Holocaust Center opens exhibit on Muslims who helped Jews

The Holocaust Center will be hosting a reception for the opening of their new exhibit on the Albanian Muslims who saved Jews during the Holocaust. The event will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 29, at the Center, 851 N Maitland Ave. in Maitland. It is co-hosted by the Islamic Society of Central Florida.

The exhibit, “Besa: A Code of Honor,” will be at the Center until the end of March. It offers a glimpse into the lives of a people whose commitment to their faith requires them to act unselfishly even under the most dire circumstances. Besa is an Albanian interpretation of the Koran, and is generally translated as “faith” or sometimes “to keep the promise.”

Sunday’s reception will include the screening of a brief film and a presentation by Imam Muhammad Musri about the concept of “besa.” He will talk about ways that besa – an aspect of faith that requires self-sacrifice – is common to the teachings of the Islamic, Judaic and Christian religions. There will be an opportunity for questions and conversation at the conclusion of his remarks.

During World War II, Albania, the only European country with a Muslim majority, succeeded in the place where other European nations failed. Almost all Jews living within Albanian borders during the German occupation, those of Albanian origin and refugees alike, were saved.

The exhibit is based on the work of American photographer Norman H. Gershman and his quest to tell this remarkable story. Over a five-year period he sought out, photographed, and collected dozens of powerful and moving stories of heroism. His work, in photographs and text, reveals the extraordinary choices of ordinary people acting within their Muslim faith. In story after story, they speak the same truth. Their faith, and the compassion it instilled, left no room for doubt. They must, no matter what the peril and what the cost, do the right thing.

For more details please contact the Holocaust Center at 407-628-0555.

The Religion World - 26/01/2012

Germany backs neo-Nazi database after far-right murders

German ministers have approved plans to establish a national register of far-right extremists, after revelations of 10 neo-Nazi murders since 2000.

It is thought there are almost 10,000 neo-Nazis in Germany and the database would include information held by all federal and state authorities.

Police and intelligence have been criticised for failing to detect the gang allegedly behind the murders.

The database proposal still has to be backed by the German parliament.

The gang, known as the Zwickau cell, emerged only when a woman named as Beate Zschaepe blew up her rented flat in the eastern German city. The bodies of two alleged accomplices men were later found in a caravan.

The group has been linked to the murders of nine men - most of them of Turkish origin - and a policewoman, between 2000 and 2007. The cell is also blamed for two bomb attacks.

US model
The register is to include the names of extremists who support neo-Nazism verbally and back or plan extremist violence. It will be modelled on a US database of extremist Islamists set up after the September 11 attacks.

"Today's cabinet decision is the first step in creating quickly the legal basis for the establishment of the federal and state right-wing extremism file," Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said.

Lack of co-ordination between Germany's 32 police and intelligence agencies has been highlighted as a key reason why the Zwickau cell was not discovered sooner. Each of the country's 16 states has its own police force and intelligence agency.

There has also been criticism of Germany's domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, whose head Heinz Fromm has acknowledged that they failed to appreciate "the extent of [the gang's] hatred and their determination to take action".

BBC News - 18/01/2012

B.C. residents protest anti-Semitic cemetery vandalism

VANCOUVER — Residents of Victoria have taken a stand against hate and intolerance during a vigil at British Columbia's oldest Jewish cemetery.

The Jewish community held a vigil at the cemetery on Sunday afternoon to protest the recent desecration of five headstones with swastikas and other Nazi symbols.

Rabbi Harry Brechner says "a sea of people" of different religious and ethnic backgrounds attended the event, sang songs and listened to speeches.
He says the turnout is encouraging and shows that residents do not want to see such acts in their community.

Brechner says the headstones have been cleaned and restored as best as possible and the police investigation into the matter continues.
The cemetery was first dedicated in 1859.

The Canadian Press

NEO-NAZI RADIO PRESENTERS SENTENCED (Germany)

Eleven employees of a Neo-Nazi internet radio station were handed suspended sentences in the western German town of Koblenz Thursday. A twelfth worker was imprisoned for two years because he carried previous offences.

The judge found all twelve accused guilty of supporting a criminal organization and inciting racial hatred. The station was found to have called on listeners to commit criminal acts. All of the accused admitted to working as presenters or administrators for the “Resistance Radio” station. The 42-year-old man, from Bamberg, had already been in prison for assault. His appearances on the radio station have extended his prison sentence by one year and nine months. “Resistance Radio” was on the air from July 2009 to November 2010. Seven women and five men, aged between 20 and 42, from six different German states faced charges in court. The judge said the station presented a danger to society, and that the accused had deliberately tried to recruit young people to the neo-Nazi scene. The station idealized Germany’s Nazi regime and incited violence against foreigners, Jews and leftists. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency the Verfassungsschutz spent months monitoring the station.

The Local – 6/1/2012