giving us dancing smiley faces and little chunks of Jewish wisdom about happiness.
Well, yes, but where are the jokes, Moshe? Dancing smileys only go so far.
The site seems to be a come-on for his other frum sites. But it still may give you a quick chuckle. It's at http://www.jewishjokes.8m.com
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She died last year, but Ofra Haza's legion of fans continues to grow. Not surprisingly, there are a growing number of Web sites devoted to the life and work of the late Israel singer.
A good starting point: "The Voice of Heaven" Web site. This is obviously the work of a single fanatic fan; adulation spills over onto every page.
But there's some useful information here, including a discography broken down into categories of music. There are also links to a number of other Ofra Haza sites—and to the Ofra Haza Web ring.
But pictures are few, with no audio clips to let visitors hear her music. Also, the site author's theology may be a little off-putting to some (he says he was warned by God of her impending death). It's at http://homepages.about.com/ imninalu/OfraHaza
To listen to a few brief audio clips, check out the "official" Ofra Haza site at http://www.ofrahaza.com Unfortunately, the site is in the middle of being updated; the biography, originally written before her death, only includes a paragraph of information when last checked. There is also an excerpt from a Yediot Achronot news article in which a medical source is quoted as saying that Haza "was a carrier, but she didn't have AIDS; she died from the medicine."
Also check out Deborah Schultz's comprehensive but cluttered Ofra page, with pictures, links and news stories about her life and death. It's at www-personal.umich.edu/ ~schultzd/ofra_main.html
The writer is a Washington-based correspondent who has been writing about Jewish Web sites since the early 1990s. His columns alternate with those of Mark Mietkiewicz. Besser can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)